Canyon For Two

While hiking down to the river along the South Kaibab Trail with my friend Yoko, who was visiting from Japan, we came across this perfect spot for a rest and a picnic. The steep trail made a sharp bend here and therefore gave us an unobstructed panorama of the canyon laid out before us. It was a long and silent meal as we were both rendered speechless by the staggering view. I wanted to somehow capture the moment but realized from previous trips to the canyon that trying to do justice to this place is futile with any media. However, when I got up to pack away the remains of our canyon-side lunch and looked back at Yoko, I had one of those "eureka" moments that make me love this profession. I realized that by adding our perspective, I could express the feeling, mood, scale and beauty of the moment all in one good composition. Thankfully long treks through the Himalaya had conditioned me to bear the burden of carrying my tripod along "just in case". I set up the shot from behind while Yoko was still soaking in the "sugoi ki-re" (incredibly beautiful) view in front of her. Setting the timer to maximum so as to not really know for sure when the exposure was coming I went back to my seat at the edge of the world. Yoko was unaware that I even took this photograph until we left a while later and even I didn't realize I had nailed it until I saw the slide days later. Yes, I still enjoy that "surprise" feeling that film gives.

Cover Girl

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.

Fishing with a View of Ipanema

Odds are, if someone asked you to name the top five most famous beaches in the world, two names near the top of the list would be Copacabana and Ipanema. Justifiably so. After all, Copacabana is credited as being the birthplace of the bikini and Ipanema, well, who can't at least hum the chorus to the Jobim/Morais masterpiece, "The Girl From Ipanema" that single-handedly put Bossa Nova on the world map of musical genres? What's really amazing is that both of these beaches are in the same city! Indeed, this could only occur in the hedonistic beach culture of Rio de Janeiro.
With an estimated population near ten million people, Rio has most of the things that go along with a city of that size anywhere in in the world, i.e. traffic, etc. However, two things that really set Rio apart from any other urban metropolis are it's stunning geographic beauty and the "Cariocas" (Residents of Rio) belief that leisure time at the beach is a birthright. Wanting to illustrate this uniqueness I headed down to Arpoador, which is the rocky outcropping that separates Ipanema and Copacabana. This turned out to be a good choice because not only did it afford me this beautiful view looking all the way down Ipanema Beach to it's spectacular mountainous end, it also had plenty of locals engaging in their favorite seaside activities. Whether it was working out to maintain their "body beautiful", surfing or in the case of these four men, fishing right off the rocks into the ocean. Facing West in the late afternoon gave me the opportunity to silhouette the men, thus turning them into the representative "everyman" and the perfect composition to illustrate the lifestyle of this unique mega-city.

Eyes

Do you ever feel like your being watched? That is the feeling I wanted to capture with this image.
I spent the afternoon wandering around and making photographs at the Swayambunath Pagoda, also known affectionately as The Monkey Temple due to it's most populace residents. I came around a corner and noticed this group of young monks perched on a concrete platform three steps above me. I was drawn immediately to the composition of the "all seeing eyes" of Buddha watching over the group of young devotees as they engaged, as boys the world over do, in an intense game of checkers.
As so often happens, the idea of this image screamed out to me well before I actually captured it on film. I had seen this intriguing gaze of Buddha's eyes along with the question mark looking symbol where his nose should be all over Nepal. I learned that the symbol actually represented the "all seeing" third eye of Buddha always watching over us keeping a tally of our karmic record. Not only was this a perfect vantage point to compose this philosophy, but I knew if I could get the monks to notice and look at me, I could really express the feeling of being "watched" with their eyes highlighted in a beautiful shaft of afternoon light along with this philosophical symbol of Nepal.
I inconspicuously set my f-stop and shutter speed for the desired depth and movement, quietly sat on a step and composed the photo knowing the key to the entire image would be timing. Seconds later as a couple of the monks noticed me, they all turned to see what I was up to. Magic!
This photo will always serve as a reminder to me of the Nepalese belief that Buddha and the karmic universe see everything. How is your karma?

Darn Chores!

This little Vietnamese boy's face says it all. Darn Chores!
Living in the Mekong Delta, the people in this southernmost region of Vietnam seem to spend more of their life on or in the water than on dry land. This is no tropical paradise however, in fact, it's one of the poorest regions in Vietnam where the people are all but cut off from the rest of the country by the Nine Dragons, which is how the Vietnamese refer to the nine major rivers that the Mekong splits into before reaching the South China Sea. Obviously, the most readily available source of protein in this region is fish, which is where this boys daily chore comes in. What initially appears to be every little boy's dream of playing in the mud, upon closer inspection shows that, he is in fact collecting the daily catch along the banks of the river. Due to the delta's proximity to the sea, the river actually experiences the ebb and flow tides of the ocean. Generations of Delta living have taught the local families to use this natural phenomenon to their advantage. By lining nets along the banks of the river, which are under water during hide tide, fish are caught by getting stranded in the nets as the water recedes. The obvious disadvantages of this technique are that there is a certain amount of luck involved as well as the fact that someone has the rather messy task of going waist deep into the mud to collect the bounty.
On a personal note, I promise to never again complain about having to empty the dishwasher or take out the trash!

Angkor Wat at "Golden Hour"

As the largest religious structure ever built and proprietor of some of the world’s most magnificent stone carvings, Angkor Wat is considered by many to be one of the greatest architectural achievements in human history. Divided into the three main levels of the Hindu cosmos, it features an 800 meter long gallery of magnificent bas-reliefs depicting epic stories from Hindu mythology, four stone block swimming pools and five central towers. These towers depict the peaks of Mount Meru, home of the gods and the center of the Hindu universe. At over 180 feet high, they can not only be seen from the town of Siem Reap six kilometers away, they can also be seen all over the country as the main symbol on the Cambodian flag.
The Wat is the crowning achievement of the Khmer civilization which, in it’s prime, ruled over most of Southeast Asia. It was commissioned by and built for the god-king, Suryavarman II who was worshipped as an incarnation of the protector god Vishnu. The only temple in the Khmer empire facing West into the setting sun, a symbol of death in Hinduism, it is an accepted belief that it was built as a mausoleum for Suryavarman II. The fact that it took 50,000 artist and laborers nearly 40 years to complete is a testament to the Khmers power, wealth and devotion.
To make this photograph showing all five towers, I walked off of the main causeway and joined the cattle that still graze in the fields contained within Angkor’s vast complex. Taken just before sunset, it illustrates why we photographers refer to this time of day as “golden hour”. Taken at any other time of the day, the wat wouldn’t have this beautiful golden color (a reflection of the sunset behind me), but rather it’s natural stone-grey color.

Last Light

I had spent the afternoon exploring the Khumbu Glacier, which serves as the base camp for Everest summit expeditions, when I realized I had better start heading back to my own base camp before I was stuck on a living glacier in the dark. I was walking along the moraine of the glacier when, about 30 minutes after the sun had already set, I looked back for one more view of the world's highest peak. This is what I saw. All of Everest's neighbors, some top five peaks in their own right, were already in the shadows while the golden light of the sun was still beaming off of Everest's Southwestern face. A beautiful image as well as proof that Everest really is the top of the world.

Mittens

Perhaps no other local illustrates the rugged American Southwest better than Monument Valley. This must be exactly how the famous Hollywood director John Ford felt when he first discovered this magical landscape in the mid-thirties, and is the reason why he chose to shoot several of his blockbuster westerns here including, Stagecoach in 1939 and How The West Was Won in 1962. Although it still receives relatively few tourists compared to other parks in the region such as Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona or Zion and Bryce canyons in Utah, most people still find it familiar. This is no doubt due to the countless advertising campaigns that have featured the monuments as the backdrop for marketing their rugged image. Toyota trucks and even the United States Marine Corps have used the scenery, but nobody seems to spend more time here than the Marlboro Man. Yes, that fictional cowboy the Marlboro Man is the reason why most people in the world have seen pictures of Monument Valley, whether they realize it or not. In fact, I have noticed billboards in Kathmandu and posters in Tokyo featuring Monument Valley's vistas and always point out to people, "Hey,that's where I'm from". Actually, the only people that can really claim to be "from" Monument Valley are the people of the Navajo Nation as Monument Valley sits entirely inside the borders of the Navajo Indian Reservation, the largest such reservation in the United States. For centuries the Navajo have been ranching and farming this land and consider many of the monuments to be sacred.
Just South of the border with Utah, these are probably the most famous monuments in the valley and together they are known as The Mittens. No matter how many times you go to Monument Valley, they never cease to inspire awe with their shear size and perfectly eroded shapes of a left and right mitten. I chose this composition because I felt the beautifully striated boulders in the foreground not only lead the viewers eyes nicely into the photograph but also added the depth I needed in such a vast landscape shot. Recently, I came across an old photo of the East Mitten taken decades ago by Ansel Adams in which his tripod must have been in the same exact spot as mine. Had I seen that photograph ahead of time, I probably never would have taken this shot because the challenge for any professional photographer in a place as photographed as Monument Valley is to get a unique perspective of a familiar place. However, in this case I felt very proud and honored. Not only did I stand where the legend once stood but, for that one photograph, I also experienced the same creative vision as him.

The Daibutsu and a Sakura Tree

This photograph shows the "Daibutsu" (Giant Buddha) silently meditating in Kamakura, Japan as he has for over 750 years. It was commissioned by Yoritomo Minamoto, Japan's first Shogun, to celebrate his victory over the archrival Taira clan. Cast in bronze and weighing in at 850 tons, it originally sat inside a great hall which was washed away by a tsunami in 1495. Fortunately, being exposed to the elements for over 500 years has only added character and tranquility to the Buddha's likeness.
Sakuras (Cherry Blossom Trees), like the one in the foreground, are revered by the Japanese for their fleeting beauty as their gorgeous blossoms last for only a week or two. Due to this transitory nature of sakura blossoms and the inclement climate of the Eastern coast, it actually took three trips to Kamakura to capture this iconic Japanese image.
Whereas, I usually go to great lengths to avoid putting random groups of people into my landscape photographs, in this particular case I needed them to show scale. I also like how they naturally illustrate the reverence they still have for their "Daibutsu".

Two Toothed Grin

There are two distinct types of images in travel photography; those that you plan for, usually in the form of beautiful landscape photographs, and those which come about serendipitously as you wander the streets with your camera and a keen eye. This is a great example of the latter.
I made this portrait in the charming town of Hoi An which is draped with the influence of all the seafaring cultures of both Asia and Europe that have been trading here for over four centuries. I was actually walking back to the old French part of town to photograph some of the buildings and architecture I had seen the day before when the lighting wasn't ideal. I took a shortcut through the main market, figuring Asian markets are always a good source of those afore mentioned serendipitous moments. Wait a minute, can you plan for serendipitous moments? Ah yes, the middle path, Buddha would be proud! Anyway, as I came out the other side of the market I saw this old woman walking towards the market on the other side of the street. I knew instantly, I had to take her portrait. I approached her with a smile and my best attempt at hello in Vietnamese. I quickly found out that we weren't going to understand a single syllable of what each other was saying. Given her age in Vietnam, it very likely she actually speaks three or more languages as many of the older generations can speak, French, Chinese or even Russian. Unfortunately, I am no more familiar with those languages than I am with Vietnamese. Fortunately however, I also found out that it really didn't matter. She was one of the sweetest people I met during my two months in Vietnam. We must have had a twenty minute conversation on that sidewalk. A conversation of meaningless words, yet an incredible amount of understanding and laughter. I was definitely intrigued by her. After all, she has lived through several wars, been colonized, seen governments come and go and probably walked to this market everyday for the past sixty or seventy years. Certainly a tough life by many standards, yet she was every bit as jovial and full of pride as this photograph would indicate. If only those wrinkles could speak, I'm sure there is an amazing story for each one of them. If only I could understand them if they could!

La Corona de la Iglesia

This is the crown or "corona" that tops the beautiful and historical Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the old quarter of Puerto Vallarta. I wanted a silhouetted shot of the crown with the red hued sunset and ocean as a backdrop. This turned out to be far more of a logistical challenge than an artistic one. I walked up the steep cobblestone road to get behind the church and did my best to explain to the locals what I had in mind. After about thirty minutes of entertaining the locals with my attempts at Spanish and futilely looking for a clear view, I was beginning to think there was a good reason why I hadn't seen this image on any postcards. Finally, a local family understood what I was out for and introduced me to their neighbor, whom they said had the best view of the church in town. He ended up inviting me up to his rooftop where I took a few frames, drank a few cervezas and enjoyed some great, if not broken conversation with a local family. Once again, my camera opens doors that no key ever could! It is this symbiotic relationship between travel and photography that stirs my passion for this career.

Beam Me Up

This is an example of an image that I planned for extensively. Having been to this location months prior, I vowed to come back at the perfect time to get this magical shot. That “perfect time” only occurs around noon in the summertime when a crack in the narrow walls above cast this perfect beam of sunshine on the sandy ground. A tripod and a carefully timed exposure helped capture, what I consider the world’s most beautiful and natural sundial.

Queen of Skin Care

I was commissioned to take some product shots for the soon to be released skin care line called Skin Cubed. I love shot not only for it's aesthetic value, but also because it serves as a example to me that it doesn't take a fancy studio or expensive equipment to make great photographs.
To create this shot I used items such as a cookie sheet, tinfoil, pitcher of water and a turkey baster, items more associated with a kitchen than a photography studio!
Perhaps more than any photo I have ever taken, this shot reminds me that it's all about being able to think creatively and posses the technical knowledge to create your vision. I believe that really good photographers are among the rare group of people that can combine these two, sometimes opposing skills, to create memorable images. Some people think pragmatically, others artistically, photography often requires you to do both. As I usually take this "middle path" it's no wonder I found my calling in photography.

Khlong Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Taken from a bridge that spans the “khlong” (canal) at the heart of the market; this shot offers a glimpse of how transportation and commerce took place in Bangkok when it was still known as the “Venice of the Orient”. These days, most of the khlongs in the capital have been replaced by congested streets. However, it is still possible to find active floating markets all over the kingdom, such as this one in Ratchaburi Province.