Photographer Jeff Hall infuses his travel photography with
context and story
By Ibarionex R. Perello
Photography By Jeff Hall
The day had been
a long and painful one for Jeff Hall. It had started with the
amateur photographer full of anticipation because he and his
traveling companions were going to have the opportunity to visit
a Berber camp in Morocco. An ethnic group in northern Africa,
the Berbers offered the promise of some exciting photographs.
Hall likely had images of Lawrence of Arabia flashing
in his mind as he mounted his mode of transportation, a camel.
The reality didn’t end up resembling the fantasy.
“I had always thought that the idea of camel riding was
very intriguing,” Hall says. “It turns out to be just
downright painful.”
Although such an arduous trip can leave a person thinking of
only a flat surface to sit on and a hot meal, Hall wasn’t
interested in snapping a couple of flash pictures to merely
document what was around him. He wanted to create something
special and different.
“By the time we arrived, it was dark. The tents were all
set up and the fire was going. After dinner, they had some dancers
come out. So I took my mini-tripod and set it up on the carpet
and held the shutter open for about a minute or so.”
The image was definitely a keeper. Yet it wouldn’t be the
only time Hall would come through adversity to create beautiful
photographs.
An Amateur’s Journey
Hall is a travel photographer who strives to make his photographs
more than just a collection of pretty pictures. He works hard
to tell stories with his images, to reveal something unique
about the places he visits and the people he meets.
While as an amateur photographer he may not enjoy the access
and the prestige of a National Geographic shooter, Hall is always
searching for a way to create a photograph that truly communicates
a special sense of place, whether he’s traveling in Morocco,
Nepal, the Galàpagos or China.
“I got interested in photography at a very young age,”
says Hall. “My dad had an old Exakta camera and when he
moved on to a Topcon with a built-in meter, he gave me the Exakta
and I started shooting with that.”
In the 1980s, Hall met a graduate of Cal State Northridge who
had earned a degree in photography. Seeing Hall’s work,
he encouraged him to pursue it.
“We went shopping together and I bought a new camera, a
Canon F-1. I began shooting at that point, mostly to get pictures
for my wall.”
In 1989, Hall entered the travel business and began taking pictures
during his own travels. The opportunity to visit these locations
and take photographs thrilled him. While many fantasize about
leaving their jobs and traveling around the world taking photographs,
Hall had a job that provided him the opportunity to travel and
create images that others only dream about.
“These trips came about as a result of my work with a company
called G.A.P. Adventures,” he explains. “After I first
met with them, I went to Zimbabwe and Botswana and had a great
trip. I came back and started marketing their products here
in the United States, and that began a long-term relationship.
So every year, I get to pick one of their trips to go on.”
The Observant Eye
Halls uses his photography to share his personal experience
of the places he has visited. He shoots with an eye for the
all-encompassing landscape and will follow it up by filling
his frame with a telling detail.
“You really can’t tell a story and get the essence
of a place with a single wide shot,” says Hall. “Although
there are times when you need that wide shot, there are details
that many others miss. Sometimes it’s color, patterns or
textures. I’m not quite sure what it’s going to be,
but when I see it, I’m attracted to it.
“I’ve often been accused of looking the wrong way,
while there’s something big and beautiful right behind
me,” he adds.
Yet it’s this attention to detail that helps Hall create
images that stand out. It’s his willingness to find an
image even under difficult circumstances that enables him to
come away with photographs that others miss.
Facing Adversity
Hall was preparing for a trip to Nepal in 2000 when he noticed
a twitching in his fingers. It seemed minor, more an irritant,
but he thought it better to visit his doctor.
“He wasn’t sure what it was,” says Hall. “But
he gave me some medication that slowed down my metabolism, which
didn’t work out too great for preparing for a trek to Nepal,
so I stopped taking it.”
The problem got worse and, when he returned from his trip, his
doctor referred him to a neurologist who identified the problem
very quickly. At only 45 years old, Hall was diagnosed with
Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder commonly
associated with tremors that keep a person from performing some
of life’s common activities. For a photographer who depends
on his hands to control and carefully compose a photograph,
such a disease can prove both challenging and frustrating. But
for Hall, the disease hasn’t dampened his passion for photography.
Hall now shoots using digital cameras and has found that the
latest technologies in cameras and lenses offer him the tools
to minimize the adverse effects of the disease on his photography.
“I have to be very aware of what I’m doing with every
shot that I take,” he says. “I need to make sure that
my shutter speed is fast enough if I’m handholding the
camera or use a tripod, which I’m using now more than ever.”
Hall also appreciates the instant feedback provided by the camera’s
LCD for confirming exposure and composition. He especially enjoys
the ability to make exposure corrections quickly and easily.
“The immediate feedback is priceless,” Hall says.
“The ability to look at the display with the histogram
and to confirm that I’ve got the exposure right is indispensable.
I also like being able to go back to where I’m staying
and download the images around people I’m traveling with.
It provides a great social environment.”
Hall has especially benefited from the Image Stabilizer (IS)
technology found in several Canon lenses, which he uses with
his EOS 20D. The lenses counter unwanted camera movement and
help to deliver sharp images in situations that could result
in a soft photograph. Whether it’s a relatively slow shutter
speed or, as in Hall’s case, tremors caused by the disease,
the IS lenses help ensure that his images remain sharp.
“Those lenses with the image stabilization have really
come in handy,” he says. “Since there are times when
a tripod just isn’t practical, I have to depend on my IS
lenses, as well as make sure that I’m using a fast enough
shutter speed.”
Finding A Community
Sharing his images is important to Hall. Although he has entertained
the idea of being a “professional” photographer, he
isn’t interested in shooting someone else’s vision.
“After I studied a little photography at Orange Coast College,
I thought of making a career of it,” Hall says. “However,
I found that the kind of pictures people wanted me to take weren’t
the kind of pictures that I was excited about taking. I set
that aside and have kept my photography as a hobby.”
But rather than keeping his images to himself and a small circle
of friends, Hall has reached out to share his images and his
enthusiasm.
Hall involved himself in communities of photographers in the
real world and online. A user of the photo-sharing site PBase
(www.pbase.com),
he has found a place on the Web not only for sharing his images,
but also for meeting and learning from others who share his
love of the craft.
He has especially been challenged by the Photo-A-Day exercise
promoted by some in the PBase community, which encourages photographers
to shoot and upload a photograph every day.
“I find that the Photo-A-Day exercise makes me really think
about my photography a lot,” says Hall. “I feel like
I have a responsibility to myself since I’ve committed
to doing a photo a day. There are days when I don’t shoot
and I have to dig into my archive, which is interesting, as
I often rediscover images that I had forgotten about or had
never printed.”
Despite the challenges the world may throw at him, Jeff Hall
continues to respond to them in the way he loves best: one picture
at a time.
To see more of Jeff Hall’s photography, visit his Website
at www.jeff-hall.com.
