He has seen the horror in postwar Iraq from close by. He dedicated a book and a web site to it, containing a number of the many photographs he took there. “He” is Geert van Kesteren, a Dutch Magnum Photographer, a photo journalist who won the Visa d’Or at the Festival Visa in Perpignan.

IT-Enquirer interviewed Geert van Kesteren and asked about his digital camera, his computer equipment, his preferred workflow, and the photo editing software tools he uses. And of course we asked him what makes a good photograph.

Geert van Kesteren calls himself a photo journalist and author. He tells a story with his images, a story of every day life in traumatised areas around the globe. Geert van Kesteren is not hung up on digital cameras and equipment. He still uses a Leica M6 film camera when he wants the ultimate in quality. It is the demand of the job that dictates what he uses. “The assignment determines the camera I use,” van Kesteren says. “When it has to be fast, like for news, the digital camera is best. For black and white photographs, I prefer the Leica M6.”

van Kesteren’s current digital camera is a Canon EOS 5D with 24mm and 35mm lens. “I traded in my Nikon D1x with 17-35mm lens for the Canon because the latter simply is better,” van Kesteren says. Although for some photographs he prefers the Leica M6, van Kesteren believes his digital photographs show more of the raw reality of daily life he tries to capture. “There’s no grain in digital photographs. That makes them look more real,” van Kesteren says.

Geert van Kesteren also has a tip when it comes to buying equipment: “I always look at reliability, strength, and quality first. Speed is very important in my line of work, and accuracy as well. I must be able to depend on the camera to accurately record what I see through the viewer when I capture a moment in life.”

Photo Editing Software

Just as his colleagues, Geert van Kesteren can’t live without a modern photographer’s tools: a laptop computer, and photo editing software. “I’m always carrying a Powerbook G4 with me,” he says, “It runs Photoshop, Aperture, iView and Photomechanic.”

But van Kesteren doesn’t use Photoshop or Aperture to heavily edit his photos: “A journalistic photograph must be trustworthy. That means you can’t manipulate it. The only freedom I take in that respect, is that I sometimes adjust the levels a bit, but that’s it.” van Kesteren saves his digital photographs as 50MB TIFF files for archival purposes. The copies he sends to newspapers and magazines are 20MB JPEGs.

Most important about software to him is speed and the integration between photographic source material and the application’s features.

The Photographer’s Secret

Is there a secret to shooting snapshots that tell a story? According to Geert van Kesteren shooting a beautiful photograph means nothing when the picture doesn’t communicate some sort of story or opinion.

In that respect, making good photographs is simple. As van Kesteren puts it: “Make a good photograph in terms of lighting, composition, etc. You will find that, when the groundwork has been laid well, you won’t need to edit or add much in Photoshop afterwards.” Although he doesn’t say so in as many words, this view implies that Photoshop is particularly well suited for “improving” bad photographs—unless you’re using Photoshop as an artistic tool or as a retouching tool for old photographs, of course.

Geert van Kesteren seems to be enthusiastic about Apple’s Aperture: “If you have the computing power, try using Aperture for camera RAW files. And save your originals --even if the photographs are terrible-- in at least two locations, one online and one offline.”

Geert van Kesteren was asked to join Magnum Photographers after a number of this photographic co-operative’s senior members saw his book “Why Mister, Why” on postwar Iraq.

Work of Geert van Kesteren can be seen on his Why Mister Why web site, at Magnum Photos, and from April on the Speaking for Earth web site.