What's Your Favorite...

Doug Pitt is pointing at different photographs of Africans on his ServiceWorld Computer Center office wall, “She scared me… He’s a Maasai warrior… I know her… She’s starving.” They’re all stunning photographs that he’s taken. Pitt is one part photographer, but it’s hard to describe him with just one title. He still runs the computer business that he started at 23, he recently helped to begin the Care to Learn Fund for needy youth in Springfield, he serves as a director for Africa 6000 (an organization that raises money for water wells in Africa), and he’s the Chairman of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

If there is a common thread it’s this: Clearly when Pitt is aware of a need, he quickly responds. After speaking to a friend who owned his own business, Pitt saw a need for a service-oriented computer business in Springfield, so he created one. “Honestly, I could barely turn on a computer,” jokes Pitt. “I just teamed up with some guys who could.”

The need to make business connections without much of a budget led Pitt to the Chamber. These days, he represents the Chamber in a more official capacity as chairman. “Basically, I’m the chief volunteer,” he says.

It is in speaking about his volunteering for needs in Africa that Pitt really lights up. “Photography has always been my link,” says Pitt. “It was my contribution I could do early on. Once you get in, you’re in.” Since getting in, Pitt’s main focus has been fundraising, but it is the trips to Africa and his interaction with kids that provide him inspiration. “You say something in English; they try to say it back. You sing something; they’ll sing something,” Pitt says. He delights in the knowledge of what’s coming for the people. “The cool thing is you drop in a well and, boom, that second their lives are just transformed,” says Pitt. “Within months kids are alive that wouldn’t have been.
 

What’s your favorite…

Way to photograph?
“If we have to pose, I’m not interested. I like photography off the hip. If we have to pose it’s like a job. You’ve lost me. I enjoy the spontaneity.”

African nation?
“None. There are parts I love about all of them I’ve seen. There are parts that I hate. Each one has definitely been unique.”

Lens?
“I use a telephoto lens. It automatically gives you that depth of field. Taking so many photos of people, basically, I’m the African paparazzi, and I’m doing the very thing I hate in America. I just don’t dig through their trash.”

Ice cream flavor?
“Banana.”

Eighth-grade memory?
“The dances.

Bad job you’ve had?
“I removed asbestos. I was 18 making $12 an hour. There was a reason why they were paying that much.”

Eating utensil?
“Spoon.”

Place downtown?
“It’s hard to beat a steak at Bijan’s.”

Beef jerky flavor?
“I got to go regular. Everybody tries to make things better. If the regular is good, go for it. I take it with me to Africa.”

Thing about the fall?
“The trees. My grandmother’s big thing was the trees. We would go out driving.”

Football team?
“Packers. I became friends with Brett Favre’s family and went to a game at Lambeau.”

Thing about Care to Learn?
“The stories I get each week. I love hearing them. The last one I got was a fifth grader wearing his mom’s jeans to school. An hour after hearing it, he has jeans. It is fast and all about respect. When I hear about it, the problem is fixed.”

Shampoo?
“Something that smells good.”

Memory from a trip to Africa?
“Anytime you see them dancing around water. They do; they dance. They’ve never seen clean water. They hoop and holler. The party is on.”

Thing about not being asked anything about Brad?
“That you didn’t ask me anything about Brad.“