Documentary photography of families
Guatemala
“I would never advise a young person to become a stock photographer today. In my opinion, photography, like journalism, has disappeared as a career. If you want to make a difference in the world, get involved with a cause that interests you - world hunger, pollution, climate change, homelessness, gender identity - anything that you care about. Use photography as a tool to inform, educate and affect people who might be able to make a difference. If you do what you love, the money will follow... eventually. Just don't plan on making quick money as a photographer or a journalist!! That may change in the future, but I'm not optimistic.”
Tina recalls a significant event from 1997 in Acal, Guatemala. Dr. David Cowan was examining an elderly widow with dementia when she unwrapped her hand-woven scarf to reveal a tiny, abandoned baby. The woman had found the baby in a cornfield and had kept her, thinking she was nursing the baby. The baby was very malnourished and only weighed 2 pounds. They rushed her to the nearest hospital where she stayed for several months. Back home, they raised money to pay for the baby's hospital stay. After leaving the hospital, the baby was adopted by Fabiana Ordoñez Perez, the midwife/dentist they had supported for years in Acal. Cecilia, as she was named, is now a happy, healthy young woman and they have visited her often.
Tina Manley started taking photos in 1971 after receiving an inheritance from her grandfather. She bought a Minolta camera and began photographing her own children. Due to the high cost of film development, she turned to stock photography as a way to make money. Tina attended a seminar in Wisconsin on "Sell and Resell Your Photos" by Rohn Engh, which taught her to respond to photo requests by sending out slides for consideration, avoiding direct interactions with buyers.
In 1976, during a trip to Europe, she purchased a Leica M3 double stroke at a flea market. She adored the small, sturdy camera and its fantastic lenses. Over time, she began carrying four M6's at a time, each with different lenses and films. Her preferred lens was always the Noctilux (f/1.0). The small, inconspicuous cameras were perfect for the dim, adobe homes where she predominantly conducted her documentary photography. Since then, she has exclusively used Leica, except for one project. She seamlessly transitioned to the M8, M9, Monochrome, M240, M246, and now the SL. The SL is the finest camera she has ever used. As she ages, she greatly appreciates the precise and rapid auto-focus of the SL. She still uses some of her manual lenses on the SL and, naturally, on the M240 and M246. However, the lens she most frequently uses now is the SL24-90.
The first photo she ever sold was for a book cover. It was of my two children on a swing for the cover of a book called "Between Brothers and Sisters". Then, she sold a photo for the cover of a medical textbook. The same textbook went through 7 editions, and for every edition, they repurchased her photo for the cover. However, the most essential photo she has taken was for Dimes for Hunger. Since 1988, she worked as a mission consultant for the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church USA). She has been taking medical brigades to Honduras and Guatemala yearly and conducting clinics in remote villages. She typically stayed with a family and took photos of their daily lives. She also photographed local hunger relief programs like Meals on Wheels. Over the years, the photos she has taken were used to raise money in the Dimes for Hunger campaigns, raising over $2 million in the 30 years she was involved. She is retired now, but she regularly returns to Central America and will be going back to Honduras in October to photograph the cataract clinic we are opening there.
She views being a woman photographer as liberating rather than limiting. As a woman, she was able to stay with families in various countries, such as Honduras, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, where being a man might have been a disadvantage. For instance, she stayed with widows in Guatemala after the civil war, where there were no men left in the village. She also photographed women in Iran and Iraq in homes where strange men would not have been allowed. When it comes to selling stock photography, she tells photography students that buyers don't care about your gender, age, or qualifications. They only care if you have the photo they need and if you are willing to lease it at a price they can afford.
There were times when she worried about losing her work. In the early days, she used to carry a backpack with 300 rolls of film. All of that film had to go through x-ray machines at the airports. To protect it, she bought lead-lined bags. However, when you use the film, it doesn't get any smaller. You still have to carry all of that film back home safely and develop it once you get there.
After the first Gulf War in Iraq, she was one of the first journalists allowed in the country. She had to stay at the Al-Rashid Hotel with other journalists, and CNN was located on the 13th floor. When she was ready to leave after a week, she found out that her hotel bill was over $3,000, and the hotel only accepted American dollars with no credit card option available at that time. She didn't have enough cash and faced the threat of being put in jail. The hotel staff suggested that she speak to the people on the 13th floor. She did so, and the CNN staff helped her by providing $3,000 from a suitcase hidden under a bed. This assistance allowed her to make it back home, and she will always be grateful to CNN for their help.
After switching to digital, the photographer still had to worry about the photo files. During a trip to Honduras, she accidentally fell into a river with two M8 cameras on her shoulders. Both cameras went underwater, but she managed to dry them out by a fire and they continued to work for the rest of the trip. The switch to digital became necessary when publishers started requesting digital files. Initially, she was scanning film and sending it in for development, which was a complicated process. However, in 2005, she participated in a photography project called Families of Abraham, where seven photographers documented Jewish, Christian, and Muslim families in the Charlotte, NC area for a year. To maintain consistency, all photographers had to use digital cameras. Despite her loyalty to Leicas since 1980, she had to use a Canon 1DMark II for the project as Leica had not released a digital M camera yet. Once the project was over, she swiftly switched back to Leica when the M8 became available. This allowed her to use all her Leica lenses on the M8, providing her with the benefits of her beloved Leica lenses without the hassle of carrying film rolls through airports and dealing with development processes. As far as she was concerned, Leica digital cameras offered the best of both worlds, and she never regretted making the switch to digital, although she did regret briefly using a Canon.
It was much easier in the beginning. Even though she had to send out actual transparencies and worry about getting them back undamaged, she was dealing directly with publishers who valued her work and continued to contact her when they needed more for their textbooks or magazines. At that time, print media was in demand. Through the years, stock photography has become both easier and more difficult. Easier because she no longer sends out physical slides but digital files. All requests come in by email or through agencies and can be easily sold anywhere in the world in minutes. More difficult because everybody else can do the same! Today, every time you respond to a photo request, you are dealing with different people in agencies all over the world, many of whom seem to have no interest in continuing a relationship. That makes the repeat part of the business much harder.
She chose photography because she believed her photos could make a difference. She wants to show that people around the world are more similar than they are different. She's more interested in using her photos for this purpose than making money. She has worked with NGOs and self-development programs worldwide and has seen the progress they make in developing countries. She believes there's no better use for photography.
