VII Photo member Ron Haviv was in Haiti less than 24 hours after the earthquake devastated Port au Prince. His work is now part of an exhibition held at VII Dumbo, the Brooklyn-based VII gallery in New York. BJP talks to the photographer about his work.

BJP: How did you get to Haiti? Were you on assignment or did you choose to go yourself?
Ron Haviv: I flew on the first morning flight to Santo Domingo. On the flight I met up with several other photographers and we chartered a flight to Port Au Prince.
The night of the earthquake I as well as VII contacted numerous editors but no one was interested in sending me at the time.

BJP: What did you see when you got there? What was the extend of the devastation?
Ron Haviv: Upon arrival at the airport there was some damage and once outside the terminal I encountered a normal Haitian experience of people with cars waiting for passengers. As we drove towards the city we started to see destruction and bodies on the streets.

BJP: How did you go about reporting from Haiti? What were your resources? What were your editorial choices?
Ron Haviv: I, as normal, worked with another photographer, hired a driver and eventually an interpreter. We stayed at a hotel that had some damage but had periodic power and even wifi in the first week. Water was the only difficulty but we were able to take water from the pool for basic showers etc. The story was pretty obvious and it was all around us. The impact on the people was found in multiple ways. I spent time going from medical facilities, makeshift morgues, people living on the streets to looting and rescues.

BJP: Were you able to help?
Ron Haviv: On several occasions my colleagues and I were made aware of people that were trapped. At the collapsed MSF hospital they were having trouble finding a rescue team. With an MSF staffer we were able to convince a multinational rescue team to come and extract a man that had been trapped for four days. At another location a frantic mother flagged us down and we found a rescue team from New York who came and searched the home unfortunately to no avail.

BJP: Your work is now part of the Haiti: 12 January exhibition. What is the thinking behind this show and its fundraiser?
Ron Haviv: In conjunction with the worldwide effort to keep Haiti alive in the thoughts of the world and to raise funds, people from Tufts University near Boston decided to fund a book with all proceeds going to Partners in Health. The exhibit is an expanded version of the book and is accompanied by a multi-media production that was produced by telegraph21.com.

BJP: There is also an unusual book produced for the exhibition. What can we find in there?
Ron Haviv: The idea is that this book can be used by schools and others who want to have their own exhibitions to raise funds for Haiti. The book is 16 20x30 inch posters with images from myself and words from Simon Winchester.

BJP: You seem to be working across different media more often these days, developing one idea or one subject across print, event, video, etc. Do you see it as a requirement in today’s world to make a larger impact or to get the story out to as many people as possible?
Ron Haviv: In today's world of fragmented media it is imperative that we as photographers multi-platform our projects in order to reach as many people as possible. It simply is not enough for our work to appear in just a magazine, a book or a website alone. Each way of communicating can reach a different audience. This enables the photographer to get the message across in many ways.

Haiti: January 12 runs until 26 March at VII Dumbo, 28 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY 11201, USA. For more information, visit viiphoto.com.