David Burnett

Have you ever really thought about photography, about the time and effort that goes into each perfectly captured instant, about the intimate knowledge of light and colors and shadows that it requires? If one actually stops to think about it, photography is an art, and in light of that fact, David Burnett – photojournalist extraordinaire – is a master craftsman.

David Burnett has the look of a whimsical and wise grandpa, who walks around with a camera all day long, and it is hard to believe that this is the same man who has been hailed as a photojournalism legend by the world, and has traveled the world capturing a tapestry of images on camera. Well, looks can be deceiving, can’t they? He has been a photojournalist for over four decades now, and has won almost every award that is up for grabs for a photographer.

David is married to veteran political operative Iris Jacobson Burnett, who is also an author. It has been a long and happy marriage for the two of them – even with the considerable amount of time that the duo spend apart from each other, due to their careers – and the couple has two children. Of course, it is hard to imagine a man like David Burnett – with his rambling thoughts and humble greatness and mild manners – straying, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that there have never been reports of any extramarital affairs in the life of the Burnetts. For the same reason, a divorce has never been even a contemplate-able issue for them.

It is evident from the way he talks that David Burnett is very much in love with his wife. He tries to never be away from home longer than two weeks, and according to him, marital life has been a true union of thoughts, ideas, and minds. He also comes across as a rather romantic person, with his contemplations on unwritten letters and his laments about how the loss of letter-writing as a tradition is a huge loss (this is the part where most ladies would collapse into sighs of longing – how we wish they made men like that these days!!!).

And as if all this is not enough, there is the absolute delight of a blog that David writes, along with his wife, and it comes with the playful title, We’re Just Sayin’ (I cannot help but imagine a wink going with it). To put it simply, it is a bundle of random thoughts and beautiful words and brushstrokes of whimsy and playful contemplations mired in nostalgia and memories from fifty years ago that come with the smell of sunshine. It is a thing of beauty, and the Burnetts have poured all the delights of their married life into it, saying it all between the lines. The pauses between the sentences and the laughter in the words gently whisper in the reader’s ears about years spent at each other’s side and shared memories and a simple kind of joy that has become harder and harder to find.

Yes, everything points to the fact that the Burnetts have unlocked the mysteries of marital bliss, and let me end with hoping that it would always be so (it probably will, but good wishes never harmed anyone).

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