STORY CRAFT

Three immersive photographers share their experiences on gaining trust

How do they gain access to private, and often painful, lives? “Consider what you’re asking of people. Sometimes it just takes time and patience.”
A r t i c l e b y John Happel
Adapted from https://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/five-immersive-photographers-share-their-experiences-on-gaining-trust/
Access is everything when it comes to documentary photography. Of all the challenges that immersion storytellers face
in their work, perhaps none is more formidable.

“Humanity should always come first. What better way to help a person carry on as they normally would and be
comfortable with you than to be yourself and to open up a bit?”

Being immersed in people’s personal lives is a visceral experience that brings unique depth and dimension to a story. But
the kind of trust and collaboration between subject and storyteller that defines documentary photography is difficult to
earn, and perhaps even harder to maintain over the long weeks or months of a project.

Access is sometimes described as a long hallways with many doors. Some doors are open; some are closed. Some of the
closed doors will open in response to the right actions or words. Doors that are open sometimes close for no apparent
reason. Some are open just long enough to get a foot inside. But they do not open and close on their own. There are
people on both sides, and once access is granted, it is by no means unconditional.

At this moment when trust in media is sometimes tenuous, thinking about access in ways that extend beyond the
superficial is important not only in terms of a storyteller’s craft, but also his or her credibility – and humanity.

Immersion storytellers need to become more than simply people who are looking for information or photographs. It’s
important to remember that it’s possible to step out of a reporting role and relate to people through things that are
common to all of us: births, deaths, retirement, embarrassment, sickness. Even something as simple as sharing a meal
can demonstrate humanity. People see that behavior and recognize when a storyteller has gone beyond the role that
brought them there in the first place. By showing our own humanity and doing as we would for any other person that
we care about, we get to give back a little and maybe earn the trust we need to tell a story in a more compelling way.

I spoke to 3 photographers who have devoted their craft to the documentary genre and immersion storytelling, and they
shared their experiences earning access to challenging subject matter.

Jeff Schonberg is a professor of anthropology and documentary

photographer at San Francisco State University. He and his
research partner spent 10 years documenting the lives of
homeless drug users on the streets of San Francisco. He has also
worked on projects involving the illicit drug economy, HIV and
youth violence in the neighborhood where he lives in Oakland.

Schonberg tells his students that the same parts of themselves

they use to build relationships in other areas of their lives can
also be used to earn access. He explains that people sometimes
emphasize certain aspects of themselves — age, gender, marital
status, common interests, political views, and so on — to relate
to others whether they realize it or not. For many, finding a
baseline common ground is a natural way to engage with new people.

Thinking about access is sometimes complicated by the feeling that the photographer has little to offer in return; if
anything. Bringing pictures or manuscripts back to subjects has always been a way to create a bond, and it can also be a
good way to make introductions. But access doesn’t always have to be thought of in terms of give and take.
“It’s not always a transaction,” Schonberg says. “Sometimes the reciprocity is subtle, such as being the person they can
trust, doing advocacy work in the field, being someone who is valued in some way.”

Jessica Rinaldi is a staff photographer for the Boston Globe. In

2016, she won the Pulitzer prize for feature photography for her
project focusing on an abused boy in Maine, and, remarkably, was
also a finalist in the same category for her photographic story
about a single mother from East Boston who was addicted to
heroin and struggling to hold her family together.

“I was really afraid I was going to lose her [the subject]. She had
been so open, I figured I might as well tell her what I’m really
interested in,” Rinaldi says. “It would be really amazing to just do a
story about you if you would be open to that,” she told the
woman. They talked about how showing others her personal
struggle with addiction through photographs could be helpful to
others in the same situation. At that point, Rinaldi told the woman straight up: “If we are going to do a story about this
disease, we need to show it.”

The woman was initially nervous about incriminating herself and how the story might affect her children. Rinaldi
explained to her, “It could be. It’s not a decision I can make for you, and if you don’t want to show it, we can still go on
with the story. It doesn’t hinge on that.” The woman decided that if they were going to do it, they should put it all out
there.

Connecting with subjects through shared identities and experience can sometimes open doors to access, but Rinaldi’s
approach demonstrates the importance of being sensitive to a person’s privacy and comfort levels when it comes to the
story. Transparency gave Rinaldi’s subject back some control over how they would go forward and that helped build
trust between she and her subject.

Matt Eich is a documentary photography and university

lecturer whose work spans social issues such as rural
poverty and race to more introspective efforts focusing on
his own family life. Since 2010, he has been working on a
project titled “Sin and Salvation in a Baptist Town” — a
series about housing, class and joblessness on both sides of
the racial divide in Greenwood, Miss.

Working in a town that was similar in size to where he

grew up, but culturally very different, he was aware of the
importance of finding someone well established in the
community and also receptive to his interests.

“There is always going to have to be some kind of human

approval from someone when you wander into a world that you don’t belong to,” Eich says.

For him, the process of meeting people tends to begin with explanations that tend to evolve over the course of the
project. Understanding that people have different thresholds of trust and accessibility, he began with a general curiosity
about the place itself. His overtures evolved into: “I’m interested in race relations in this town.” And finally: “How do we
better understand our neighbors?”

Eich strives to maintain a humble but open perspective. “If you’re interested enough in someone to just be with them
and listen to what they have to say, that can have real tangible value to people in life,” he says.
Reading comprehension.

Answer the questions. Use your own words based on the reading.

1. What is the general idea of the text?

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2. According to Jeff Schonberg, how can access be obtained?
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3. Why does Rinaldi talk about transparency?
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4. According to Matt Eich, how is the process of engaging with new people?
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5. How is Eich’s work related to his life?

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