Personal Work Archives

Personal Work

Wonder of the Kathmandu Valley

March 3, 2015

Wedged between the Indian subcontinent and the lofty Himalayas, Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley is a place where various cultures and religions meld together to create a spiritual fusion. While anthropologists may say otherwise, locals will tell you there is no distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism here. With settlements dating back as far as 130BC, the valley is home to the most dense collection of UNESCO World Heritage Sites anywhere in the world. Filming took place over four early mornings at some of Kathmandu’s most sacred and ancient temples, as well as on the every day streets of this bustling metropolis.

Mombasa Groove

January 8, 2015

Beat the traffic blues and sway along with the tuk-tuks and baobab trees. This is Mombasa! I shot this entirely with the GoPro Hero3+, controlling the camera from inside the car using the GoPro app.

Catching Up | Summer, 2014

June 4, 2014

See what’s been happening lately in my work and life. Special thanks to Andrew Ladson from MCC for the photos of me from Namibia, and to Lauren Matthews for the wedding video.

Seeing My Wild Side

April 26, 2014

My passion is to tell people’s stories. Sometimes, however, I find myself in places of incredible natural beauty where creatures other than humans make their dwelling. Already this year I’ve had no shortage of close encounters with the animal kingdom. The footage above and a few of the photographs below were taken as part of an assignment for Millennium Challenge Corporation to illustrate the aid agency’s economic and tourism development programs in Namibia’s Etosha National Park. Other photographs were taken during a family vacation in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, some while on my honeymoon in Mauritius, and others still while shooting out of a moving vehicle during an assignment in Tanzania. Above, the mighty Nile River squeezes itself into a 23 foot gap of surging water at Murchison Falls. Above is Chamarel Waterfall in Mauritius; below are Namibia’s Etendeka Mountains as viewed from the Grootberg Lodge. On a[…]

Chaos & Calm

October 7, 2013

Whether you’re in a rickshaw or a limousine, in a city of fourteen million no one is immune to the horrors of traffic. India’s third-largest city, Kolkata (otherwise known as Calcutta, or কলকাতা), was my base for the last two weeks during dual video assignments for Lutheran World Relief and ChildFund. During journeys in and out of the city and on not-so-leisurely strolls, I spent a great deal of time in a teeming, chaotic muddle and thought I’d share some of it with you. Hit play below for 28 seconds of the city’s hustle and bustle. While the videos are still on my editing table, I’ll share some select stills from Kolkata’s streets, as well as shots from Lutheran World Relief’s agriculture projects in the State of Bihar, where smiles are plentiful and life goes at a much slower pace. Below I give a sneak preview of footage to LWR‘s[…]

Andean High

September 25, 2013

I’m back in Latin America for the first time in several years. Actually, by the time I publish this I’ll be in India, but anyway. As I work to film and produce a series of videos on the organization’s Early Childhood Development Programs world-wide, recent assignments with ChildFund took me first to Honduras, then to on Ecuador. I also spent a day on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador’s lofty colonial capital, visiting gardens, schools, and communities supported by ChildFund. I was able to take some time to nab a few stills in the old town too.

Samburu Runway

July 2, 2013

Every photographer will tell you that sometimes you have to wait around for the right shot; but don’t think there aren’t any shots while you’re just waiting around. I recently needed to photograph a girl from the Samburu tribe in Kenya whose family and community had been helped by ChildFund through the gift of a sheep. However, the livestock graze far away from her village and only come home around sunset. There was plenty to keep me occupied while I waited, but the sun was going down fast. The evening left me walking the sometimes fine line between fashion photography and photojournalism. PS. The sheep and the goats finally came home, and I got the shot I needed.

Indian Summer

June 5, 2013

While on my way to some rural areas of Maharashtra state, I took a moment to see how some of Mumbai’s 21 million residents spend their afternoon. I’ve made it to India at the height of summer, but I much prefer the 100°F+ dry heat of June to the extreme humidity to come in July and August, which has rendered my lenses useless in the past. India is both the extraordinary and the execrable, and sadly I’ve grown much too acclimated to the latter. The level of poverty seen here brings about a feeling of hopelessness. But as I’ll show from a couple of video pieces I’m creating now, even at unlikely odds, the battle is winnable.

Meanwhile in Barcelona…

April 11, 2013

It’s just early spring in Barcelona, and a bit of a chilly one at that, but life is in full bloom here. I can only imagine what this town on the Mediterranean is like in July. For all the joie de vivre in this city, or shall I say alegría de vivir, you wouldn’t know Spain is currently suffering from gloomy unemployment levels of 27% (Reminds me of last year’s infamous “Spain is not Uganda” quip.) Beaches, nightlife, art, and gastronomy are all big draws, but for me it was mostly the architecture. From its ancient Roman walls, to its Gothic Cathedrals, to the quirky creations of the 19th and 20th century Modernistas, Barcelona enjoys over two thousand years of stunning design tradition. What better setting in which to savor caviar and cava? Outstanding architecture is something I’m exploring more and more of these days. Look for a new section[…]

Off-Duty Shots

November 16, 2012

I find that most photographers fall into one of two categories: those that carry their camera around everywhere they go, and those whose camera is packed safely away in the cupboard when not on assignment. I generally fall into the category of the latter. When I’m on assignment I’m in the zone. Creating interesting photographs of everyday subject matter consumes a great deal of energy, so most of the time I use it sparingly. Most of the time, that is. Time spent with good friends in one of my favorite corners on the planet, the Soroti area of Uganda, calls for an impromptu breakout of the camera. My friends Boas and Annet make for most of the subject matter herein, save for John Simon Okiror, below, who died a few days after this photo was taken.