monday, august 04, 2008
Southern Peru: A Photographic Journey
My father came to Peru two weeks ago and I was pressed into service as a bit of a tour guide during his time here. We traveled to Cusco and, from there, into the Sacred Valley as well as the obligatory visit to Machu Picchu. Then we headed further south into the highlands beyond Urcos.Along the way we got to see the salt mines of Salinas (above), the Lord of Earthquakes in Maras as well as the Incan ruins of Tipon, Moray and Pisac. We saw local residents cooking oven-baked pig, making adobe bricks and even playing foosball in the town square.
As usual, the venture was an opportunity for me to take more photographs of this fantastic region and I have built another little slideshow documenting the adventure.
thursday, may 29, 2008
Ausangate: A Photographic Journey
Earlier this month I traveled to the highlands of Southern Peru with my uncle and my cousin on a bit of an impromptu hiking trip. The goal was a six-day jaunt around Peru's second-highest mountain Nevada Ausangate.Needless to say we had bitten off a bit more than we could chew. Even though we drastically shortened our itinerary, we ended up hiking more than 60 miles at elevations touching 15,000 feet over the venture.
It was a brutal effort given the thin air, vicious cold and long hikes across never-ending ridges. But, that isn't to say the adventure wasn't worth it. The sheer sublime glory of Ausangate more than paid in full for the physical demands it took to reach it's rarified locale.
As usual, I had my trusty Canon in tow and took several hundred photographs along the way. I offer this little slideshow for you all to get a little glimpse of what we were able to see during our odyssey in the highlands.
thursday, november 08, 2007
Central Australia - A Photographic Journey
This week, I took a little journey to the heart of Australia. Ostensibly, it was a trip to see the big rock everyone goes on about located out there in the middle of nowhere but it turned out to be a lot more than that. On this occasion, I braved thunderstorms, flat tires, leaky toilets and a host of other obstacles over the four-day odyssey. By the end of it I had ridden nearly 1,000 kilometers and had taken more than 2,000 photographs.Like my adventure across Northern Arizona last January, I've taken the best of my photographic efforts and cobbled them into a slideshow for your enjoyment, Central Australia - A Photographic Journey.
In addition, I've uploaded a passel of photographs I took of the folks who were on the little adventure with me over in one of my Facebook galleries. I was lucky to travel with such a great group of people and to have as good a guide as Beej.
monday, august 20, 2007
The Peru Earthquake
Last week, Southern Peru was devastated by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake. The death toll has already topped 500 and is expected to climb substantially in the days to come. Whole cities have been razed to the ground.This weekend, I traveled to one of the towns hardest hit by the temblor, Pisco. Authorities there say more than 70 percent of the city has been destroyed. Having seen it myself, I have to say that's probably a conservative estimate.
I have arranged some of the photographs I took there into a slideshow to show a bit of what "normal" life is like in Pisco right now. If you would like to help the relief effort, I urge you to do so through Oxfam America who are one of the best organized groups laboring to get assistance to those affected across the region.
thursday, may 24, 2007
Dust into Gold
Next door to me lives a man who turns dust to gold.Here in Peru, I live on Avenida La Paz in Miraflores which is lined with jewelry shops or joyerias in Spanish.
Once a month or so my neighbor, Cesar Miyakawa, goes around to the workshops and collects the refuse that has been swept up off the floors. He sifts through it and then melts this down in a propane-fueled kiln.
That produces a glassy-like shard of gook as well as a few tiny specks of gold. A few more steps and he has recovered a nugget of 24 carat gold about the size of a pencil eraser which he will sell back to one of the jewelry shops for about $30.
Cesar was kind enough to allow me to document the process which I present to you as a slideshow, Dust to Gold.
monday, january 29, 2007
Northern Arizona - A Photographic Journey
Last week I took a little journey to the north of Arizona as an opportunity to try out the new camera I purchased at the end of last year. By the end of the adventure on Saturday I had traveled more than 1,100 miles over approximately 80 hours and taken more than 4,700 shots.During the trip I visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Meteor Crater - just to name the highlights. It's an incredible stretch of geography that I only barely began to behold the wonders of.
My timing provided a unique opportunity to see it, though. During the past month there have been several snowfalls across this region which is clearly noticeable in most of these shots. (I was told this is quite rare for some of these locations.)
Needless to say, that also meant it was still very cold when I was getting up at 5 a.m. to catch the sunrises. Some of these spots were at elevations above 7,000 feet which provided temperatures in the teens. read more