▲ A portrait of David Alan Harvey by Douglas MacDonald.

David Alan Harvey is an American photographer renowned for his intimate work exploring cultures around the world including French teenagers, the Berlin Wall, Maya culture, Vietnam, Native Americans and Mexico. He has been a member of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos since 1997 and has been published over 40 times by National Geographic. He is also the founder and editor of Burn Magazine, an online publication featuring emerging photographers.

The Jeju Weekly’s Douglas MacDonald, an award-winning Getty and National Geographic photographer himself, caught up with Harvey on Saturday, Nov. 8, in Hado-ri, northeast Jeju. Harvey had been invited to Jeju Island to document the island’s haenyeo, or women divers.

In discussion with MacDonald, Harvey said that not only the experience of photographing the women was important to him, but meeting them in person had deep meaning.

“They are an inspiration,” he said, adding that he was striving for a certain poeticism in his work, not least because “Their faces have so many stories to tell.”

The full interview will be published later this week. For some of Harvey's work of Jeju haenyeo click here.