There he bought a motorcycle and traveled around the West until finally settling in California. He eventually moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a carpenter until 1990. In 1991, he gave it all up to move to Santa Cruz and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a photographer. According to Dekker, his work with El Andar , which went from newsprint to a quarterly glossy magazine two years ago with a circulation of approximately 10,000 readers, is a perfect match in terms of his political and photographic interests. El Andar is great.
Photojournalism is a different bag, traveling through a crowd with a little camera, observing.
I like to keep myself in the background as an observer. I also enjoy setting up tableaux similar to a documentary image. But when things are happening I let the people go and let myself go and become again like a photojournalist, but in a controlled situation to capture the energy. Regardless of the type of image or style of photography, Dekker's primary goal is to capture that moment of overriding truth that is the essence of a great photograph. I get the most satisfaction when the photograph transcends what I think it means and touches people in ways I can't predict.