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guidelines. For example, be-
ing objective and representing
the situation in a fair and
accurate manner. I enjoy
the relevance of this kind of
photography; the photos you
take are going to be informing
someone on the other side
of the world about what is
going on where you are. In
certain situations, I feel like
I am witnessing a small slice
of history.
What has been yourmost
memorable commission/
experience?
When I was sent to cover the
Everest Marathon in 2004.
The start line was at Everest
PERSONALITY
Maximum
Aperture
Malaysia-based photojournalist
Charles
Pertwee
reveals the reality ofmaking a living
with a camera to
SarahRees.
C
harles
Petrwee is a
photojournalist residing
in Malaysia with his wife
and three children. He
has a degree in History
and Law, taking his first
steps into freelance pho-
tography work immediately after graduat-
ing. Two decades later and Pertwee still
makes his living doing what he loves.
Where did you growup andwhatwere
your earliest interests?
We moved around a fair bit when I was
a kid, but I spent most of my childhood
between Hong Kong, Japan and boarding
school in England. My earliest interests
were pretty normal – building hideouts in
the woods, riding my bike and skateboard-
ing.
When andwhere did the interest in
photography first take hold?
My dad was a keen photographer and he
would let me snap a few frames on his
camera every now and then. He had a fully
manual Pentax back then, and all the knobs
and dials were pretty intimidating. I didn’t
really get into photography again until
university when I started travelling around
a bit on surf and climbing trips.
Describewhat itmeans to be a
photojournalist.
To be a photojournalist to me means that
I photograph things that are timely and
newsworthy, according to certain ethical
The Shwedagon Pagoda in
Yangon, Myanmar
Michel Astruc smells a
truffle in France
Aman works on a farm in the Khumbu region of Nepal