All In The Name Of Capturing The Truth

by Sonja Pascho

June 2, 2004

IMAGES of pain and suffering can be haunting.

The screaming, dirty face of a child in rags fleeing a war zone can bring home the most uncomfortable and disturbing feelings we know, just as it can help us know what is happening in the world.

Images can also divide people and shatter governments.

David Dare Parker is one of a handful of Australians who go out to some of the most dangerous places in the world to bring these images home.

Is he crazy? Is he an adrenaline junkie? A hero? Or, is he someone who has chosen a dangerous job to open the eyes of the world?

Two things are for sure. Parker is a freelance photojournalist who has covered conflict and humanitarian issues from Iraq to East Timor, and yes, Dare is his middle name.

"I kind of knew early on the sort of photography I wanted to do when I became a photographer… I've done two weddings in my life, and I didn't enjoy them at all."

Integrity, truth and respect are at the core of Parker's work, although after 20 years in the field his reasons for being a photojournalist have changed.

"I started my professional working life as a musician before taking up photography. I liked the idea of working alone, travelling the world taking pictures, so I sold my Fender Strat and headed off to look for the exotic."

"I'm not into the travel anymore. I miss home when I'm away, but it's the story that's all-important. I'm doing it for the story and I'm also doing it for myself. You only get one shot at life and I want mine to be interesting."

Parker's experiences will be foreign to most. He is like someone out of a movie who has been places and seen things no one else you've ever met has.

"East Timor was probably the most dangerous at times. There were a couple of times when we really thought we wouldn't get out alive, a couple of times we were attacked. But a lot of that was probably orchestrated. You don't know how far they're going to push it. They were certainly talking about killing us and we could hear them, as they were hunting for us and chasing us with machetes."

"I've certainly been shot at directly. I've got a picture somewhere, it's not a very good picture but there's a guy (he points his hand as if it were a gun) off in the distance aiming his pistol at me and firing."

Safety and survival in the field is a matter of instinct, luck and timing. Protection like body armour can be difficult to work in and make the wearer a target. Constant awareness and planning are tactics he has learned on the job.

"It's little things like knowing how to get out of a place almost before you get into it… Not using the same route or the same time of travel."

Despite the dangers of being witnesses to atrocities, photojournalists are rarely singled out for attack and they deal with extreme situations in different ways. Parker talks with a quiet undercurrent of weariness and control.

"Life is sort of tragic in its own way but it's still remarkable at the same time… Most people in extreme situations tend to treasure what they have more. Some people say they don't see any hope in my pictures. But I don't see it like that at all. I see incredible resilience."

"I get the sense when I look out there in the real world that the lessons are the same. Family bonds are the same… I don't think that people are that bad individually."

Even though he is an award-winning photojournalist, Parker plays down his skills. Like the clothes he wears, his attitude about the images he has taken is relaxed and practical.

"I prefer looking at other people's pictures to be honest. I think there are some [of my photos] that have become iconic. I had some early recognition for work I did in Romania with gypsies."

"I think I do a solid job. I do my job, I don't like wearing it as a badge."

Parker's bookshelf is stacked full of National Geographics and photography books. Many photographers looking for fame try their hand at capturing conflict situations and quickly drop off. A solidarity among dedicated photojournalists like Parker, Joseph Kondelka and Don McCullin comes from shared experiences and inspirations.

"When we catch up we come from the same traditions. We tend to celebrate what we do in some ways, as almost a separate entity and that's interesting. We have our heroes. Mine was Robert Capa and W Eugene Smith."

"We tend to love what we've done and we love where it's been before. When you're working on a story you tend to forget all that, it's like a language. You carry it with you but it's subliminal."

"The one thing that photojournalists do have that nobody else has is that we'll go whether we're earning a living or not. That kind of works against us in some ways because we treat what we do as a way of life, even more so than as a career. It's everything."

Parker's house doesn't hint at the discord and craziness of where he has been. It's calm and peaceful. There's a small statue of a slim Buddha on a side table. If it wasn't for his job, Parker would seem like a down-to-earth guy who is into the blues.

"I still dabble. My guitar is never far away. If I've got free time it's always around my neck. I like that. Play all these dead black guys. I love blues guitar and I love blues. I love Muddy Waters, you know BB King, Freddie King, all the Kings."

"I like movies. I hang with my wife and catch up with friends. [It's] a pretty quiet life really. I like surfing but I haven't done that for a year or two."

Parker talks at a machine gun pace and in the rush of words his passion and excitement becomes clear. He has an unrelenting interest in people and photography.

"I've been called a war photographer, but I wouldn't say that's what I do because most of my work is [about] the effects of conflict or the effects of economic crisis."

"My responsibility is to come back with a well-crafted image of an event that brings back the power of the event. My opinion of the truth of that event."

"I'm not there to create art I'm there to tell a story as a photojournalist."

Photojournalists can be part historian, part anthropologist, part humanitarian, part crusader. They can have a powerful influence on how we see the world and the questions we ask, depending on our willingness and desire to know what is happening outside our own country.

Parker is currently a writer in residence at Murdoch University researching journalism and justice.