D. MICHAEL HOSTETLER
Jacaranda Communications
PRODUCER
Brother, Brother, production for Nazareth Project click or tap to play
My brother, Marc (9), and I (11) created our first photographs in an improvised darkroom we set up in a large wooden crate used to ship an electric organ. We sandwiched a negative between a piece of clear glass and photographic paper and turned on a light briefly. Like magic the image appeared under the safe light, as we ran the paper through the processing chemicals.
The fascination with creating images is still with me. The camera became an important part of my life, but in the end it was all about creating images that tell stories. In
I've loved people as long as I can remember. Growing up in Brazil, I rode street cars and city buses to school. I used to create mental images of those I rode with (how they parted their hair, colour of their eyes and other distinguishing features), talking with them along the way, discovering their stories and what made them tick. Gradually I grew in my understanding of the human capacity to care and to hurt, build and to destroy, to motivate and to discourage. If the interest is genuine, people are generally prepared to share their story. The desire to be a part of something greater than themselves is there. So why not work at this together? Why not celebrate what is working and to build on that?
my case, stories that that transcended cultural divides. I remember translating or interpreting English to Portuguese and Portuguese to English, taking newcomers to Brazil through the Agricultural research institute in Campinas, where we lived. Translation also included helping buy groceries, furniture and clothing.
After graduating from university with a degree in mathematics and secondary education, I chose to devote my professional life to building communication "bridges" across cultures focusing on people and their stories. Initially the focus was on communicating across cultural and ethnic barriers, but that soon morphed into work bridging organizational and work-culture divides as well.
There is plenty of pain in the world but in the midst of pain, there is also hope. This point was driven home to me as I worked on one of my first video productions. A Jewish soldier was stabbed by two assailants in Nazareth and left to die. A modern day "Good Samaritan" story, a Muslim taxi driver rushed him to the Nazareth Hospital where a team of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian doctors saved his life. The driver visited the soldier during his time in the hospital and eventually he and his father threw a party for the soldier after his recovery.