In Part 1, I introduced my friend Valérie. In this 2nd installment, I asked her the following:
Q. Can you give me some background about where you went to school, when you arrived here in the US?

A.I was born and grew up on the French Riviera, studied English in Paris, France (Masters degree,) then came over in 1989 as a teaching assistant at the University of Georgia in Athens (REM heydays, glorious times…!) and on to the University of Missouri in Columbia, where I got another Masters degree (little good do they do me now) in Photojournalism

Q. What did you love about news photography?

A. What I love about photojournalism is that it satisfies my deep curiosity about the world and people around me: you get to meet new people every day, cover new happenings, and learn a lot in the process. Not to mention that it can be exciting and never boring (except at a baseball game, maybe? but then again, sports were never my strong horse!)

Q. What didn’t you like about it?

A.There was very little I didn’t like about it, but having to take pictures of people after they’d suffered terrible losses or accidents was at the top of the list.

Q. What gear do you currently use? Camera body, lenses?
A. I use an almost ten-year-old and starting to show it badly Nikon D70 bought from my friend and fellow photographer Rigo Peña after I left the newspaper business and joined the circus. Two main lenses: 35 to 70 mm and 24 mm. I also have a 80 to 200 but use it extremely rarely.

Read Part 1 and visit Valérie’s blog Mudshow Diaries..
Peter Phun Photography

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