IU faculty member gives talk , advice about photography

Tuesday evening a group of photography enthusiasts were treated to a 'work-in-progress' view of IU professor and former National Geographic magazine staff photographer Steve Raymer's most recent work on the Indian Diaspora.\nRaymer, a professor in the School of Journalism who worked with National Geographic for more than 20 years, was the guest speaker at this month's meeting of the Bloomington Photography Club. \nThe club includes amateur photographers and professional photographers such as Tom Stio, the vice-president, owner and photographer of Shadow and Light photography studio. The group also organizes field trips, focus groups, workshops and lectures from professionals every month.\n Before the slide show, Raymer spoke about some of the logistics of photography and his preferred methods. He discussed the switch-over from the use of film to digital cameras, his shooting preferences as well as challenges confronting photographers today.\n"No photographers make money doing books," he said.\nHe said he began his latest project after finding he would be unable to work on a project in Shanghai because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome scare in 2003 in China. For this reason, he said photographers should keep a file of potential story ideas -- plans can change quickly.\nIn his travels around the world concerning this latest endeavor, he said he learned a great deal about the condition of people in the Indian Diaspora. \n"The movement of people out of India has been one of the most successful in human history, especially over the last 200 years," he said.\nSix chapters of his work were shown at the talk, capturing moments in the lives of Indians in Singapore, Trinidad and South Africa. \n"I talk to my students about intimacy in photos," Raymer said. "We need to get close to people to make our viewers feel that they were actually able to have that vantage point."\nRaymer said the president of Singapore, S.R. Nathan, told the professor to recognize and capture the extent of the marginalization of Indians in Malaysia, which was Raymer's destination at the time of his conversation with Nathan.\nA wide-angle shot of a homeless man in Malaysia gave him the opportunity to do that. \n"In Malaysia, Indians on the whole have the worst jobs," he said.\nIn contrast with the shots in Malaysia were scenes from the high life of an Indian man in Hong Kong, as well as photos of successful Indian people in the United States, such as CNN chief medical correspondent and neurosurgeon, Sanjay Gupta.\n"One thing that is essential is variety," Raymer said.\nHe took close ups as well as photos that employ the use of spatial depth to further give the viewer the sensation of being in the moment.\n"We need those street scenes to show us where we are and what it looks like." \nHe said he sees this book as a gallery and emphasized the importance of logical arrangement of the photos in order to create a sense of unity.\nSome of Raymer's work can be accessed on his Web site www.steveraymer.com, where viewers can also read his biography and view some of his previous work in books like "Living Faith: Inside the Muslim World of Southeast Asia."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Ronnie Moore at ronlmoore@indiana.edu.