BEHIND THE LENS

JOHN SEATON CALLAHAN can regularly be found exploring the world with camera in hand or surfing throughout Asia; with these passions, it’s easy to believe he grew up in Hawaii before moving to Singapore in 2001. We ask him about life as a photographer

- MEGAN HOBSON

Tell us about your Hawaiian background; do you miss the place?

I lived in Hawaii from the age of seven, after four years in Okinawa, Japan. My wife Jane is ethnic Japanese and was born and raised in Hawaii. We miss a few things about Hawaii, particularly how beautiful the island state can be. 

What brought you to Singapore, and where had you lived previously? 

I lived in Hawaii for most of my adult life, other than five years in California where I graduated from UCLA, living in Venice Beach for a year afterwards. Hawaii was an expensive place and isolated in the vast expanse of the North Pacific Ocean. There is also constant racial animosity and some serious social problems; for example, extreme inequality between locals and wealthy new residents, and homelessness, drug use and crime. One of the main reasons we wanted to leave was to get away from guns after there was a mass killing close to our home. So we decided to move to Singapore.

Tell us a bit about your business or projects in Singapore. 

I’ve been a Getty Images photographer since its inception in 1995. Until recently, creating images for them provided most of my income, plus I do some extra work supplying images and carrying out photography assignments for publishers around the world.

With more than 26,000 images on the site, 4,500 of them from Singapore, I have the largest Getty Images portfolio of any photographer in Singapore. Last year, I sold an average of 200 images per month on Getty.