Interview with Don Mirra, photographer
Don Mirra has made it his life mission to find that image, the one that transports worlds to the viewer, or perhaps transports us there, in a single frozen moment. His specialized, accomplished, and incredibly diverse background is extremely unusual for a photojournalist, or for anyone. Yet it has led him inexorably to this life.
In this interview, conducted in September 2007, he talks about his values, his thoughts on the power of photography, and where he plans to take us in the future.
Romy Chung: Before we start talking about your current projects, can you please tell us a little bit about your background?
Don Mirra: I spent six and a half years in the special operations community in the Marines called Force Reconnaissance. I went through the toughest training in the world. It challenges you on every level: mentally, physically, emotionally. After all that time in a high performance environment, an environment where every single day was brutal, I grew to understand that the outside world will always change, that adaptability and flexibility are the key to success on any mission. That preparation has remained, for me, the cornerstone of achieving safety and results in any situation I have found myself in. I actually think a lot of people have a misunderstanding of what that headspace is like, They often think it’s confining, militaristic. To that I say, no, it’s not confining, it’s liberating. I can depend on myself to be ready for any situation because of proper preparation my mindset is dynamic to the environment i am in.
RC: Can you give me an example where this kind of training has helped you?
DM: For example, I was walking around the streets of Port-de-Prince, Haiti during my last photo assignment. I found myself in the middle of a huge fight between two men. It began to escalate in the most alarming way. Like most violence in the real world, real violence is explosive, not progressive like we all see on TV. One minute things are loud and a bit intense, and the next is a full-on street fight where everyone was going at each other, taking me down with them. But, as I am used to doing in any new situation, I had made prior notes to myself, where I am, for example, but more to the point, I always note two exits should things get hot. As I was backing away and leaving, a couple of guys moved on me. One grabbed my shirt and was trying to pull me into the middle of it. Once I had physically extricated myself, my other exit was waiting for me. I did not feel panicked, I felt sure of my way out of the situation, and this has always been a process, not an outcome. I spent so much time in this mindset, it’s like breathing.
RC: Interesting. So as a photojournalist, the assignment doesn’t ever really daunt you, because the conditions you have been immersed in have been so extreme. Would you agree with this?
DM: Correct. The situation is always dynamic and never static. So the issue facing me is how am I going to respond to the situation, how have I prepared myself, how aware am I to what is going on. Maybe it sounds bullheaded, but I do my homework. I don’t go into a situation without knowing everything there is to know beforehand. I am ready, I am professional. This is vital to the projects I am drawn to, and really, in every aspect of my work and life. Ultimately I think my clients really enjoy working with me because of this standard.
RC: You were most recently in Haiti. Can you tell me a little bit about what you saw there, and what your photographs will reflect in your upcoming book?
DM: It’s hard to truly express what I saw there. It’s a little island, located and it’s actually so close, geographically to the wealth of the U.S. But it is so poor. You can see some medical problems that aren’t even seen in the U.S. anymore. I know people get so tired of hearing about the disadvantaged and those less fortunate, it makes us all feel guilty individually and as a society. But I think we all have a responsibility to not turn away when we are presented with it. That is one of the basic underlying principles of my photography. I can flinch sometimes, because sometimes you have to, but I never want to be someone that turns away and pretends not to see what is going on.
RC: What projects are you currently working on?
DM: For me I have a couple things on the burner. First is the Haiti book, in pre-production at the moment, whose working title is In the Shadow of America. This book is a daunting task. It’s difficult to capture the gestalt of sociopolitical madness in something as concrete and prescribed as a book. My experience in Haiti has also spawned some multimedia projects. I am also teaching, and am putting the final touches on a photo workshop syllabus.
RC: What would be some of your ideal projects, ones that you haven’t worked on yet, but might find their way to the forefront?
DM: Malaria for me has been a point of interest for a number of years. I have been interested in full coverage of this disease, where it is found, its effects, who’'s fighting it can it be concurred. I can usually get into any kind of project once I find my angle, but I have to say, projects with a social narrative that manage to combine the now and the future, these really spur me on. It’s been estimated that the number of orphans in the world will be at its absolute acme in five years. What does this say about how the world is progressing? We are making headway for some things more than others, and these kids get left behind. It’s heartbreaking. I know that people get tired of seeing the same images of kids starving, kids left alone. It makes us all feel bad. But if I could just photograph this problem in a very new way, in a way that might underscore ways we can work to solve this very real problem, instead of just bemoaning their plight.
RC: What do you think are the most important aspects of a photograph?
DM: Journalism and documentary photography have the opportunity to take an abstract subject and move it into the psyche and view it in a real way. I have always found it important to prepare as well as I can, and then let the subject speak for itself, let it move me personally. An analogy can be found in essay writing. The sparest words express the most, and the most clearly. The same is true for any good journalistic photograph. I don’t believe in excess fat to confuse the viewer, I believe in the story it has to tell. Surely the future will hold greatness should the focus of the industry and art form be on humanity not the entertainment news which is but a distraction for the great truth.
To photograph is to hold ones breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. Its at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
-Henri Cartier-Bresson
Saturated in deep colors, swathed in emotion, the photography of Don Mirra strikes many chords at once: stunning and beseeching, urgent and contemplative, emotional and resolute.
His path to photojournalism has been unconventional, studded with high achievement in the most varied arenas. In high school, he was a championship rower competing at the national level, which led to an athletic scholarship at the Florida Institute of Technology. Leaving to enlist in the Marines in 1988, he ultimately advanced to arguably the most competitive and selective cadre in the military, becoming a Force Reconnaissance Marine. All of his physical training & as an open and closed circuit diver, extensive duty on a comprehensive lineup of watercraft, daily travels in the worlds most acute terrestrial and climatic conditions, extensive mountain climbing laid the groundwork for a supreme physical dexterity, one that supports and enables Dons inimitable ability to find and capture that moment on film, bar none.
Leaving the military in 1995, and committed himself to his education, where much of his political theory and social ideology further developed. He ultimately attained a B.S. in International Business from Pepperdine University in 1999. One of his college years saw his return to the country of his birth, Germany, to study art and language. After graduation, he worked as a photographic lighting professional in Seattle, where he assimilated the connection between light an subject and the image burned into film.
But his career as a photojournalist began on a windy, impressive day in 2002, when he made the split decision to leave the country for Southeast Asia. The express desire to see what he could capture for himself fueled the integration of those tools in his possession: his physical ingenuity, his cogent political ideology, and his cultivated aesthetic. The results of this trip which can be seen on this webpage were stunning, and left little doubt as to the synergy of his abilities.
Since this fateful trip years ago, his has been a search to capture the critical and answerable moment, from his work with nonprofits like Agros in the Central Americas and SEE International in Haiti (medical ophthalmology relief work), to his current project, In the Shadow of America, a collection of his finest photographic work from Haiti and sociopolitical essays, to be published in 2008. Future upcoming projects include work in East Asian journals, and serial photographic essays on medical relief.