Originating from an area of rural Alaska, Cari Payer was raised in Alaska and saw the world around her through the lens of National Geographic photographers. These images encouraged her to explore the world’s potential provide beyond the confines of her small town. Her passion for photography led her across the globe to capture landscapes, people and cultural landmarks across America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Cari first got associated in Photographers Without Borders by attending Storytelling School in Mongolia. Then, she traveled to Nepal in 2018 and captured what she describes as “small vignettes of life.” As part of the lockdown for spring 2020 to Tokyo, Cari created a photograph series with her daughter. The series is titled “COVID-19 Spring Collection 2020.”
Cari was speaking with Photographers Without Borders (PWB) the organization’s founder Danielle Da Silva as part of PWB’s ongoing “Storytelling for Change” webinar series. Below are edited extracts from the conversation that touched on giving photography workshops to teachers, encouraging stay-at-home parents and small-scale entrepreneurs to make use of photography to improve their lives, and identifying opportunities for COVID-19 travel, ethical photography, the best way to capture memorable moments in your life, and how important it is to share information about photography.
Danielle Da Silva: You have a family in the rural part of Alaska and has lived and traveled in many different countries around the globe. What is your personal story? How did it inform your stories and enthusiasm for teaching?
Cari Payer: I love being an educator. I love that more than a photographer full-time because I love helping people develop their ideas. Even though we travel to tourist spots, it doesn’t mean that tourist destinations are the only thing we should be looking to capture. It’s essential to go into the details and get to know more about the local culture and how to interact with others. It’s not enough to take photos of people who aren’t like us, and then move on. We’re here to take part in their lives and help them raise their voices or help educate our own. Then, we can return that knowledge and spread it around so that everyone can be heard around the world.
Da Silva: How did you get to teach workshops?
Payment method:My husband works in several locations, and we’ve had the chance to visit Hawaii, Germany, Florida and Tokyo. The flip side of that is that I’m unable to make any progress for very long, as our typical duration in a place is about 18 months.
I’ve worked as a food photographer and was involved in a number of commercial assignments, but there were instances where I reached out to other photographers who had inspired me and I was dismissed. In the world of photography, there is a belief that work is secret. For instance, if you look up a technique in photography The first blog article you find is “Top Five Secrets On How to Take Landscape Photos.” This is what it says that you should Stand in front of a landscape, press the button and you’ve captured pictures of landscapes. It’s not an undiscovered secret. It doesn’t mean it won’t require a lot of practice and skill. But the notion that knowing how to photograph is a mystery, it is a nightmare for me. This is why I began giving workshops.
Da Silva: What do you enjoy most when you teach beginners photographer?
PayPal:I love helping people accomplish whatever they’re trying to convey. Sometimes, we don’t are equipped with the necessary tools or expertise at the moment, but this doesn’t mean we don’t have the right story and ideas, or the creativity. In the field of photography, it’s difficult to find people willing to help you find the answer to a problem.
Sharing knowledge is essential. A student was looking to do an amazing portrait shoot, and I’d never attempted anything like this. So I suggested, “Let’s sit down and use the knowledge I have and the idea you have and try and come together and work it out.” The human connection is a major benefit of teaching.
