There’s a little of Walter Mitty mixed with a large dash of Inquisitor in many documentary photographers.

A documentary photographer looks into a person’s or group’s existence and through photography intimately examines lives, emotions, occupations, avocations and passions. On other occasions the documentary photographer explores a place or thing, submerging into its depths, looking for unknowns.

For short but precious periods the project sweeps the photographer into a different life or another culture. Not infrequently the photographer discovers goodness and beauty, but at times it’s their antitheses that are found. Whichever, it’s indelible and never leaves the photographer quite the same as before.