AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JAMES HAYMAN

Some of Hayman's earliest photographic work took place shortly after the 1976 earthquake in Guatemala, where he went to aid the U.N.'s disaster relief efforts.

- Leila Antakly

While there, he fell in love with the environment and the people who lived there, a trait he would continue throughout all his future travels. Through an unabashedly humanist lens, these photographs depict a time and a place deeply rooted in its historical moment and universal in their exploration of what constitutes beauty, life, and community.

Since the 1970s James Hayman, an L.A based visual artist and filmmaker, has been documenting communities worldwide through a humanist lens. After studying photojournalism and being disillusioned with its limitations during a photoshoot at the Nixon White House, Hayman's photographic career turned to collaborate with communities he encountered throughout his career as a volunteer and television/film director. The result is a body of work that Hayman continues to this day, documenting everyday people in bodies of work that act as time capsules.

Leila Antakly: Thank you for taking the time for this interview on Lens Magazine. You have an extraordinary experience of years as a fine art photographer as well as a Filmmaker. Tell us about the skills you took as a photographer to move into directing or vice versa and about your journey from street and documentary photography to filmmaking.