Merry Christmas from our family to yours
Today is Christmas day. We had a wonderful time with family over the past few days. A classic Christmas in many ways – shopping, eating and reminiscing. A big treat for me was borrowing a friend’s 8mm projector and viewing family films from way back. I mean way back. The oldest was from 1950 in [...]
A conversation with Gavin Gough: Thaipusam
I needed to clear up a few things about the upcoming Thaipusam workshop – So I gave my co-leader and good friend Gavin Gough a call. We chatted a little over 30 minute and like always we rambled a bit but had a great time. Feel like listening in? Here you go: Please take a [...]
Off-Camera Flash Made Easy
Let me set the record straight right here, I am not a strobist. Ninety five percent of the time I shoot with available light, the other five percent I shoot with my flash set to rear curtain sync (It’s fun. You should try it!) I really don’t like the ugly flat light that on-camera flashes [...]
Multimedia: The Pull Rickshaws of Kolkata
Last week I returned from Kolkata ( the city formerly known as Calcutta ), India. I actually didn’t go for an assignment or even to take photos. I accompanied with my wife who had business there and while in Kolkata we visited with some friends. Yet, if truth be known, a photographer never goes anywhere without [...]
Multimedia: Durian, The Scent of a King
I am convinced that the durian is a misunderstood fruit. As you will learn from watching this slideshow that it is known for its pungent odor and it’s rather mushy texture. I have also learned that it is rather subjective whether it is pungent in it’s smell or just “heavily scented” or if the texture [...]
Angkor Photo Workshop and the Fruits of our Labour
“Hannibal” Smith in the 1980′s TV series, “The A-Team” used to say “I love it when a plan comes together”. All I need is a cigar in the side of my mouth and I could be Hannibal Smith today because the Angkor Photo Workshop did just that, it came together – perfectly. Sunday was the [...]
Multimedia: Fuji X100
I am back home after a great, but rather wet, trip to the Philippines. It rained almost every day. But, the time with my in-laws was wonderful and the time spent with my wife and daughter even more so. As you know from the previous post, I purposefully left my DSLRs at home and only [...]
Singapore: Just a snap.
Limitations almost always lead to creativity. I’ve blogged about this in the past. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s true. Whenever we limit our resources we force ourselves to be creative. I can recall in the early 90s my first computer was a Mac SE. I needed to do what today is called a presentation. [...]
The Penesak Jeweler
Tomorrow I leave for India for five days. It’s a quick trip shooting for a client and then home again. My wife decided she tag along and go shopping. So it will be a lot nicer rooming with her than with my fellow photographer Nate Watkins who I went with to Indonesia. Nate will be [...]
Multimedia: Lumen Dei Participant Michael Ettema
Tweet I spoke too soon. Apparently, I still have a few more SoundSlides slide show to present. Todays entry is by Michael Ettema. Michael came to Lumen Dei packing light. He sported the only Leica on the trip. His whole kit, three lens and body all fit into a small bum bag. I tried using [...]
Fiction and Multimedia
The lines between fiction and nonfiction in multimedia are blurring. I’m pretty sure this is good. But it is uncomfortable. Why? Because, I think we have come to expect multimedia to be a style used by journalists. But it’s silly to think that it has to stay there. I’ve had this discussion so many times [...]
Multimedia: Lumen Dei participant, Martin & Alik Sojka
Here is more work by participants from the Ladakh Lumen Dei workshop. Today’s works is by Martin & Alik Sojka. The Martins are from Slovakia, and are very talented photographers. (Martin also brews a mean bottle of Hruškovica. A home brew made of peaches that will knock your socks off! It is good for what [...]
Multimedia: Lumen Dei participant, Yves Perreault
While in Ladakh, I lead a short spur-of-the-moment workshop on Soundslide Plus and the basic concepts of a photo essay. We had several participants express their interest in trying their hand at it. I told each of them, if they got it to me I would gladly post their work for others to see. Here [...]
Multimedia: The Prophet gave us a way.
My intent in this post is to foster peace and understanding. This post today expresses the views of one man, who is in the minority in his town. He is a Muslim man named Faisal, and he is a minority in Buddhist Ladakh. Many of my readers know that I am a member of a [...]
Video; The daunting future?
For the past year or two I have been creating photo essays using only still images and some audio. Yet, I keep listening to photographers, well-respected in the business, telling me I need to get into video. This is intimidating for me. I used to work in video, years back. But, long since gave it [...]
Multimedia: Lintang Coffee Millers of Sumatra
Over the past week I have been up to my chest in tea plants and knee deep in coffee beans. I have slid muddy slopes on my butt down too many times to count and dug dirt out of my camera more than I care to think about. But I gotta say, it has been [...]
Multimedia: The Camel Market of Cairo
Over this past two weeks of reconnoitering for an Oct 2011, Cairo/Nile photo workshop I was able to see and visit some amazing places. Places, that if I didn’t have the job that I have, I might say were once in a lifetime kind of places. Last Friday was once such place. My ever gracious [...]
Lumen Dei Trophies: Examples of SoundSlides by our Students
You still have till the end of the day here in Malaysia to enter the SoundSlides Plus giveaway. I will stop taking entries at midnight my time (GMT +8). It’s been fun. Honestly, I’m humbled and somewhat amazed by all the selfless and creative ideas that have been submitted. I guess with my background in humanitarian [...]
GIVEAWAY + Review: SoundSlides Plus
This week we will be looking at what it takes to create a well done and communicative multimedia photo essay. I will be introducing you to some of tools it takes to create these effective presentations. We’ll also be taking a look at the type of photos you need in an essay to build the [...]
Multimedia: The Last Hat Maker
Living in Penang has been fun and compared to Kashmir quite easy. But, the one sad part for me is I feel I’m here just in time to see a lot of the culture that is so rich in Penang disappear. Remember The Last Lantern Maker that I shot pictures of a few months back? [...]
Multimedia: Wasim The Varanasi Sari Maker
One of the assignments we gave our last Lumen Dei workshop participants was to create a short, two minute multimedia photo essay on anything or anyone as long as it was in Varanasi. They were to use Soundslides, but we would provide the audio bed for them. The assignment was to be shot the two [...]
The Power of The Photograph
I found this link off a blog I follow, Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen. Garr is all about how to communicate your vision and story to others. Mainly through the use of presentation software like Power Point or Keynote. Garr knows how to do it right and he certainly know the power of the image. I [...]
The Last Lantern Maker
Sometimes there are days that nothing seems to get done. This time that day lasted a whole week. I’ve started 100 projects and finished none. By Wednesday, I’d had enough and decided to grab my cameras and just go out and chase an idea I have had for about six months. There’s an old man [...]
Jessica Courtney
Yesterday I received a lot of positive response on Hebers Vega’s multimedia essay. Today I want to highlight one more student, Jessica Courtney with the Preemptive Love Coalition. Jessica, along with her husband Jeremy and other staff work hard to bring life saving surgery to Iraqi children. The story is an amazing one and worth [...]
I shoot for mostly NGOs and nonprofits. I photograph images of the unknown, the forgotten and the helpless. These are often the stories that most people overlook. 
