the RAW and the Muse
On this trip to Sumatra, I did what I always do; I shot in RAW. RAW images files are fantastic, they give you the latitude to make changes to your images while processing that JPEG files just don’t allow. This, of course, is old news to most of us. Nate Watkins, the buddy I was [...]
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 [...]
South Sumatra #2
Just a quick note and a few photos from the past two days. The note is to say I have disabled the geotag feature. Great for clients, not so hot for blogging. Tonight I am in the middle of nowhere in Southern Sumatra. The people are still amazingly friendly and a pleasure to photograph. Here [...]
South Sumatra #1
Had a good first day of shooting. I am reminded how wonderfully friendly the Indonesian people are. The men and women are both so willing to have their photos taken. In fact, almost incessant at times. It has been raining every afternoon and thus the weather has given us some great opportunities for dramatic images. [...]
Geotagging: Just Because We Can
For most people the fun thing about geotagging, or adding the gps coordinates to a photo is simply because you can. But there are some practical uses. I have a client that hopes to create a database of their projects around the world. In this database they might store information and names of staff that [...]
Aristotle, Excellence and the Photographer
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle This morning I met with some friends of mine for coffee. My buddy Hans tossed out this quote he’d recently read in a runner’s magazine of all places. He thought it might spur some challenging conversation. We were discussing [...]
Dear Beginner, You make ripples!
Recently I had an email from a reader who had some basic photography questions. He was dealing with some pretty common issues that most beginners deal with. He has been frustrated that his images, though taken in some very exotic locations don’t seem to grab the viewer. After I looked over some of his images [...]
I talk to myself. Do you?
I talk to myself. There – I’ve said it. I know, you think I’m nuts. That’s not new news–but that’s a whole other topic. The fact is, I talk to myself. Whenever I put the camera to my face, I talk to myself. Sometimes audibly, all the time in my head. I ask myself what [...]
The Mundane
There are several things taking my time up lately and most of them are rather mundane. I’m spending a lot of time keywording photographs. For some of you, this is not very important, all you need to do is keyword an image so you can find it quickly in your library. However, for many of [...]
Go with the flow, or in this case the light.
(Click on the image to view it larger.) Here is a lesson; hold on to ideas and concepts your shooting lightly and let things happen naturally. Go with the flow. One of the hardest things to photograph is an icon. Something that everyone knows and everyone has photographed. So how to you do it? Honestly… [...]
Egypt: Aswan Nubian Village
We travel in 52c (125º) heat, across the Nile and reached an isolated Nubian village visited by few foreigners. It was like nothing I have ever seen. The walls of the home where bright blue, deep red and mustered yellow. The people, the most friendly we have met in Egypt and the light was perfect; [...]
Egypt: Aswan, More Images
Most of my time here has been split between looking at possible sites for a Nile workshop and family vacation. The family vacation images are on my Facebook page. There is huge potential for a photo workshop on the Nile. The villages we have been looking at are outside the normal tourist routes and are [...]
Guest Blog: Marco Ryan
I’m going to go down a bit of a rat hole. I’m even going to give it a name: value. You’ll already be wondering why a post that begins “I’m going down a bit of a rat hole” might have anything to do with Focus for Humanity – a newly launched foundation aimed at giving [...]
My First Malay Wedding
I don’t do weddings. I don’t like the pressure. I don’t like being bossed around by mother-in-laws. I just don’t like weddings – that is, photographing them. But when Brian Hirschy decided to visit this last weekend and at the same time my buddy Hariman invited me to help him photograph a Malay wedding, I [...]
Depth of Field: Marco Ryan
Marco Ryan was born in the UK, but now lives in Cairo, Egypt with his wife and young family. His professional career as an eCommerce Strategist, Digital Marketing expert and speaker is covered on his work blog, marcoryan.com. His speaking and consulting give Marco plenty of opportunity to travel use his photography. His passion is [...]
What’s all this talk about vision?
I don’t even know where this post is going. Partly, I’m posting out of discipline. Partly, I’m posting because I know there’s something in my brain that needs to be said; I just can’t put my finger on it. Vision, vision, vision, all this talk about vision. Very few people actually define what they mean [...]
Location Scouting
A very short (and late) post today. This morning I went out with two friends scouting for locations for the July 24th Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. I think we found a very cool route. Starting off at a historic colonial cemetery in Georgetown, here in Penang. Spent way too long walking around, but had [...]
Movin’ Like Crazy
That’s me, (not in the picture, in life) movin’ like crazy. I have a lot going on over the next few weeks. Not the best pan shot ever taken. But I thought it was fun, and I like the pastel colors. Taken in Hardiwar, India. In other news, be looking for the unavailing of two [...]
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 [...]
The Photo Essay: Give it Your Best Shot
Monday we started talking about photo essays. We began by looking at SoundSlides, a great product to use to help you produce engaging photo stories. In fact, Monday’s post marked the beginning of a giveaway that will last throughout this week and culminate on Friday with some lucky person getting a licensed copy of SoundSlides [...]
Depth of Field: Jasmine Star
Jasmine Star is a real person. By that I don’t mean to imply that she was thought to be some fictional character. What I mean, is that for someone who has rocketed to fame in a few short years as she has, she has maintained a grip on reality. She’s not pretentious. I did not [...]
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 [...]
It’s Nice to Have Conflict
If you’re reading a story and everything goes according to plan, everyone gets along and there is no conflict at all in the pages of the book, that would be a very boring book. Conflict in a story, as in life can get your heart beating. Remember the time you had conflict with that particularly [...]
In a Perfect World
This is a dangerous blog post. Partly because it might step on some people’s toes. Partly because I haven’t completed my thoughts on this. So all in all it’s just plain dangerous. But, I need to fill the empty space and this is something I’ve been thinking about a lately. I’m not sure who first [...]
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. 
