A Dog's Life

Horseshoe Bend

Kevin's Contribution to Popular Photography Magazine's Article, The Best Places to Photograph

Why Nikon D4

WHY - Nikon D4 Release Video from Corey Rich on Vimeo.

Art of Seeing 2010

Kevin's photograph, Cover Girl is being featured in the 2010 edition of The Art of Seeing an annual collectors book featuring some of the top creative photography from around the world.  This is the second such honor for Kevin after his black and white image, Curious Mustang was featured in the 2007 edition.  The book is published by Alcove Books who also publish the respected American Art Collector annual which featured Kevin's, Beam Me Up back in 2006. 

Here again, is Kevin's story behind this evocative image:

I made this photograph of a hilltribe (a.k.a. montagnard in Vietnam) girl at the outdoor market in Bac Ha Vietnam. Although only 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Sapa, the trip took over five hours in the old Russian built 4X4 I rented. Getting there was truly half the fun! The remoteness of Bac Ha also makes it a photographer's paradise. Upon arrival at the market, I found no tourists and had the bustling collage of the ten different hilltribes that live, farm and raise livestock in the surrounding hills to myself. As much as it is obviously a place to buy, sell and trade their goods, the market also serves as an important social gathering place to all of the tribes in the region.

This young girl, as with all of the women at the market, uses this large social gathering to showcase her most elaborate handmade headdress and silver jewelry. Individuals take great pride in their attire because it reflects not only the tribe the belong to, but also their families social status and wealth. Just as I had framed her gnawing on her favorite market treat, a stalk of sugarcane, she took a break and glanced perfectly into my lens providing me with this image and the knowledge that having a sweet tooth is truly cross-cultural.

Pink Lotus

Even though I've never specialized in the genre of botanicals, and it's never been my style to carry around a spray bottle, I know enough about shooting flowers to know that they always look better after a rain shower or nice morning dew. Well. as so often happens on the road I had a serendipitous moment. I was having lunch with my favorite travel partner (my camera) one rainy afternoon inside the beautiful grounds of the Pura Taman Saraswati Temple in Ubud, Bali. In between the patio I was dining on and the front entrance to the temple was a lotus pond spanned by a bridge made from the same brick and sandstone as the temple. I knew it would be the perfect vantage point for some great shots of the lotus blossoms. Having a few years worth of experience with tropical showers in Southeast Asia, I figured the deluge wouldn’t last long. I was right and before I had even finished my iced coffee the sun was back out once again turning the forests of Ubud into a giant steam room. Nature having done most of the work for me, it was simply a matter of finding the most perfect blossom, setting up my tripod, getting the right readings and... snap!
For centuries, the lotus has been the spiritual flower of Buddhist and Hindu cultures all across southern Asia. Buddha himself is often depicted sitting in a meditative pose on a lotus flower and when Thai people greet each other or "wai" they press their hands together, slightly cupped in the shape of a lotus bud in front of their heart. It not only has religious significance but not unlike sakura blossoms in Japan, it also has a philosophical one. The great Eastern philosophers have often used the lotus as a metaphor for it's ability to grow something so beautiful out of such muddy, stagnant water.  Indeed, I find myself looking at this photograph I made to remind me that sometimes the we have within ourselves comes out during the most challenging of times.

AWIF Photo of Mt. Ama Dablam Featured in April Issue of Popular Photography Magazine

My photograph of Ama Dablam is one of the featured photographs for Popular Photography's feature article, Top Professional Photographer's Favorite Destinations.  On newsstands now!