"The Search for Longevity" by Photographer David McLain
Changemaker Speaker Series

Friday, April 19th, 2024 / 7:00 pm

Program

Click here for the Press Release


David honed his photographic chops shooting feature length assignments around the world for National Geographic magazine. The stories varied but the mandate was always the same: work with every kind of person under any kind of condition and create timeless yet contemporary images for a client with the highest visual standards on earth.

Spending time with people who inhabit different worlds is what inspires David the most. He says it's a constant reminder that people are never quite what you think they're going to be at first glance. Filmmaking adds the tools of motion, sound, and score to evoke more feeling and capture a moment in time. Whether David is creating content for global brands like Apple and Sony, or for small nonprofits like Caringbridge, he anchors his work in the human story. He believes the best stories inspire us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

One story he has documented for more than 15 years is called The Blue Zones project. Together with author Dan Buettner, David travels the world to study and document those five places in the world where people are living the longest and staying the healthiest. This work has produced a number of books, including a best-selling cookbook, and stories for Nat Geo, Smithsonian, and others.

David is also one of the original Sony Artisans of Imagery—a talented and diverse group of photographers and filmmakers who are helping Sony break new ground and reimagine what cameras can do in the 21st Century. When he's not on the road, David and his family make their home in a 220 year old farmhouse and he runs his studio out of a post and beam barn in the woods just outside of Portland, Maine.