PixelatedImage Blog

The sun setting over Piazza San Marco, Venice. 2012

I dragged my bags across the cobbles of Venice just after 4am yesterday morning, the wheels bumping and echoing, exaggerating the surreal emptiness of the place. Just Venice and I, which is how goodbyes should be. Around the corner a taxi waited for me, a long, sleek wooden boat, the low rumble of the engine the only competition for my clacking wheels. The driver took my bags, pulled my aluminum suitcase in after me, and we headed slowly though the winding canals that bisect the city and take us toward the open waters on the north side of the island, past the cemetery, and towards the Marco Polo airport. The morning still lit only by a half moon and the headlight of the boat shimmering off the waves. Cool night breeze, scented once in a while by unseen flowering trees. Pure magic. If you have to take a cab to the airport, you can do worse than this.

I’m home now, met at the curb at YVR by my best friend and Emily, my Jeep. We made dinner (which is to say he cooked pasta and shrimp and I slumped in a chair and tried my best to look conscious,) and Corwin’s wife came by and helped us through a couple bottles of wine, and I crashed early. A long perfect day. Sometimes the best part of travel is the coming home. I’ve now got almost 2 months before I travel again. 2 months to spend with my girl, to get my work done, do some physical therapy, get my gallbladder pulled, start a portrait project, print some photographs, and write a book.

Thanks to those who traveled with Jeffrey and I on the latest Within The Frame Adventures. Lots of great memories. Thank you. The time we spent together talking, learning about the photographic language, always teaches me so much. We’ve got a couple announcements coming soon about a few more 2012 destinations, one in Europe, a couple in Asia. We’ll keep you posted. If you’re wanting to travel with us, act quick once the announcement goes up.

Good to be home. Oggi e una bella giornata…

Venice, Italy, 2012

Good morning from Venice. We’re now two days into this year’s Venice Within The Frame and it is so good to be back here. Venice is a mixed bag. People either love it or hate it. I both love it and hate it. I love the light, the architecture, the possibilities. I love the food, the wine, and the restaurants we’ve come to call our own. But by day Venice, packed with tourists (of which I am one, I know,)  holds little photographic pull for me. I wander streets and make notes, stop in at cafes and bars for espresso, prosecco, or a glass of Valpolicella depending on the time of day, waiting for evening to come and usher the tourist hordes and kiosks selling masks and keychains off the cobbled streets. Venice in the evenings is magic, full of gorgeous light and dramatic skies, and lovers coming from their daytime hiding places. In the back streets the kids play soccer, until one by one mom calls them in for dinners. We eat late, the wine and laughter and shared stories taking us almost to midnight before heading back to the hotel.

Today we’ll wander, go take in the Elliot Erwitt exhibit, and wait for evening to fall, punctuating the day with pasta and seafood and a little window shopping.  Somewhere in there we’ll gather for a couple hours to talk about the visual language and the ways we have to fit the magic of this place into our photographs. And then we go out for more, to get lost in the alleys and the light.

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.

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.

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.

3 Boats, 1000 Buddhas. Photographed at the cave of 1000 Buddhas on the Mekong River in Laos. And I’m posting this from Bangkok. So it’s not really so much a postcard from Cambodia. That’s the next photograph.

 

Banteay Srei, Cambodia, Photo by Eve Hannah

Sitting in the departure lounge in Siem Reap, it’s hard to believe this trip is over. In some ways it’s one of the longest, slowest trips I’ve ever made, everything taking much more care and thought than it’s ever taken before. But yesterday marked 5 months since my accident and I celebrated this morning by dancing in the rain, soaked to the bone, at a small temple called Banteay Srei on the outskirts of the Angkor complex.

Angkor was amazing, but it stirs in me the usual regrets and longings. Unable to climb a steep and muddy hill on the first evening here I sat with a cold can of Angkor beer, watching the tourists, and thinking how much I just wanted to photograph this magical place in great light, without the tourists and the touts they (we) attract, and that I was probably 100 years too late. It’s hard to get to upset about the tourists, without also considering my own complicity. I’m part of these crowds, and I kind of wish I would go away so I could enjoy the place alone. In the end I may be one of the few photographers who has always longed to photograph Angkor and left without taking more than a couple scouting shots and deciding I was happier just wandering the ancient ruins slowly or watching monkeys jump out of trees into the flooded puddles below.

After 2 weeks with the Fuji x100, I’ve decided that traveling this light is bliss, and it’s a luxury I may seldom have. The camera itself is beautiful, well made, and small. It turns on quickly enough, but focuses like most compacts (slowly) and suffers from just enough shutter lag to make it occasionally annoying, and sometimes closer to useless. I still put the battery in the wrong way at least half the time, which is odd because it shouldn’t take much to make a battery compartment that takes a battery only one way, nor to make a battery that lasts a little longer. And I hate the weird gymnastics I need to do to change a focus point. But for all the quirks it’s a great little camera and I like using it, and the photographs it makes, better than any compact camera I’ve ever used.  I’ll keep in in the Jeep and it’ll be my go-to camera for traveling, but I can’t wait to get back to using a dSLR.

And now I’m off to Kho Samet for a week to sleep in, eat pad thai, swim in the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand, and do all the stretching and strengthening I neglected over the last 2 weeks. When I get home the new book will be nearly out, and I’ve an ailing Land Rover to tend to and Thanksgiving to enjoy with family before getting ready for Mexico and Honduras. See you soon.

A quick hello from Laos. We’re on the banks of the Mekong River, and in a couple hours begin a 2-day journey downriver towards Luang Prabang. Yesterday was a long drive through misty jungles and impossibly green rice paddies, around frequent landslides and small towns, with a stop for spicy kao soi for lunch.

As with so many of the Within The Frame adventures, I am surrounded by amazing people that have become new friends, and our times together are filled with laughter. I’m grateful for them and their patience. This is the first travel I’ve done since the accident and I feel slow, graceless, and clumbsy. On the first day we wandered around a village and I went exploring in a rice paddy, my fold-up cane sticking in the mud with every step and unfolding. I emerged muddy and wet and a little sore from the effort, but deliriously happy – it was the moment I’d been working towards for 4 months as I healed.

I’m traveling light this time. Lighter than I’ve ever done. My only gear is a Gitzo Ocean Traveler Tripod, my 11″ MacBook Air, and my Fuji x100. I’ll review the camera later, if the mood strikes. But traveling light is amazing. My camera is always with me, always light, always unobtrusive. I never feel weighed down or ask myself, Should I bring the camera? I’m shooting less, to be sure, and this will never replace the DSLR, which I sometimes miss, but for this trip, it’s perfect. For a week in Paris or NYC, it would be amazing.

There’s more to write and more to tell, but I need to get up and shower and find my people. I move a little slower than I thought I would in the mornings, so the extra time is needed. Next stop is Luang Prabang, then to Angkor in Cambodia. After that I’m taking a week of personal time in Thailand to sit on a beach and eat pad Thai. My physiotherapist says it’ll be good for me, so I’m calling it medicinal beach-time before I come home and start dealing with the Jessie saga, which I’ll update you on then too. Thanks to all who sent emails and cheered from the sidelines as I left for this. I won’t lie to you, I was a little nervous. Thank you.

This morning Jeffrey Chapman has pulled the veil off the Italy 2012 Within The Frame Adventures. We’re doing two weeks – one in Liguria, one in Venice. These one-week adventures sell out very quickly, some within hours, so if you’ve been waiting, get your name in the hat fast with Jeffrey. The Italy trips are a highlight of my year, and while we’re not returning to Tuscany this year because she tried to kill me last year, I’m really looking forward to this; traveling with a small group who share a similar passion is an amazing experience to make photographs of an amazing place, eat and drink some amazing food and wine, and share teaching times that will take you deeper into your craft.

You can read Jeffrey’s post about these trips HERE. Get complete details and register with Jeffrey, but let me know if you’re coming! This year’s adventures will fill up even faster as people around the world vie for a spot to see me leap off a wall, fall out of a gondola or choke on my trofie al pesto. You just never know. I like to keep people guessing. (If you have no idea what that comment was all about, read Jeffrey’s blog post or just ignore it. Keep calm, nothing to see here.)

The Liguria trip is April 28 to May 5, 2012 – More details HERE

The Venice Trip is May 5 to May 12, 2012 – More details HERE

All photographs on this post can be enlarged. Just click the image.

January’s Maasai Mara Within The Frame has just been announced. I’ll link you to details in a moment.

2 years ago I went on my first Safari and it changed me in ways I never imagined, probably ways I’d have a hard time communicating. In part it was the life-long friends I hadn’t counted on meeting. In part it was the way my first elephant sighting took my breath away. It was the way I woke one morning to watch – breathless – as the sun rose into a full solar eclipse over Mt. Kenya. It was the people, the pace of life, the quality of light, the way every hair on your arm stands up when a male lion walks towards you without blinking. What I mean to say is, going back feels like home and I’m so, so excited to be there again this January.

That first Safari blew my mind, and enlarged my heart. We repeated it last year and instead of slipping into apathy over animals I’d already seen, my feelings grew. This year we’re doing it again. But it’s different. We’re traveling much less, which means more time to go out on game drives. Animals and light aren’t staged, you wait for them, look for them, go out after them day after day. Less travel means while the sun is high we have more one-on-one time for image critiques, portfolio reviews, informal teaching that meets you on your own level, and still have plenty of time for a swim at a pool that overlooks the savannah.

This safari is the one I’ve wanted to do for the last two years. We’ll spend time in villages, among the Maasai, and we’ll retire each night in tents, safe but close to the wilderness we travel so far to see. When I say tents, these are gorgeous accomodations. There are many ways to experience Africa, this is one of the most beautiful. I’ve stayed in lavish 5-stars and in stick huts, and if I had my choice, these beautiful Hemingway-style tents would be it.

Kenya will change you. If you’ve ever wanted to travel to Kenya and see it close, at the pace needed by photographers, this trip gives you that, as well as more time than any of our previous adventures, to talk about photography and learn your craft.

More information about the Maasai Mara Within The Frame Adventure is available on the micro-site HERE. There is also an extension to the coast to stay on the island of Lamu after our time on the Mara is over, and if you’re feeling a particular need to see more of Africa, the adventure to Lalibela, Ethiopia over Orthodox Christmas still has two open spots . My partner in crime on this adventure, and all Within The Frame Photographic Adventures, is Jeffrey Chapman and we can’t wait to welcome the very small group that will be joining us for this time together.