I’m the farthest west I’ve ever been in Africa. I arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city, tonight, which proved no small feat. I waited pretty much all day to fly in from neighboring Liberia – planes around here take off when they want to, without a scheduled departure time. Freetown’s airport lies across a river (with no bridge – ferry is the only means of transportation) and two hours of snarling traffic through the downtown area to the nearest decent hotel. Hence, I had time for some visuals. One observation I’ve made is the similarity between Freetown and Haiti’s Port-au-Prince and Gonaives, with the rolling hills of the teeming cities’ leading down to the waterside and old wreckers lodged aground in the harbor. But unlike pre-quake Port-Au- Prince or Gonaives with buildings old and decrepit for lack of funds for repairs, the buildings here have been bombed or burned[…]

I never knew the significance behind breeding seeds, or that it could even be done to produce beneficial results. Without understanding the exact science behind it, I can emphasize that it’s very important – important enough to be able to lift lives out of poverty. My most recent assignment was here in Tanzania with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation photographing agricultural projects. (If you frequent my blog, you’ll know this subject is familiar territory.) Since 2006, the Gates Foundation has supported an organization headed by Kofi Annan called Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The grantee’s goal is to spark the same agricultural revolution that led to India’s self-sufficiency in grain foods beginning in the mid 1960’s. This is done partially through the Gates PASS (Program for Africa’s Seed Systems) initiative, whose projects I photographed in recent days. In the 1990’s, an epidemic called Cassava Brown Streak[…]

I’m behind on my blogging. I know. I have an excuse; I’ve just arrived in Tanzania, where I’ll be for the next few months. The internet is so slow here it takes me all day to do what I could do back in the States in an hour. I’ve spent the last several hours trying to upload these photographs, something I think I’ll only be able to do monthly from now on. I’ve been on the internet since 9 this morning attempting to pay bills and answer emails. My online banking took about 20 minutes just to sign in while the guys next to me in the internet cafe took up all my bandwidth laughing hysterically over old episodes of Tom & Jerry. The very second the page finally loaded, the power went out. Things take longer in Africa, where urgency is seldom found either in an internet connection or[…]

From the moment I walked off the plane to get my baggage in Quito, I was out of breath and a little light headed. At 9000 feet, Quito does funny things to a guy used to living at sea level. It wasn’t long before we came back to a more familiar altitude. After sleeping just four hours at the hotel, we hopped an early morning flight down south to Ecuador’s Loja (low-ha) region. On this most recent assignment with Heifer, Loja’s airport was the starting point for Christian and me on our journey west toward the Peruvian border. In just an hour’s flight from Quito we landed in a beautiful valley in the Andes Mountains. After taking some breakfast in Catamayo, we set out for an 8 hour drive to the border – five of which hurdled us through bumpy, unpaved backroads that gradually spiraled down the mountains into dry[…]

It pays to check out craigslist, especially if you’re a freelancer. In passing, I just sold a hand-truck in their classifieds for $10 within 30 minutes of posting it. Over in the the jobs section, when a request came up late last week for a fashion photographer, I responded immediately. This job was far different from the last one I got off craigslist, which was photographing a junior soccer league. Hey, anything to fill in the gaps. Will West (shown above) is burgeoning a fashion designer out of Virginia Beach. He came to Richmond on Friday night to showcase his Don Bazaar clothing line at the Hyperlink Cafe. I was brought on board to document the evening, from the models getting ready backstage to the last strut down the runway. Ending at two in the morning, this is one of the latest jobs I’ve ever had. However, it was well[…]

One of the more amazing things in life is to watch a pro-golfer swing a club. Even if you don’t like golf, you’d be pretty astounded. I discovered this as I was asked to photograph at the Kanawha Golf Invite for Captech this week. The event featured John Rollins, a VCU graduate and Richmond native, who did very well on the last PGA tour and continues to have success in the world of professional golf of which I know nothing about. Yes, it seems Richmond has a new hometown hero. Maybe a statue on Monument Avenue is in the works. And maybe John Rollins will be shown beating children with his golf club and taking away their books. (Only Richmonders will get this.) He hung around, offered tips, and hit golf balls with thirty to sixty-something aged professional males who were nearly knocked to their feet every time he swung[…]