David Helfer Wells is a film-maker and photographer who divides his time between Providence, Rhode Island and Bangalore, India. One day you can find him creating still and moving images for clients, such as Edible Rhody and the Providence Preservation Society on the unique local culture of America’s smallest state. Other days he may be working on personal/grant funded projects on the beautiful Narragansett Bay with the support of Rhode Island’s Council for Humanities and State Council on the Arts. In India’s “Silicon City” Bangalore, he is busy creating visual narratives for clients such as Bryn Mawr College and Aramco World or working on personal/grant funded projects supported by the Fulbright and Alicia Patterson Foundations.
He has worked on assignment for such magazines as Fortune, Life, National Geographic, Newsweek, The Sunday New York Times, and Time, among others. One editor described him as a “…specialist in intercultural communication and visual narratives that excel in their creative mastery of light, shadow and sound, stills and video.” His project on the pesticide poisoning of California farm workers was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has also worked for corporations such as Consolidated Natural Gas and DuPont as well as for non-profits such as the Ford Foundation and the New Israel Fund.
Wells became the photographer he is today by first trying on the styles and/or methods of other well-known and historic photographers. Then he mastered the challenging discipline of color slide film. He fused all of these experiences, over thirty-plus years, to develop his own style, built on a mastery of light, exposure and tonality, framing and composition. He teaches workshops around the globe in Italy and Morocco as well as at the Maine Media Workshops and at the International Center for Photography in New York City. He was featured in Photo District News as one of “The Thirteen Best Workshop Instructors.”
An interview/profile of David H. Wells, photographer and teacher, in the style of the TV show, “60 minutes,” produced by John Bushman and Kojo Asafo-Agyei, for the “Producing the 60 Minutes Story ” workshop at the Maine Media Workshops.