Let me tell you my story . . .

I’ve been photographing and writing stories since high school. I was a journalism student at BU, then a Navy photojournalist in Vietnam in 1967. When I returned from my tour in ‘Nam, I became a small-town newspaper editor in Vermont, then a photographer-writer-editor for a ski magazine.

     Early in my career, I was just 32; I felt it was time I learned something about what it was I was doing. I took a photojournalism workshop with Bob Gilka, Director of Photography at the National Geographic. I went with the expectation that he would hire me after seeing my brilliance. That workshop in Aspen, Colorado, wasn't what I expected, but it was exactly what I needed.      

     Those ten days changed my life.

     The next summer, 1973, I launched my own summer school—not because I had anything to teach, but precisely because I had a lot to learn. I located my school in Rockport, Maine, and called it The Maine Photographic Workshops. I invited some of the world's most creative photographers and filmmakers to lead a one-week master class. It worked. I lost money, but as Winston Churchill said, "Success consists of going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." Within a few years, The Maine Photographic Workshops had become a year-round international conservatory for creative photographers, filmmakers, journalists, and writers. In one week, creatives from around the world came to share their work, learn from the masters, and become more creative. We changed lives, just as my first workshop had changed mine.

     What I thought would have been but a few summers turned into a 35-year career as the director of this year-round conservatory for media professionals.           In 1996, the school became a college with a Master of Fine Art (MFA) degree program. We established workshop programs in California, Provence, Tuscany, Mexico, and Cuba. During my 35 years as The Workshops Director, I developed hundreds of workshops and master classes and a master's degree program, all centered around “The Transformational Learning Experience.” What I built continues today as MaineMedia.edu.

     More recently I’ve been writing stories about my sailing adventures for Cruising World and Caribbean Compass magazines. I’ve written a few books, a series of memoirs, and a raft of stories for young adults.                McFarland Publishing published my memoir, Seabee 71 in Chu Lai, in 2019. It’s about the 14 months I spent as a Navy photojournalist with a construction battalion on deployment in Vietnam in 1967. Go to www.SeaBee71.com to see more.

     You can read more of my stories and view photos on this website and watch videos on my Youtube channel at Sailing with David Lyman.

     You can reach me at DHLyman@mac.com.