The Viewfinder

Goodbye Fall

2009-11-12T15:33:00.006-05:00

Today's weather seems to indicate that fall's on its way out and that winter is approaching the District. I have to say... I'm not sure if I'm ready for snow boots and sub-freezing temperatures. Here's a last glimpse of fall I spotted last weekend on a hike in Great Falls, MD.

Banjo . Farmer

2009-11-02T13:34:00.007-05:00

I stopped by Eastern Market in DC last weekend and met a banjo playing farmer named Tyler. Tyler and Heather Caudle own Wisteria Gardens in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Their delicious produce is the product of farming without using harmful pesticides, fungicides or herbicides. This photo typifies a normal scene at the Wisteria Gardens stand at Eastern Market.

New in 20009...

2009-10-14T20:50:00.031-04:00

No I did not accidentally type an extra zero in this title. 20009 means I'm officially a new resident of a new zip code! Though I'll miss the people with whom I spent such great times up in New England, it was time for a new change of scenery and a career redirection. So, two weeks ago I relocated from Cambridge, MA to our nation's capital...

(This poster is from www.orkposters.com. I have this one... I love it and I love this designer!)

Now here's the thing... I have never lived alone. I've always had (awesome) roommates, and before roommates I shared a place with two parents, a sister, and a dog. So needless to say, some things have been new to me. For instance, I'm not familiar with being able to see every square inch of my apartment in one quick scan (it's a tiny studio). I'm not used to cooking on a stove that resembles an Easy Bake Oven. I'm also not accustomed to locking myself into a room for an evening, waking up to the voice of Liam Gallagher as he screams "...and so Sally can wait" at 6:30am from the stereo of my courteous neighbor, or staring at my plants due to the absence of a television. Yeah, it's been a bit of an adjustment. Though this picture I paint might not seem so great, to be completely fair I have (for the most part) really enjoyed this new lifestyle!

My first order of business when moving in to my new studio was to go all Ty Pennington on the joint and then do what I love to do... snap some photos of it!

Here's the before...

... and the after!

The key to this layout was to hide my bed behind my book shelves. My top priority with this place was to not feel like my entire studio was a bedroom. When you have that kind of setup, it is extremely hard to have guests over and have them and you feel comfortable in the space. The bookshelves did a great job dividing the room leaving a private sleeping nook and a well defined living room. My favorite part of this apartment is my MANtastic new leather couch and the image hanging above it. You might recognize it from a previous post! Here's the view from the couch.

The windows on the left of this photo bring in great light for the entire space. Without 5 foot windows, I think the apartment would feel really dark and cavernous.

Thanks for checking out my new digs and drop me a line if you like what you see. Now that my life is settling down into a routine I hope to post more photos of my adventures in the weeks to come.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Single Speed Project... Complete!

2009-07-28T17:58:00.017-04:00

During my months of pretirement, I've operated with the almost daily goal of trying something new. That attitude guided my (ill advised) decision to take apart my 21 speed road bike back in May with the aim of turning it into a single speed bike. Though in all honesty I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I'm proud to introduce you to the final product... my new self-assembled single speed road bike.

The bike is constructed from an old early '80s vintage Univega frame and most parts are recycled as they were stripped off my old bike.

You may be wondering why I wanted to do this and why someone would want to reduce their ride from 21 shiftable speeds to 1 fixed speed. To answer the latter part of that question, many bike purists consider a single speed road bike to be the most efficient way to get around town. I won't get into too much technical detail, but when all the extras are removed from a bike (gear shifters, derailers, extra cogs, and a longer chain) you're left with a streamlined and much lighter ride. If this interests you, read this article by Sheldon Brown that initially piqued my interest.

I'm not sure I have a definitive answer to the former part of the question. I guess my desire to make my own single speed came from a bunch of different motivations. On a purely aesthetic level, I think single speeds look amazing. Their uncomplicated and streamlined and pretty much non-technological compared to modern bikes. And though I hate to admit it, single speeds and fixies are a staple in hipster culture... and deep down there's a little bit of hipster in me. On another level, I just wanted a new project.

To complete this project, I've been walking into Cambridge bike shops for around 2 months asking very stupid questions about bikes in an effort to get free advice. Later I would go home and try out what I've been told. Most of the bike shops' hipster workers have treated me like a complete idiot. Here's a typical transaction.

Kevin: "Hi, um I'm looking for one of those, uhh you know bolt things that attaches to the pedal arms???"
Hipster Bike Shop Worker: "Haaa pedal arms? Um do you mean a bottom bracket?"
Kevin: "Sure?"
HBSW: "(Long annoyed sigh) Ok... yeah well I don't know what you need, so you should just bring your bike by and we'll do it for you. BTW, rad Celtics t-shirt. Is that vintage?"
Kevin: It's TJ-Maxx.

I was almost ready to give up on local bike shops until I met Tyler at Paramount Bicycle in Somerville, MA. On a rainy Tuesday in July I walked into Tyler's shop only to find a guy sitting in the back of an empty store drinking what seemed to be his 7th High Life. Literally the first thing out of the guy's mouth... "Damn you're a little &%@$# like me... you probably have a $#@&@ huge Napolean Complex like me." This was no normal bike shop.

Despite his explicit crudeness, Tyler was the first guy in the area that treated me like an adult. After going through the normal litany of bad questions about bikes, Tyler offered his shop, expertise, and tools to me... free of charge. For two days, I worked in the back of his shop while he barked orders to me about what I needed to do next to my bike. When I cut my finger and asked for a band aide, he called me a pansy (censored) and threw me a greasy towel and a beer. When I nearly stripped one of his allen wrenches, he threatened to shoot me with his taser... seriously he had a taser in his shop and he pointed it at me.

Though this may sound like a rough experience, I was oddly at ease with this guy and his generosity was unmatched. I recommend him to anyone... he really, really knows his stuff. If you'd like more of a review on Tyler, check out his Yelp.com reviews here. Specifically, read Ricardo A's review. His take on Tyler is priceless and dead on.

Had to throw in some Lititz, PAride on my bike. This is a bumper sticker celebrating Lititz's 2009 inclusion in the Dozen Distinctive Destinations.
I hope you enjoyed my rambling recanting of bike project as well as the photos I took outside my apartment. I'm extremely happy with the end result and can't wait to zip around town on it. As usual, I'd love to hear from you if you enjoyed this post.

Featured on the Boston Globe Website

2009-07-20T13:34:00.004-04:00

Today brought some great news. A photoessay that I put together for the Boston Globe went live on Boston.com this morning. The story features a quick blog about the project that I undertook in Guadalajara with a corresponding photoessay of 12 photos.

Above is a screen shot of the Boston.com page that features my work. Please click HERE to visit the site and check it out. I'm really excited about the exposure that this development will bring to the organization that I worked for in Guadalajara. Feel free to drop me a line if you like what you see!

Thanks also to the great people at Truth With A Camera for picking up the blog. Above is a screen shot from the Truth With A Camera Workshop Blog.

Update from Guadalajara

2009-05-28T01:12:00.026-04:00

Greetings from Guadalajara, Mexico! I’ve just completed my third day on assignment and besides being tired, hungry, and mentally drained, I’m going to bed content that my week with Truth With A Camera has far exceeded my expectations.

My assignment began as a story about children who work on the streets of Guadalajara and the NGO that provides services to these children. When I began meeting the families of these children, hearing their stories and learning about their lives, my story evolved into an intimate portrait of the resilient women of one family who, without the presence of active husbands, are raising amazing children under the most complex and trying circumstances.

I’m way too exhausted to provide more context (more context will come when I return to the states) so I’m going to just dump 22 images from my last three days with some short captions.

Enjoy!

A girl asleep on the 52A bus that travels from the center of the city to the outskirts of the city.

Ette and Joanna in the front room of their home in Cerro de Cuatro. Cerro de Cuatro is one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Guadalajara.

Juana, one of the mothers I am profiling sits with family photos in the bedroom of her mother.

Ette listens as her mother tells stories of her family.

It's a humbling experience when an 8 year old boy with a giant backpack serves as your guide as you try to find your way back to your hotel. Jaime is a student at the Guadalajara-based NGO, CODENI.

Another student at CODENI poses in downtown Guadalajara.

Felipa is the grandmother, and the matriarch of the home where I am working. She takes great pride in her housework. With the help of Juana, her daughter, the house is spotless.

Juana and Felipa are Otomi, an indigenous population of Mexico. In this photo Felipa shows off a hand sewn blanket that took six months to create.

The above photo is a hand sewn laptop bag that will sell for about 30 pesos.

Ariana (on the left) leads her cousins to the local store for some candy.
Omar is Felipa's son. He is about the same age as Jauna's children... which makes him their uncle. I arrived at their home on Wednesday before the children woke. This is my favorite image of the trip so far.

Miguel, Juana's oldest son, wakes up every day before his brother and sister to help his mother with the daily chores.
Juana prepares breakfast and lunch for her children every day. They always sit together to share the meals.
Getting ready for school, the boys brush their teeth at the sinks in the front room.

Ariana watches as her mother brushes her hair.

Juana jokes with her daughter about school over some remaining lunch.

Juana's son, Hermando arrives each day to help with some more difficult chores. Without a consistent presence of men in the home, the children seemed unsure around him.

In a neighborhood plagued by drug use and rampant alcoholism, barbed wire and broken glass serve as the family's security system.

Joanna reacts when her cousins leave for school.

Juana sells potato chips in the center of Guadalajara. On the days that she sells, she accompanies her children to school for a one hour bus ride.

There will be more work on its way in the next couple days. If you took the time to look through the images, I'd love to hear from you.

Estoy en Guadalajara!

2009-05-25T11:12:00.006-04:00

Greetings from Mexico. I'm in day two of the Truth With A Camera workshop and so far it has been amazing. Though we haven't really had much time to shoot, it has been wonderful to meet photojournalists from across the country who share a similar passion and vision of photojournalism as myself. The instructors are extremely open, humble about their illustrious careers, and driven to help us succeed. I've only shot a few street scenes in our walks to various locations but here's a couple to get an idea of what I'm seeing. Check back again for updates from my first official day of work.

A view of the beautiful Spanish architecture in Guadalajara. This is one of the big open squares in the center of town.

We stumbled upon some street performers doing some sort of crazy clown and accordion routine. The Guadalajarans loved it.

Watching the street performance was this little girl. Lucky for me, she was quickly distracted by a gringo with a big camera.

Guadalajarans young and old enjoy the amazing May weather in the plazas of the city. This man listens as an evangelist preaches in front of the cathedral.

There will be much more to come this week. Thanks for checking out my first post from Mexico!

Packing for Guadalajara

2009-05-20T13:44:00.007-04:00

On Saturday I'll depart for a week in Guadalajara, Mexico as a participant in the Truth With a Camera Workshop. I've eagerly anticipated this week for about three months and packing time is finally here.
For those of you who have visited my blog these past months, I hope that I can keep posting while I'm in Guadalajara so that you'll have some new things to see. For those of you unfamiliar with my pending trip... here's a quick update.

Truth With A Camera is an annual workshop that sends photojournalists to various spot around the globe to hone their photography skills by photographing the work of local NGOs. During the week I'll be photographing the amazing work of CODENI. CODENI provides direct service to over 100 children and adolescents who rely on the streets of Guadalajara for their survival through social-work, street outreach programs, and education. In the evenings, I'll have the priceless opportunity to learn from fantastic photojouralists like Chris Tyree, Faith Cathcart, Dave Ellis, and Josh Meltzer!

Please check back in the next week to get a glimpse of the work I'll be doing!

Boston T Series... Coming Soon!

2009-05-06T10:50:00.006-04:00

A few months ago I snapped this close-up of the side of an old, weathered T car standing idle at Government Center.
In the next couple of weeks I'll attempt to duplicate this shot for all the lines on the Boston T map, creating a Boston T Series. Check back in a couple weeks to see the poster!

Creative Departure

2009-05-05T09:30:00.010-04:00

During this past year, my creative interests took a surprising turn... I found myself drawn to urban art. This interest was definitely born from following Shepard Fairey's influence on the Obama Campaign. From Fairey I learned about the work of Banksy, Ron English, and Sam Flores. Oddly, I was hooked. I started looking at graffiti as art, I collected a few rare screen prints, and I found myself secretly wanting the over-sized graphic t-shirts worn by urban high schoolers. I know, I know... I too am relieved that this new interest did not leave it's mark on my wardrobe.

Yesterday though, this rural kid made his first attempt at combining the aesthetic style of urban art with photography. Here is the result in low-res quality. To get a better view, click on the image.

The above image started as 12 vertical photos stitched together. Because yesterday's overcast weather was less than optimal for photography, the sky was completely washed out, leaving a natural blank white background. Noticing this, I thought that this photograph might make a great candidate for some experimentation. I then ran the composite image through multiple Adobe processes. After about 5 hours of tweaking and editing, I arrived at the above 200 MB file. If I ever learn screen printing, this would make a really sharp print. I don't expect this to be the direction that my photography takes, but nonetheless it was a fun creative departure for a day. Let me know what you think!

Downtown Panorama: View from Bay Village

2009-05-03T10:46:00.006-04:00

As neighborhoods go, Boston's Bay Village is an incredibly well kept secret. Nestled between the Boston Public Gardens and I-90, the streets of Bay Village offer the quaintness and old-world feel of Beacon Hill and the North End, minus the foot-traffic of meandering tourists.

The real jewel of Bay Village however is found on its buildings' roofs, not outside their front doors. My friends Pete and Sarah are two Bay Village residents who experience this on almost a daily basis. Yesterday morning I got out on their roof deck to capture the view they enjoy.

The photo above was taken at about 10:30am. Though it was an overcast morning, I was quite happy with the results. Please click on the image and larger version will open up in a new tab. The detail is really remarkable.

If you have a great view from your home/apartment in Boston and want it photographed, send me an email.

Boston Marathon 2009

2009-04-20T22:14:00.027-04:00

Today marked the 113th running of the Boston Marathon. While over 25 thousand remarkable athletes exercised their bodies and minds through 26.2 grueling miles around Boston, I decided to exercise my new Canon 5D and head down to Beacon Street to capture some of the action.
This was the first time I witnessed a marathon, and frankly it was much more inspiring that I expected. For me, it wasn't the remarkable speed of the elite finishers that stuck with me. Instead it was the ceaseless 5 hour tide of runners that blew me away. I stood at the 24 mile mark, and seeing so, so many runners nearing their inevitable finish made me realize what a personal accomplishment the Boston Marathon was to these people. It sounds odd, but I almost felt privileged to be a witness to their success. There's a lot of photos here, so I hope you all enjoy!
Pictured above are the elite women runners who placed in the top 3. Kenya's Salina Kosgei (leftmost runner) wound up winning the race, while Dire Tune of Ethiopia placed 2nd. USA's Kara Goucher (pictured in front) placed 3rd, only .09 seconds behind Kosgei.
It's no surprise that this shot is poorly composed... Deriba Merga was flying! Merga, of Ethiopia won the elite mens race with a time of 2:08:42. It sometimes takes me that long to finish my morning coffee... for real.
Daniel Rono of Kenya placed 2nd.
Ryan Hall of the United States placed 3rd, only .98 seconds behind Merga.
Pictured above is 3 time Boston Marathon winner Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya. Cheruiyot finished in 5th place. This is one of my favorite shots from the day.
The most inspiring two seconds of the day came with Richard Whitehead of Great Britain ran by.
This dude may not have won, but he did win Best Mustached Marathoner of the Day.
A view of the Boston Marathon from the Green Line T.

New Logo and Business Card Design!

2009-04-07T17:40:00.027-04:00

Today brought me one step closer to professional legitimacy, thanks to the creative genius of my favorite graphic designer/girlfriend... Laura of Laura Wentzel Design. This post is dedicated to the new look for my first official logo and business card. Let's start with the business card, pictured below.

Laura and I went through many iterations of designs before arriving at this final product. We found that many of the original drafts gave off a "clean" and "corporate-y" look, which just did not match the visual style of my photographs.

In the constant pursuit of truth-telling, a documentary photographer attempts to tell a story with his/her images. Oftentimes these realities aren't neat and polished. Therefore, having a business card that reflected the cleanliness of an office or a climate-controlled studio, just did not cut it. At the same time, I did not want the typical visual elements of a globe, or silhouette children holding hands in a display of international unity, or kitschy rolls of film, or graphics of other random camera equipment. I wanted something gritty, professional, and subtle.

When I first saw the final design, I knew Laura had captured exactly what I meant by all this. Here's my take on the visual meaning of my logo, pictured below.

I'll start with the color. Just in case you monitor is wacky, the two colors are grey and orange. Unlike black, grey does not project a sense of certainty. Containing both extremes of white and black, grey is neutral and balanced. In my photos, I try not to draw conclusions. I am only capturing a fleeting moment, and therefore I cannot draw conclusive certainties from my images. Becuase reality is not black or white, photographs should make us think more deeply and ask more questions.

Orange is also neutral, but for different reasons. Because I attempt to be objective in my work, I did not want to imbue my logo with anything political... and colors can often be political. Think of what green has done for the environmental movement, or what red has done for communism. For me, orange acts as a strong accent color without bringing with it any baggage.

The square shape represents what I attempt to capture through my viewfinder. It is a defined space and therefore,what is captured in that space is deliberate. Because the images I take are wide-ranging in theme, I did not want to include inside the square any specific thing.

So, I needed something abstract, and devoid of specific meaning. That brought us to a solid gradient color with layers of varying texture. The textures in the defined box remind me that reality is complex. Thus, by close examination of the textures in the logo, the viewer will find that there is more to see than just an orange block. This mirrors documentary-style photographs. They are often loaded with historical, political, and socially complex back stories that remind the viewer that there are many layers to what we are seeing.

I'm extremely excited about this new look. In the next few months, a redesign of my main website, www.kevinkovaleski.com will include these new visual elements. Please take a minute and let me know what you think!

Breakwater - Cape Cod, MA

2009-04-06T09:47:00.005-04:00

I went to Cape Cod yesterday in search of right whales. Apparently, each year one of the largest schools of right whales (40 in total) migrates into the Cape Cod Bay to mate and enjoy the Cape's famous seafood. With binoculars in hand, we waited for a breach, a plume of seawater... really any sign of cetic activity. To steal a joke from Demetri Martin, whale watching = ocean staring. We saw nothing. However, as evidenced by the photo below, the landscape views alone made yesterday worth the day trip.
This is Provincetown's Breakwater. It was constructed in 1911 to protect the harbor from sand dunes that often shifted into the harbor from high winds. Walking it's 1.2 mile repetitively rocky length during low tide was both peaceful and meditative. On a perfectly quiet and clear day, it was the perfect setting to get lost in your own thoughts for a couple hours.

Truth With A Camera

2009-03-24T15:16:00.005-04:00

There's all kinds of exciting developments going on with my photography! I'm happy to announce that my next photography assignment will be in Guadalajara, Mexico as a participant in the Truth With A Camera Workshop.

In May I will be traveling with 15 other US-based photographers to Guadalajara, where we will team up with 15 Mexico-based photographers. Truth With A Camera partners with local NGOs to create media that is used to market the organizations' missions. For this trip, we will be partnered with NGOs in Guadalajara that advocate for children who make their living on the streets. My daily schedule will include a full day of photography and interaction with these kids, followed by a full evening of photo editing, under the guidance of some of today's top photojournalists. It should prove to be an amazing experience both personally and professionally.

An added bonus is that I will be traveling with a great friend and fantastic person, Joey Cardella. Please visit his newly launched website www.joeysee.com.

Joey recently returned for South Africa, where he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. While there, Joey snapped this captivating photograph. Joey's photos cuts through the the b.s. that tends to divide people, and focus on the aspects of the human condition that unites people around the world. It'll be great to experience Guadalajara with him. Please return in June to see the work that comes out of our week in Mexico.

Demum Veris: A goodbye to winter

2009-03-22T22:45:00.014-04:00

Saturday marked the first day of spring... and though I am excited for the return of warm weather, later night falls, and navigable sidewalks, I'm most excited that my camera will be coming out of hibernation. If you haven't totally tuned out from visiting The Viewfinder, you've undoubtedly noticed that there has been about a two-month lapse during which no new posts have been shared.

Though I regret this, I must admit that the lack of activity was due to a lack of creative inspiration and most importantly, a two-month catalog of new images that I just did not really believe in. Thus, I've decided to put behind me my photography drought, and share only a few images from the last few months as a way of saying goodbye to winter.

Beacon Hill after Boston's first full night of snow.

One of my favorite parts of this winter was visiting my childhood hometown of Lititz, Pennsylvania in January. It's funny how the combination of distance and time can make one nostalgic, but for me a visit to Lititz is like chicken soup. The above photo is the famed Wilbur Chocolate factory, out of which wafts a daily aroma of melted chocolate. In these moments Lititz becomes a Rockwellian setting in which you walk the streets fully expecting to run into George Bailey himself.

Pittsburgh served as another brief destination this winter. After witnessing the inauguration, we worked our way across Pennsylvania for a quick visit with my parents, and later to Pittsburgh to visit our good friend Matt Desjardins (blogging shout out). Matt recently left Boston for a masters program in international espionage at the University of Pittsburgh... no joke! If the photograph above is any indication, we hung out in Pittsburgh on probably the coldest weekend of the year. The following weekend, inspired by our visit, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl.

Dear The Viewfinder Blog, please stop blogging about Barack Obama. Yours truly, The Internet.

Okay, I promise to expand the scope of topics on my blog in the coming months, but I would be remiss if I neglected to follow up on my coverage of the inauguration. Beyond the already told stories of massive crowds, history-making speeches, Aretha Franklin's hat, and a botch-job by Justice Roberts, the real story of the inauguration for me was the monumental, yet nearly noiseless catharsis felt while huddling shoulder to shoulder with millions of my fellow citizens as we bared witness to history. Now I am well aware that due to my age and my ancestral background, I am someone who cannot fully and personally appreciate the total importance of Barack Obama's election. Thus, the catharsis I speak about is one born from a lifetime of presidents who, to me, have placed reelection before the country, and in the process have bargained our security and prosperity for poll numbers and personal gain. More simply, I've only seen politicians, not statesmen become president.

Obama is only 63 days into his presidency, and though the impact of his policy shifts are still months and years away, the tenacity and urgency with which his administration has addressed our pressing issues confirm to me that Obama is more statesman than politican. And the photo above, my literal place in the history of Obama's election... reminds me that I played a part in arguably the most important political seachange in the history of our country. It does feel like we are coming out of the winter.

One Hour NYC Stop

2009-01-18T23:24:00.004-05:00

On my way to the inauguration, I took a very brief stop in NYC to transfer buses. While I was frigidly awaiting my Philadelphia-bound Bolt Bus, I snapped this shot of the Empire State Building. The subway vents were belching subterranean steam into the icy skies above 34th street, masking a clear view of the Empire State Building. The addition of the steam created a unique look, so I thought I'd pull out my camera to capture the moment.

On My Way to DC for Obama's Inauguration: A pre-inauguration post

2009-01-15T17:24:00.012-05:00

On Tuesday, January 20th, I will be one of the millions in attendance for the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama. I've been waiting almost four and a half years for this day, and for others, the events on Tuesday have been generations in the making. Please return to The Viewfinder in a couple weeks for an inauguration post. Don't expect any photos of the man himself as I won't be anywhere near him. However, I hope to piece together a nice photo essay of the people there to witness the day.

Here's a quick collection of some Obama campaign events that I revisited this afternoon.

Barack Obama speaking in the Boston Common, October 23, 2007.

The crowd behind the stage on the night that Sen. Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, and Sen. John Kerry officially endorsed Obama.
Though horribly out of focus, the movement in this photo really captured the electricity in the hall.

"The fierce urgency of now."

Ron English is an American pop artist who joined the many artists who created visual street art in support of Barack Obama. The above photo is a shot from the now iconic piece, "Abraham Obama" that was installed in the South End in Boston this fall. Though I'm not a big fan of his other works, this piece is genius. English deconstructed the classic portrait of Abraham Lincoln to include the likeness of Obama. A graffiti-ist added the eye patch. The overall feel makes me a bit uneasy, but the concept is classic.

Downtown Tulum (Mexico 4 of 4)

2009-01-14T09:52:00.014-05:00

Though most of our adventures in Mexico this December immersed us in the flora and fauna of Tulum, we did venture into the town of Tulum to experience the day-to-day of the locals.
Above, an open-air market displays a wide array of local pineapples, bananas, lemons & limes, squashes, and melons. In the background, two men talk and rest at a taqueria on what was a particularly warm afternoon.
Like the beaches, much of the industry of downtown Tulum revolves around tourism. Most of the storefronts compete for tourist dollars by displaying stereotypical Mexican wares... hammocks, colorful blankets, blue talavara vases, and sombreros. Because we were in Tulum during an extremely slow week, most of the store owners paid little attention to us, resigned to the fact that it was not a moneymaking week.
Since my trip to Montreal, I've been experimenting with shooting from the hip... literally. When photographing, I find myself obsessed with capturing moments during which the subject in the photo is completely unaffected by my presence. Though I have had marginal success with this technique, the downside is that it is extremely difficult to ensure sharpness in the setting. The above photo is a good example of the pros and cons of shooting from the hip. You can get extremely close and capture intimate shots, but the composition is less than perfect and the overall shot is blurry. I think I've decided to abandon this technique, but I am drawn to the visual mood that shooting from the hip creates.
I really love the above photo (and the next photo) because it gives equal emphasis to the individual in the photo and their environment. This woman is carrying a bowl of tortillas. Behind her is a precariously complicated network of cables and a dizzying collage of English-reading signs, advertising affordable food and lodging for tourists.
There are a lot of elements in the above photo that are in conflict with each other. I think that's the reason I am pleased with the outcome. As seen in other photos in this set, the physical environment surrounding the boy is a bit heavy. Again, we see the obtrusive power lines and phone poles. There is construction dust and machinery. Seemingly oblivious to all this is our youthful focal point... a young boy running excitedly through the street. To underscore the youthful elements in this photo, a florescent ice cream cone hangs in the background.
On our last day in Tulum, Catholic Mexicans nationwide celebrated the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. In Mexican tradition, a vision of Mary appeared to a young man named Juan Diego in 1531. In the vision, he was instructed to gather roses in his cloak, and upon doing so the above image miraculously appeared on his cloak. This image is ubiquitous in Mexico. I purchased the above pigment printed cloth at a artisan gallery.
As we were driving out of town on the interstate highway, traffic halted for a procession of hundreds of feast day celebrators. On many of the processors shirts, the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe can be seen.
The above photo is of some of the youngest processors. The girl in the center and the boy on the far right (donning an amazing painted-on mustache) noticed me as I jumped out of our shuttle to snap some shots.

The Mayan Ruins of Tulum (Mexico 3 of 4)

2008-12-20T13:17:00.016-05:00

One of Tulum's most popular destinations are the Mayan Ruins. Situated on bluffs overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the ruins create a setting that transport visitors to another world.
Tulum, which is a Mayan word for "walled city" served as a trading port and commerce center for the city of Coba, which is situated further into the interior of Mexico. History suggests that prior to its discovery by European explorers, Tulum was called "Zama" by its citizens. Zamas is Mayan for "dawn". Though we were too lazy to get up to see the city live out its original namesake, the above photo taken around 10am, can give you an idea of the breathtaking view that Zama enjoyed each morning.

Tulum boomed between 1200-1500 AD, but was later abandoned as new diseases carried by Spanish explorers decimated Tulum's native inhabitants. The above photos depict details of the facade of the Castillo. It is the largest building situated in the center of the city. Historians maintain that it was mostly used as a ceremonial site and as the main lookout post for the city.
The above photo is the Castillo from the front. The Italian family posing in the right end of this image spotted me as I took this photo. Before long they asked me to take their picture ...seven times with seven different cameras.
Once again, the above image shows the Castillo from a side vantage point. From this angle, you can clearly see a portion of the city wall that is still intact. While at the ruins, I was really drawn to the texture and color of the stone used to hand-build the structures in the city. A stone found on this site in the 19th century bared a chiseled date of 564 AD indicating that the city may have existed centuries before its heyday.
I have to come clean with the photo above. As we were walking, I inadvertently pressed the trigger on my camera as it dangled at my hip. What resulted was an accidental shot of Laura walking through the ruins. Sometimes art just happens, and it seems that this photo is a good example. The texture and movement of Laura's skirt placed in the context of the ancient Mayan path creates a mood that allows something from the present to fit perfectly in an ancient backdrop.
The placard for the above building explained that the structure was most likely a multifamily dwelling.

Architecture Akumal (Mexico 2 of 4)

2008-12-19T15:01:00.007-05:00

Akumal is a small resort community just about halfway between Cancun and Tulum. On Wednesday, we taxied to Akumal for a day to snorkel. After about an hour of swimming around with the fishes, we realized that our sunburns were a bit more tender than we had first noticed, so we decided to cover up and take a long walk from the lagoon into town.

The walk into Akumal turned out to be a highlight of the week in Mexico. The air was still, the road was quiet, and the architecture was stunning. With the exception of some Mexican flourishes, I quickly noticed how similarly the architecture in Akumal mirrored the buildings in Greece.

I originally took the above photo in color, but converted it to grey scale when I realized that the lowest portion of the wall so closely resembles the sweeping motion of the lowest exterior wall of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim in NYC. The Guggenheim photo in my NYC post does not show this congruency directly, but if you compare the two images you'll notice the similarities.

Akumal is a Mayan word that translates to "place of the turtles". Though this region is a prime breeding ground for sea turtles, due to the time of year of our trip, I unfortunately do not have any photos of sea turtles. My next post, however, is dedicated to the Mayan history of the region.

The Beaches of Tulum (Mexico 1 of 4)

2008-12-17T13:55:00.021-05:00

In the immediate days after I return from traveling to a new, exotic location, I find it difficult to wrap my head around how distant a recent experience can feel. As I sit down to write this blog entry today in snowy Massachusetts, I welcome back that same sensation when I reflect upon my last week's travels to the pristine beaches of Tulum, Mexico. On a whim, Laura and I decided to take advantage of some free time, and booked a four day escape to tropical waters and equatorial breezes.

This week, I'll be updating The Viewfinder with four posts from our trip. Keeping true to the themes of previous posts, the entries will include photos of festivals; portraits of locals; and snapshots of architecture... both modern and ancient.

This post, however, is dedicated to something I've never stepped foot on (let alone take photos of) before last week... a Caribbean beach.

Though only two hours south Cancun, Tulum represents a different world. Condos and high rise resorts are replaced by solar-powered, thatched-roof cabanas; and Anglophone tourists are required to attempt their rusty Spanish in order to get around. The above photo was taken on Hemingway Beach.

The week we were in Tulum (December 8th-12th) is considered "shoulder season" for the hospitality industry of the region. American tourists down for the Thanksgiving holiday are back to reality in the north, and visitors for the winter holidays are yet to arrive. During our long walks, intersecting another vacationer was a rare occurrence.

Though this lone palm tree made a great photographic subject, I later read that a bending palm tree is an indication of poor health.

Above is Zamas, a restaurant and beach that was about a city block north of the first cabana in which we stayed. On our third night in Mexico, we had drinks at Zamas and listened to a live band called "Latin Taxi".

On multiple occasions we came across small fishing boats that had been partially submerged by abnormally high tides during hurricane season.

Boats were not the only victims of hurricane season. The above piece of driftwood was roughly the length of a pickup truck. (Click on the image for a larger view)

During our week in Mexico, the moon was the closest to the Earth it had been in 15 years. This made the nights on Tulum's beaches extremely bright. For this image, keeping my shutter open for only 30 seconds revealed a milky surf and the true color of the stars. Two of the brightest stars in this image are beginning to streak, which is a visual way to document the rotation of the Earth.

Cosmas & Damien 2008 (You're Caught Up: 11 of 11)

2008-12-04T11:21:00.009-05:00

When I moved to Boston, I got an apartment in the quiet neighborhood of East Cambridge. Most of its residents are elderly Italian and Portuguese-Americans. Though Boston's North End is famed for its Italian festivals honoring Roman Catholic saints, East Cambridge celebrates (for 82 consecutive years) a cultural jewel of a holiday... The Italian Festival of the Healing honoring saints Cosmas and Damien.

My affinity to this festival originates from its similarity to the block parties I used to attend as a child with my grandmother in Shamokin, PA. There's incredible authentic food, a out of tune marching band that follows a procession, carnival games, and curious rituals like pinning money on the saints for good luck.

The Italian immigrants that began settling in my neighborhood in the early years of the 20th century were predominantly seaside dwelling fishermen from Gaeta, Italy. In Cambridge, they became landlocked meat packers. In an attempt to retain a piece of their cultural identity, a group of 100 East Cambridge residents established the Society of Saints Cosmas and Damien, the patron saints of Gaeta.

Walking around East Cambridge's streets during the celebration it becomes clear that the future of the festival is uncertain. Its organizers and attendees are almost entirely over the age of 60; and anyone under the age of 40 that you can find at the festival are peeping gentrifies like myself.
Saint Alfo's Band from Lawrence, MA plays many of the Italian festivals throughout Massachusetts.

If you sleep in on Saturday on the feast of Saints Cosmas & Damien, there's a good chance that your alarm clock will be the "oompa oompa" of St Alfio's band marching down the street outside your window. Above, the band prepares to process and a playful band member pretends to attack a festival onlooker with his tuba bell.

Montreal 2008 (Catching You Up: 10 of 11)

2008-12-04T10:12:00.008-05:00

My friends and I traveled to Montreal for a long weekend in June of this year. Having never been there, I expected Montreal to be a time warp back to a romantic old city with strong European influence. Though parts of the historic section of town did have the old world charm I expected, I was struck more by the grittiness of Montreal. Though some images of Montreal could resemble the classic Parisian photographs of Cartier-Bresson, I was more inspired by the ubiquitous graffitied buildings and the rawness of the city.

We stayed at a shabby-chic apartment on Rue Ste Catherine called Maison Loft. It was owned by a friendly, entrepreneurial young woman named Noémie. Though initially surprised by the loft (it kind of gives you the feeling that you are staying at a place that could have once been a crack house) we gave in to its gritty charm and were won over by the warmth of our hosts. The above photo, is the view from my room looking down on Rue Ste Catherine.

The graffiti in Montreal was like ivy on buildings.

I am drawn to this photo for a number of reasons. I love the weathered expression on the man's face. He's doing cement work to the front of a shop, and it looks like he's been doing it his whole life. The pattern on his shirt blends in with the reflection of the clouds, blurring the distinction between the man and his environment. Though he's tired and slouched, and probably not the vision that Michelangelo had in mind, when I look at him, the posture of his hand makes me think of the Statue of David. My friends are reflected in the window.

Barack Obama 2007-2008 (Catching You Up: 9 of 11)

2008-12-03T22:47:00.006-05:00

I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard Barack Obama speak at the DNC convention in 2004. I remember what I ate for dinner that night... I even remember what shirt I was wearing. After his address, I was on the phone with my dad asking if he had watched, and telling him that this guy needed to be our next president.

The four years that followed that speech to the night that the Obamas took the stage in Grant Park in Chicago, I've been a bit obsessed... maybe too obsessed depending on who you ask. Obama's articulations of the issues facing our country were exactly how I had formulated them in my mind on countless nights as I fell asleep. To me, his campaign ran on the platform of common sense... middle class tax cuts; talking to your enemies; personal responsibility and accountability; equitable access to education; actionable environmental safeguards. When he became our 44th President, I was once again proud to be in a country of hope and progress.

The first time I heard Barack Obama in person was in the fall of 2007 in the Boston Common. Earlier that day, I actually called the campaign and a few newspapers in Boston in a futile attempt to get a press pass to be in the unobstructed press box to snap some photos. I of course was denied. Looking back, I'm glad I had the view that appears in the above photo. To me, the photo has a 1960s political aesthetic. Obama had embodied the urgency of Martin Luther King and the solidarity of Bobby Kennedy, and rebranded and repackaged it into a new voice and message. He was operating on all cylinders that night and he left the crowd electrified.

I don't know if I can take credit for the above photo. It's possible that my friend Andrew Martin took this shot. We were standing next to each other that night sharing one camera. I saw Barack Obama speak for the 2nd time on the evening that Ted and Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama. Unlike the speech in the Boston Common in 2007 where I waited in line for about 30 minutes to get into the event, this night included a four and a half hour wait. Obama had gained some serious momentum having won a slew of states on Super Tuesday, February 5th. Though his speech had me once again transfixed, this time it was the crowd that reinforced my belief that this man needed to be our 44th. I knew it when I saw teenagers hanging on every word about getting a break from college costs only if they serve their communities. I knew it when I looked back at the crowd and saw a perfectly diverse sample of our Union. I knew it when I saw tears stream down the faces of elderly black men and women who knew that waiting in line for four hours in the cold was nothing compared to their lifelong wait.

Boston 2007-present (Catching You Up: 8 of 11)

2008-12-03T22:09:00.010-05:00

After I completed grad school, I moved to Boston in the summer of 2007. I was looking for a new scene to call home for a little bit and Boston seemed like a great stop. Despite the unfairly long winters, and various run-ins with some New Englanders' whose general outlooks on life match the icy temperatures, I'd have to say it's been a great place to be.

From a photography perspective, Boston has quite a bit to offer. Simultaneously a 200 year old city and a fully functioning modern metropolis, Bostons' architecture offers a unique melting pot of the old and the new, while remaining uniquely American.

The above photo is an apartment building in Boston's historic Beacon Hill. This image is actually a series of about 13 close-up images of the building stitched together. If you look closely, you can see some imperfections in the stitch job, but when pieced together, I thought they created a really strong visual effect and mood.

On one of my first weekends in Boston, and as a surprise, my sister and brother-in-law drove me to a spot where you can photograph the Zakim Bridge from underneath. For those not familiar with Boston, this is a pretty incredible vantage point considering that only about 50 feet above you a span of six-lane highway is holding up thousands of speeding cars. My awareness of this, coupled with the intimate access we had to the bridge, created a real adrenaline rush that made for an exciting couple hours.

One of Boston's greatest assets besides the Sox and the Bruins, is its close proximity to some of the East Coast's most beautiful coastline. Only about a two hour drive to Maine, lies the Portland Head Lighthouse on Cape Elizabeth (pictured above).

In August of 2008, my family vacationed in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. It was my first time on the Cape, and almost every landscape could have been an impressionist painting.

India 2007 (Catching You Up: 7 of 11)

2008-12-03T11:25:00.009-05:00

I could write a book about my short month in India. Everything I experienced in India seemed new to me. You know those stories of blind kids who get eye surgeries that enable them to see for the first time? I always wondered what they felt like at the moment that the doctor removes their eye bandages for the first time. How does their brain make sense of the visual overload? Being in India is the closest thing I have had in my life that makes me feel like I can attempt to answer that question.

I went to India during my last year of grad school with a small group of crazy-smart students led by one of the most incredible professors I've ever had the privileged to learn from. We went to study urban sustainability in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore. As globalization continues to transform these cities in India, we saw how this effects the livelihoods of India's massive population.

If I could sum up the people I met in India using only one word, that word is resilient. Life in places like Bangalore are literally changing right before its citizens eyes. Superhighways are constantly under construction, and new IT centers are growing out of farmland. Though millions in India are falling between the cracks of this unsustainable growth, others are resiliently adapting. The gentleman above is a prime example. The building below him and to his right is his home and shop. He has acquired and installed five solar panels that he uses to charge the batteries of auto rickshaws, or taxis (pictured at the bottom left corner of this photograph). The auto rickshaw drivers pay him for this sustainable energy source... his business is booming and he's making a contribution to reduce the air pollution that chokes his city.

The genius business model of the previously mentioned entrepreneur does not stop at auto rickshaws. He has also employed his solar panels to charge solar lanterns for merchants at a local market in Bangalore. You can see the lanterns shining bright in the above photo underneath the tents of this night market.

This photograph is my personal favorite in my library of images. This young boy is of the Katkari tribe in Maharashtra. The Katkari is a small community of ultra-rural dwellers whose livelihood is facing near extinction. They are challenged by a number of factors including the lack of an accessible water supply, an uneducated population, and access to health care. However daunting these challenges, it was clear to me after speaking to these people that they want to maintain their specific Katkari identity.

The photograph of the boy pictured above embodies the will and resilience of his community. His clothes are tattered and he is dirty. Behind him are the basics of his reality: livestock, dirt floors stained with goat urine, and mud walls that bear the emblems of traditional Hinduism. He is literally leaning on his environment. Yet, his face and his posture demand respect from the viewer. He is looking clear-eyed to the horizon with sheer determination. It was as if he wanted to tell me that he has pride. In his right hand he is holding a slingshot.

Thailand & Vietnam 2006 (Catching You Up: 6 of 11)

2008-12-03T10:38:00.009-05:00

By the time 2006 came along, I was ready to get my passport out again and shoot internationally. After many domestic excursions, I was convinced that photojournalism was more my style and I wanted to bear witness to people living in countries in the throes of development. I was a graduate student at the time, and my adviser presented me an incredibly generous opportunity to join her in Thailand and Vietnam for a research trip. She was studying labor rights in the fashion and apparel industries, and she needed a trip photographer to photo-document factories and production facilities. Unfortunately for this blog, my university now owns the rights to those images, and therefore I am unable to publish any photographs depicting factory life. Life outside of factories in Thailand and Vietnam however, presented some wonderful opportunities to capture some everyday living in these two culturally rich countries.

I was fascinated by the Buddhism that I witnessed being practiced in Bangkok. I had studied Buddhism in school, but what I was not expecting was the formality and ritualism that permeated the religion. All adult men wore amulets depicting Buddha and every young boy experienced compulsory monastic and military service by adulthood. The contradiction of that duel requirement still sticks with me. Also, for a religion that espoused nonattachment, the structures (both literally and figuratively) built around the Buddhism practiced in Bangkok, were a salient presence in Bangkok. As someone who was raised as a Catholic, the similarities between these two very different religious traditions reinforced a growing belief that globally we are much more alike than we are different.

In Vietnam, I was most stuck by the people living along the Mekong Delta. The delta played a critical role in the Vietnam War, and while on a boat trip up the river, I could not help but reflect on the randomness of history and circumstance. Had I been born 25-30 years earlier, I would not have been a 20something tourist on a tourist boat pointing a camera, I'd have been a 20something US soldier on a swift boat, pointing a gun.

It is amazing how much things can change in 30 years. Life along the Mekong River in 2006 was peaceful, quiet, and simple. Families ran small eateries, sold bottled snake wine and honey, and catered to tourists like me for income. At one stop, I met this young girl lazily rocking in a hammock. Unlike the kids in South Africa, she was extremely shy and barely gave me an opportunity to get a clear glimpse of her face. Next to her, her brothers played cards, mimicking old men with bluffing facial expressions and overconfident betting gestures. Though rough and basic, the childhood for these kids seems all too normal.

When not on a boat in the river, the bicycle is the preferred mode of transportation along the Mekong. The above photo is one of those truly lucky moments when your timing behind the viewfinder is spot on. The fact that this woman looked my way was icing on the cake.

Laura (Catching You Up: 5 of 11)

2008-12-02T22:05:00.004-05:00

My girlfriend of nearly three years, Laura, deserves her own post for a few reasons. So I don't gush, I'll limit them to three. First, she's beautiful and photographers appreciate beauty. Secondly, she's the creative mind behind The Viewfinder's sweet header design found at the top of this blog. She's an amazing graphic and web designer, and her site can be found here. Thirdly (and most importantly) she is someone who completely believes in my photography, and for that, I am entirely grateful. No matter what crazy or 'pie in the sky' photography scheme I'm concocting, Laura looks at me seriously and believes that I can do it. I think when you boil it down to one thing, love is really about believing in the other person, and that's what Laura does. In fact, we launched The Viewfinder from her kitchen table over coffee on a Saturday morning.

Cross Country 2005 (Catching You Up: 4 of 11)

2008-12-02T21:35:00.007-05:00

I'm a sucker for a few clichés associated with the American experience. Driving cross country is one of them. After I graduated from college, my good friend, Sam Foy, and I took off in her Honda CRV... California-bound. We survived a flash-flood in South Dakota; a cooking mishap in Redwood National Park; the odometer rollover of 100K miles in Denver; and my growing of a very sketchy mustache in Oregon that finally got shaved 24 long hours later in a poorly lit latrine in a campsite in California. Throughout all our adventure and misadventures, my new Canon DSLR was there documenting our days, and teaching me more about the composition, lighting, and landscapes.

The above photograph is a stretch of road in Yellowstone National Park approximately an hour after sunrise. To our right (out of view) was a huge herd of bison.

For most of our drive down Oregon's Coastal Highway, we were wrapped in a thick blanket of fog. For a few hours during our last 20 miles in Oregon, the sun cleared and we got our first true glimpse at the vast Pacific. The light that day was legendary. On the shore below a lone woman flew a kite.

Bryce Canyon looked completely fabricated, almost like a realist painter's depiction of the real thing. The color was as if some giant paintbrush slathered the rock formations (hoodoos) with paprika. We were only in Bryce for a day and a half, and I don't remember enough about how this place came to be (it has something to do with frost-wedging and a long, long duration of time). What I do remember after seeing a place like Bryce is how absolutely lucky I felt to be able to call this diverse and beautiful country my home.

The Franks 2004 - present (Catching You Up: 3 of 11)

2008-12-02T20:48:00.009-05:00

This blog post is a shout out to two architectural inspirations, Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry. To me, these two men are the yin and yang of building design... but together, they make for a photography field day. While Wright created structures that found perfect balance with their surroundings, Gehry's edifices stick out from their environments as if they were artifacts from another time and culture.

The above photo is the renowned Falling Water. This home is not far from my home in western Pennsylvania and it made for a great day trip during a visit to my parents. This photo, like every other postcard of Falling Water, does not scratch the surface of its genius. The home, with it cantilever brilliance, is tucked precisely in a lush valley and precariously over a waterfall. It still blows my mind how something as unnatural as a building can look so right for its environment.

The Guggenheim on Museum Mile in NYC was my first in-person exposure to Frank Lloyd Wright. What strikes me most about the Guggenheim is it completely contradicts almost every other FLW design... it does not fit in with its surroundings. Its top protrudes onto 5th Avenue and from blocks away, you can feel the arrogance of its design. If Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry were a Ven diagram, this building would be where the two Frank circles overlap.

I found Frank Gehry by accident on my cross country trip in 2005 (next post). I was in Chicago and my friend Sam and I stumbled upon Millennium Park and Gehry's amphitheater. About two weeks later, a Frank Gehry building met us in Seattle under the Space Needle. Having never seen a Gehry creation before the trip, the moment I saw the Experience Music Project, I knew it was his.

I live about a quarter mile from MIT and Gehry's Stata Center. Though it has found itself in the midst of some legal battles over the malfunctions associated with its auspicious design, this structure is still as visionary as it is controversial. Each viewing angle of the Stata Center reveals a completely different building that could alone stand as a singular contribution to the world of architecture. From the front (above), windows bulge like random Jenga blocks, while the back resembles something out of Dr. Seuss' Whoville.

New York City 2004 & 2005 (Catching You Up: 2 of 11)

2008-12-02T19:24:00.009-05:00

By the summer of 2004, I had the photography bug. I knew that going home to Lititz, Pennsylvania for summer recess was not going to cut it. I needed to be somewhere fast, exciting, and aesthetically vibrant. When my sister offered me a part-time job in her company's New York City office, I jumped at the opportunity. The arrangement was sweet. I worked 3 night shifts a week from 7pm-7am and had every day at my disposal to roam the city with my camera and notebook. NYC offered an endless syllabus for photography. Iconic architecture and 24/7 street life offered the promise of easy-made strong images. I was a novice, and I needed such subjects to hone my eye for photography.

I spent a lot of time during my two summers in NYC riding the 1 train (pictured above) from my home at Columbia University to any location in the city. Any destination was new to me, and I went everywhere. If the 6 train took me to Harlem in the Upper East Side, I'd huff it a mile west on MLK Blvd. When the 1 train took me to Battery Park, I'd jump on the Staten Island Ferry for a free boat ride. There were no inconveniences those summers... just new opportunities.

New York City opened my eyes to architecture and gave me a new found appreciation for their role in the development of cities. My new favorite was the Flatiron Building, which is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers. When it was completed in 1902, it was one of the tallest in Manhattan. On the day that I snapped this image, it looked dwarfed and nestled among the teeming grid of 5th Avenue, 23rd Street, and Broadway. It was as if the city sped along in spite of it. Because its prominence seemed so diminished to me, I wanted to get up close and capture the Flatiron Building in a way that singled it out and reminded the viewer of its heyday.

NYC is an inspirational setting. I did a lot of writing during my two summers in New York. My favorite spot to jot some notes and edit some photos was The Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam Avenue. It was only two blocks from my room in Wien Hall, which it was rumored, once housed Jack Kerouac. With all my writing, photographing, reading of Camus, and believing that my specific dorm room was Kerouac's ... there's no surprise that I wrote the following reflection after taking the above photo.

"When I return to the city much older, I will remember the thrill and apprehension that makes up a young person in the city. As I wait on the platform, that same subterranean subway wind will chill my tired lungs that once tighted at the site of Manhattan from a rooftop."

Looking over those notes I have to admit, I feel a bit sheepish that the romanticism of the city turned me into a walking Holden Caulfield. However, my two summers in NYC helped me grow up, and validated my hunch that photography was going to be a constant in my life.

South Africa 2004 (Catching You Up: 1 of 11)

2008-12-02T15:43:00.018-05:00

My journey with photography began in South Africa.

The above image was taken at the Tumelong Haven, a daycare center for children afflicted with HIV/AIDS in the Gauteng province of South Africa. I'm not sure if these youngsters were related, but the standing child acted like a protective older sibling when I pulled out my camera. Her somber face didn't match her age, and when I snapped this photo I knew personally for the first time the power that an image can have in communicating reality.

Also shot at the Tumelong Haven, this photograph contrasts the heaviness of the underlying reality of these kids' situation. I quickly found out that when you point a camera in South Africa at a group of children, you'll have an inexhaustible supply of willing subjects. My favorite aspect of this image is the left eye of the young girl on the right of the photo.

When our combi driver, Solly, stopped for directions in Attridgeville, I jumped out to meet three boys who were making an afternoon out of a few old tires. The game was simple... get the tire rolling down a huge hill by tapping it as you run next to it ... after it gains considerable momentum stop running ... watch as it momentously crashes into a decrepit wall or fence... laugh hysterically with your friends.

I think I still consider this photograph to be my best... not necessarily for its photographic merits, but for the pure magic of the moment. While working at the Mohau Center in Attridgeville I came across a girl who fell asleep in her tire swing. The rareness of this moment is, for me, the theme of this image. First, the backyard of the center is usually filled with rambunctious children. It was empty. Second, I had about 20 seconds from the second I found the sleeping girl to the time I took the photo. Immediately after I had taken it, a mischievous little boy, jealous of attention I had given to the little girl, came from behind me and promptly poured sand on her sleeping face. The still, quiet perfection of this moment was replaced by screams and tears in a matter of seconds. Finally, only one original print of this image exists, as its original file was lost. The circumstances around this photograph remind me of the beauty and significance of tiny moments that often go unnoticed and get lost in shuffle of our daily lives.

Catching You Up!

2008-12-02T15:07:00.014-05:00

Hello world! This blog is about 5 years overdue. I apologize for my tardiness. In the next week, I will be posting 11 new posts that will hopefully catch you up about who I am and what I've been up to. The Viewfinder is a photography blog, so I promise that future posts will be less verbose.

So here's the scoop...

My relationship with photography started in December of 2003 when I got my first camera from my family. I had always appreciated the photography giants like Steve McCurry and Henri Cartier Bresson, but never thought of giving the art a shot myself. That changed in January of 2004 when I decided to travel to South Africa to volunteer with some friends at an orphanage in Attridgeville, South Africa, where I found myself for the first time behind the viewfinder.

Since that amazing month in South Africa, my camera has been slung over my shoulder, bearing witness to some of the best experiences of my life. Though I have shared (and will continue to share) many of my most memorable images on my main site, I really wanted to create a space to showcase all of my photographic adventures both big and small. That's the simple story behind The Viewfinder.

In the future, I will be posting photo essays, quick snapshots from weekend trips, and anything else recently shot that I feel has a story to tell. But first, I need to catch you up on what I've already photographed. I've organized my hard drive of images into eleven categories that I'll post in chronological order. Some of these posts capture life changing experiences; others are 'postcardy' shots that remind me that "I was there"; but all have helped me grow as a photographer.

I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by The Viewfinder.