edited by: paul_h,
Richmond Editor
It’s a great time to be in Cairo. During my five days here the city has constantly been alive with energy at all hours. On Saturday night Egypt’s Pharaohs won a crucial victory over its bitter rival Algeria. However the winning margin (2-0) was not enough [...]
I was recently in Western Kenya. What was intended to be a quick stopover en route to Uganda turned into four days of rummaging through a rainforest with my camera wrapped in plastic shopping bags. As my “hotel” was without it, I had to hitch a [...]
Gender roles are strictly divided in Sub-Saharan Africa - more so here than in any other place I’ve traveled. Women perform most of the tasks here from fetching water, to washing clothes, to taking a child to the hospital. However, few roles are solely set aside [...]
Lake Babati is one of dozens of water bodies known as the Rift Valley Lakes that span the eastern side of the African Continent from Mozambique to the Red Sea. The lake is the lifeblood of the town of Babati in Central Tanzania. Here [...]
Beginning a week ago, I’ve left my “desk” for a road trip across East Africa to shoot for myself for a little while. I began where I live in the Kilimanjaro Region and have headed South-West, into Central Tanzania. I don’t have too much of a [...]
The Spirit was unbridled on Sunday down at the Huduma ya Ephata, where I sometimes attend services. I prefer a quieter, more contemplative service and it’s not usually quite this charismatic. However, when the Spirit descends you’ve got to, sometimes literally, roll with it.
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I’ve accumulated a lot of photographs of people in the past few months. These didn’t exactly fit into any of my essays. All were taken in various parts of Tanzania.
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Frank & Salome got married recently. While I photographed their wedding as well, I thought the images from the farewell were a bit more interesting. The farewell is when the bride formally says goodbye to her family and is embraced into that of the groom’s.
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“I went to see the witch doctor for the pain in my bones and legs. He said he was powerless to help me, that I was bewitched by someone more powerful than he. He referred me to another witch doctor. I gave up going after that.” [...]
I never knew the significance behind breeding seeds, or that it could even be done to produce beneficial results. Without understanding the exact science behind it, I can emphasize that it’s very important - important enough to be able to lift lives out of poverty.
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Education is neither universal nor compulsory. Most people have no choice but the out-of-pocket health care plan. Tanzania is anything but the land of opportunity. At least the kids at Light in Africa have a chance at a fruitful, prosperous life. Often times it is [...]
Tanzania is now my home for the next several months, possibly more. I’ve contemplated a move here for some time. It took a slump in the economy, the termination of my lease and a little divine shove to get me here, where I’ve been for over [...]
I’m behind on my blogging. I know.
I have an excuse; I’ve just arrived in Tanzania, where I’ll be for the next few months. The internet is so slow here it takes me all day to do what I could do back in the States in [...]
On Monday I had a few hours of time on my own to explore the city of Bamenda, in the North West Highlands of Cameroon. Away from the steamy jungles of the South and Center, the North West has a cooler climate than the [...]
After 32 hours of travel since leaving Richmond, I’ve arrived in Cameroon. It’s my first foray into West Africa and my first time back on the Continent since April. The landscape and flora are similar, but I was hit with a wall of hot, thick, damp [...]
It may appear that the only time I take my camera out when I’m in Richmond is when I’m at a party. This isn’t exactly true, but my friends have been the extent of my documentary endeavors since Christmas. Over the last few weeks [...]
This week I started cleaning out hard drives of the some of the superfluous images from last year’s assignments. I deleted quite a bit, but I also found some photographs that I previously thought either didn’t pass muster or that didn’t fit into a [...]
It’s become an annual tradition in my circle of friends. Although one year we deviated and fried a turkey instead, New Year’s day 2009 saw the third annual Pigroast in James & Jennifer’s back yard in Church Hill, the oldest part of Richmond.
Warning: [...]
We do need to have a healthy economy and we do need wealthy people in our society if we’re to accomplish our goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015. I just hope when all this is over we can devote as much energy to [...]
A small nation with a big heart, Armenia has nearly been whittled away by its neighbors over the centuries. Today, most Armenians live outside the country’s borders in diaspora communities throughout the world. Its ancient traditions remain strong and intact, however, despite years of [...]
It’s my job to shove my camera in people’s faces. Though I’m usually more tactful and delicate than that, it sometimes feels like I’m intruding beyond my bounds - at times being insensitive. Today was one of those days. I’m in Georgia (the Republic) [...]
Parts of Haiti are under 16 feet of water this week. Over the past month the country has been inundated with heavy rains brought by four storms: Fay, Gustave, Hanna and Ike. Caribbean nations are often the first to bear the brunt of these [...]
Peru’s capital is a teeming megalopolis of street vendors, exhaust fumes, cathedrals and bright lights. Following my most recent assignment with Heifer, I spent four days photographing some of Lima’s 8 million residents. I’ve divvied up the following photographs into what became four dominate themes: [...]
So I am back from Peru now. I have a lot of great photographs from Lima, but before I get to those, many people ask what I do when I’m at home. Here’s a little bit of insight into my life in Virginia…
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I can’t be sure what comes into mind when you think of Peru but I imagine your thoughts are similar to thoughts of Egypt: ancient ruins and exotic kingdoms. Lately when I mention I’ve been in Peru the next question is usually a bright and inquisitive [...]
From the moment I walked off the plane to get my baggage in Quito, I was out of breath and a little light headed. At 9000 feet, Quito does funny things to a guy used to living at sea level. It wasn’t long before we came [...]
Not exactly an assignment, but still mostly a working week, I’ve recently been in Ireland. The occasion: my friends Ryan and Aoife gathered the closest of their friends and family from throughout the world for a week-long convergence in County Wicklow, just south of Dublin. At [...]
Traveling in the developing world can wear on one’s conscience. Although the simplicity of lifestyle and overwhelming hospitality found there can be extraordinary, more often than not, essential needs are not being met, and daily life is a struggle. As my friend, writer Christian DeVries put [...]
For the better part of the year I have been in East Africa. Tanzania became my refuge back in December when my mom’s voice (”Promise me you’ll always do the smart thing”) rang in my head to leave the Kenyan city of Kisumu following the outbreak [...]
The President is just back from a whirlwind tour of Africa. He swept across the continent in 6 days, leapfrogging to friendly and peaceful countries while dispatching Secretary Rice to areas that need a little work (see my Kenya post). While much of the headlines [...]
No one predicted what has come over Kenya in the last month since its disputed presidential elections. But since then, the country has fallen from the grace of being one of the most-stable countries on the African Continent to being the host of machete wielding street [...]
Heavy, loud, and concentrated. These are words I use to describe Haiti’s assault on the American senses. But its more than the intense atmosphere and lack of polish that keeps westerners away. People from developed countries are a rare sight in Haiti due to [...]
It pays to check out craigslist, especially if you’re a freelancer. In passing, I just sold a hand-truck in their classifieds for $10 within 30 minutes of posting it. Over in the the jobs section, when a request came up late last week for a fashion [...]
Sitting in an internet cafe in the steamy Amazon port city of Iquitos in North-Eastern Peru, I began to get a glimpse of what my life could be like if I continued to work hard… a nomad or a bedouin of sorts, but less romantic, with [...]
I know I am past-due on a post here. I spent much of August in Central China and am now post-processing the 1850 images I will be turning in and it is mind-numbing. Story is coming…
Situated on an oasis along the Pacific Ocean, Lima is surrounded by desert dunes and dozens of ancient archaeological sites. Streams of settlers from the countryside come to Lima to make their homes on the miles of sandy bluffs that surround the city. They build them [...]
The sun rises in Belen, and the dock workers prepare to go home for the day. They’ve been working all night to carry in the day’s produce, charcoal, iron, petroleum, you name it, in time for the 7AM customer rush. “Dock” should be thought [...]
I’ve been going non-stop for the past nine days and my shutter has fired more times than I can recall in my comparatively young days as a photographer (I’m 26). Batteries constantly charging and files downloading, it’s good to have a rest. This time I’ve [...]
One of the more amazing things in life is to watch a pro-golfer swing a club. Even if you don’t like golf, you’d be pretty astounded. I discovered this as I was asked to photograph at the Kanawha Golf Invite for Captech this week. The event [...]
Okay, so I wasn’t really in Egypt this weekend. These photos were taken at Jockey’s Ridge in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Jockey’s Ridge is a massive sand dune park where extreme adventurers go to hang-glide, sand board, or in my case, just walk around and climb [...]
Regardless of what type of photographer you are, you’re going to photograph at least one wedding during your career. I approach weddings mainly from a documentary point of view and greatly enjoy doing them. I try to capture the events as they unfold rather than spending [...]
Yes, you always have Christmas with your family, but Easter is best spent with friends. This Sunday we spent the Resurrection holiday at Ross and Valerie’ house enjoying food, alcohol and each other’s company. Add in a little dominoes, Nintendo Wii and Billy Joel into the mix [...]
A photo of my friend Justin, who is in 8th grade. He came to my apartment this afternoon to get help with his trigonometry homework. I sadly was of no help however, having forgotten everything to do with math the moment I graduated high [...]
