Giving back with photography

Dave Masuda and his wife, Sarah Doherty. Dave volunteers as a photographer for MEND and several other non-profit organizations in the area.

Dave Masuda is a man of many talents and interests. He met his wife, Sarah Doherty, at a paragliding school on his friend’s property in Cashmere. He and Sarah moved to Leavenworth after he retired because of the access to all the outdoor activities they enjoy.

Dave was a radiologist for 17 years before moving to Seattle and teaching at the University of Washington for 22 years in the schools of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health. Since he retired four years ago, he’s been spending an increasing amount of time taking pictures for local nonprofits, including Upper Valley MEND.

Dave first became interested in photography when his mom bought a 35-millimeter camera when he was in high school. He didn’t have much time for pictures as he went through medical school and residency, although he took plenty of pictures of his family during that time. When digital cameras came out, Sarah bought him one and his interest was renewed.

“As a radiologist, so much of what we did was technology-based,” he said. While making prints in a dark room hadn’t interested him much, Dave found digital photography to be much more up his alley.

Now, Dave has more than 150,000 images in his catalog, and an interest in photography that ranges from its history to photographic composition to the newest editing software. But one piece he discovered was not as important to him was trying to make money off his photos.

In September, volunteers and staff worked with volunteer photographer Dave Masuda in photoshoots at Das Thrift and the Free Clinic. The pictures will be used to update MEND's information pamphlets and website. You can read more about Dave Masuda in the article about him below.

Making meaning with photographs

“Trying to generate income as a photographer today is quite difficult,” Dave said. “But more importantly, for me, making photography into a business would reduce the value I receive from it.”

After doing a lot of research and delving into the history of photography, Dave had a realization.

“I do this for myself,” he said. “If I’m happy with what I’m doing, that’s good enough.”

Dave started doing volunteer photography for The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust. Dave’s longtime friend and paragliding buddy had decided to work with the Land Trust to make his property accessible to local hikers—the same property that also holds Aerial Paragliding School, where Dave met his wife. Dave helped build trails and took pictures of what ultimately became the Cashmere Canyons Preserve. One of his pictures of the Preserve ended up on the cover of Foothills Magazine.

Since then, he’s taken pictures for the Wenatchee River Institute, Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, and TREAD and may also start doing drone work for the Nature Conservancy. In just the last six months, he’s taken pictures for Empty Bowls and the annual Volunteer Appreciate BBQ for MEND, plus multiple photo shoots to help update pictures for the website, social media and printed information for the Community Cupboard, Das Thrift and the Upper Valley Free Clinic. Dave’s high-quality pictures help MEND visually tell compelling stories about the work we do, both for the community members who need our help and for those who support our programs.

The time Dave spends taking pictures is only a portion of the time he donates to each of these organizations. He also spends a lot of time culling the shots so each organization only gets the best pictures from all the ones he’s taken at each event—a process that can take several hours.

“Clearly nonprofit organizations don’t generally have the funds to hire professionals, so I am delighted to volunteer for this kind of work,” Dave said. “I believe the nonprofits I’ve volunteered with are doing really important work.”

Although Dave gets emails from the nonprofits about other general volunteering, he’s happy to be able to use his photography to support them.

“There are people who are better equipped to carry heavy boxes,” he said. “I could do that, but I’d rather do something I have a specific skill in.”

Upper Valley MEND is grateful for Dave’s commitment to his art, and that we are one of the lucky recipients of his talent.