About Heather Pillar
Heather Pillar, photographer and teacher, has lived, taught and photographed in seven countries over four continents during the past 25 years. Her personal and collaborative photographic projects reveal her ongoing interest in women, girls' education, and aging.
In 1995, Heather collaborated with Morrie Schwartz during the last six months as he battled ALS. Her first monograph, Memento Morrie: Images of Love and Loss (Daylight Books, 2024) illustrates Morrie's philosophies through photographs of him interacting with family, friends, and caregivers and building community. Over a quarter-century later, Morrie's wisdom resonates with people around the world due to the best-selling memoir: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Morrie taught people, including Heather - how to live fulfilling lives with love. “It is by facing fears of death that we learn how to live.”
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Heather's photographs have been exhibited internationally as well as published in numerous newspapers and magazines such as People Magazine and The Boston Globe; books include The Wisdom of Morrie, Tuesdays with Morrie and Morrie: In His Own Words. Her work has also appeared on television (CBS Sunday Morning, Today Show) and online – NPR, Next Avenue (AARP) and on PBS’s Inside E Street.
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My husband and I were honored to meet with His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II in Lagos, Nigeria on October 14, 2022 at American International School of Lagos.
Heather Pillar has collaborated with two other educators to self-publish ‘Asha means Hope’ profiling Bangladeshi girls for the ABC Charity School in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The book raised funds and helped secure a building for the school that would not flood. In another collaboration, she photographed the cover and wrote a story for a book of short stories Mama Dar, that resulted in funds for a battered women’s shelter in Tanzania.
Heather Pillar with ABC students in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2009
Photojournalist Code of Ethics
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I, Heather Pillar, strive to uphold the following visual representation standards:
1. Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of people.
2. Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
3. Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording people. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one's own biases in the work.
4. Treat all people with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable individuals and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.
5. Do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.
6. Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers.
7. Do not pay sources or reward them materially for information or participation.
8. Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
9. Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.
10. Do not engage in harassing behavior of colleagues, subordinates or subjects and maintain the highest standards of behavior in all professional interactions.