Shane Thomas McMillan is a documentary artist who thinks the woman he buys bread from every morning knows more about the world than he does. He works as a photographer and filmmaker because it enables him to understand the structure of our globalizing society through the biographies of everyday people. Raised by a single mother on a ranch in the American West, a non-Native on an Indian Reservation, himself a migrant to Europe, Shane’s life and career have always been defined by intersecting identities and cultures. Having studied journalism and international development, Shane brings a dispassionate viewpoint that expresses itself in quiet ways. “My photographs are not about facts, they are about emotional realities,” he says. Shane is currently assembling a book of images called “The Era of Emotions” that focuses precisely that aspect of his work. Shane has been the studio assistant to German photographers Magnus Winter and Jana Gumprecht, as well as studio manager to the American photographer Nan Goldin. His documentary work has been published by The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, and PRI. He has taught photography and filmmaking for the University of Montana and at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. He has based himself in his adopted home of Berlin, Germany since 2010.