SkyBlueSky

Screw it - I'm going vertical.

A few years back when I was shooting this story I found myself with a dilema - amputate part of the scene or shoot vertical. Many of my photographer friends talk about verticals the way someone might sheepishly mention driving drunk into a ditch or spilling hot coffee in their lap. Some say they only take one vertical a year. I've heard others say that it just feels weird.

Typically online slide shows are geared towards horizontal frames, a vertical in the mix looks odd. It throws off the continuity. Also, you can always crop a horizontal to vertical if you absolutely need a vertical for a page layout so why not keep as much information in the frame as possible.

So my problem with the Penang shot above and below is that I just could not make a horizontal happen. Above, I was shooting a 35mm pushed against a wall. In order to clear the top of the minuret I was laying on the ground with my face pressed against the sidewalk. At sidewalk level there was a nice line of light leading to the mosque. In a perfect world I would have a person walking through the light with the line of the mosque leading the eye to the minuret (when I took the above shot a cloud had just passed in front of the sun). I could get the line and the minuret but not the light. So when the guy below walked into the frame I said mea culpa and shot a vertical.
I didn't bother submitting this vertical frame but did end up using the shot later for a print publication. It's a scene I'll need to revisit either with a wider lens or with the idea of finding anther vantage point if I want to get it all in a horizontal.

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Why I Love George Town

Penang for the New York Times

12 for '12 - A Year in Travel

Saying goodbye to 2012, probably one of my busiest travel years yet. Here are a few highlights..

I grew up in Michigan and I never thought I say this but when you live in the tropics snow is a thrill. This is just outside of Aksaray, Turkey. (More on Turkey and me, here). I am constantly amazed by the depth and diversity in this country.

No travel required to shoot my hometown of Penang for this story in the New York Times.

For the February issue of Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Magazine I headed up to Chiang Mai for a week of adventure. Chuffed when the shot above was the cover for issue. Hiking and climbing - certainly different than my other work in Chiang Mai.

March had me going in what seemed to be a opposite directions all at once. A trip to Siem Reap with my parents was temporarily sidetracked for an assignment in Vientiane, Lao for the New York Times. They call these stories '36 Hours' and in reality I was there for a little under 48 hours. Thanks to the some advanced planning on my part and that Vientiane is a relatively small, walkable city I was able to get what I needed and join the family for the rest of their holiday.

March /April also had me in the US - LA (twice), New York, Michigan and New Mexico. Some work, some holiday - all interesting to see 'my' country as a tourist.

May took me back to Turkey where I hiked through Kars and rubbed shoulders with sheep herders in Van. Look for articles on these journeys in 2013.

In July I headed off to Mexico City (my first time there) for this story for The New York Times. (Confession time - I rarely eat the props when I'm shooting food, but I ate most of this torta and much of the one behind - much to the chagrin of my hosts). MC was a real eye opener and a must return destination.

Returning to Asia I quickly headed off to Cambodia for a series of stories.

August brought me back to Malaysia but in Kuala Lumpur this time for a story about one of my favorite places in KL - Chow Kit Market.  For a guy that digs markets, this was pretty much the dream assignment.

September took me to Koh Samui, Thailand for feature for Travel + Leisure SEA and a food excursion for The Wall Street Journal.  (confession #2 - I ate 4 servings to this desert but I swear it was just to make Chef Alex happy).

Then back to Turkey for this journey and this kind of unbelievable hospitality. Throw in stops in Italy for an upcoming article, commercial work and some stuff back home and it's been an interesting, rewarding year. I'm excited for 2013 but I'm also kind of sad to see 2012 go..

 

 

 

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A Night at the Opera

The Kits are Alright

36 Hours in Vientiane for The New York Times

River Deep, Mountain High

Island Hopping

Recent work for Travel + Leisure SEA. In November I checked out what was new in my adopted home  George Town. It's still packed full of all the loveable characters that brought me here to begin with but a few more galleries, restaurants, cafes and hotels give it a whole new (in a good way) feel.

I'd like to think that George Town is just improving on the good things it had to begin with. Time will tell but so far so good.

Jump over to the December issue for a feature piece on Koh Samui, Thailand.

Not a hardship post (unless you're shooting a piece in the rainy season). Good food, clean ocean and an amazing artisanal producer of rum. It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it.

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Hamsi Quest for the New York Times

(Above : Turkish beach goers on a pebbled shore near Inebolu)

A guy is entitled to a few obsessions and for me it's anchovies (hamsi inTurkish). But not just any old anchovies mind you, for me it's got to be Black Sea anchovies cooked at the source. So shooting this piece for The New York Times was a natural fit. Despite the vagaries of the Black Sea weather and a spotty hamsi catch I can't think of a better way to spend a week or two then tooling up and down the coast. Probably my favorite part of the country (and I've got a few other favs!).

For a glimpse of what it's like check out this slide show accompanied by song "Hamsi' performed by classic Turkish band Moğollar. Enjoy!

 

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Mexico City for the New York Times

Precariously Perched in Istanbul

 

( Above - A precariously perched feline defies gravity much as a jetlagged human somehow remains upright).

Istanbul, the perfect city to transit through. I arrived mid-morning after a 10hr flight from Malaysia preceded by a 3 day shoot in Thailand that had me arriving in Penang and leaving the same day.

After a jetlag sleep of the dead I headed out with my camera to catch what was left of the evening (I forgot how early the sun sets this time of year - 4:30pm! - hey Turkey how about some daylight savings time). I'll be in Turkey 3+ weeks this time. More sleep and more to come.

(by 6 o'clock night approaches with the promise of sweet dreams).

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• Day Dreaming

Market Clicker

Every market tells a story and informs you about where you are. Whether it is the riot of color of a south Asia market or the carefully stacked produce of a Turkish market each market and each locale offers a unique glimpse into a country and its' culture. I love photographing markets so I thought I would offer a few tips on photographing in markets for the lastest edition of Zester Daily. Click on here for the article  and slideshow.

And in case you missed it I also offered tips on photographing food. Want more? Drop me a line about one on one photography tours.

Pooja

Cleaning out and reorganizing a few drives. Shot on Fuji Velvia 100 in 2007. No camera data but I'm assuming somewhere around 1/10th at f11, ISO100. Canon 20mm f2.8 on my trusty T-90.

Women enter Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to perform a parkrama or circumnambulation of the temple deity. We attended this pooja in 2006 and 2007 in KL. Incredible to watch 1000 (?) women all dressed in red walking from Bangsar to Chinatown at dawn. In 2007 I was able to gain access to an upper balcony at the temple where this shot was taken. The celebrants entered the temple in groups. I cantilevered myself and tripod over the edge and waited for the women to get the go ahead to enter the portion of the temple where the deities are housed. I'd envisioned this shot after attending the event in 2006 and seeing the upper balcony which was closed to visitors. Returning in 2007 the organizers remembered me and helped me gain access to the balcony. An important lesson in returning to a scene and working it from another angle.

Mexico City for the New York Times

I had the great privilege to collaborate with chef and restaurateur Roberto Santibanez and writer J.J.Goode as we ate our way across Mexico City for the New York Times. Roberto brings so much depth and knowledge that I almost forgot to take photos. All I can say is that he is just an incredible guy. I can't wait to eat at both Fonda restaurants next time I'm back in the States. This is the second time I've worked with JJ  (we collaborated on this piece for the NYT's) and as before, a real joy. A big thanks for making my first trip to Ciudad de Mexico an incredible experience.

Check out Roberto and JJ's latest book Tacos, Tortas and Tamales (pre-order now or in bookstores October 16) and their classic Truly Mexican.

A few out takes from my shoot and some found audio courtesy of a street musician in the idyllic neighborhood of Coyoacan. Enjoy!

 

Final Days

In early 2010 I made a trip to Sichuan province and took a quick side trip to Chong Qing. The trip was really more to explore Chong Qing's food scene; it was after photographing a noodle dish that I stumbled into the riverside neighbohood of Yu Zhong.

Red banners strung across lanes and across shopfronts and homes and the Chinese character for "demolish" painted on buildings -- sights I became familiar with as a resident of Shanghai during the late nineties, an intense period of reconstruction there -- announced that the neighborhood was slated for demolition. Wandering its alleys I found buildings dating back to the late Qing dynasty -- the port of Chongqing's first post office, for instance -- and incredibly, amidst the destruction that had already begun, signs of life.

I spent the next day and half photographing Yu Zhong -- its historic buildings and its remaining residents. The neighborhood was rundown and, no doubt, many Yu Zhong dwellers welcomed their impending relocation to new high-rise apartments on the outskirts of the city. 

Yet others expressed doubts and fears. Many, with only days remaining until their relocation, still had no idea where they would be sent. Some were angry that the compensation they would receive from the Chongqing government was inadequate to move both themselves, their families, and their household goods to their new homes. Others were unhappy about the hour and a half, or two-hour commute that would be required for them to get back into the city to jobs near where they'd lived. One elderly woman, a doctor of herbal medicine who'd been treating patients from her Yu Zhong shop for more than several decades, expressed quiet resignation. She wouldn't reopen her business from her new home (yet undetermined), she said. "I'm too old to start over."

During my last afternoon in the neighborhood I met two Chongqing university students wandering around taking photographs. Taking pictures of old buildings, especially in a neighborhood as rundown as Yu Zhong, is not something you see a lot of young people in China doing. Why were they there, I asked. "We don't know it now, but I think in twenty or fifty years we feel regret for this," one told me.

Yu Zhong's redevelopment was just one part of ex-Chongqing chief Bo Xilai's grand makeover of the city. When I took these photographs no one could have predicted the events that have since unfolded there. But all of the residents of Yu Zhong knew they were nothing more than bit players in their city's, and China's, massive redevelopment.

I view this collection of photos as Part One of a complicated story. I have wanted to make a trip back to Chongqing to track down a few of the residents I met in Yu Zhong. Unfortunately, to date neither the timing (nor the funding) has not worked out.

Please click on "captions" for detailed explanations of the photographs.

Siem Reap - Random Frames

I'm editing a series of assignments from a recent trip to Siem Reap. As is always the case, some pics just don't fit in the final sort. Here are a few from the photo grab bag.