shutter to think

Coppola Winery for Smart Money

Here's some recent work for Smart Money magazine in last month's issue. And probably one of my favorite pictures from Coppola's Winery is the very one they lead with in the article. To read the story: Wine Country Goes Wild. Or pick up a copy!

archive: the light in my eyes

Wealthy Cambodian youth dance at a club, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

I made this image a couple of years ago when I first started on a project about morality and drug addiction in Cambodia. I "re-discovered" this picture when I recently went back through my takes to see what else I could archive, just in case. This was one of only two pictures I came back with from this dance club. For one, the lights in this club were strobing so intensely that I could barely see. I felt quite old at that point, as I barely managed to function with the club music and pulsating lights. Second, access was really difficult. They do not allow cameras, however one of the club's primary sponsors helped me gain five minutes of shooting time before the body guards and sercurity officers would cut me off. I wanted to photograph a club in Phnom Penh because more often then not these young wealthy kids were high on some sort of drug and I wanted to show that drug addiction does not affect all poor, disadvantaged people. I also wanted to show the economic progress since the civil war in the 80s (and Khmer Rouge), as more young people have expendable income. This picture is an outtake, and decided to use a similar image that evoked more feeling then this one. But I still like it.

archive: daily life

Nope, not a bride and groom picture, this delicate act of chivalry is her chambelán, dance partner, assisting la quinceanera, a girl's fifteenth birthday, out of the carriage, in La Habana, Cuba, where the tradition is still practiced despite the fact that Cuba is a secular state. Catholicism is the largest organzied religion in Cuba, however, in 1962, Fidel Castro closed nearly all 400 Catholic schools claiming that they were teaching dangerous beliefs.

archive: in the company of strangers

Indonesians relax over coffee and snacks at Hotel Sadaap, in Tanjung Pinang, Bintan, with views of island of Penyengat.

i have spent some of the most incredible moments of my life in the company of strangers in places other then my home. and sometimes i experience these moments by myself. these discoveries have always enabled me to keep traveling. for most of my life. I say this because I didn't start traveling when I picked up the camera. I thank my parents for their encouragement to experience the world around me since i was a teenager.

often times these moments make me feel most alive; breathing and being. i admit, however, at times i feel guilty i don't feel or have those same enlightened moments when i'm back home. Or, it leaves me feeling helpless and defeated because i don't know how to help.

one of these moments happened to me when i was on the plane leaving phnom penh, cambodia to yogyakarta, indonesia, to cover the erupting Mt Merapi. there was a large group of young women, maybe even teenagers, 16-20 or so. i couldn't really tell. They sat together, like a soccer team, with new shoes and backpacks; new clothes and travel documents. They sat quietly until it was time to board. I saw a woman, perhaps Malayasian, as the country was our initial destination, who seemed to be in charge of the group. Upon boarding, i sat next to one of the girls. She seemed eager and chatty with her friends in the seats in front of her. Like getting on a roller coaster ride. She didn't know how to fasten her seatbelt, as it was her first time on the plane. I didnt' even recognize the Khmer language, so I assumed it could have been a dialect.

These young women did not speak English or Malaysian. I knew that they were off to work. Probably as maids. I wanted so bad to give her a card or a phone number, to give her emergency money, and to tell her if any thing happened to call me. But I didn't know how to communicate that to her. I worried about her fate even though I didn't know her true destination. I really wanted to just follow them...because this is a very important issue. Too often you hear stories about poor SE Asian women lured into promising jobs, when in reality, they are destined to work as slaves in modern times. I feared this, the unknown, for her and can only be left with hope that my worries are wrong.

archive: a dip in the bucket

Many people don't know this but I would love a 1961 2-door convertible Ford Falcon. Thats right. Specifically. One that runs well, and not a pimped out hot rod. The color would be blue. or white, but definitely not red. My first car was almost a mid-1970s bmw. it was orange. we saw it on Mission Blvd in Fremont, but my mother thought that the diesel gas it took was too impractical and worried that this cute little car would leave me stranded, out of gas, somewhere. So she bought me a 1983 mint green Honda Civic. For $100. It was the closest thing to a vintage automobile that i could get. and that was in 1993. damn. It didn't last long, after I blew the head gasket. ah well. I also have a thing for vintage motorcycles, but thats a story for another time.

Here's a portrait of a short, surreal moment. As I looked down into the viewfinder (hasselblad), I felt like I was taken back in time. It reminded me of my family pictures - my mother's side. The stoic, for the record, kind of portraiture. This is a quinceneara I photographed in Napa. Originally I was suppose to photograph a family that I had met prior but I couldn't find them. So this family let me photograph them.

and from the sidelines, they watched:

Archive: Community

In trying to find new ways to show whats in my archive, I typed in the word "community" to see what i had under that keyword. I discovered pictures from an Afghan engagement party in Fremont, California, and selected this image:

A recently engaged couple fill their plates with traditional Afghan food, at the Diamond Palace, in Fremont, Ca., on Saturday, March 7, 2009. I would never imagine this place being in California, in particular with the formality of the buffet room, and the isolation of the young couple serving themselves before the guests at their party.

SF Chronicle: wine country clip

healdsburg, ca - the lede image in the Wine Country section of the San Francisco Chronicle (not the bottom two).

Former crip to breakdancing mentor -- for Brand X Magazine

There are hundreds of stories about American deportees living in Cambodia, a country they were born but fled with their families to the US during the Khmer Rouge genocide. But the story on KK is probably one of the most inspiring. Brand X continues to feature his story:

Breaking free: How a former Crip became a role model for kids in Cambodia

antigua

i love discovering old pictures because they are new to me! I had scanned some old film from my last trip to Guatemala and my holga was on bulb. i liked to say it was intentional, but at the time i thought i had broke the plastic camera.

SF Chronicle assignments from the archive

I'm continuing my redo of my archive and I came across this assignment on a Chinese immersion program for all students of various ethnic backgrounds (not race, as I believe we are all one race), which oldest in the country, in San Francisco. The assignment was for the SF Chronicle. These two pictures are my favorite...