Through her lens, photographer Esther Havens seeks to capture stories that transcend a person’s circumstance. Instead of reflecting desperation and dire situations, she hopes to reveal the strength and beauty of the people she encounters as she travels the world.
Esther Havens, 25, refers to herself as a globetrotting nomad due to her life of near-constant travel around the world doing photography projects for various ministries and organizations. She is pursuing her passion to connect with people and tell their stories by documenting the digging of water wells, school construction, and the performance of life-saving surgeries. Based in Austin, TX, Havens has been to nearly 40 countries and feels a deep-rooted purpose in using her work to raise awareness of social justice issues and to further the kingdom of God.
The Trip that Changed Everything
Toward that end, Havens has photographed for non-profit organizations such as TOMS Shoes; charity:water; A Glimmer of Hope; Love, Light and Melody; and Wishing Well Africa. On a trip to Rwanda early in 2008, she sensed significant change taking place inside of her. This inward change would also change the way she did her job.
“God started opening my eyes to see what He saw,” Havens says. “The same way that He taught me to see myself in His eyes years ago, I felt like He was trying to show me how to see these people through His eyes.”
Abiding by the basic photojournalism rule of shooting from a distance and not interrupting the story, Havens asked God to help her understand what she was seeing. A stark realization came one day when she saw a starving child and thought, “Oh, that’s a great shot!”
“At that moment, I caught myself and said, ‘What are you doing?’” Havens recalls. Suddenly, she became conscious of how she allowed the circumstances of the people she saw to define them.
As the trip progressed, she felt God reveal to her phrases such as, “The light shines upon them,” and “We are not our circumstance.” With that inspiration as a foundation, she began experimenting with new ways to photograph the Africans she met, many of whom were impoverished. As she photographed a woman who was covered in flies, she kept questioning, “Is that really who she is? Is that who God sees her as?”
She ventured past her boundaries of comfort and began to talk with the people and learn about who they were. Building upon the concept of the light shining upon the people, she asked them to look them into the light of her flash as she took their picture, illuminating them and placing them in an empowering perspective.
“Each time, something beautiful and magical happened,” Havens says. “I can’t explain it. It was like I caught a glimpse of who they were inside. I was able to see these people in a different light. I put all my barriers aside and I trusted. I let myself feel it, and through that, I changed drastically. That’s one of the most significant things that’s happened to me in my photographic journey.”
The series that emerged from her Rwanda trip bears the title Umukyo Ubamurikira in Kinyarwanda and translates as "the light shines upon them.” It was on display at the Salt Art Space in New York City in 2008. Havens has been able to use those pieces to raise both funds and awareness in Christian and secular communities alike for the pressing need for clean water in the Third World.
Pursuing the Great Commission
“Christ has called us to be the light of the world,” Havens says. “We need to be out there in the forefront so that we can share the message of Christ. Using our creativity to do that is huge. He’s given us gifts to create with beauty. It connects with people, and they can see God’s beauty in that.”
Often showing the photos she takes of people to them on the LCD screen of her digital camera, she takes the opportunity to tell them that they’re beautiful and share that God created them and loves them. On a trip to Brazil, she used photography as an object lesson to teach children about the concepts of darkness and light in relation to Christ in their lives.
Relying on her photography as her livelihood for the past few years, Havens also does local work in Austin, shoots commercial and promo photography, and is represented by The Roscoe Group. With a variety of work in her portfolio, she has been able to tell stories of others from far and wide and in many walks of life.
“It’s allowed me to go out into the world, not only for work, but to go love those people and pray for them,” Havens shares. “I have a connection with the people that I photograph. I don’t just photograph for a photo’s sake. I get to know them—their name, where they come from, who they are. I think it’s a very powerful tool to get into their lives.”
Havens has also been a witness to people moved to action by her work. As she has built her photography career, she has taken part in several benefit events for non-profit organizations and sold her work to raise money for them. She has also encountered people who have told her how her work impacted them and compelled them to do something about the issues her work conveys.
“The only link people have sometimes to the places overseas are images,” Havens says. ”My job is to bring back those stories about those lives, to connect with them and cause them to move.”
Finding Purpose in Her Passion
Although extensive traveling is sometimes taxing, Havens has learned to balance her life with times of rest. Admittedly, she is continually learning how to comprehend and properly process all the things she sees so that she can be more effective in her work. 
“As long as I get a few hours of sleep, I’m ready to go the next day,” she says with a laugh. “I never know what tomorrow holds, and I love the adventure in that.”
She counts her most meaningful moments as times she has genuinely connected with people, be it as simple as sharing a meal or as significant as watching their joy as a new well is dug in their village.
“What makes me come alive is knowing that there is a purpose in what I need to do every single day,” Havens says. “I get to experience new cultures. My world isn’t just the city I live in. Every single trip I go on, I come back with something new that molds me and shapes me into the person I am becoming. I know that what I do is going to affect and change a life, and I’m going to love people along the way.”
To learn more about Esther Havens, visit her website www.estherhavens.com.
Rachel Wegner makes her living as a writer, but often moonlights as a photographer and a musician. She currently resides in Tulsa, OK, and is an active member of the 24-7 Prayer movement.