Downtown Troy Alabama

Downtown Troy Alabama

Originally uploaded by inspiritu

While researching family roots last summer I visited the library in Troy Alabama. Pulling out of the library and going around the block I encountered this scene and had to stop. What caught my eye was play of the late afternoon shadows on the buildings. Good fortune provided the figure dressed in white to walk by and give both contrast and scale to the scene.

Hand Painted Sign – Siem Reap, Cambodia

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Originally uploaded by inspiritu

Discovered this unusually lovely painted sign while walking on a side street in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Illustrated signs are very common in Cambodia, a country with a low literacy rate. Signs for everything from barber shops to motorcycle repair have illustrations to go along with the script text. Usually they are very colorful and have a certain primitive quality to their draftsmanship. What strikes me about this sign are it monochromatic tones, and the grace with which it is painted. To my eye it is really quite lovely.

Frescoe in Laguna San Juan

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Originally uploaded by inspiritu

One of the many colorful wall paintings, or frescoes, in the village of Laguna San Juan, Guatemala. This one measures about 6 feet high by 8 feet wide.

I’m not really sure what is happening in this painting. Between the look on the man’s face, and the fact that two people appear to be holding him, one could think that foul play is afoot. However, I’m more inclined to think it is about a healing.

If any of you have a clue what’s going on here please post a comment.

Saigon Street Band

One night while walking back from dinner, I encountered this curious group of rockers on the streets of Saigon. They moved through the streets “lashed together” like mountaineers over ice with cords leading to a portable amplifier and eventually the metal speaker seen in the foreground. Every half block or so, they would stop their parade and rock out. One of the more interesting things I saw during that trip through Asia, I really like the color from the street lights and the seriousness on the faces of the rockers.

Faces of Hope

Working with the Ponheary Ly Foundation in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I grabbed this shot of boys enjoying a morning treat of sweet milk and bread.

Tourists visiting the ancient temples of Angkor sometimes ask tour guide Ponheary for a more meaningful contact with the people of the area. Ponheary obliges by taking them to visit one of the schools she and her foundation work with. In this case it’s the Knar school near Banteay Srei temple ruins. Tourists Beth and Bill hunter have provided a nutritious snack of baguettes and sweet milk which the kids just love. For many of these children in this very poor area this is their breakfast this day.

The Ponheary Ly Foundation is a small grassroots non-profit that works to remove obstacles to education for Cambodian children. They supply uniforms and school supplies to the poorest children whom would not otherwise be able to attend school. They also provide teacher stipends so underpaid teachers can afford to concentrate on teaching without seeking other means of income. For more information on this terrific organization please visit their website at www.theplf.org.

Environmental Portrait

This portrait of my friend Anne was taken in the living room of her home. Taken by mixing off-camera flash and daylight. The idea was to create a natural looking portrait in the subjects home setting. What do you think. Do you like the way it turned out?

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Friendship

Took this shot of young boys at the Wat Po primary school in Siem Reap, Cambodia while documenting the work of the Ponheary Ly Foundation (www.theplf.org). Wat Po school is a big school located in the rapidly growing city of Siem Reap. Approximately 5000 kids attend in two shifts. Half come in the morning, and half in the afternoon. These kids are on recess near the end of the afternoon school session.

Art Glass

Nothing fantastic, I took this shot of a piece of art glass to challenge and develop my lighting skills. It was made using one light, a softbox, and a couple of broken pieces of mirror.

Portrait of Painter Cynthia Knox

This shoot was a lot of fun. My friend Cynthia Knox is an excellent painter. When she told me she needed a portrait to go with a magazine article about her art, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out some new lighting ideas I’d been thinking of. We took a couple dozen images and this was my knockout favorite. The color comes from combining Lightroom Selenium effect with the untouched original color in Photoshop.

Portrait of Jacqui

My partner Jacqui poses for a formal portrait shot for my Light Control class at PCNW. What I like this pictures is the way her auburn highlight come through her blonde hair. The two of us share a joke about her being both a blonde and a redhead, and this photo hints at those two sides of her personality.

Hello world!

Welcome to my new blog documenting my transition from life as a wage slave for a multinational corporation to self employment as a full-time professional photographer. I plan to post at least one new image a week, and will try to always write a little something about the photos and my experiences too.

This first shot is a self-portrait (seemed appropriate) made in workshop at Photographic Center Northwest (www.pcnw.org). Since I had begun a new relationship several weeks earlier, I wanted to portray myself in a way that said something about me in relationship to her.

Children at Koh Ker

This is my favorite shot from our trip to Cambodia in January 2008. We went to profile the work of Lori Carlson and the Ponheary Ly foundation (www.theplf.org).

About 100 kids attend this poor rural school that’s surrounded by minefields. The day this photo was taken, mines were the least of their worries. We discovered that 30% were seriously ill with either Malaria, Dengue Fever, or Tuburculosis. Thanks to swift and flexible intervention by Lori and Ponheary, a doctor was found and treatment is being given to these kids.

To learn more about the Ponheary Ly Foundation and the work they do clearing the roadblocks to education for disenfranchised Cambodian youth go to their website http://www.theplf.org.