The Maya Skies Project

I've been quite fortunate to have had travel be a big part of my life. Not in a snide Sarah Palin "backpackin' trustafarian" kind of way; I just had the luck to be close to the Mexican border while in college in Austin,Texas. I spent my Winter and Spring breaks, hitching and busing my way thru Mexico & Guatemala, which opened me up to Mayan Culture and prepped me for greater adventures. I wanted to see the world... before it was gone. As I've said before, the camera was my diary, and I really wanted my friends to see what I'd seen. It's been the knowledge that "we're all the same" that's kept me coming back for more.
All of this came full circle last year when I was invited down to Mexico for a "farewell" party for my dear friend Donna, who was dying from brain cancer. As I got to know her boyfriend, Don Hart, a renowned Mayan archeaologist, we both realized that we must have crossed paths many years before. I'd spent several of my holiday breaks working as a site photographer for his mentor, Dr. Michael Coe. This led to Don inviting me back later that year to work on a project called Maya Skies, sponsored by the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, Ca.; exploring the links between astronomy and how the stars have been used throughout mans' history to pinpoint where we are on earth and everywhere. Mayan cosmology tends to be more exact than the most modern of laser surveying equipment in this field.Through the association with Maya Skies, I've become a contributing partner with Cyark, a foundation whose goal is to make 3D CAD survey maps of the UNESCO world heritage sites and provide them to scientists and researchers worldwide.
Donna past away last month. She was an amazing and vibrant woman who lived life as fully as anyone I've ever known. This series of images, taken for Chabot and the Maya Skies Project, is a tiny memorial to the superb being that she was.

More Random than Not

My ex just told me she has a old Treo cell phone for me, so it will again become part of my camera arsenal... that doesn't mean I'm giving up on the Leica. They produce fundamentally VERY different images. It's like acrylic vs. oil. Well... that's a bullshit analogy, but it adds gravitas! The treo shots, maybe because the images are SO badly rendered, are just more "other worldly". Also, because it's so easy to have with you ALL the time, you're prepared to be "lucky" when the odd moment shows up. So we've got wood carvers, pill poppers, astronauts, welders, rhododendrons, flying pigs, some jazzy suits and my dog Moose. Technology can be a beautiful thing.

Leica tests

A couple of months back I finally broke down and bought a REAL digital camera; a Leica M8. For the past two years, I've rented for every assignment. The technology changes way too quickly and clients expect the newest equipment available to be used on their production. I do pretty big jobs, but I don't do a lot of projects every year so it STILL doesn't make sense for me to own a camera for my shoots. So I sold MOST of my film gear... all my Nikons, Hasselblads, one Leica M4 and a Pentax 6x7 system ... it barely covered the cost. This camera is for ME, and it allows me to shoot the way I always did for personal and travel work. These are some of the first shots I took after getting the M8. It's a beautiful thing.

More Cell Phone Shots from NOLA

The next year I went back to New Orleans for New Years. Dave Grundfeld, a photo editor for the Times Piciune, took me to some bars at 10 AM to prep me for a trip to the 9th Ward.Cell phones don't do justice. Dog on a pool table at a bar. The house with FD on it is Fats Domino's. A heart breaking scene at a small church in the 9th. Mayor Nagan at a restaurant after the shot of a goat's ass (no editorial commentary intended). And a New Year's bonfire at the end... Bonfire of the Vanities... NOT!

First Post Katrina Mardi Gras

These shots were taken with a Treo cell phone while visiting my friends Annie and Dennis who had moved from New York to New Orleans AFTER Katrina hit. I guess they needed to live in a town as chaotic as where they had come from... they got it!!! It was Mardi Gras '06 and nothing was quite normal. But then again...