Pete Muller

It's 6 am.  I've been up for about 15 minutes.  There's a delivery that's worth getting up for, not to mention I've got an interview scheduled for 10:30 am.  The interview time was set by Pete Muller the night before.  He tells me that he's working nights on a project now that requires him to prepare during the afternoons and evenings.  Not a problem -- I want a good story and so if this is the time when Pete wants to meet, so be it.  I turn on the computer, run to grab the package, come back up and connect to the intertron.  Inbox has one message -- it's from Pete.  Here's what it says:

Hey Chris,

As you can tell by the time of this message, I'm up late.  I'm working on some stuff that really started flowing at about 2 am. I was laying in bed with bug eyes.  Is it cool if I come around 11?

Sorry for the late notice. I wasn't planning on this.

Later on,

P 

It was sent at 5:15am.  By most people's definition he stopped being up late over an hour ago.  This doesn't surprise me or concern me in the least bit.  The whole reason why we chose to go with Pete for this issue was his devotion to his craft, to his stories, to his willingness to immerse himself in his work.  Still up at 5:15am?  Good -- this article just got better.

Editor's note:  We made a conscious decision not to run Pete Muller's photography in this article.  He has pieces on display here on the site, yes, but there exists something in his website that better conveys the man, his work, and his methodology.  Let's just say that his website serves as a better introduction to him and his work than ours.  See for yourself:

  www.petemullerphotography.com

We end up meeting at my place around 9am.  He changes his mind and decides it would be better to do this now, as he may be asleep by 11.  I wouldn't be surprised if in the follow-up to this interview he tells me that he never made it to bed at all today.  Pete Muller has put himself in situations in which many would not feel comfortable.  He is purposely open and attentive to the situation and the events surrounding him as he photographs.  A journalist as well, he is focused on the subjectivity that an author / artist brings to the work.  Towards the end of our interview he says it perfectly, "I'm in the photograph, I'm just not in the photograph."

As a child he always wanted to be very close to whatever was going on.   If there was ever a ruckus he had to be "right in the thick of things".  If there was no ruckus to be found he was up to the task of creating one.  He likes to be a part of the scene, which I think is evident both in his work when on assignment and in the personal photography projects he undertakes.  This being said, the man knows when to say when.  The following few paragraphs discuss Pete's recent project focused on transgender women in DC. 

"I initially thought that I would do a series of pictures and a story about what these transgender women are experiencing out on the street in the African American community.  I feel like there's just not much [information].  There's a lot of transsexual pictures from a lot of other countries, there's not a lot here, and there's certainly not a lot about the black community.

So I started hanging out the past couple of weeks on the street."

Pete hit the areas of DC that few admittedly go.  He went looking for transgender women to photograph.  Something wasn't working though.  Here's what he says:

"I just wasn't feeling comfortable.  The neighborhoods were pretty dangerous, the girls were pretty rough.  I didn't quite know how to relate to them and talk with them to keep the time going and to keep things casual in between shooting.  We'd talk for a little while and then there'd be this uncomfortable silence and then I'd be snapping pictures.  It was awkward for everybody.

There's a lot going on on those blocks."

He has felt this way before, like for instance when he was in Uganda.

"The plan was to photograph the post war process of resettlement.  I thought that I would be photographing in the refugee camps as people are actually packing up from those camps and going home.  For some reason, like I wasn't connecting.  When you're uncomfortable you make other people uncomfortable, which makes it difficult to capture natural moments."

He didn't give up on shooting in Uganda though, he adapted; focusing more on the plight of urban refugees rather than those in remote camps.  He is doing the same with the transgender piece in DC.  He allows himself to follow where the story leads.  In this case, it led him to a church, one that accepts transgender members under its doctrine of radical inclusion.  Here, Pete felt good.  "Immediately I felt more comfortable," he says.  In fact, he's been taken a back a bit by this church.  He doesn't consider himself to be all that religious though.  He claims not to identify with any of the denominational groups.  What he does identify with is that kind of emotion found in the church service.

"Given the nature of the church, which is really what I was writing about last night, it caters specifically to marginalized groups.  Most of them are people who have been seeking religious inclusion for years. 

After years of hearing 'we will not take you' they finally hear 'you are home.'  I've never seen emotion like this.  It's incredible.  I was shooting pictures that Sunday and tears were just streaming down my face and I wasn't sure why.  It was just overwhelming.  Even talking about it it's moving."

This hints at Pete Muller's modus operandi.  Throughout the interview it is made very clear to me that he is willing to move with the story, to forge a relationship with the subject so as to accurately tell their story through photographs.  A fellow photographer one time looked at his photographs and labeled him sentimental.  Perhaps he is, but then, what artist isn't emotional about their work?  Pete is definitely aware of the situations surrounding the photo shoot, and the limitations inherent in this medium.  Says he, "I try to have the photos tell as much of the story as I can, but I believe a lot in writing.  I worked as a reporter for a news agency for about a year and a half in the Palestinian Territories.  Pictures capture one side of the story but I like to augment them [with writing].  At times, I believe that there are certain things you just can't fully convey in pictures and are better explained with words."  Sometimes those "things" un-capturable touch on the essence of the subject.  To Pete Muller this is important.

Says he about the transgender project:

"One of the challenges of doing that story is that it requires so much relationship development in the sense of getting through that "show" that's there.  I think that there's a lot of theatrics that whole identity where it's kind of the defense mechanism in a sense and it's part of the identity in another sense, so when you come in there with a camera, that can incite a more dramatic picture.  To me a picture like that -- I think it has some value -- but it doesn't seem really genuine to me."

Going further:

"I really believe that relationships have such an impact on pictures -- I like to get really close to people and I like to know what their story is and what's going on with them. So it's important -- when you run up into somebody's life with your camera, and they don't know you and you're asking them a lot of questions, there's a certain receptivity to somebody doing that, but I feel like you can really tell by looking at a picture how the photographer was interacting with those people and how they really felt about him."

Pete Muller has photographed a war-torn Uganda, documented the Palestinian conflict from within Palestine, and hung around with a cult.  His subjects are by many people's standards undesirable, and that's probably putting it nicely.  There is probably only a few folks reading this article who would get as close to his subjects as he does.  The result though is an engaging portfolio conveying the relationship between photographer and photographee.  I find myself wanting to know about the subjects, even if I don't want to take the steps necessary to do so.  As for why Pete does it, here's what he says:

"My editorial, photographic pursuits are largely driven by an intellectual or an academic curiosity about what people experience -- which is obviously a reflection of me and my emotional self.  I gravitate a lot towards difficult situations where I believe that people are being viewed too distantly."

Let us focus more on the methodology of Pete Muller.  He shoots close, but usually not in prime lenses.  He prefers a "pretty versatile 24 to 70mm lens" which demands that the photographer be at times close enough to see the reflection of himself in the moisture of the subject's eyes.  He believes in never zooming to a focus that you could walk to, although in tight situations, zoom allows quick response.  As I think you can imagine, and as Pete will tell you, there are times then when ethics come into play.  Says he, "Sometimes something is going on and I feel like I'm not going to take this picture."  For example, while in Uganda there was a funeral of a man whose family was by no means rich.  The deceased, displayed in an open casket, was not prepared for his funeral by Western standards and his immediate family members were in hysterics. It would have been a dramatic photograph, for sure, but one that ethically Pete Muller could not fight for.  "I like to feel that each frame is completely necessary for the story. If it’s not, I sometimes refrain from shooting in very sensitive moments if it’s not absolutely necessary, Given that the funeral was only tangentially related to my story, I didn’t think that continuing to shoot was justifiable" says he.

The shots he does take are done only after significant interaction with the subject.  He gets the good shots by building a report and listening to his subjects.  Here's what he says:

"I'm inclined to say that in documentary photography there's so many variables and to some degree you try to control a few of those variables, and I feel like one of the ways you can do that is if you intently, intently observe somebody and pay attention to who they are and how they react to things you can almost gauge when they're going to do the shot you want.  If you're not paying attention you're going to constantly fucking miss that shot.  Observation, which goes hand in hand with listening.

And you're never going to get every picture."

Observance and immersion are paramount to Pete Muller as a photographer.  There is a limit, however, to what Pete Muller is willing to do for his craft(s).  This is a prevailing theme throughout his interview.  He's not there to exploit, a point he makes to his subjects by being very available to them.  "There's a lot of talking.  I really enjoy talking to people, and all those pictures really are the product of approaching people and talking with them," he says.  He takes the photographs because he thinks these people are worth documenting and that their individual stories must be heard.  He does so honestly.  As I mentioned earlier, Pete Muller is a traditional journalist as well as a photo-journalist.  He has written for the Washington City Paper, which you can see here although the slideshow of images has been removed:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34873

The reviews were astounding.  Pete took photographs of Sakhi Gulestan in Dupont Circle.  The man, known as Mohammed by some, was from what I can gather, very well known and very well liked.  Those that read the article felt that Pete accurately described the man and paid him proper homage.  This is not, to me, all that surprising.  Here's why.  He tells me about a time while he was in the Palestinian Territories covering contentious issues and working to generate a style guide for the news agency. On a particular occasion, agency staff discussed the suitable terms for the barrier built by Israel in the West Bank.  Here's what he said:

"We have to call this the "separation barrier."  Some Palestinians wanted to call it The Apartheid Wall.  The Israelis wanted to call it a security fence.  At the end of the day, this is a barrier of some form or another that separates things.  That thinking generated a pretty resonant idea for me of trying my best to be critical where I need to be critical..."

While telling this to me Pete became very determined.  He leaned forward in his chair and his hand gestures intensified -- not in frequency but in strength.  He got defiant against the imagined antagonists he went up against in his story.   Then he leaned back, got a bit quieter, and said this:

"...but I have a tendency to make editorial omissions.  It's subjective -- wherever I'm standing, however I'm seeing things, what I'm editing out is just as important as what I'm putting in.  My responsibility, I feel, is to create a depiction of what people are experiencing that is defensible and square with what I believe to be morally right."

He might not be objective, but this man is honest.  

"This is how I see it -- if anything, working for that news agency in the Palestinian areas was a real eye opener in terms of the notions of objectivity, the language that you use, and the best literal ways to say we're going to use this term because we feel like it's what it literally is.  The political connotations of using a different word can't apply to this."

So there we have it -- a dialogue about subjectivity and objectivity, which is sometimes internal and often interwoven with a conversation on ethics.  It is a constant dialogue heard in every picture he takes.  Paraphrasing a photographer he is particularly fond of, Chris Anderson, he says, "People see a photograph and they think a photograph doesn't lie, and generally in the rules of journalism, in the ethics, we're not out there manipulating images in ways that make them untrue to what happens.  There might be visual adjustments or whatever.  He [Chris] says it's such a misguided notion to think that we are being objective in our coverage."  The photographer has no choice but to be subjective, and therefore Pete Muller is not unique in this aspect.  He is unique because he is attuned to this fact.  Moreover, he excels within these parameters.

The role of documentary photographer is intense.  Pete Muller makes it more so, maybe because of the emotional connection he feels with his subjects or maybe because of the subjects he chooses to photograph.  Immersing himself in the lives of others can have dangerous outcomes, and Pete knows it from experience.  He takes the risk because it is necessary to capture the photographs he does.  As he has told his subjects, "if you're going to stand out here in the cold or the dark, I'm going to stand out here with you."  Pete endures their same hardships in order to capture a dynamic and truthful photograph.  It is because of his subjectivity he is honest, not in spite of it.  Like many a good journalist will tell you, nothing beats a first-hand report.  Pete Muller offers just that, and he does it well.

As for what's next for the man, it's hard to say.  I ask him if there are places he would like to go or projects he's got lined up, and it's the only time he seems tired in the whole interview.  He finally says that right now the focus is on the church and the photo project covering transgender women in the DC area. 

While perhaps not direct influences, he has great admiration of some of the more famous photographers of conflict, such as Paolo Pelligrin, Alex Majoli, James Nachtwey, and Eli Reed.  He says, "There's something so extraordinary about photographers, particularly combat photographers, who are willing to put themselves at that kind of physical risk in order to show the rest of us what’s happening out there." 

For photographs that he is really proud of, he mentions the photograph of Ernie and Tim, two Vietnam Vets he befriended and photographed.  Of the shoot he says, "It was such a unique and intimate moment, to see two men of such different backgrounds sharing such a powerful bond."  He said, "I need this picture," even though it was weird to the point of making him uncomfortable.  That photograph can be seen both at Pete's website, again www.petemullerphotography.com, and it is also included in Pete's portfolio here on TheFifteenBeforeFifteen.com.  Look for it -- it's powerful.

As for what he won't do, he will not allow his work to be associated with, or contribute to, an agenda the he perceived as promoting conflict and/or suffering.  He smirks as he says, "If a picture I had taken had popped up on some promo pamphlet for the Lord's Resistance Army, I’d certainly speak out against it." 

Despite his ever-growing portfolio, some of which has been featured in The Washington Post, National Geographic Glimpse, the Associated Press, USA Today, and of course Washington's City Paper, he is reluctant to say he has arrived.  He tends to have very rigid standards for himself, which he feels a lot of people do.  He likes to take on projects that reflect his interest in different human experiences, hence why the he was really proud of his City Paper feature and soon-to-be released Uganda work.  He shows no signs of decreasing his involvement with those he photographs, nor stopping the conversation on subjectivity/objectivity.  He states, "I never thought that photography would demand so much of the photographer in terms of knowing who you are,  where you're comfortable and, consequently, which stories you can do the most justice to.  Particularly in documentary work, each photographer makes his or her own connection with people. Each of us relates differently and can therefore make headway in circumstances that another might find extremely alienating.”

That being said, he is still going forth with a lot of momentum, and willing to grow.  "I'm really at this point trying to challenge myself more.  Because I'm so people-focused I feel like people are always the essence of what I'm interested in.  Sometimes it can blind me to things that are going on around people that effects them.  Sometimes I forget to make important environmental images -- because most of the time I'm doing what you're doing -- I'm listening."  He does that quite well also.

"I guess that's what gives you the energy to keep doing it, because you always feel like there's room to improve.  If you love what you're doing you want to be as good at it as you can."  With Pete Muller the "good" in that quote means more than just getting an attractive photograph.

Here’s what he says in closing:

“Ultimately, I hope that these photographs and stories encourage people to think critically about things that may seem foreign. I hope that looking at an individual and the circumstances of their life, makes the discussion of larger issues more personal. AIDS, homelessness, war, poverty are big topics that get lip service in a rather sterilized way. I hope that these documents help remind us that when all is said and done, a ‘topic’ is comprised of individual stories, and it’s essential to remember that. We are all part of this common story.” 

www.petemullerphotography.com

http://www.thefifteenbeforefifteen.com/artist/AA263BED/

Article written by Chris Davis