I still find myself on a high school football field on the occasional Friday night. Instead of shooting on deadline for a paper, I'm organizing and delving out cameras, advice and inspiration for my students.
We are waiting for long glass, two 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses for the students to use. For now, they're using kit lenses on Nikon D40's...hardly ideal for shooting action on the football field. However, I'm a fan of looking away from the obvious, to more subtle aspects of sports, and all stories for that matter. It's interesting, open to seeing. In addition, I'm explaining the idea that it's not the camera or lens you use but the things you see. So I goofed off for a half with my iPhone...showing my students along the sidelines, in hope of inspiration, the things I was seeing with my phone.
Been swamped getting ready for school on Tuesday...also archiving and cleaning out a very full hard drive. Here is a frame I liked from the area around Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, China, where I went on many a day trip.
This is a picture of three couples on various planes of St. Pete Beach, shot while relaxing and reading a book before my first day of training for a new gig.
Over coffee one morning in China, I saw a rather interesting job opportunity on the wonderful threads of APAD. A few weeks later, after a 36 hour block of traveling, I drove my newly purchased car to the beautiful town of St. Petersburg, Florida.
I'll be a Photojournalist in Residence with Pinellas County Schools, teaching photojournalism, multimedia and newsroom skills at Lakewood High School. I'm part of a program called Journeys in Journalism, a specialized education initiative in partnership with the St. Petersburg Times and the Poynter Institute. It's a change in pace for me, but I think it will be a rewarding and unique job. It's the first year for the program at the high school level...so lots of room to develop and shape the program. Not to mention the two months of vacation a year...more traveling? Certainly. Also, I'm living in St. Petes in the midst of a wonderful photo community. Can't afford a hotel for Geekfest 2009? You can crash on my floor. Funny, I've been a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan since I was ten despite never being to the area before. That's what growing up in New Mexico without a local team will do for you...
I'm planning to do some freelance work in the area, keep working on projects, etc. So hopefully no more month long lapses in illtown...
Yikes. It's been far too long since I've updated illtown. Trying to get back in the groove.
Here is a random post from my last month in China...two days after returning from my backpacking trip to Thailand, I boarded a plane south for Kunming, Yunnan Province, where I worked for a month in the city of Dali and small village Shaxi with Rustic Pathways, a company specializing in various programs for American teenagers around the globe. I was shooting for their catalog and basically helping to lead a program...in other words managing kids in a foreign country. I was a great experience, highly challenging yet extremely rewarding. For the catalog, I was mostly shooting PR-style-happy-kids-having-fun and such...
These are just some shots for me along the way. I found it challenging when out and about that most people would immediately pose and smile for the camera...with my limited Chinese, it was hard to explain my intention to shoot documentary photojournalism...so I took the chance to make some portraits of people.
My travels in Asia were simply incredible. I'm still going through the significance in my mind. It wasn't just about pictures, although that was a significant part. It was about the things I saw, learned, laughed at, ran from, ran to. The people I met. Twelve hour bumpy bus rides from hell with toothless men chain smoking next to me. Groups of villagers gathering to watch me eat noodles. Journal entries. Riding motorcycles through cloud covered mountains. Almost crashing motorcycles. Tutoring Chinese students, helping them learn English. Having conversations with people using nothing but gestures. Being in the midst of bike traffic jams. Trying not to get hit by buses, cars, taxis, motorbikes on the most unsafe roads I've ever seen. Being in places where nobody understood my language. The occasional injury. Fascinating conversations with brilliant people. Backpacking. Hiking. Learning some Chinese. THE FOOD. Spending time with my brother and sister in law. Books I read. Glee. Panic. Joy. Adventures, adventures, adventures. I wouldn't give the experience up for anything in the world. I'll be out and about again...so much more of the world to see, experience, photograph.
While riding roads of Thai villages, it’s impossible not to note ragged dogs dotting the winding path. Often, they prop their thin bodies in the middle of the road, rarely moving for anyone or anything, including my motorbike.
I found out the hard way they don’t like to be pet. Some have something along the lines of an owner, some food or water here and there, but they live in the streets. Most are alone, guarding their small section of territory.
These are the straw dogs. And these some photos I took of the ones that didn’t run away.
Since I'm blogging under a firewall and have to use proxy servers to post anything, this soundslider may not embedd or work properly. If it doesn't, maybe this will...
Finally an update. I've been busy as of late and discouraged by the firewall which has blocked blogger here. I've been using sneak proxy servers, but could not post photos. Then I came to realize I should try embedding soundsliders...I can't see them, but if they don't work on your end, leave a comment.
So far, it doesn't seem to be working. But try looking here...
Anyways, I spent a few weeks on a solo backpacking trip around Thailand. I explored, riding a motorcycle anywhere I could without crashing or getting stuck in mud. I visited temples, endured twelve hour bus rides, met rad people, laughed a great deal...had a fantastic time. Now I'm in Yunnan Province, China, doing photography and group leadership for Rustic Pathways, a group that brings American teenagers across the globe for various programs. Mid-July I'll leave here and hopefully go on a backpacking trip to far Western Sichuan to explore photograph a massive annual Tibetan horse racing festival.
Well, I can't access my blog, or any blogs, without using a proxy sneak server. Now, I can't upload photos. So for the time being, not much here until the firewall eases. I'm off to backpack and travel for a few weeks. Photos to come.
