Home »

Nick Whale story about Haiti: A passion for pictures

By Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Berkshire Eagle

Sunday, September 24

Nick Whalen knows the story of Haiti is a difficult one to tell. He also knows it's a difficult one to sell, especially through the lens of an 18-year-old who lives in sneakers and jeans.

But this budding photojournalist from Pittsfield is succeeding in his mission, with his own mind, finances and finesse.

During a journey that has included two trips to the Caribbean nation, Whalen has overcome language barriers, befriended the Brazilian commander of a United Nations base and been exposed to Haiti's toughest slums through the stories of street kids. He also has found new friendships and a girlfriend.

On Tuesday, he'll embark on another trip to Haiti, his third since December 2004.

As with many of his predecessors, Whalen has taken photographs that show a society perpetually plagued by poverty, political turmoil, crime and savage inequities. But for this trip, he has committed himself to developing a positive picture of Haiti ? a community of renewed patriotism and resilience.

"Haiti has a bad rep: voodoo, violence, drugs, kidnapping, corruption," Whalen said. "What happens in Port-au-Prince (the capital) does not necessarily happen in all of Haiti. So it's imperative to report on what little there is to be happy about here."

Though friends say he is fortunate to find his calling at such a young age, Whalen has learned that the pursuit of passion carries a risk of danger. But he also is comfortable with his ability to survive in Haiti.

"I can keep safe," he said. "It's about being smart and keeping my focus. I've come back alive, so I'm fine."

To make his monthlong trip to Haiti happen, Whalen has withdrawn from school, pulling out of his senior year at Berkshire Country Day School in Lenox last week. He said, though, that his diploma will come, even if it's later rather than sooner.

"I don't feel I could put all I needed into my photography and work if I were going to school," Whalen said. "I'm ready to get my career going."

He acknowledged that his peers and elders, including his parents, have concerns about his schooling and his safety.

"Naturally, they're concerned for my well-being," he said. "But there's nothing they can do about it now. I picked my battle at a young age. Haiti's my life project."

In the middle of action

Nick is the son of Tony and Maria Whalen of Pittsfield. A furniture maker and a Berkshire Country Day French teacher, respectively, they've raised their son from modest beginnings, along with their two younger daughters ? Anastasia, 17, and Natalia, 9.

Born under the Sagittarius sign, the younger Whalen has many characteristics of his astrological group ? a straightforward risk-taker and a natural-born visionary.

"Even as a kid, Nick always wanted to be where the action was," his father said. "At one point, Maria and I were seriously considering investing in a helmet for him. He was always running around and trying to climb the furniture."

In fact, Whalen's mother listed climbing as one of her son's earliest passions. And it was during a father-son climbing trip in the Grand Tetons that Tony Whalen learned to respect his son's ability to make independent decisions.

"There's a big trust when you're at the end of a rope knowing that your life is in your son's hands," he said. "I've learned to let him do his thing."

Nick, who describes his parents as "totally supportive," has always had an active interest in politics, current events and culture. He has been to China and Europe. He reads voraciously ? currently it's Howard Chapman's 1994 book "Truth Needs No Ally: Inside Photojournalism."

He has similar books and magazines spilling from the bookcase of his attic bedroom ? his study, his studio, his fortress, where he has trained and prepared for the trip to Haiti.

But he has a "normal" life, too, enjoying soccer, sailing, biking, music and cars.

"He's not really a workaholic. He'll go out with us. He balances stuff really well," said Clemens Knieper, Whalen's good friend and co-captain of the soccer team at BCD.

Knieper and several friends joined Whalen on a recent Saturday as Whalen held his first local photojournalism exhibition.

Located on the back walls of Uncommon Grounds, a Great Barrington café, was a black-and-white installation that Whalen calls "The MINUSTAH Photos." It is a photo essay about the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Dozens of his family members, friends and BCD teachers were on hand to support Whalen and his work. But Whalen said he has caught a lot of criticism from teachers and peers since announcing his decision to leave school last week.

"They say, 'You're an idiot.' A lot of these people just don't get me," Whalen said. "I hate saying I dropped out. It sounds so dirty."

Since his most recent Haiti trip, in June, Whalen had been debating whether to return to BCD for his senior year.

Robert Peterson, BCD's head of school, said he met with Whalen before the start of the school year. Although the administrator said he was willing to allow one trip during the year as an excused absence, the three or four trips Whalen had in mind ? Bolivia and multiple trips to Haiti ? "would not fit within the curriculum frameworks of our school."

For Whalen, the trips were not negotiable. After school on Wednesday, he formally withdrew.

"He's an incredibly mature young guy. But the camera has really caught him," said Peterson, who said the school will always support his work.

"It's all about learning and helping people right now," Whalen said.

Young and driven

As with Shakespeare's Cassius, Nick Whalen has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much, and for some people, that's dangerous.

"He's just a passionate kid," said Austin Sarner, 17, a former BCD student who knows what it's like to be young and driven. He left school to establish himself as a software developer and interface designer, earned his high school diploma through an online program and now works for himself in Sweden.

"It's very difficult," Sarner added. "The plan for society for most people is to go to school, go to college and go to a desk job. It's pretty unique for a teenager going to a Third World country, at will, to cover a conflict."

Sister Eunice Tassone, director of Church Outreach to Youth Center Inc. in North Adams, saw a spark in Whalen during his first visit to Haiti in December 2004. At age 16, Whalen joined Tassone and a college-age group on a trip through a program known as Haiti Plunge.

For 24 years, Tassone has been bringing youths, ages 16 to 24, to work within a developing rural mountain cooperative in the Desab area, 58 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The nine-village cooperative is operated for youths by youths. There, students work and live like their Haitian peers, with no electricity, no showers, no bed frames.

She said the youth initiative is paramount because communities in Haiti are "losing the voice of their young people, who need to be heard."

"It's up to these (Haiti Plunge) kids to give them a voice," Tassone said.

Williamsburg resident Keith Harmon Snow, 46, a photojournalist and acquaintance of Whalen's, said Whalen is passionate about his mission.

"He's got a lot of angst about the suffering in Haiti," Snow said.

After his initial trip with Tassone, Whalen became hungry for more. But Haiti doesn't come cheaply. Whalen estimated that his trip will cost $2,000, living frugally.

To raise money for his trips in June and this month, he sold his car, his bike and a video camera and spent this past summer mowing lawns and doing landscaping with a cousin.

"This whole thing is going to be real shoestring," Whalen said. "I'll be eating rice."

Developing relationships

When he's working, Whalen often begins his days around 7 a.m. and stays up studying and editing photos until 3 a.m.

Another large chunk of his time is spent reaching out to other photojournalists for guidance and mentoring.

One such relationship is with William B. Plowman, a professional photojournalist from Boston who has worked for several publications and news services, including The Associated Press.

Plowman spent considerable time in Haiti in 2004 during what he calls "a low-level, dirty little civil war." It was a riotous and bloody time between the downfall of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the rise of René Préval.

Whalen got Plowman's e-mail address and began corresponding with him. Plowman said he assumed that he was communicating with a college-age student.

"It wasn't until much later that I learned he was 17. At first I was like, 'You gotta be kidding me,' " said Plowman, 37.

But Plowman sensed seriousness and professionalism in the young man, so he agreed to travel with him to Haiti this past June. Plowman and his wife also recently visited the Whalens in the Berkshires.

"We work really well together. We're good friends," Whalen said. "It's the only way to work."

Plowman agreed. "There are not a lot of people that you can work with in places like that. This is a very difficult nut to crack. It's very serious work and very dangerous."

But Plowman said he sees the skill, instinct and sense of adventure constantly developing in his protégé, who has joined the National Press Photographers Association and said he eventually wants to work for Anarchy Images, which bills itself as "The Alternative Photography Agency."

"He's one of those guys," Plowman said. "They just see that, and they just get it. Even the U.N. soldiers picked up on it right away. I think a large part of what we do is a mentoring thing. But it could very soon be a colleague relationship."

Plowman and Whalen have documented many Brazilian soldiers stationed at Fort Nationale and followed them into the surrounding slums of Delmas and Bel Air. The two also have worked in Cite Soleil, an area Whalen describes as "the largest slum in the Western Hemisphere."

But there also are lighter days of discovery and hope. On his most recent trip, Whalen met Ali McMurtrie, an 18-year-old from Pittsburgh whose sister works at the Bresma orphanage in Haiti. The two sparked an instant relationship over a common passion for learning about ? and helping ? the people of Haiti.

"A lot of people our age don't think they can help," McMurtrie said.

"But you can; just do it," Whalen added. "What Haiti needs is people committed to it. There's hope for Haiti."

'No limits' in Haiti

Nick Whalen also has hope. He said he wants to continue to document the Restavek boys, refugees and runaways whom he has met through the nonprofit Haiti Street Kids Inc.

"I kind of fell in love with those kids," said Whalen, who described them as "virtual slaves."

"These kids have nothing but other street kids, and there's no money to support them."

Whalen also wants to establish ties with the University of Haiti, with the ultimate hope of relocating to the country.

"To me, Haiti means freedom," Whalen said. "Right now, there are no limits."