Campion, David, 1965- : David Campion was born in England and moved to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) when he was nine. He taught himself photography in Mafeking, South Africa, where he worked for newspapers and NGOs. David emigrated to Canada in 1991, and has been working as a documentary photographer here ever since. David often collaborates with his partner, writer Sandra Shields.
One of David's first projects was Oil Patch, but he has continued to work on several important projects, including photographs of the 'unofficial' Calgary Stampede, 'vulnerable' people (the elderly, the mentally challenged and the mentally ill) within their family and community settings, and the rapidly changing world and society of the Himba people of Namibia.
David and Sandra have published three books, The Company of Others (Arsenal Pulp Press and the Plan Institute, 2005) with a foreword by John Ralston Saul, Where Fire Speaks: A visit with the Himba (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2003), which was awarded the Hubert Evans Price for Best Non-fiction book (BC Book Awards) in 2003, and Wicked little angels (Calgary, 1994).
David's work has been exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Geist Gallery (for the Contact Photography Festival,Toronto), Viewpoint Gallery (Halifax),The Helen Pitt Gallery, Artopolis, XENO Gallery, and the Still Woks Collective (Vancouver). His work has been acquired by the Vancouver Art Gallery and various private collectors.
As well, David and Sandra's work has been extensively published in journals and newspapers, including, Canadian Geographic, Geist Magazine, Adbusters, Vancouver Magazine, Maclean's, Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland), Natur (Germany), Der Standard: Rondo (Germany), Reader's Digest, The Globe and Mail, Books in Canada, The Calgary Herald, The Georgia Straight, and The Canadian Journal of Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.
David and Sandra have received many awards for their work, including the Hubert Evans Price (see above), the Gold Medal (2002) for the Photo Essay Category of the Western Magazine Awards, a National Media Award (1996) from the Canadian Association for Community Living, and an Honorable Mention (1996) in the Word and Picture Category from the Canadian National Magazine Awards. As well, David and Sandra were Grant Recipients (1995) for the Himba project from the Africa International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development.
