shutter to think

Banda Aceh - A new veranda

On Dec. 26, 2004, water rushed into the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Many thought the looming grey background was the overcast sky until the series of several large waves engulfed the city as high as four stories.

My photo essay on life in Banda Aceh post-tsunami was featured on NPR's the Picture Show recently:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/12/banda_aceh.html

and my work was also highlighted on photographer Ed Kashi's blog, who mentored me a few years ago and has seen my work develop. Ed's constant reminder to follow stories that I care about has resonated with me for many years, especially through the tough times when I was not progressing visually.  His incredible work on  photojournalism and storytelling on the effects of politics, whether through health care or natural resources can all be seen on his website and stories throughout National Geographic.

http://www.edkashi.com/blog/

The people of Banda Aceh never knew what a "normal" life was previous to the 2004 tsunami, which killed about 160,000 people in the Aceh Province of Indonesia. They lived with 30 years of war in a politically unstable region. With the help of hundreds of international aid organizations, the entire city and surrounding villages were rebuilt, leaving residents to continue on without them with the daily buzz of motorbikes and the call to prayer. And without political strife due to the signing of the 2005 Helsinki peace accords between the Indonesian military and the rebel army of the Free Aceh Movement.

 

 

 

LAT with file art

Hope this counts as another clip or two! I just came across my pictures for the Los Angeles Times Travel Blog. Ive rarely seen my work come up as file but it was just a cool reminder of how far photography can travel and how far i travel for photography:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2009/07/cubas-craigslist.html

Photo: Vendors sell spices, fruit, flowers and more every Sunday at the farmers market across the street from the Capitolio Nacional in Havana. Credit: Lianne Milton / For The Times

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/ticket-sales-open-fo-4584/

[Photo: Cubans and tourists flock to a market in Havana. Credit: Lianne Milton / For The Times]

cockfighter portraits on PDN's photo of the day blog

My on-going portrait series of cockfighters were published today on PDN's photo of the day blog. How exciting! I was in mexico earlier this year and wanting to work on some kind of portrait series, so friend & photographer Holly Wilmeth suggested to follow some local cockfighters.

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2009/08/1856

sichuan wedding

This wedding photographer continued to take pictures during the sichuan earthquake.

a turbulent wedding day...
http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/05/a-wedding-in-sichuan.html

and if you can read chinese, here's the story;
http://news.sohu.com/20080517/n256926605.shtml

the photographer's blog and photos -
http://www.xanga.com/lelandwong/657607591/photographing-a-wedding-and-then-an-earthquake.html

the blogosphere...

i can't even believe that is a word. this world. the blog world. and i am a blogger. a blogggaa. hah. you blog too if you are reading this. i just went into this blogosphere, how do you spell it. yep. i can't believe i made it out. i mean the lists were endless. the names. i dont' even know who these people are that i've added to my own bloggaz list but i did. i don't even know you...family guy. hui-u. if you say that right it should like peter saying who are you but with that funny accent, my dad, says, oh yeah, they talk (tawk) funny down there (thare). you know because he's from boston, and they don't talk funny. there. r.

so i discovered this whole world of people who blog. i mean some blogs are personally interesting to me, so i save them bc they have good pictures, or have something funny to say. sarcastic. mostly, my own friends. but this other world. so normally i have my routine. i check all my formal email accounts. yes i stupidly have many. 4. i dont' even know why. i don't even get that many emails to have 4. then i check for jobs, religiously on the jib, and elsewhere. then i check to see if anyone out there is reading my blog. not really. i've got more hits on the suchiate river and guatemala than for me. i scan the nytimes for my worldly news. sometimes i check lightstalker to see if there's any interesting. not really. it just makes me want to travel more so that i can add more dots on my world map. and that's about it. if i remember, i'll post some pictures on my own blog. but after coming out of the blogosphere, wholly words. look whose talking out there. look at me. i hate my blog. i'm not even funny. i just post shit because i know that there's really only one person who reads this damn thing. and it gives me a sort of purpose. gotta get the blog out today. you know, make my own deadline.

people can write. youlll see. i just loaded up a couple of new ones. so far, i really like a photo editor. he finally came out of the tube. hee. bunch of tubes out there. anyway, its resourceful with character. thank gawd because i cannot find any contacts to magazines or newspapers anywhere to pitch my stories to and its really frkn annoying. and also, its just nice to have a photo editor out there looking out. not many do that. and a new york rep. that one is interesting to me too. so youll see them, wonder, maybe click on them.

sick of writing now. i'm going to post some pictures.

5 years...

The Iraq War on its 5th anniversary and i for some reason had this song in my head. whether it holds much relevance or not. also, check out:
http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/
and
Bearing Witness: 5 Years of the Iraq War http://iraq.reuters.com/

david bowie. 5 years.
Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys electric irons and t.v.s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought Id need so many people

A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children
If the black hadnt a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of that

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine, dont think
You knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, youre beautiful, I want you to walk

Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got

another blog

sorry getty sports, i think i may have found my new favorite blog. getty news blog. my window.
y'all check the world out....http://blogs.gettyimages.com/news/

Sports Blog

I"m not advertising Getty but their picture postings on the aquatic championships in austraila are pretty dope and wanted to share...and to check it out! I love love love water pictures, oooh especially ones of surfing and aquarium-like barrels. yup I do miss the surf. If I only had a housing....and some water.

http://blogs.gettyimages.com/sport/