Inside the SFPW with Mike Donnor

After four seasons of working in Santa Fe and Mexico as a Course Assistant, Mike Donnor (known to us here simply as Donnor) heads to Chapel Hill, NC to organize, consult, and manage the studio of a participant he assisted in a workshop. Then it is on to New York. While we will miss his charm and easy smile we know he will make an impact on the photo industry there!

Digital Lab Assistant Susan Thelwell caught up with him during a lunch break while he was assisting Raul Touzon last week.

S: Tell me about your path to photography and to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
D: I'm from Buffalo, originally. I was finishing my fourth year of school up in Plattsburg upstate and took a photography class as an elective and was hooked. I switched schools, switched majors for my sixth time and took two-and-a-half more years of school and graduated with a BA in Photography. When I first discovered photography I came here and took a workshop.

S: What did you take?
D: I took Doug Beasley. Zen and the Art of Photography. And I was watching the assistant and how this place ran and I thought… this is my dream job...to be right here. Really, this was my absolute dream job. So, the next summer I applied. Didn’t get hired…was crushed. Then I applied the following winter. Didn’t get hired…was crushed. And then I applied for the summer season the next year...two years from the time I was a participant. I had just graduated and they hired me as a Course Assistant, and I was through the roof excited. I got my dream job! And here I am.

S: What do you like best about living in Santa Fe?
D: The area. It's just beautiful. It's a great location. The people are cool. I love being able to have a little bit of a city life but also being able to be outside doing anything you can imagine. I love going to all the little towns around here- Madrid, Vegas.

S: What do you find most challenging about living in Santa Fe?
D: You know what? I miss seafood. That's about it. There's nothing challenging about living out here. It's really easygoing around here. What makes it that way are all the people.

S: You've been on staff for several seasons now. What's the best part of being a Course Assistant?
D: The people you work with, the full-time staff here, and the participants that you work with every week. It's really cool to see work evolve Monday to Friday. It's a high. I love it.

S: What are your favorite places to eat in Santa Fe?
D: Bobcat Bite. Done.

S: What do you order there?
D: Burger! Green chile burger. Medium rare. American cheese. That's all you need.

S: If you were an animal, what would you be?
D: A Lion.

S: What is the latest book you read or movie you saw?
D: I've been wanting to see Dark Knight but I haven’t seen it yet. Ah! Before the Devil Knows You are Dead. It is a sick, dark, twisted movie but it' s brilliant.

S: If you weren't here today, what would you be doing?
D: I'd be up at my pond. Fishing…I'd have a camera around my neck just hanging out.