PixelatedImage Blog

This morning we released Michael Frye’s second book for Craft & Vision: Exposure for Outdoor Photography. Michael, as many of you know, is an accomplished outdoor and landscape photographer, he knows his craft, and he’s an excellent teacher. So when he asked if a book about exposure would be helpful, I didn’t wait a second to reply. The questions I am most asked, on a technical level, are about exposure, and what I love about the way Michael teaches is that he directly relates the technical aspects of exposure, which he teaches well, to the aesthetic/artistic aspects.

Exposure for Outdoor Photography is about all natural-light photography, and could be one of the most broadly-applicable books we’ve published. Michael, in this 50-spread PDF ebook, tackles the basics, and goes on to discuss how the different ways of accomplishing different exposures bring about different aesthetics, metering modes, exposure modes, histograms, high-contrast scenes, depth of field, shutter speeds, and exposure blending, and more, and includes 10 case studies, and beautiful photographs, to illustrate. This is a solid book and  I’m thrilled to have been part of making it, and proud to have Michael a part of the Craft & Vision faculty.

If you’re a member of the Craft & Vision Community, you can download this month’s eBook now. If not, we’ve got the usual deals for you on the PDF version of Exposure for Outdoor Photography, just keep reading.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the next five days only, use the promotional code EXPOSURE4 when you checkout so you can have the PDF version of Exposure for Outdoor Photography for only $4 OR use the code EXPOSURE20 to get 20% off when you buy 5+ PDF eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST February 20, 2012.

Today Jeffrey Chapman and I are announcing two new photographic adventures for 2012. The first, in July, timed to coincide with the Naadam festival, is in Mongolia. The second is late November/early December, to Antarctica. More details are on the site HERE for Mongolia and HERE for Antarctica, and I am so excited about both.

Mongolia – July 6-16, 2012

The first, to Mongolia is a great itinerary. I was there in February a few years ago and since then, captivated by the landscape and the people (though not the food!), I’ve wanted to go back. In the past we’ve struggled to really communicate clearly on these, so this time I’m trying a different tack. This is not a workshop. This is a chance to go with two experienced photographers and travelers, to a place they have wanted to explore. We’ve done our homework, and we’ve picked the itinerary that we want to do. We’re inviting you to come with us, to explore with us, to have an adventure in places where there is sand, unusual food, potentially lumpy beds, and maybe even mosquitoes. There will be no 5-star hotels, though we’ve done our best to make sure we’re all safe, warm, healthy, and happy. There won’t even be lectures. What there will be is an organic travel experience to a new place with two photographers who want to discover a place, with cameras in hand, as it is. The group is small and we’ll be taking the first applicants, unless any of you seem completely insane, and then we’ll be skipping you and moving on.

My hope is to continue to travel with people who love new places and strange adventures, and to teach about this art we all love and spend so much of our time and energy on. To that end we’ll spend time each day in discussion about photographs themselves – not in image critiques, but discussions about the photographs themselves. And in between there will be times at meals, in vehicles, and while shooting, to ask questions, to explore this place and this art, together.

If that sounds like your kind of thing, and it isn’t for everyone, then we’d love you to join us. Who is this for? It’s for people who want to share an adventure and who love that adventure as much as the potential photographs. It’s for people who don’t mind a little sand in their teeth, don’t gag at the thought of different foods (I’m not talking about making you eat bugs), and can roll with changes in schedule. It’s for people who want to learn their craft in an organic, slow-burn kind of way. Who is not for? If you’ve done a bunch of photo-workshops, and want to be making photographs for 18 hours a day, we love you but you might be frustrated by our approach. We believe people are more creative when they slow down, watch the light, experience a place, and pursue better photographs not just more of them. Our approach is different.

Anyways, check out the itinerary, and if it appeals, drop us a line. But do it fast because these adventures usually sell out within the first two days, if not sooner.

Antarctica – November 29 – December 09, 2012

I went to Antarctica this December with Quark Expeditions and from the moment I entered Antarctic waters I was enchanted. I went expecting to shoot black and white photographs of a black and white world, and what I came back with was a body of work full of blues I didn’t know existed. Antarctica stunned me with its beauty and it’s not often that happens. So I came back and told Jeffrey we had to do this trip. We’ll be with Quark again, on a larger ship, but we’ve got our own Zodiac and lots of time to be together as a group and talk about photography, discuss images, and enjoy one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. Quark is a top-notch operation and I was impressed from start to finish. The ship was great, the staff was amazing, and Antarctica was an adventure from beginning to end.

Yes, the Drake Passage was rough. People (not many of them, mind you) fell out of chairs. Lots of people staggered around the boat like they were drunk. Some of them might have been. Many spent the crossing in their bunks waiting for the calm of the Antarctic waters. But I didn’t hear anyone say they had regrets. And I thought crossing the Drake was an appropriate price to pay for entry to a place so magical. We’ll spend time photographing from the ship, from the zodiacs, and from the shore. We’ll walk among penguins and seals and see icebergs in shades of blue you just didn’t think existed. And there will be plenty of time (we aren’t going anywhere else, you know) to learn from each other on the ship during the voyage. If you’ve ever wanted to see the frozen continent, or the 7th continent, this is an adventure you’ll never forget.

More details about the itinerary on the website. Feel free to ask Jeffrey questions. This one needs a quick sell-out in order to secure our small group on the boat, so if you want to join us, let us know fast. *This is not a traditional workshop. Please read the description of the Mongolia trip; it’ll help you understand what we’re doing.

For more information on Mongolia, check out the website HERE.
For more information on Antarctica, check out the website HERE.

Shooting sunset in the Maasai Mara, while a ranger keeps an eye out.
Photo credit: Regis Vincent.

When Nicole S. Young’s ebook on MicroStock came out last year on the Craft&Vision site, we caught some flack for “supporting the microstock model.” We were told how unfair the model is, how it’s going to put photographers out of business, and how irresponsible it was to put out a book that helps people navigate these waters, unfair as they are. Then I read some bits and pieces of woe about the state of journalism and the decline of print media. Then this morning I spent time reading the blog of Joe Konrath, also not a photographer, but a well-known self-publisher in the fiction world. The pieces came together.

In VisionMongers I said that our businesses should be an act of creativity as much as our photography is. I believe that more now than I did before. So, if you’ll indulge a rant/sermon, hear me out on something. This rant’ll get worse before it gets better, so read through to the end. I promise to try to end without completely shipwrecking this.

One of the currents I detect in the arguments against microstock, though this rant is not specifically about microstock, is the same one I think I’d get from a whiny teenager whose father won’t let him use the car, except in the business world there is no father and if you want a car, you have to buy it. No one is going to hand it to you, no one owes you anything, most especially not a business model that’s just like the so-called good old days. The good ol’ days never were. The world changes, it’s not easy, it’s not fair, but it’s the same playing field we’ve always played on. People whining about the unfairness of the microstock model, or __________________ (insert random unfairness here) have forgotten that if they are self-employed, they are the rainmakers. No one else. So bitch about the lack of rain or get out and pound the button on the cloud-seeder like a rented mule. The question is not: is it fair? The question is: how badly do you want it?

Yes, once upon a time you could wait for the phone to ring and someone would pay you $500 for a photograph of a plate of pasta. ChaChing! They would tell you how to shoot it, when to shoot it, and you’d do it with a stylist and art director hovering over you, making you wish you were photographing drooling kids against wooded backdrops in KMart instead. But now the phone doesn’t ring. So some photographers, wanting to spend their time creating instead of bitching, still shoot the pasta. And pizza. And, well, whatever the hell they want. No art directors. Few stylists. And no, no one writes them a cheque that takes 6-8 weeks to arrive after you’ve invoiced them twice. Instead, they post those photographs to a microstock site, and they make $1. But they make that dollar 500 times. Or 1000 times. Or they don’t make a penny because their photograph isn’t remotely as good as others available to the same market, and they have to go back and do it better, get a little more creative and make a photograph that hasn’t already been shot. Unfair? It’s the fairest it’s ever been – it’s fair because it relies on how good your work is and how hard you hustle. But let’s be honest, the business world isn’t about fair. It’s about responding to how the world functions, and the needs of the people in that world, and finding a market for what you offer within that world. The ones who meet this challenge in the most creative ways, and with the most amount of elbow grease are the ones who make it, not the ones whining over a latte in a Starbucks somewhere.

So why did I mention self-publishing? Because the world of publishing is changing the same way the world of photography is. Is there as much money to be made by authors? Absolutely! In fact, there’s more! But it’s different. The same is true of journalism. Things are changing. Is it easy? No. Is it fair? Does it matter? EVERYTHING is changing. It always has. It always will. If you are in business for yourself as a photographer, your job, as the CEO of You Inc., is to meet those changes head on, to navigate the rough waters and do it in a way you love, while not sinking the ship. No one promised you safe passage. No one owes you a waveless voyage. You will get “there” (wherever there is) not by how good your photographs are (there are a lot of amazing photographers out there, have you noticed?) but by how creatively you engage your market, and how hard you hustle. Read that again. If you are floundering, it’s not because you don’t have a better camera or the same 85/1.2L lens that that other, more successful, photographer on the other side of town, or the other side of the internet. It’s because you aren’t being as creative as you thought you were or you aren’t hustling. That’s a broad brush to paint with but I believe it with all my heart. Everything I’ve learned in business tells me that. Stop buying gear and start buying books about business and new media. (BTW, how good your art is matters tremendously, it’s just a different conversation about a different thing.)

Yes, things are changing. They always have. But you can either make the change or react to it. Either way you need to be creative. You can do two things with your time on this earth – play the cards you’re dealt with all the energy and conviction you can, or whine and moan about how lousy your cards are. But whining and moaning never once changed the cards in anyone’s hand. Yes, Detroit was decimated by the economy, and it was left in literal ruins. But it’s making a come back. Not because it sat there feeling sorry for itself (ok, some did, but they aren’t the ones making the comeback), but because they got creative. They stood up, dusted off the seat of their jeans and looked the situation square in the eye and said, “OK. Now what?” It’s hard work. It’ll take time. And if you don’t love that work, give up now.

The opportunities to make  a living doing something you love in the creative arts has never, ever, been like they are now. The same things causing the massive shift away from old models (insert whining) are the same forces allowing us these new opportunities (insert creativity and hard work). There are more opportunities to show and sell our work, whatever that is, to more people on this planet, than any photographer or artist has ever had in any previous generation on this planet. If you want to make a go of this, the time has never been better. Assuming one of the reasons you want to do this is to be creative, to sail your own ship, and to enjoy the journey. There is no path waiting for you. You have to make it. There are no charts for where we’re sailing to, these are unknown waters. No one promised us a safe passage, and anyone that thinks they’re owed one will never get there – not because the waters are rough but because time spent whining and feeling entitled is time wasted while others are creating new sails and patching holes in the boat so they can sail a few days longer, or a little faster. It’s not easy. If you want easy, you signed up for the wrong journey. But make no mistake about it, everyone is on a boat. You can sail your own, or you can work for another captain. The difference is merely in who makes the decisions, not how rough the water is. We all weather the same economic weather, and ride out the same waves of change in technology, history, etc.

I want to say “you can do it!” and be really encouraging. And some of you – no, many of you – can do it, and can do it brilliantly. But only you can decide how badly you want it, how hard you’re willing to work for it, how creative you’re willing to be to get it, and how wet you’re willing to become in order to get there. To get to the other shore you need to let go of the one you’re leaving, accept the unpredictability of winds and waves, and shout into the raging storm at times, “is that all you’ve got?!” and then pull the sails a little tighter. I wish I could tell you more. But all I’ve learned from my journey that universally applies, is that the journey is worth it, and that it’s often harder than we wish it were. You’ve got a handful of years to do your work, don’t you dare waste those moments whining instead of creating something amazing. Don’t leave a legacy of risk-aversion and “I wish I’d…” to your kids. Don’t settle for hours in front of a large screen TV when you can have a larger life. Don’t settle for watching great stories when you could spend your time living one. Whether you can or can’t, whether you do or don’t, is up to you.

This one’s not going to appeal to everyone, but for those of you wanting to know more about Emily (my Jeep, and my home for the next year, starting a week from today), here’s the scoop. Yesterday I got her back from the shop after a few last minute modifications and she’s now ready to roll.

First, she’s a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited – Sahara Edition. The next step up, the Rubicon comes a little more trail-ready but then Jeep makes those decisions for you, and I wanted to do that myself. So I got the Sahara. Front and rear bumpers, expedition rack, ladder and back racks are all from Garvin Wilderness Products. There’s a Warn XD9000i winch and PIAA driving lights on the front. The suspension is a 3.5  inch lift from American Expedition Vehicles. Pro Comp Rock Crawler steel wheels and Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires. All that meant I needed new gear ratios, so they did that too (going to 4.88, which means nothing to me just yet except that it gives me more torque to pull what is fast becoming a 5,000lb Jeep.).

Total Vertical Clearance? 8’4″ No parking garages for this girl.
ARB compressor under the hood for inflating tires and blowing dust off my sensors (totally probably kidding about that last bit.)

Under the hood there’s an ARB compressor for inflating tires (above), and the back holds an Engel 35 fridge/freezer and a Partner Steel propane stove on a double-slide from Adventure Trailers (below). The propane tank is a really little one from Kanz Outdoors, mounted beautifully in a custom cage to the back right-hand roll-bar. The back seats have been removed and put in storage in order to hold a little more cargo/crap, all in Zarges cases that are easy to stack and secure with ratchet-straps. The raised air intake (snorkel) is from American Expedition Vehicles.

Engel 35 fridge & Partner Steel stove on double slide from Adventure Trailers.

Up top, mounted to the Garvin expedition racks there’s a Columbus Variant Autohome rooftop tent, the large one, with room in front on the rack for 2 smaller Zarges cases (not shown), in which I keep stuff I don’t usually need, because frankly it’s a pain to pull them down. I found a solid and simple awning from The Camping Lab to protect from rain and sun. Here’s a shot from earlier this year showing the tent and awning up.

AutoHome tent up, Camping Lab awning out.

Shovel and Axe from Lee Valley Tools. Denali+ First Aid kit from Wilderness Medical Systems. Solar power, lamps, and extra 12v power from Goal Zero. And I got two sweet folding camp chairs from the Kermit Chair Company, that I adore. They’re beautifully handmade in Tennessee and roll up to nothing. Add a couple Go-Pro video cameras and as few extra clothes and other stuff as possible, and we’re ready to roll.

Emily and I, and friends along the way, are taking 2012 to drive, to take our time and explore and photograph National Parks, State Forests, and BLM lands in the American West. If you see us, say hi.

If you got through all that and have no idea what it all means, you’re in good company. I don’t either. This is a steep learning curve for me. But did I giggle like a little girl when I first attached the Jeep to a gigantic tree and winched it across the yard? Yes I did. And is it awesome that I have a fridge – and a freezer should I so need – in my Jeep? Also yes. And am I being a little bit like a little boy about all this? There is a distinct possibility, yes. But as Winnie the Pooh suggested, this is all too important to be taken seriously.

I’ll do a blog post about the intended route in the coming days. If you made it through this without your eyes glossing over you might be just the kind of person that would enjoy the OVERLAND EXPO in Arizona. This year it’s May 18-20 and I’d love to see you there.

Lalibela, Ethiopia. 2012.
Click the image to download a 2560 x 1600 desktop wallpaper.

I’m as close to home as I’m going to be for a while now. A month after heading to Africa and tromping about Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, I’m back to packing my bags and this time for the haul.

On February 11 I’ll get into the Jeep and head towards Maine after a brief stop to visit family in Ontario. And then it’s 9 weeks of un-interupted road-tripping to see what I can discover and photograph, before a 3-week break in April/May takes me to Europe to teach and lecture. No plans beyond that. I want to stop in the Keys and finally get my PADI Open Water Diver certificate, then head west where I hope to spend much of the year. Under wide skies, in remote places, looking for the light. Part nomad, part pilgrim, I guess. Which is why I’ve chosen the image above as the desktop wallpaper for February. The man silhouetted on top of Mount Tabor in Lalibela, Ethiopia, is a pilgrim, one of many I photographed that walked between 5 days and 3 weeks to get to Lalibela for Orthodox Christmas, before turning around after a few days to walk all the way home, the destination only a thin slice of the larger blessing sought on the journey.

It feels like forever since I’ve been online, but what a trip it’s been. We’re packing our bags, wrapping up the last sad goodbyes, and getting one last morning game drive on the mara before boarding a small plane back to Nairobi, leaving Kitchwa Tembo, Sekenani Camp, and the magic of the Maasai mara behind us. We’ve spent the last 8 days in awe of the light, the land, and the incredible animals that live here. Coming here in January, things are quiet, the tourists aren’t here in mobs, and the camps are quiet – giving this place a wildness and solitude that it doesn’t have during migration.

Mornings have been early and cool, but waking to a cup of coffee or tea at you bedside makes it a little easier to slide your jeans on and drag your big lenses to the trucks. We’ve traveled with some amazing photographers, shared laughter over long meals lit by a hundred hurricane lanterns, watched the sunrise from high over the savannah in a hot air balloon, and watched the sun vanish, large and red, over the Oloololo escarpment. And we’ve made some lifelong friends, amazing memories and beautiful photographs.  Thanks to all who joined us!

Want to join us at some point? We’ve got a killer line-up of new adventures coming for the rest of 2012. These trips aren’t for everyone, but if you like a mix of small groups, easy-going itinerary, killer locations, and the unpredictable adventure of travel in Africa, Asia, and point beyond, we’d love to talk to you about being part of the next Within The Frame Photographic Adventure.

The next stop for me is Zanzibar for a few days of personal shooting and beach-lying. Some places you just have to go for the romance of the name alone. Say it with me: Zanzibar.

I’m on the great plains of the Maasai Mara in Kenya right now. In the last year I’ve created photographs all over the world, and more than ever can’t wait to return to Vancouver at the end of 2012 and print my work. Problem is, my print skills are minimal at best. So one of the projects I’m tucking into on my return is learning to really print my work. I’m starting with Martin Bailey’s new Craft & Vision Masterclass book, Making The Print.

There are some amazing resources out there when it comes to printing, and eventually I hope to spend time with friends like Andy Biggs and John Paul Caponigro, both of whom know far more than I ever hope to about fine-art printing, but as a solid introduction, to get my brain around some of the basics and a bunch of the intricacies, I’m beginning with Making The Print because what I really need is a solid primer.

I tell my students that they need to print their work. We all do. We need to print it, look at it, live with it, and react to it. And we need to share it. The downfall of the digital revolution is that so much of our work never makes it past the pixels. It sounds morbid but when my life is over I want to leave my work on prints, large and stunning, for as long as they themselves will last, not just sitting on hard-drives. I want my work hanging on walls, out there in the world. I create it to share it.

Martin’s 65 wide-page ebook covers it all from choosing a printer and papers, to profiling and sharpening, and then he moves on to calibrations, fine-tuning, adding borders, basically everything you need to get competent, which is what most of us are looking to accomplish. And Martin explains it all in a simple, easy-to-follow, way. When you think most of us don’t print because it’s just too darn intimidating, this one $5 investment can take you one step closer to making beautiful, frustration-free prints. I know this stuff feels complicated and scary, but Martin is really good at what he does, and he’s good at teaching it.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the next five days only, use the promotional code PRINT4 when you checkout so you can have the PDF version of Making the Print for only $4 OR use the code PRINT20 to get 20% off when you buy 5+ PDF eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST January 21, 2012.

Wow, this might be longest I’ve ever gone without fully functional internet. Nice to take a break but the few times I tried to get online were fraught with frustration. After almost 2 weeks in northern Ethiopia, and most of that among the pilgrims of Lalibela, I’m now heading to Nairobi for two days of R&R before beginning the Maasai Mara Within The Frame Adventure.

Lalibela itself was amazing. There is a quality of light there, among the throngs of pilgrims and the stone churches that is simply beautiful. Add to that a feeling of participating in something that seems to take place over a thousand years ago, and you’ve a sense of what an adventure this trip was. Then add traveling with a wonderful group of talented photographers and running into Mitchell Kanaskevitch a few times, and it makes for an amazing start to 2012.

My flight boards soon, and then I’m out of touch for a bit. Hope your 2012 is off to a running start, full of adventure and beauty. I’ll check in when I can, but don’t hold your breath! Cheers!

This month’s free Desktop Wallpaper. Antarctica, December 2011.
Click the image to get the full-resolution version. Speaking of resolution…

Resolution or Resolve?
I was going to let New Year’s eve come and go without using the word resolution. But then I started thinking about my own reluctance to embrace the whole topic, and I felt a sermon growing….

It’s that time of year again, when we as a culture gather our collective optimism and in one great seizure of denial we’ll make promises to ourselves that, for the most part, are mercifully short-lived, coming into this world all but stillborn and saving us from changing our lives for yet another trip around the sun. I’m weary of seeing friends making resolutions but seeing no change in their lives, lives that I know are so full of brilliance and potential; so many resolutions, so little resolve, and so very little change.

A resolution is a one-time decision. A mile-marker on our journey, on which we look back when we forget from whence we’ve come and lost sight of where we’re going. But it’s nothing more. The moment you make it, it begins to lose its momentum, and there are very few of us for whom that resolution carries much lasting strength. It’s just the way it is. It’s a strong indicator of a desire, but a poor agent of change. It may, at best, be a compass, but it’s not an engine. And waiting for the magic of January One is just silliness. Do it now. Not tomorrow. Not later.

Over this past year I’ve had greater opportunity to reflect on my life than I expected. Whether I’m “Living the dream” or not, I am unashamedly living my own dreams. But none of them come on a silver platter. They come with intention and resolve, they come rough and demand polishing, and they – all of them – extract a price. But I am amazed at how much we can accomplish when we pay that price, and stop screwing around, living our lives in such ad hoc fashion. Whatever it is you hope for this coming year, don’t stop at resolutions. Find resolve. Then map it out. How are you going to do it? Monthly, weekly, daily, what does this dream require of you? Now do it, and do it with all the strength you’ve got. You have one brief, beautiful, unique life to live, and only a limited handful of matches with which to set your world ablaze. Don’t you dare waste them.

January 2012 Desktop Wallpaper.
You knew it had to be Antarctica on this month’s wallpaper, didn’t you? This is a 2560 x 1600 desktop wallpaper, so it’ll fit everything from iPads to 30″ displays, just click HERE for the full-resolution image.

Heading to Africa.
On New Year’s Day I’ll be on an early evening flight to Frankfurt, then on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to join Jeffrey Chapman and 8 others for the next Within The Frame Adventure. We’re heading north from Addis to the ancient town of Lalibela to join thousands of pilgrims for Orthodox Christmas. I was there 5 or 6 years ago and it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I remember at the time thinking how much I just wanted several days to explore and photograph, but our itinerary didn’t allow it. Now we’ll have that time. Can’t hardly wait. I’ve no idea how accessible internet will be, but if I can do so, I’ll drop a line. Then on the 14th we return to Addis, head to Nairobi and get ready for the Masai Mara Within The Frame adventure, and I’ll probably be off the map until I get home from Zanzibar on/around the 1stof February. But if I can send a postcard, I will. Happy New Year, friends.

I want to join my little penguin friend in wishing you a very Merry Christmas. If you celebrate Hanukkah, like much of my family, then a happy Hanukkah to you. If you celebrate something else, or nothing at all, then I wish you the same: peace, joy, and a new year that is filled with the same. I still celebrate Christmas, and I celebrate hard. It pains me that it’s so commercial, the heart of it being so much the opposite of all we seem to strive for at this time of year. Christmas to me is deeply personal, a celebration of the possibilities and hopes of the deepest longings of our hearts: peace on earth and the making right of all that brings us sorrow. It’s the annunciation of the angel to the world that God sees our tears and chooses not only to wipe them away but to share them. Some days it takes more faith than others to believe. Still, I believe.

2011 was a rough year. Like all years. It was also amazing. I lost, to cancer, a friend who was dear to my heart, and gained others. I mourn her loss, and celebrate the others. I celebrate this world of wonders in which we live, and the fact that not only can I still walk, but I’m still alive. I love this line from a Marc Cohn song: Maybe Life was curious to see what you would do with the gift of being left alive. Indeed. And I celebrate you all, gifts to me from a God whom I still believe to be good and kind, despite evidence to the contrary at times. In this season I am profoundly grateful for what, and whom, I have, both to God and to all those who by choice are gifts in my life. Thank you for every comment, every email. Thank you too for supporting me and my Craft & Vision team; every eBook you buy is a gift to me, keeping me and the 13 other authors and 5 others on my team at least partly fed. Your purchase of my books not only gives me an audience but a livelihood, and I don’t take that for granted, either. From the bottom of my heart thank you. And from all of us over here, we wish you the happiest of holidays, the merriest of Christmasses, and a 2012 filled with peace, joy, health, and the fullness of a life lived in gratitude. Merry Christmas, Friends.

I am a Ninja. Antarctica, 2011. Photo by John Birch

I am officially going off the grid on December 19. No more twitter, FB, blogging, or otherwise. I turn 40 on December 24, and will be offline, cuddled up, and celebrating 40 years. I’ve already got a wallpaper posted for January 01, and that’ll go up as the new year turns on the east coast of North America. From there I’ll post postcards as I can; I’ll be in Ethiopia and Kenya and Tanzania until February 01, then I’ll be back in full force. See you then. And until then, my very best of the season. Cheers!