Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Dane Chambers.
Hi Candace, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My mother gifted me my first camera when I graduated from undergrad in 2014, I used the new DSLR to document my post-grad summer abroad, but it quickly lost its novelty when I returned to the states. I tucked it away for the next three years.
I moved from my hometown in PG County to Los Angles and began a misguided and short-lived career in fashion. Motivated by a love of craftsmanship and traditional design, I hoped to eventually rise to the position of head buyer or sourcing director and work directly with artisans worldwide. But the reality of the industry fell short of my romanticized version, and I made the decision to walk away in late 2017 when my mother fell terminally ill.
I returned home to become her primary caregiver until her death in 2018. Losing both parents by the age of 25 was a difficult experience to navigate. My grief and loss were compounded by detachment from the world around me. Your parents are your source, your lifeline, and guiding stars – for better or worse. Living without my connection to the past and their guidance for the future threw me into a kind of perpetual present. A present that was devastating, deeply isolating and shamefully liberating all at once.
My partner at the time inspired me to pick up the camera again. My photography practice began on the streets, wandering Los Angeles looking for interesting subjects. As I became more comfortable, ten-second interactions would become five-minute chats and by the time my camera took me off the coast of West Africa, I’d return to my subjects day after day. On every single one of my journeys, I’ve had conversations that have made me laugh, cry, wonder, stretch.
I’ve traveled deep into Jamaica’s Blue Mountains to visit a 300-year-old Maroon village, walked into one of Kingston’s most dangerous neighborhoods to attend a Kumina revival, drifted through a floating shanty town in Nigeria ironically nicknamed “The Venice of Africa,” and watched young surfers learn how to catch some of the world’s best waves in Cape Verde.
Looking back, I now realize photography was my personal form of art therapy. At my most unmoored, it offered me a sense of connection, purpose, and motivation to stay curious.
After two years of traveling, I made the decision to formally pursue a career in documentary photography and enrolled in George Washington University’s New Media Photojournalism MA program. Upon graduation, I was awarded the 2022 Outstanding MA Student in NMPJ for my thesis project on Black women farmers, Watered.
Now as a freelancer in the DC metro area, I shoot editorial, corporate, and event visuals and am currently working on a short documentary about the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Photography, especially documentary photography, can be a difficult way to make a living. I entered the field with the hopes of one day traveling the world as a Nat Geo explorer. That opportunity has yet to manifest, and even local photojournalistic work has been challenging to come by.
I’ve had to pivot to other, less fulfilling genres of photography, which has been disheartening. But I’m hungry and grateful for any paying opportunity that allows me to get behind the lens or assist other talented shooters. There are so, SO, many technical elements to lighting, exposing, composing, and editing, and I learn new techniques on every shoot, regardless of the subject. I carry that commitment to the craft with me as I continue to strive toward my ideal career.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At its core, my photo practice is about bearing witness. Viewing the work of legends like Gordon Parks and Malick Sidibe, I’m filled with gratitude. If it weren’t for the talented photographers that came before me, I would have no real understanding of what everyday 20th-century Black life looked like outside of the narrow images in textbooks and films. My work is a continuation of that tradition: a rich, nuanced record of the Black experience free from stereotypes and respectability.
I began as a street photographer which was ultimately an exercise in patience and stillness. How can I find beauty in the seemingly mundane? How can I reveal the vision just below the surface? As my practice expanded, I’ve tried to maintain that raw, vulnerable sensibility. I now specialize in environmental portraiture, using primarily natural light and documentary film with a thematic focus at the intersection of community, art & culture.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Endless gratitude to my parents John Chambers Jr. & Dr. Georgette Sims Chambers for their support in this life and then next. To Menyelek for opening the path. To Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg and Sarah Goolishian for being amazing collaborators. And to Ave Pildas, Susan Sterner, Fid Thompson, and Michelle Frankfurter for their instruction and constant encouragement.
Contact Info:
- Website:candacedane.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candace.dane/
Image Credits
Rikkí Wright
Candace Dane Chambers
