Evidence of My Existence

by Jim Lo Scalzo

From a leper colony in India to an American research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, from the back rooms of the White House to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Evidence of My Existence tells a unique and riveting story of seventeen years spent racing from one photo assignment to the next. It is also a story of photojournalism and theconsequences of obsessive wanderlust.

When the book opens, Jim Lo Scalzo is a blur to his wife, her remarkable tolerance wearing thin. She is heading to the hospital with her second miscarriage, and Jim is heading to Baghdad to cover the American invasion of Iraq. He hates himself for this—for not giving her a child, for deserting her when she soobviously needs him, for being consumed by his job—but how to stop moving? Sure, there have been some tough trips. He’s been spit on by Mennonites in Missouri, by heroin addicts in Pakistan, and by the KKK in South Carolina. He’s contracted hepatitis on the Navajo Nation, endured two bouts of amoebic dysentery in India and Burma and four cases of giardia in Nepal, Peru, Afghanistan, and Cuba. He’s been shot with rubber bullets in Seattle, knocked to the ground by a water cannon in Quebec, and sprayed with more teargas than he cares to recall. But photojournalism is his career, and travel is his compulsivecraving.

We follow Lo Scalzo through the maze of airports and crowds and countries as he chases the career he has always wanted, struggles with his family problems, and reveals the pleasures of a life singularly focused. For him, as for so many photojournalists, it is always about the going.

Genres: Photography, Memoir

312 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2007

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose many people think photojournalism is glamorous, but the reality, especially for most is increasingly fewer assignments and considerable personal challenges, physically, emotionally. Relationships are tough (though challenges can be overcome). Scalzo is a energetic high-strung photojournalist of the first rank, who appears to suffer from wanderlust and dislike of crowds. Basically a series of memoirs in essay form, one quickly learns that photojournalism is a tough gig, and the special photograph does not often come easily. We're not talking battlefield work so much as trying to expose poverty-ridden, angry, or secretive corners of the world, and our own nation. I found much of it intriguing (especially his trip to Antarctica) and some of his anger-issues stories. I have looked over some of his work (many pictures of which I was familiar, actually, even though I didn't know his name before), and some of it is amazing. This would be a good book for anyone interested in journalism.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evidence of my Existence is a remarkable surprise--Lo Scalzo's writing is clear, sharp and perceptive; his story funny, on point and spirited; his life a charming mix of low frustration, high adventure and goofy, self-induced f*ck ups. Despite his own claims, the author doesn't demonstrate arrogance in his life or his book so much as he reveals things about himself, his work and his motivations that most others would conceal--to their own benefit of course, and their readers' detriment.

"Evidence" isn't just a photography book--it's a travel book, a book about restlessness and adventure, and most of all about the kind of latter day coming of age that happens only to those who spend most of their life refusing to grow up.

As a writer who worked with Lo Scalzo once or twice, you could expect me to be biased--and I am. I never thought the little goofball could write like this! That he can is frustrating beyond belief but the results are good enough, entertaining enough and true enough that I'll forgive him the trespass, and recommend his book the best and truest way I know how: with jealousy. I'm pretty sure I'm relieved I didn't live Jim's life, but I sure wish I'd written his book.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim's memoir differs from that of other photographers in that not only does he tell some good stories of life as a photojournalist, he also brings it home to remind us of what is really worthwhile in life and what a true adventure really is.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I waffled between finding the travels in this book really fascinating and wanting to bang the author on the head for being super whiny. Definitely learned a thing or two from this one.

[Michael Mucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great surprise. The beginning of the book was about the author's setbacks in his personal life and his struggles with getting his career started, but by the middle it turned into a love letter, and almost an apology to his wife for being on the road and away doing what he was born to do. I found it very personal at times, fascinating about the lifestyle of a professional photographer and even a bit sad that the author is pulled in so many directions; work, family, wife, boss, colleagues and the drive to almost sacrifice everything for his art. The chapters are crisp, fun to read, and sometimes surprising. But in the end, it reminded me of the saying " A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." I was glad to see that Jim Lo Scalzo did find everything that he needed at home.