William Vazquez (New York, USA)

About Artist

The one word that best describes me and my approach to work best is adaptable.

Whether shooting a peanut farm in Haiti, driving through a raging Chicago winter or racing across Siem Reap on a tuk-tuk loaded with all my equipment, I adapt to whatever's thrown at me so I can be open and present when it comes time to capture images of the fleeting moments when we connect.

Going to places I have never been, figuratively or literally, is one of my favorite things. And I feel lucky that the range of clients and projects I have worked with for the past two decades has allowed me to shoot in five continents, and meet all kinds of people: scientists, farmers, businesspeople, orphans, doctors, community activists, families, monks.

In the photography business, specializing on a particular subject or style is supposed to be the way to get ahead. I have found that the opposite, being a generalist, is what has gotten me work consistently and what has allowed me to learn new things, stay current. Can I shoot video? Yes. Can I direct a shoot remotely from 13 time zones away? Yes. Can I carry all my own equipment across multiple sites for weeks on end? Yes. Being married to one kind of equipment or to one visual approach is not for me. What matters to me the most is telling visual stories and finding the essence of people in the simplest way possible.

Growing up in multicultural New York, a product of Brooklyn, gave me the foundation to feel comfortable in any setting, whether or not I speak the language of my subjects. At 18, I ditched electrical engineering when I discovered photography and spent a summer in Paris, followed by some study in Parsons School of Design. But what shaped me the most as a photographer was old-fashioned apprenticeship, as assistant to photographers who showed me how to make photos that look effortless even when working in the toughest situations.

As co-chair of the American Photographic Artists (APA), I want to help photographers form community, in a field where we often work alone, without a safety net, and pass on what I learned along the way.

Work for the next few months:
Right now I am working on a couple of projects that will take me to Haiti, Vietnam, Mexico, Russia, Burma, Bangladesh, China, and India. As well as various locations in the states.