Keith Dannemiller: Contemporary Photo Journalist & Documentary Photographer
The photographer I chose to write about for a Photo-History class, under the instruction of Prof. Melinda Holden, is Keith Dannemiller. Through a friend and writer working with the Homeless World Cup, Chandrima Chatterjee, I was fortunate to meet Keith in Mexico City in October of 2012. There was a large international soccer tournament of homeless (or formerly) women and men representing their respective countries (34 countries if memory serves). Keith was contracted to photograph the event. Dannemiller is a photojournalist living in Colonia Nápoles of Mexico City with a wife and family. He graduated with a degree in organic chemistry and worked in that field in San Francisco from 1972–1976 before moving to Austin, where he photographed for the Texas Observer and Texas Monthly (Dannemiller.com). These are magazines I would always see in a doctor’s office, or every kind of waiting room for that matter. Keith is an independent photographer, but has worked for many big names in print and media (loculars.com)
So how does an organic chemist become a photojournalist? As a young kid Keith’s father was a bit of a shutterbug and was exposed to some pretty cool visual arts materials like stereopticon cards that give you a pretty rad 3-D image. Fast forward to 1976: Keith’s friend needs a loan to buy weed to make some quick money and puts up a camera as collateral only to never be seen again. Not everyone just picks up a camera and takes pictures of people, but Keith would eventually break that barrier and begin a journey of capturing the human element (Williams). A place like San Francisco is a wonderland for street photographers. Well, at least for me it is anytime I visit, and look forward to going to school at SFSU!
Much of Keith’s body of work is street photography in Mexico City with a focus on the cultural adaptations Mexicans make on the daily, and a focus on migration and immigration of people in desperate situations making their way to the U.S. through Mexico (Dannemiller). My first and only visit to Mexico City was a memorable experience of seeing so many people in any given area. The influence of Catholicism was everywhere. It’s easy to get lost and not see faces with all that might be going on, but Keith sees people. Many of his photos are stand-alones, meaning there isn’t much narrative or captioning, but plenty of juxtaposition and symbology. For me his captures are a walk in someone else’s shoes.
Most people are familiar with culture shock when they find themselves in an unfamiliar place where social norms and customs are different. In an interview with Gina Williams for LensCulture, Keith revealed what it was like to come back to the U.S. after so long. He spoke to some preconceptions and pleasant surprises after not having visited North Carolina in 45 years. For this month-long project (revisiting in 2019) Keith took a documentary approach to his photography. With the absence of a ton of people (like in the center of Mexico’s oldest city) Dannemiller basically immersed himself within the community to find his vision (Williams).
Keith is contributing much to the world of photography and public consciousness with a number of published images in media with global reach. Many of his works are in exhibitions and shows including public collections in Texas, Mexico and California. Another place Keith has touched is the Department of the Navy. Well, more specifically the U.S. Navy’s Board for Corrections of Naval Records (BCNR).
In a brief to the BCNR seeking justice, I included an image that Keith captured during our interview. At the time I was a recently housed veteran representing Street Soccer USA in the beautiful game of soccer in the center of the oldest city in Mexico. On 16 April of 2021 I was notified that “The MD concluded by opining that that there is sufficient evidence of a service-connected mental health condition exacerbated by Petitioner’s military service…the Board finds the existence of an injustice warranting the following corrective actions…” ending a twenty-one-year journey.
Works Cited:
Dannemiller, Keith; https://www.keithdannemiller.com
https://loculars.com/photographer-keith-dannemiller/
Williams, Gina; To See the Invisible, LensCulture;
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/keith-dannemiller-to-see-the-invisible
