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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Sadhu Portrait #2
Sadhu Portrait #2. Kumbh Mela, Hardiwar, India. This was shot with my favorite 85mm f1.2. I was talking the other day with someone about the 85mm f1.2 and the 50mm f1.2 (that I recently bought). We were joking why they even have a focal length over f2.8 on those lenses? If you buy a super [...]
Sadhu Portrait #1
While walking around Haridwar exploring the Kumbh Mela last week, Gavin Gough and I walked into a rather non-discript ashram. An ashram, for lack of a better description, is kind of like a Jewish Kibbutz. Travelers or “seekers of truth or enlightenment” might come and stay at an ashram while on their journey. They might [...]
Back Home… for 48 hours
The team left for our respective homes on April 17th. Alou and I returned to Penang and to our daughter Jessie. But almost as quick as I got back I will leave again for America and some meetings. Alou will stay home and spend time with Jessie; I envy her. I always get little side [...]
Lumen Dei: Haridwar – The Kumbh Mela
The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival that rotates between four different regions in India every three years, thus, only returning to each region every 12 years. Haridwar sits in the foothills of the Himalaya. Many years ago we lived a few miles north of here and used to take the train through this sleepy [...]
Lumen Dei: Varanasi
All my dreams of posting daily are proven to be just that; dreams. The net was intolerably slow in New Delhi, non-exsitant in Varanasi and once we arrived to Haridwar and the Kumbh Mela we found that the government internet connection at the hotel has been blocked for security reasons. I am now posting this [...]
Lumen Dei: Kumbh Mela Day 3
Well, it has been really frustrating trying to post just a few words and a fewer images. The net at the hotel we are staying at is almost non-existent. It has taken me two days of fighting with the net to post just three images. At the moment the broadband is actually a working for [...]
Lumen Dei: Kumbh Mela Day 2
Today was a little harder than yesterday. The new or shall I say, renewed experience was gone and it just seemed like I was hunting for images. Don’t let anyone fool you. Getting great images everyday is next to impossible. Sure, good images can be found…most of the time; but great? Why do you think [...]
Lumen Dei: Kumbh Mela Day 1
The group is all arriving today from all over India and abroad. Yesterday, Alou, Gavin, Lesley (one of the participants) and I went to the Nizamuddin Shrine and spent a few hours shooting images there. It seems we timed it right for this group. Because, this week is the “Urst” or the commemoration of the [...]
Lumen Dei Tibet: The Heart of Kham
Today I am excited to announce a new Lumen Dei workshop lead by yours truly. It’s the trip dreams are made of: Tibet! How cool is that! This summer, June 18- 29th, I will be leading a tour/workshop that focuses on the Tibetan people of Kham. Kahm is the southeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau [...]
Lumen Dei: Kumbh Mela, India
Gavin Gough and I are thrilled to announce that we will officially start taking applications for the 2010 Kumbh Mela Lumen Dei photo workshop and tour. Now, I could wax eloquently about the tour for hundreds of words. But, Gavin has such a nice English lilt I will let him tell you all about our tour and workshop. Gavin if you please?
“It’s difficult to measure the excitement with which Matt Brandon and I are announcing this photo tour. Off the scale probably.
Lumen Dei 2010 dates announced!
I am excited to announce that Lumen Dei 2010 will be held September 12-25 in Kashmir and Ladakh, India. It will be another adventurous trip this year that you will not want to miss. The thing that I’m most excited about is that we are going back, after a two-year hiatus, two Kashmir. Lumen Dei [...]
Exposed: Risking the Winnowing
This was not an easy photo for me. My first inclination is not to shoot directly into the sun. The day before, I shot some similar images but with the sun behind me. They came out flat and lifeless. I had been watching Amy Vitale shoot for the past week and there were several times [...]
November Wallpaper
I know I’ve been quiet for the past few weeks. I’m not sure why the creative writing juices are not flowing, as a result it’s been a rather dry time. As I wrote yesterday, Gavin Gough flew in for a quick visit. While here we both confessed we are slackers and slapped each others hands [...]
A Brief Visit
It’s Thursday afternoon and I just put Gavin Gough in a taxi to the airport. My wife and I had a great time hanging out with Gavin as he breezed through town for a quick visit. We took him out for local food and after chiding each other for not posting on our blogs for [...]
2010 Calendar on sale!
Time to start looking for that next calendar. If you are like my family, we can never find the right calendar. It needs to be large, but not too large, and have plenty of space to write on the dates. Don’t you hate those calendars that are just numbers? How can you write things to [...]
Through failure comes movement.
I’m working on my curriculum for my “Teaching Others to Fish” photography workshop. In creating an outline I see a pattern of knowledge. I think it’s important for the photographer to: 1. Know your vision. 2. Know your gear. 3. Know your technique. 4. Know your client. 5. Know your subject. Before you get all [...]
Homeward bound…sort of.
Leaving Prayers. Lumen Dei 2009 is officially over. A great time was had by one and all. The participants seemed to learned a lot as well as having a blast. And why not?From motorcycle rides over an 18,375 ft pass, to shooting photos of bactrian camels on the sand dunes of Nubra, it was an [...]
Repetition
Repetition. Doing something over and over. Muslims will often repeat the 99 names of God over and over again. Not sure why. But it has something to do with blessing or “barkat.” Yesterday I returned with the group to Nizamuddin for the second time in this trip and my umpteenth time. Today we return yet [...]
Sit, Watch and Shoot
Today we had a great day. We did what we call a “dry run”. A dry run is where we run part or all of the tour we will be doing to see if there might be any issues with time or logistics. So, today David, Gavin, Ami Vitale and I ran the Nizamuddin section [...]
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. 
