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Going like wildfire

Fred Greaves never wanted to be a photographer but he’s hot now

Nationally known for his images of wildfires and other natural disasters, photojournalist Fred Greaves is having a hot career and a heck of a time, especially for a guy who fought tooth and nail against becoming a photographer.  Fred’s disinclination to pick up a camera began in childhood and continued into his 20’s.  ‘My mom was a very talented amateur photographer,’ he says.  ‘But growing up as a boy, the last thing I wanted to do was something my mom did.  My goal was always to work in law enforcement.’

Fred graduated from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Academy into a patrol job on a small-city police force, but decided to move on after a couple of years.  Teaching was his next career choice, and while pursuing his credential, he started writing part-time for a local newspaper.   At the paper, he got a closer look at working photographers and in the beginning, it just didn’t click for him. 


‘I saw the photographers carrying all this gear around, wearing photo vests with pockets full of different films, light meters, and all the other stuff that went with the job, and I thought it looked geeky as all get-out,’ he says.  ‘Then the paper considerably reduced the size of their photo staff and made the writers start taking their own pictures.  I fought it tooth and nail until the editor agreed to pay me a few extra bucks when they used a picture.  I grudgingly bought a camera, and found it was kind of fun.’

Fred’s images immediately attracted attention at the newspaper but he continued pursuing his teaching credential and stumbled into a basic photography lab only because he couldn’t get a class he needed for his major.  ‘I took the class thinking: what the heck?  I might learn something,’ he says.  ‘But after developing my first roll of film and making my first print in the black and white darkroom, I absolutely fell in love with photography.   Because I was already working, I was able to transition from my writing job to a photo job.  After three and a half years, I left the paper, freelanced for awhile, then worked on and off as a staffer for The San Diego Union-Tribune while continuing to build my freelance business in both editorial and advertising photography.’

Now a 17-year veteran in the field, Fred has contributed images to The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg News, The Christian Science Monitor, Reuters News Pictures, Time, Newsweek and other prime editorial outlets.  His ability to think on his feet and pull solutions out of the air has attracted an impressive roster of advertising and corporate clients including Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, Motorola, AirTran Airlines, The American Red Cross, IBM, Nintendo, Universal Records and the Hard Rock Café. 


Fred lives in the San Diego area with his wife and their four-year-old son Nicholas, who was tickling dad’s feet during our interview.  Things aren’t going to get much quieter around the Greaves’ household for quite some time because twins are on their way.


Order out of chaos

While much of Fred’s work takes place in the safety of a studio or corporate environment, he really loves to work under challenging conditions.  He credits his background in law enforcement, and additional training in a US Forest Service wildland fire fighting academy, for providing him the mindset and skills to work close to the flames without getting burned.  

‘When you drop into a chaotic situation like a big wildfire,’ he says, ‘it’s smoky and disorienting.  There is a lot of noise and activity with hundreds of things going on around you… total chaos. But to me, the real joy of photography is telling a story in an environment where everything is working against you.   The ideal is to isolate things, to say this is a moment, this tells the story, this goes well with this.  Most photography is about being where the pictures are happening.  With disaster-related work, it’s also about making good safety decisions, understanding the dynamics of the situation and making sure that you don’t put yourself in a position where you are going to get hurt, or killed and become a part of the story yourself… requiring rescue.’



How to dress for a hot date

In covering fires and other disasters, Fred often teams with fellow-photojournalist and kindred-spirit Dave Gatley.  Both are known for their work at disaster scenes and both are instructors at the Digital Photo Academy.  On the fire-line, they tend to stand out from the media herd because of the way the dress and carry themselves.  

‘The only way to be work safely in the middle of a fire is to have the right training and the right gear,’ Fred says.  ‘Some  photographers show up at major wildfires with some bottled water, a bandana over their mouths, and a long-sleeve shirt and think they are safe and ready to go.  Dave and I are wearing full protective gear, yellow Nomex pants, jackets, helmets, goggles and gloves.  And carrying portable fire shelters because if things go sideways out there, it’s too late to go find the right gear when you are being overrun by flames.’



Digital lets me shoot right up to the deadline

Fred believes that digital cameras are the right gear for photographing just about everything.  Digital is perfect for disasters because it lets him stay on the scene and shoot right up to deadline.  ‘Film has a huge time-crunch on the back end,’ he says.  ‘Because of the urgency of disasters, you are always facing deadlines for both commercial and editorial clients when shooting this type of work. While still shooting film, I used to have to leave a fire around two in the afternoon, look around for the nearest place to process my film, rush back to the office, scan it, and transmit it.  With digital and my wireless card, I know what I’ve shot, and can quickly load the images into a computer and grab the ones I want right in the field and send them to a client anywhere in the world in real time.’


An environment that helps people grow

Fred thinks the Digital Photo Academy is a welcome departure from other workshops.  ‘I’m excited to see Panasonic embrace photography and give photographers an environment that can really help them grow,’ he says.  ‘Many workshops are either very expensive or geared towards a very particular part of the photographic market.  The Digital Photo Academy has basic, intermediate and advanced workshops, as well as private coaching.  That really allows people to fit into the program wherever they are as a photographer and gives them a lot of room to grow.’


One of Fred’s main goals is to help students enjoy photography and have more fun by getting out of whatever photographic ruts they may have fallen into.  ‘People are creatures of habit, and if they don’t get some instruction, they tend to keep making the same mistakes over and over, shooting the same thing in the same way every year and never really being happy with the results,’ he says. ‘This increases frustration.  Once you help people to better understand how cameras work and how light in general works, they can use those skills to make changes, improve quality and composition and become happier photographers because they feel like they have control of their camera again… and not the camera controlling them.’

www.fredgreaves.com

http://photogsmac.blogspot.com



Written by Mark Lovece

Photographer Headshot by Dave Gatley, DPA San Diego Instructor