Sunset over Dolarog Wharf
El Nido, Philippines – It was amazing how fast it set, the sun. My back was to the shore as I wound my way through coconut treed lawn of the Dolarog. It was dark inside our hut, but an orange glare of light on a polished teak table drew my eye back out to the […]
Palawan: Island Hopping
El Nido, Philippines – It’s hard to hear over the one-cylinder banging of the banca’s engine. We left the kids of Papa John Center a while back and are now ‘holed up’ under the posh palms of the Dolarog – a water-access-only resort just up the coast from El Nido on Palawan Island. Talk about […]
How to pick a guide – Pinoy style
Location scouting in Laguna, Philippines yesterday, I was already up to my knees in brush when I thought to ask the man standing by the tree, “Meron bang ahas dito, po?” (are there snakes here, sir?) The man, in his late 40’s, looked calmly at me, twitched his eyebrows upwards and puckered his lips out; […]
Bronze Award @ Creative Asia Photography Awards
The inspiration behind this photo has everything to do with the fact that the new dad here is a youth pastor who daily tries to model what it means to have a loving Father in Heaven. The lighting technique involves a 30″ overhead softbox spilling onto a styrofoam reflector angled in front of and slightly […]
LowePro 400 AW: field ready
For those of you out there who have scored the newest Trekker Series backpack from LowePro, welcome to the club. If you’re anything like me, soon after the excitement of this incredible mould-to-the-body pack normalized, you found yourself in a Velcro ripping frenzy trying to create the optimal customized workspace for your gear. Not saying […]
Down 'n Out in Beverly Hills
The following images were taken during an assignment in downtown LA last week. Most of them weren’t related in anyway to the subject I was covering, but for whatever reason, I felt the need to stop for the frame. I can’t say as I even knew why at the time, but in hindsight, I certainly […]
Unpacking the VJ Jargon
I’ve been wanting to tackle a request to unpack a few terms from the Visual Journalism Bootcamp “Top 10 Lessons List” for some time, so here goes: Strategic Dissonance (as I understand it) Dissonance, by definition, is a lack of harmony. As part of the summer VJ Bootcamp we attended, author Tony Deifell introduced the […]
VJ Bootcamp – TOP TEN LIST
Just back from the 2010 Visual Journalist Bootcamp in Langley, WA. Here’s the skinny. TOP TEN LIST OF VJ GEMS TO REMEMBER (MediaStorm): 70% of video production is audio Ask paired questions, then shut up. (use the Dumb Dog look for clarification) Let the motion happen (lock on tripod, reduce pans/tilts/zooms) Let each piece “breath” […]
Emperor of all things electronic
There’s a lot of discussion these days over the fate of editorial writers and photographers. Much of the buzz surrounds the fact that gobs of information already exist online – paid professionals must now compete with free, mass-produced content. But follow me on this bit of crowd-sourced optimism, if you will. Over at an […]
Location, location… snake!
Warm raking light bathes the textured background of crumbling volcanic stone that juts upward from the sage covered hills. Ponderosa pines line the ridge, wind-bent but proud in the semi-arid terrain. Two coyotes skirt our perimeter and I assure my assistant, the stylist and our model, Lindsay, that they are more afraid of us than […]
Man Bites Dog
Hanoi, VN – A skinny waiter steps toward our table as I flip through a grease-stained menu of items I cannot pronounce. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” I say to my buddy seated across from me. The waiter, now standing beside us, puts a pen to a thin pad of paper and […]
By their fruit you shall know them
We’ve been hanging out with twenty kids at the Ban San Faan Home outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand who despite the absence of birth parents will capture your heart and challenge your faith with the reality of their Heavenly Father. Photo: Abbey and Daniel enjoy the fruit of their labor after picking lychee. During my […]
