When Life Bites

“I had my foot amputated yesterday morning.” -- David DuChemin

Many years ago, I discovered a photography instructor who seldom talked about equipment or f-stops, who helped me learn how to see the world I was walking through. As time went on, his message broadened to helping us, his students, develop our personal creativity. His podcasts during the pandemic became a life-line … so much so that the book of art and words I created in that turbulent time was dedicated to David DuChemin.

In the past year or so, I’ve heard less from David. However, my life was chaotic enough that I didn’t notice the missing emails and notices until a few weeks ago when he re-emerged with the opening subtitle which startled me. I had been his fan and student long enough to know about the accident he had while on a photography trip to Italy. However, it’s best to let him retell it in his own words:

I took a fall while trying to make a photograph in Italy 12 years ago. The fall shattered my feet, broke my pelvis, and bruised my ego. But it was April and already by that point in the year three other people had fallen from the same place and none of them survived so that accident also re-calibrated my gratitude. I spent 40 nights in hospital, among them some of the longest nights of my life, filled with fear. I cried myself to sleep most nights, worried I’d never walk again. Worried my career was over. I was so, so lucky to be alive, but what if I could never again experience or photograph the things that made my life so rich and meaningful?

As far as I knew, David had recovered and continued producing stunning photography books and a series of podcasts that I looked forward to avidly each week. His multi-week intensive course had helped me break through a creative barrier, and, so as far as I knew, he was still walking on water, at least figuratively.

It turns out that he wrote the opening line the night before his surgery to amputate his foot, not knowing how he would feel once the surgery was complete. It was elective surgery, so to speak … elective only in the sense that it was a better option than the choice of not having it since living with a prosthetic foot offered a better life than his worsening broken foot offered.

Again his words:

So, that brings us to now. As I head into this I’m nervous (an understatement). My family is nervous (also an understatement, maybe more so). But I’m also hopeful. I’m hopeful that once I’ve recovered and have my prosthetic leg I can hike again, that I can travel again and travel further and with less pain. I’m hopeful that this might deepen my understanding of myself and what it means to live a courageous and creative life. But right now, mostly I’m frightened. I know it’s only a foot, and it’s only getting in the way these days but I’m losing a part of myself and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Over my years of learning from David, I’ve noticed how much I’ve come to think of him as a friend, a mentor. From the comments from other students I’ve read, I know this isn’t just my reaction. He has an open, authentic way of sharing his stories and lessons that makes us believe we could be better photographers, more creative sharers of our own stories and visions. He has empowered and inspired so many of us. 

Now he is leading us on a new journey.

So how am I doing? I am well. Truly. Very sore, but well. All week I’ve been so relieved the surgery is over and that, yes, they removed the correct foot. So grateful to be able to begin planning and dreaming again. And after being postponed twice, I’m thrilled that the surgery is not something that can be taken away again. I’m mentally clearer now than I’ve been in months, perhaps for the last year. Even with the pain meds, I feel undistracted, like the fog and preoccupation have lifted. My words are easier to find, my sense of humour feels sharper. I realize what a weight I’ve been carrying as I’ve second/third/fourth-guessed my choice so many times since last summer. It’s been exhausting, and I am so relieved, so truly happy, to be coming out of that. I slept better last night than I have in months.

David’s latest blog post is a complete life lesson …

Show Me Where You’re Brave

My favorite words from that post:

“What makes it a little easier is that being strong or being brave is not a matter of feeling. Strength and courage are what we conjure from deep places within us to override the feelings and to take whatever next step is necessary and not give up.”

Everything he has done in the years I’ve studied with him has been flavored with a deep generosity, and he continues that during this challenge, offering us three new monographs and 18 desktop wallpapers on a “pay what you want basis.”

Monographs:

Photographed in Kenya over 30 days in January 2023, this was my last great adventure while awaiting my surgical date. The Wild & The Wonder is mostly work that's never been published and I believe this is my strongest work to date as I've worked to figure out what it means to do wildlife photography in a way that is most meaningful and authentic to me. I can't wait to share this with you. 60 pages, PDF format.

My first trip to India was over 15 years ago now, and my time there over those years remains some of my most memorable. India will be one of my first international adventures when I'm back to travelling and photographing internationally. Join me in Old Delhi, Ladakh, Kasmir, Jodhpur and along the Ganges in Varanasi and experience the incredible human drama of the sub-continent. 84 pages, PDF format. 

I began my career as a humanitarian photographer and while I've found myself in the wild more and more, the human connections I have found through my camera are some of the most meaningful and inspiring of my life. Catchlight contains 72 of my favourite portraits, all of them glimpses into extraordinary people with whom we share this planet. 78 pages, PDF format.

Click this Pay What You Want button to go directly to David’s page.