Orlando (The Other)

I went into down town today to get in some street shooting, and to get more aquatinted to my new Sigma 24/1.8 (which is quite remarkable, especially for the price.)


I though that I would gravitate tward slice of life stuff, what with the Arts Festival and all.  But what struck me was how easy it was for all the people down for the Festival to ignore the true residents of Down Town.

Bangladesh Travelog

A vignette of my travels through the  southern deltas of Bangladesh while on assignment there.


I saw most of it on the very back of a motorcycle; the very back: it was my driver, my translator, and finally myself on a rather small 120cc bike.  My butt spent most of the time on the rear handle bar as we drove on about 2 miles of tarmac, 3 miles of brick cobble and another 7 miles of uneven dirt roads. I wouldn't trade it for anything. The sound track was created in Bloom for the iPhone.
You can also check out the HD version here.

Lessons from my past circa 2004

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[column]If I had hesitated for one more second, I would have missed this guy.

I was in China Town in LA, for the first time.  I needed to get a few good shots for class, so I drove down to LA and walked around in a neighborhood that was like nothing I had ever seen before.  I had driven through the area, even had dinner there one night.  But walking from the 5 to Union Station, and north a block or so is totally different.  It was so comforting to be an invisible minority for one moment, ridiculous I know, I loved it and I charged off of it.

I kept it really simple, one body, one zoom lens, 4-5 rolls of film and I had a flash, but I never used it.  I had shot with that body every day for the last 12 months, the film for the last 6.  I shot a manual exposure based off of BDE, and I didn't think for but a moment.  I stopped, smiled asked if I could take his picture.  He looked at me and gently smiled.  He stopped, took off his hat, and took a humble but dignified gaze into my camera.  I pulled off two frames and new I had it.  I shook his hand, I walked away.

I have so much unlearning to do.  I have so much to re-learn.

On a side note, this was shot on one of my favorite films- Provia 100f.  Nothing looks like it, nothing.[/column][/col-sect]

Orange Blossom Trail Revisited

A few other images from my last trip down to OBT.  I went through my photos this week and thought about my time down there.  I realized that I felt confident in my place there (scared, but confident) until my friends and family started expressing their concern for my safety and well-being.  That's when I started to take my foot off of the throttle.  The same thing happened to me in Kosovo.

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That's not their fault. It's our friends job to be checks. I think that if it was really that important to me, I would have not balked at the suggestion that wandering around in a dangerous neighborhood with two DSLRs hanging around my neck, was a bad idea. I wonder if I was looking for a way out. I also wonder what is happening with this guy.

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