GoyoWorld

Banksy on the back

2011-10-18T12:47:00.003-03:00

Cool girl with balloon Banksy image tattoo from the series of graffities he did on the Palestine wall in the West Bank. I was shooting this girl at the New Israel Fund's annual dinner where learned about the progress Jewish and their efforts to work with Palestine.

Jarmusch on Authenticity

2011-09-29T21:40:00.001-03:00

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to." - Jim Jarmusch

Food Forward Series Trailer

2010-08-14T15:49:00.001-03:00

This project has consumed the last year and a half of my life, and I'm thankful for the opportunity and excited about the continued progress. Learn more at www.foodforward.tv

Summer in Vancouver

2010-07-17T12:47:00.005-03:00

Sunset Beach, Vancouver Island

Sunlight coming through trees

A Banksy original or another impostor?

Sunset at Sunset Beach

Food Forward Biodynamics Trailer - David Kinch of Manresa and Love Apple Farm.

2010-03-02T14:47:00.011-03:00

This is the rough cut for our pilot episode on biodynamics. We are currently raising money to produce a series trailer here on Kick Starter.

In this four minute clip we meet chef David Kinch of Manresa Restaurant and spend time with him at Love Apple Farm, a biodynamic joint venture with Cynthia Sandberg.

Read more about Manresa on their blog.

British Passport Finally Arrived

2010-02-09T02:17:00.004-03:00

It's official. I now have a brand new British Passport!

The Simpson's - 20 Years Later

2010-02-01T01:28:00.004-03:00

Haven't posted in a while, just haven't really made the time.

Just watched one of the first episodes of The Simpson's after their big 20th anniversary shindig and thought it was actually one of the funniest episodes I'd seen in quite some time.

Go Matt Groening Go!

(and now for The Cleveland Show!!)

H1N1 Swine Flue Vacine Warning

2009-11-17T00:25:00.000-03:00

Help Me Oprah, I'm Crazy!

2009-11-17T00:00:00.002-03:00

New York City Street Art - East Village

Night Sky in The Land of the Pima Indian

2009-11-10T05:40:00.003-03:00

"Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land"

- Johnny Cash from The Ballad of Ira Hayes

NYC to Berkeley to Tucson in 24 Hours - The Odyssey Begins (continues)

2009-11-10T05:25:00.007-03:00

The desert hare 66 (aka Farmer Foley) takes the wheel and the journey begins

Bye bye Tucson and your freeway underpasses, hello desert

The wide open highway (shot with my G1 camera phone, phone camera?)

Majestic saguaro cactus so proudly hailed at the twilight's last gleaming

And you don't stop....

Night night Tucson, see you next time 'round.

New York @ Night

2009-11-10T00:26:00.006-03:00

Manhattan seen through the Brooklyn Bridge

Bartender waiting for the Tuesday night mayhem at Happy Ending - 302 Broome Street

Young and upcoming Bang Bang Eche from New Zealand playing at the Mercury Lounge

An empty dive on the upper West side? That would be the Ding Dong Lounge.

Maybe Manhattan's best kept secret - The Campbell Apartment - inside Grand Central. Thanks to the lovely Natalia for your beauty and your patient pose. If you've never been, you've never been to New York I'd say, proper attire required.

Moto on a Monday night? Best bar in Williamsburg for sure, just ask any local that's been in the hood for more than 8 years. Even the kids love MOTO.

The Chrysler building on the left and a few other NYC skyscrapers

Gonzo Samurai Fotoninja at work (playin')

'Say Anything' 20th Anniversary in Grand Central, NYC

2009-11-10T00:18:00.003-03:00

I Shot New York

2009-11-10T00:09:00.006-03:00

The Green Flash (?) runs the New York City Marathon!

Surprise! Street shots at twilight in Soho, NYC

Cartoneros (recyclers) on the subway in the Big Apple

A subway the way subways should work. $2.25/trip?! Awesome!!

Caught in the act of walking in front of my camera - bang!

Subway Halloween Portraits - NYC 2009

2009-11-01T16:44:00.003-03:00

More Pics - NYC

2009-11-01T13:35:00.003-03:00

Grand Central Terminal

Dressing the window for the World Series at Blaue Gans - SoHo, NYC

Sunlight on fire escapes - Upper West Side, NYC

Business man making it happen in front of Time Life building (worst caption ever?)

Photo Reportage - NYC

2009-10-30T12:01:00.002-03:00

Central Park from the MET

Jackson Pollack at the MoMa

Empire State Building of America

Moss - designer botique in SoHo

Urs Fischer @ the New Museum - East Village

Street Graff

2009-10-28T11:52:00.001-03:00

Cheap Ruskie Beer in NYC

2009-10-27T11:37:00.001-03:00

Ground Zero

2009-10-24T12:33:00.002-03:00

Eight years later and still no end in sight for WTC clean up and memorial build.

Graffiti in Da 'Burg

2009-10-24T11:29:00.003-03:00

Keap St. & S. 1st - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York

America Locked

2009-10-24T10:53:00.000-03:00

Robert Frank's - The Americans - @ The MET, NYC

2009-10-24T10:07:00.004-03:00

Trolley Car, New Orleans - 1955

Many things have and will be said of Robert Frank's monumental photographic reportage of the state of things in America back in '55. Jack Kerouac said,

"Anybody doesn't like these pitchers don't like potry, see? Anybody don't like potry go home see Television shots of big hatted cowboys being tolerated by kind horses. Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world."

Was lucky enough to catch the entire body of work for his romp through the heartlands and badlands last night at the Metropolitan Museum while on assignment. Along with Cartier-Bresson, Frank has been my true mentor and teacher through all these years. Thanks.

Rodeo - New York City, 1954

Woman & Man on Park Bench - Central Park, NYC

2009-10-24T10:04:00.000-03:00

Where Am I?

2009-10-21T12:35:00.000-03:00

New York City Shoot for Rough Guides

2009-10-18T22:43:00.003-03:00

Check out many of the locations for my upcoming shoot that starts on Wednesday, October 20, 2009 - NEW YORK CITY!

View New York City Photo Shoot for Rough Guides in a larger map

The Thinker - RODIN

2009-10-07T01:09:00.006-03:00

Ah, the ebb and flow of life.

Back on THE ROAD!

Vegas tomorrow.

A week back in the Bay Area.

NYC for two two weeks.

Then, the Tucson desert odyssey with the Wild Hare.

More, to come. Much, much more... so much more to come.

DO NOT seek the treasure!

2009-06-09T01:32:00.001-03:00

From the Cohen Brothers film 'O'Brother Where Art Thou'

Cartier's Cuba - From My Minds Eye

2009-06-01T00:54:00.006-03:00

"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not a major concern.

Photography appears to be an easy activity; in fact it is a varied and ambiguous process in which the only common denominator among its practitioners is their instrument.

What emerges from this recording machine does not escape the economic constraints of a world of waste, of tensions that become increasingly intense, and of insane ecological consequences."

Henri Cartier-Bresson on Photography

Fried Pig Anyone?

2009-05-13T12:41:00.002-03:00

Deep frying will kill ALL germs, for sure.

Paper Bark Tree Forrest - El Ángel, Ecuador

2009-05-07T13:01:00.002-03:00

May Day in Cuba - On the Road Again

2009-05-02T08:03:00.003-03:00

Looks like it was quite the event, can't believe I missed it. Apparently, the travel ban is still on from flights in and out of Mexico. I was hoping to fly through Mexico on Tuesday, we'll have to wait and see. Here in the airport in Quito and once again - free wifi! Every one in fifty passengers is wearing a silly-looking surgical mask. From what I've read, they only help get the germs from someone that is sick from spreading to others. Still, I've already washed my hands twice this morning, and I've only been up for two hours. At least I made the flight this time - Chau!!

Hail to the Drifting Beard Grower

2009-05-01T21:46:00.005-03:00

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

This guy rocks, it seems like there's few adventures left to be had. The point really is the journey. The destination became mute back in the 50's, I think. I half-heartedly still fantasize about walking the globe, maybe someday. See more about Christoph's walk here. (note his awesome carrito at the end)

The Lamb of God

2009-05-01T14:36:00.003-03:00

Animal market in Otavalo. If only that blue truck weren't in the background. It's always something in the way...

For David(s)

2009-05-01T13:17:00.003-03:00

Meat vendor in Coca, Ecuador, deep in the Amazon

I had a LOT of help along the way here in Ecuador but especially wanted to say thanks to both the David's for their emergency financial support; what with B of A locking me out of my account and then the equipment theft - thank you both!

Amazonian Sunset

2009-04-30T22:51:00.001-03:00

Headed down the Rio Napo just outside of Coca, Ecuador

Cholo Machine

2009-04-30T19:15:00.000-03:00

Chau Ecuador

2009-04-28T23:53:00.005-03:00

Surfer Che

2009-04-28T23:26:00.003-03:00

Miroslav Alcer Heads to Manaus!

2009-04-27T18:21:00.001-03:00

Check out my first solo video in many years, posted LIVE (almost) from the Amazon!

Chau Miro a Manaus, Brazil!

2009-04-26T19:08:00.004-03:00

Flew into Coca, Ecuador yesterday - middle of the Rio Napo in the heart of the Amazon. Arriving at the dock to head down river to the Yaturi Lodge, there was a Czech guy preparing to travel down the Amazon to the Manaus, Brazil. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw his boat.

I pulled out the Lumix point and shoot and did just that. Over the past 24 hours I was able to doucment his departure in HD video. The finished piece is too large for YouTube and the slow connection here in the jungle. These are a couple of stills from the video.

We all watched as Miro finally set sail today, April 25, 2009 for his 2,000km journey to Manaus, Brazil. I hope to be able to post his story tomorrow night from Quitos. I fly to LAX on Tuesday to regroup and gear-up for Cuba and more adventure and better pictures.

These past two days made my whole trip to Ecuador so much more worthwhile and I will sleep tonight content under the steamy hot Ecuadorian jungle night.

Deep in the Heart of the Amazon

2009-04-26T12:11:00.001-03:00

Lying underneath a tightly meshed mesquito net here in the middle of the Amazon, an hour out of Coca. Miros is on my mind, a Czech guy I met at the dock, heading out on election Sunday for Manaus, Brazil, more than 2,000km. from here on the Rio Napo, solo on a pedal-powered canoe. Video on the way...

The young girl from Sweden and her Polish boyfriend, fishing their way around the world dine together in the Yaturi Lodge main hall. They showed me a video of them killing a GIANT trantula in their room just a few hour before. We ate some of the pirhana they caught ealier today. He shows me another video of the blowfish they caught. "It look like giant pimple," he says with his thick eastern European accent. They catch crab on the Northern tip of Norway, the North Cape for an American out of Seattle. Off to shoot the election and the native market in Coca.

Bus Plunges Kills 5 Britons in Ecuador

2009-04-25T10:30:00.004-03:00

"Bus plunge stories are a journalism phenomenon of reporting passenger bus mishaps in short articles that invariably describe the bus as "plunging" from a bridge or hillside road." From Wikipedia. I was first alerted to the official Bus Plunge site by ye ole Travel Burro many moons ago, devoted just to buses plunging off of steep hills or roads, like the most dangerous road in the world in Bolivia - La Yunga.

Last week, five young Brits were tragically killed when a beer truck smashed into their bus and knocked it sideways. Accidents do happen and they happen here in Ecuador. Glad I'm off to the Amazon by PLANE!

Not All is Lost

2009-04-24T10:37:00.005-03:00

"They can't steal your smile," a young girl told me on the bus late last night just before arriving the dreaded Terminal Terestre here in Quito. Of course this forces a latent smile and as she gets off the bus a few stops before Old Quito, she yells to me, "open the window!" Running to the small snack stand on the island in the middle of the busy highway, she grabs a bottle of cold water and throws it up to me and blows me a kiss. Chau!

Kid looking out of the 'ranchera' or open bus heading up the coast between Canoa and Atacames.

Finally, after many years of fairly safe travel and several attempted robberies including knife point in Buenos Aires and gun point in Oakland, as well as two attempted pickpocketings here in Ecuador, I got robbed. Leaving the Quito bus station at 6:50AM last Monday, my camera bag safely at my feet on the nearly empty bus, we bounce along on a terrible road en route to Otavalo and the famed crafts market. Not even five minutes into our journey, four burly thirty-something men in black jackets with backpacks in front of them all depart the bus together. "Ladrones," says the bus assistant. "Watch your bag," he cautions, making that teardrop pull down with his index finger on one eye. "OJO!" I check my camera bag and pull it even closer to my feet, the strap around my foot. Safe. Chinese made moto-taxi in Atacames, Ecuador

Suddenly it's my stop, hurry, off the bus. Picking up the camera bag it feels much lighter than usual. I huriedly open it to find my beloved Canon 5D and telephoto lens GONE! I also open the top compartment where my flash lives and it too is gone. I also had $400US emergency money guarded with the flash, all gone. They also got the 50mm f/1.8 which is the only cheap thing to repalce. Incredulously I sit on the side of the road on a paint blistered blue wooden bench, stinging all over. Now what.
This past week has been extremely dificult. However, despite my best efforts at getting angry, upset, frustrated or down, I move forward, shooting with a tiny 14MP Lumix backup, getting the shots I need at a still frantic pace; from the Tulcán on the border of Colombia to nearly 14,000' at La Laguna Quilatoa out of Latacunga just yesterday. Now penniless back in Quito I prepare for my last few days in Ecuador and to the Amazon where I will make the shots happen like the pro that I am, still smiling all the while.

Indigneous Saraguro locals waiting for the bus in Saraguro, Ecuador

Somehow, I still manage to find myself very fortunate and even lucky to be able to ride around on dirty bouncing buses for a month, sleeping in less-than-luxurious accomodations in order to see and capture something new and different every single day. I will always remember Ecuador for its warm people, those lonely indiginous communities high up in the Andes, it's dramatically changing climates and terrain, polution and trash-ladden cities and highways and the bazing hot sun.
As Evo Morales said recently addressing the U.N., "We now must begin to realize that the Earth does not belong to us. It's the other way around. We belong to the Earth."La Pachamama, or mother earth, is Ecuador's greatest gift and only time will tell if she can be respected above all.

A Traveler´s Notes - Ecuadorian Comments

2009-04-20T23:39:00.004-03:00

The camera and I are back in action like Action Jackson, moving furiously forward for the last big week in country; including the Colombian border trip to Tulcán and then, the AMAZON! Crazy glue can work wonders on modern electronics - shhh - don't tell them back at the factory. There's a service advisory out for this specific problem and they will be replacing the entire internal chassis once the job is finished, otherwise, the job was finished.

'Travelers Diarrhea' they call it in my Moon Handbook... Cormac McCarthy calls it the 'drizzilin shits' in Blood Meridian. Dehydration got the best of me a week back but after sampling all flavors of Ecuadorian Gatorade and a few hits of Imodium, I'm now back to 90%. Changes in altitude, climate and temperature on a frenetic pace works work wonders on the body. A great way to clean the colon though...

Came across a GIANT earthworm up in the Bellavista cloud forrest. It reminded me of a few weeks back when I visited 'Love Apple Farms in the Santa Cruz mountains and Cynthia, the owner, dared me to eat one of her wriggling red worms fresh from the compost bin, which I did. Protein, lots of protein (I've seen Man vs. Wild eat far worse). This sucker, however, would have fed a whole family!

Panama hats actually come from Ecuador and can cost upwards of $600 and take about 6 months of manual labor to make a hat that is so finely woven, it'll hold water without leaking a drop. They used to SHIP out from Panama, hence the name
Che Guevarra is alive and well in the hearts and minds of the Ecuadorian people, many of them at least.
Museums are closed on Monday's here too.
Latin American buses - unforgettable. Can't believe I forgot how gnarly they can get on the steep and curvy one-lane mountainous dirt roads, especially in the rain. Like Ethan always said, ¨guys like us are going out on a bus off a cliff in Bolivia.¨ (paraphrase)

Butterflies are always so beautiful, especially to photograph up close and personal

Latin American dogs are the best and Ecuadorian perros are no exception. Pick one up with direct eye contact and a simple nod of the head at any local beach and you've got a best friend for the day, free of charge
Straddling the equator at 0,00,00 latitude was cool, for about 5 seconds
The indigenous Sierra communities are so united that they recently amended the constitution to give them their own governing rights. A few weeks back one small mountain town caught a man stealing a radio and BURNED HIM ALIVE - the whole town blocking the regular policia national.
Anyone that travels to Quito should eat at La Boca del Lobo in La Zona Fuch (gringolandia). Simply amazing
Received a shot list today for Havana and glanced at it oh so quickly. I did see trannies as well as several nightclubs and some jazz on the list. Still frantically finishing Ecuador while staying sane at the same time before mentally moving on
The planes come in overhead on final approach for Runway 35, dangerously low and loud remembering that Military Beechcraft that crashed here a few weeks back. I actually saw the apartment building cordoned off up on the hill today next to www.tierradelvolcan.com 's office where it went in. Pity
National elections are this Sunday. I've seen more candidates names for mayor in more towns than I could ever remember. I'd vote for Freddy in Atacames though... 'Freddy por Alcalde' (mayor) was all he wrote.
Catching a 6:30AM bus to Otavalo, then Ibarra with a lunch stop at some hacienda and ending up late afternoon/early evening in El Angel, one of the best Ecological Reserves in the world. Chau!

Broken

2009-04-18T13:20:00.000-03:00

The camera and I are down till further notice...

: (

Life´s A Beach

2009-04-16T22:53:00.005-03:00

¨Good Boy!¨Happy dog stealing some grub and high tailing it for higher ground.

Otra Viajita - Ingapirca

2009-04-14T02:33:00.004-03:00

Ran around the most easily accessed Incan ruins in Ecuador in 15 minutes due to logistical transportation issues. Got this shot climbing onto the bus before departing heading back to Cuenca.

More Pics From Baños

2009-04-14T02:27:00.003-03:00

La Policia keeping a watchful eye over the sugar cane stand

Fours enough - you see this EVERYWHERE - never helmets, always a couple of kids, usually the whole family riding on one bike.

A Typical Day

2009-04-13T13:18:00.002-03:00

Waking up finally, the rain has stopped and the clouds are beginning to clear. Fabricio is parked first in line at the taxi stand in the town square. We arrange to leave Vilcabamba and head back to Loja, stopping at Podocarpus National Park for a few minutes to grab a quick shot on the way.

His English is pretty good and we switch from Spanish to English so he can practice, stopping every so often to shoot whisping clouds, on the list. Arriving at the entrance to the much visited cloud forrest park, there was a bus parked smack dab in the middle of the entrance with no driver near by. We try to pass by and get stuck in a muddy ditch and have to push ourselves out with the help of the park officials. The bus driver then returns and a huge argument ensues which finally results in the driver throwing his hands up and walking away. His bus won´t start and the compressor has locked the brakes and he can´t move it without starting it and since the battery is now dead, it won´t budge. The real issue that he fails to see is that he choose to stop in the middle of the entrance to the National Park, on a Sunday. Needless to say, all I got was a shot of the sign and some cloudy peaks from afar - total wash.

I catch the 12 Noon bus from Loja to Celica, hours away. We descend into desert highlands and then back up into the freezing wet clouds, at least two full cycles, me reading almost a hundred pages of Blood Meridian, very fitting for this barren and desperate landscape. Arriving in Celica at 4:30PM, I hire a cab to take me back down the mountain to the petrified forrest¨30 minutes, no problem,¨he assures me. An hour and forty-five minutes later after another hairball wet ride down a gnarly rutted one-lane jolting dirt road, just as the sun is setting, we arrive at Puyango National Park, flying past the office that is now closed. Eventually the guards catch up with us and scold us for not having stopped. Shoot first, ask questions later. Now I have company to run into the parkwith and shoot a few fallend petrified trees - about 130 Million years old - the largest petrified forrest outside of Arizona.

Finally, the taxi driver leaves me at the military contraband checkpoint where the last bus passes by at 7PM. Ever since Central America way back when, I always get a little nervous around teenagers with automatic weapons. Being Easter Sunday, the bus comes and goes with no room for one more person and leaves me standing there high and dry. The solidiers are watching soccer inside thier makeshift outpost and invite me over - Guayquil vs. Quito, with Guayquil winning. Finally at about 8:30pm a lone truck driver agrees (at the strong suggestion of the solidiers) that he should take me to Machala. First, we stop at Huaquilles on the border with Peru after bouncing down the terrible road for two hours to pick up his sister. He´s hauling tons of rice in large sacks an keeps peeling off copies of forms of official loooking documents and handing them to soliders at the now frequent checkpoints. Finally at midnight, we arrive in Machala, the 'most dangerous city in Ecuador', it has been said more than once.

Easter in Ecuador - Semana Santa

2009-04-11T21:35:00.008-03:00

Thumbs Up Mon, It´s EASTER!

To Be In the Easter Parade

Kids On the Easter Parade

FBI Balloon Man

Up Up & Away

Here´s a few random shots from Cuenca last Friday... is that Good Friday? Now I´m in Vilcabamba where they say Ecuadorianos live longer than anyone and there is the most Centurians here in all of Ecuador. There´s also an overflow abundance of gringos here but it could always be worse. Back on the bus

Gnarly Staircase in Quito

2009-04-11T21:26:00.003-03:00

Here´s those stairs on the OUTSIDE of the Basilica in Quito!

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Agua Santa

2009-04-08T00:35:00.004-03:00

This church lies smack in the middle of town, like most churches in Latin America. This is why I lugged the tripod all the way down here and it's only the second time I've hauled it out, put it back together and lumbered outside with it. Totally worth it. I tried to shoot around that trash can but only had about a 10 minute window of opportunity and kind of like it in the shot. Now it's pouring rain outside and tomorrow I've got about ten hours of traveling to Cuenca. Bedtime.

El Viejito de Baños

2009-04-07T23:47:00.004-03:00

"Old man take a look at yourself, you're a lot like me..."

Moto and Me

2009-04-07T19:07:00.003-03:00

There are some things about third world countries like Ecuador that just can't be beat. Part of the thrill is doing dangerous things that you can't do in the states, or at least not on the cheap. I show up in the most touristy town around - Baños, named for these sacred hot water springs that come cascading down the side of another steep volcano - and there's dune buggies, go carts, four wheelers, scooters, and MOTORCYCLES - all for rent, on every block in town. Checking into my hotel, $8.50/night for a private room with private bath and semi-warm water, is a steal and I'm sure I'll stay here an extra night before heading south to Cuenca.

I enquire next door about the motorcycles, "How much for the big one, the Honda XR 600cc ?" $12/hour?! DONE!!

Flying out of town onto the Panamerican Highway, I open up the throttle and let her rip, roaring up the steep highway towards the clouds and then suddenly, slam on the brakes as a line of cars in front of me crawls to a halt. Slowly, we pass a downed motorcyclist being loaded onto a stretcher, people shouting and running all around. Riding a bike comes back to me from memories, many years ago, that Triumph Bonneville 650 that I rode around on in San Diego back in my youth. Turning off the highway, the bike and I head up a road paved with rocks and for the next hour we climb towards the tip of the volcano. Before reaching the top it starts to drizzle slightly and I'm in the clouds once again. I play it safe and decide to head back down, which is even more painstaking than going up.

Back in the hotel, there's a British girl sitting across from me a few years younger than I, talking on Skype, possibly breaking up with her boyfriend, or trying to reconnect with an ex. She sobs and I feel bad for her. He doesn't want her to come home. She needs a hug. She's very sad, head hung low, her face buried in her hands, weeping. Little girls run laughing down the street with not a care in the world. None of it really makes any sense at times and then of course, it's all about perspective. I ponder getting my haircut and shaving off my graying beard. The sky is still gray and it's windy outside. I've grabbed what few shots I could here in town. The baths (which are mostly for locals) and 'town life'. Time to move on.

Wild Horses

2009-04-07T18:29:00.002-03:00

Caballos salvajes - Wild Horses at the base of Cotopaxi Volcano, south of Quito

On Top of the World

2009-04-07T00:29:00.010-03:00

A graveyard dedicated to the less fortunate greets us as we depart from the first refugio @ 4,800 meters (15, 792 feet) above sea level. The stone building maintained by Rodrigo and Janell of Alta Montaña Tours serves as a kind of visitors center high up on Volcán Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest mountain and the closest point to the sun on earth.

Zipping up my jacket over a newly purchased heavy wool sweater, my guide and I head towards the second refugio named after English climber the Edward Whymper, which serves as a sort of base camp for the final accent to the peak. Fifteen minutes into the hike, my guide, a kid who is the caretaker at the lower refugio, asks me if I feel okay. I feel strange but well, a bit light headed but strong, ready to continue. I can't recall ever having walked this slow before, one slow step at a time, one foot in front of the other. At the half way point he points out the second refugio up above us and then wishes me luck, turning back to attend to some new arrivals down below, leaving me alone on the mountain to continue onward and upward, solo. It's a beautiful moment as I catch my breath and watch him begin his decent.

The coca tea I drank at the first refugio is helping but every step is grueling. I can't remember having ever walked this slowly before. I've only got a quarter bottle of water left. It's the longest one hour hike of my life and the last thirty yards are the most difficult - 'don't stop, keep moving' - I tell myself. Misty clouds roll in sideways across the mountain engulfing me and the makeshift trail and I can only see about ten feet in front of me as the mountain steepens.

Finally I crest the last rise and stumble upon open flat ground and the empty stone cold hut. The air is now calm and still, the only sound is of ice melting from the rooftop dripping into small pools below. My heart is pounding, like it wants to leap out of my chest, hard heavy and fast, making my head ache, muting the sounds of the dripping water. Swirling clouds play games high above on the peak allowing small circles of sun to open up and then close, all in the blink of an eye and I realize I've made it, I'm at 5,000 meters (16,450 feet) for the first time in my life and I smile, alone and content.

Wild Vacunas in Volcán Chimborazo National Park

2009-04-07T00:00:00.003-03:00

Barely visible through shrouds of fog, the vacuanas, a gift from Peru, are a cousins to the Llama and Alpacas of the high Andes.

Room with a View

2009-04-05T22:10:00.006-03:00

Looking at the train station from the balcony of my room at Hotel Libertador in Riobamba

High Plains Drifter

2009-04-05T21:28:00.003-03:00

A few random pics from the last week of non-stop action, in no particular order:

Indoor market in Riobamba where the women scream at you, begging you to try the deep-fried and greasy-good pork. This is minutes after I caught two would-be thieves rifling through my trouser pockets.

Over-the-shoulder sneak shot in the same above said market.

Waiting for 'El Tren del Nariz del Diablo' - The Train of the Devil's Nose in Alausi.

Sunday market in Alausi.

The old steam train in Riobamba, brought back to life for a film they were shooting right across the street from my hotel.

Tomorrow I'm off to explore the Volcan Chimborazo - destination: 5,000 meters (16,450'), the highest I'll have ever been.

Safety First

2009-03-31T18:13:00.004-03:00

Finally made it to Quito, Ecuador @ 9,300´above sea level. The flight down out of Houston was uneventful at best although I did chat almost the entire flight duration with Tim, an airplane accident investigator. "The Eucadoran Government asked me to come down and help out. One of their military planes that we manufactured hit an apartment building 2.5 miles out of runway 35 (main Quito airport that comes in between the volcanos righ), killing four people. I only deal with fatals."

It was a very interesting conversation indeed, five hours of plane crash talk. "You hear the one about the twin engine plane that loses one of it´s engines?" he asks. "The passenger says, `how far can we make it on just one engine?´ "Probabaly all the way to the crash site,"says the pilot!

Here´s a few pics from Quito on a semi-clear day of WX. One good day of weather is better than 6 bad days.

Thanks DP on the hotel rec. in Quito Viejo - bastante chingonese!

Zoom Street Magazine - March 2009

2009-03-01T16:05:00.004-02:00

Some of my Cartoneros fotos from Buenos Aires we're published this month in Zoom Street Magazine out of San Diego. Thanks Jim McMenamin for the opportunity

Ninja Pong

2009-01-23T20:24:00.000-02:00

Visiting Grandma in Winter

2009-01-03T01:24:00.009-02:00

Epic California Day

2008-12-02T03:22:00.001-02:00

Conversation with My Father

2008-11-27T17:01:00.004-02:00

My father, Henry Roden, is a great man. I think we may all feel that about our fathers, but mine is especially great. Here are some highlighted quotes from this morning during my annual Thanksgiving Day phone call with him. Thanks Dad, for everything.

On Concepts - "People don't sell things, they sell concepts. It's like the guy who sells drills. He doesn't sell drills, he sells holes."
On Change - "There are three types of people in this world. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what the hell happened?"
On Labor - "It's like when I was in Mexico in '62 and there were hundreds of workers alongside the road swinging pick-axes and I said to the guy I was with, 'wouldn't it be easier to do this with a machine?' And he said, 'but then they would have no jobs.'"
On Farming - "Tried that and there's NO WAY I'm going back to it. What we should have grown was palm trees. We would have made a fortune."
On Government - "When I was out helping the democrats get into office, what was amazing was the enthusiasm that the young people for Obama showed about what they were doing."
On Hillary - "One of the local political cartoonist put it best ' Billary.'"
On Juarez (just south of the border where he lives in New Mexico) - "They talk about 200 dead this year in Tijuana, Juaraz has had 1,300! Most if it drug related. Of course the kids still come to school in this country. We just built a new bridge for them to cross over on. You don't hear about those things much in the media."

Chicago Express Inc.

2008-11-14T16:38:00.003-02:00

From Robert Frank's 'The Americans' - Taken at the Art Institute of Chicago with permission.

My New Friends at the Zebra Lounge

2008-11-13T13:37:00.002-02:00

Home Again at Nikki's

2008-11-13T13:19:00.006-02:00

I'm so lucky is right. Here's Nikki in all of her shining glory the night Obama became our 44th president. I've checked in to her 3 flat in the northern neighborhood of Edgewater / Andersonville for my final four days here in town. Nikki and I met when we shared a communal living space - piso compartido - in Buenos Aires a few years back along with her twin sister Jessica as well as a bunch of other foreign travellers.

Now she's teaches social studies in one of Chicago's many charter schools and is the most gracious hostess ever - thanks for the note and coffee this morning and for putting me up and for putting up with me.

Here's Nikki with her roommate Carrie, parading down Michigan Avenue on election night, November 4, 2008

Even MORE Random Pics from Shooting Chicago

2008-11-12T00:47:00.003-02:00

Veteran painted hummer in Oak Park

Stuffed Dogs, Chicago-style

Bikes locked up outside everywhere

Keith Herring sculpture, downtown Chicago

"Going up?" Good times as a tourist in Chicago headed to the 101st floor of the Sears Tower.

More Pics from Chicago

2008-11-11T15:02:00.001-02:00

America's Top Drinking Neighborhood

2008-11-10T06:27:00.007-02:00

A giant chiuaua-sized rat scurries up the gutter sniffing for scraps, northbound on Damon Avenue as I pass by in the sub-freezing cold early Chicago morning, headed back t0 home on Evergreen St - Hotel Ryan in Wicker Park. Sunday night at the Map Room, a travel-oriented Belgium-style pub with many authentic Belgium-style beers on tap is host to tonight's Sunday night neighborhood locals, a wicked cross section of folk from the neighborhood and life at large, I suppose. There's the jar head-looking crew cut marines across the way, the hipsters in back playing pool and the beer drinkers scattered across the bar, as are we.
Two friendly and slightly buzzed gals saddle up next to us as Thin Lizzy continuously plays in the background. They judiciously study the beer menu and then order up some fancy Belgium beer from a bottle with a cork. "Don't mind us, we've been drinking for six hours straight," the tall mischievous one says. I grab the camera and start snapping away as the curly haired shorter one talks of her past year off with another year to go when I ask her about having to be at work tomorrow, Monday. "I used to own a Mediterranean sea food joint in the neighborhood but I sold it, time to move on." Shortly there after she picks up her garb, dons her winter wear and heads for home in the howling hard Chicago wind-swept night.

"That's Stephanie," says the new guy, a friend of Sarah. "You know, from America's Top Chef? I have a picture of her in my phone."

Both Sarah and I shrug, neither of us owns a TV.

Later, much later, I finally head out into the dark cold street myself, alone and distracted, making it down to the end of the block and around the corner before I realize I've left my all-important gloves and wool cap back at the bar. Trudging back to the Map Room I round up my stuff and head out once again into the biting cold, crisp, cool and clear Chicago night. Passing by the Blue Line station headed south, the digital clock-thermometer above reads 29 degrees. I shove my gloved hands deeper into my coat pockets and continue on. Home is closer than I think.

Look for the Light Luke...

2008-11-08T22:16:00.002-02:00

Abandoned Diner

2008-11-08T21:56:00.002-02:00

Eternal Flame of Pigeon

2008-11-08T21:51:00.001-02:00

The World of Chicago

2008-11-07T22:46:00.001-02:00

This is a side view of the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park

Windy City Report - IT'S WINDY!

2008-11-07T22:10:00.003-02:00

Top Dog - Chicago Style

2008-11-06T04:05:00.002-02:00

- photo by Carrie, Chicago actor extraordinaire

"YES WE DID" - CHICAGO 2008!

2008-11-05T05:23:00.006-02:00

Man... today got bigger and bigger, every waking moment. Here are a few brief highlights from this historic event in American politics and world history. Now the real work starts.

OBAMA WINS BIG!

2008-11-03T05:16:00.005-02:00

Ironically, my official free Obama 08 campaign button just arrived in the mail from MoveOn after more than 8 weeks. (They did say it'd take awhile and it was free). It came in a huge, padded somewhat faded drab manila envelope and is so tiny - about the size of a slightly over-sized quarter - that I almost missed it inside the giant envelope. But just in time indeed. Although I'm not a big button wearer, now I can proudly wear this historic button on the plane Tuesday, November 4, 2008 as I make my way towards ground zero in Chicago - Grant Park for the big celebration on Tuesday night.
My latest photo assignment - shoot 44 locations in Chicago at the beginning of winter in 12 days - lands me smack in the middle of American history X - REAL HISTORY! Hope and change have been the central tenants throughout the Obama campaign and I for one am super excited, especially after twenty years of apathy and disillusionment. To have BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA just two or three days away from the presidency, a BLACK man headed to the WHITE house... wow! So awesome! Stay tuned for updates from Chicago, and then some pretty travel photos of that great city.

- Goyo

Next Stop: Chicago

2008-10-28T02:58:00.002-02:00

View Larger Map
View Larger Map

Mapping out the shot list for a quick trip out to windy and cold Chicago. I arrive on historic, November 4, 2008, when everything changes. GO BARACK GO!

Sleepless List of Random Thoughts

2008-10-14T03:56:00.005-03:00

Talked to Marina last night who is now relocated to Azerbijan in the middle of nowhere in what sounds like a giant mud pit. "I've never seen or had to deal with so much mud before in my life,"she tells me as I catch her on her cell phone during breakfast, calling from my computer, just after finishing my dinner of bacon fried rice. We are now 12 hours apart in time but might as well be on different planets. She wants news on the election...

I finally added Fairlights "Daily Polaroid' blog to my peeps who blog section.
Reading Tim Cahill's 'Pecked to Death By Ducks' book of adventure short stories, first hand account of burning oil fires in the first Gulf War and sneaking up on Grizzlies in Yosemite, wondering what the hell I'm doing hunkered down in this urban wasteland, watching the economy go down the drain... worrying if I'll be able to make rent next month.
"Oh yeah, not having a car is probably going to rule out most of my girlfriends," says Dave's friend when trying to figure out who she could possibly set me up with, not that I'm looking to be set up with anyone, seriously. "Really, hmm... never thought about that," I responded. "Actually, most girls are probably looking for guys like us to probably own a house by now too," Dave adds.
Went to the horse track for the first time in years with Dave and aforementioned girl and picked 1st or 2nd in the first four races. Not bad for an ex-handicapper, even though I was only betting $2WP. It was free hat day, couldn't miss that.
Cafe Biere across the street now has 12 taps with some really good beers on tap. They have a happy hour special now on weekdays btw. 5-7pm where these yummy pints are only $3. And Jenga is FREE!
Yeah... stuff like that is what I've been thinking of. Don't spend money, times are tough, hunker down, it's almost winter, winter in America. Stock up on raw meat, just like that grizzly up in Yellowstone did. Then go bury yourself in dirt and take a long, long nap.

FRAUD! FRAUD! NO MORE JOHN McSAME!

2008-10-07T01:44:00.005-03:00

WAKE UP AMERICA and say JUST SAY NO to John McCain and his dirty, nasty and FRAUDULENT lies! Shame on him, shame on them and shame you, you Patriotic Americans that voted for this current fascist regime, letting FEAR rule your lives, choosing to stay IGNORANT TO THE FACTS! We are living in scary times, because of YOU! HELL NO to this Made-By-McCain 'economic crisis' bail out bullshit and JUST SAY NO JOHN McFRAUD!

Road Trippin' in the Deep South

2008-10-06T02:53:00.004-03:00

Cutting through one of Georgia's many Nature Reserves, this one right outside of Savannah.

Dripping Spanish moss that the Carolinas are known for.

"Gords For Sale" - Local resident drums up some extra cash on roadside weekend sales.

Just in time for Halloween - SCARY!

En route from Savannah, GA over to Hilton Head, NC.

Local fisherman on the side of the road.

"What are you fishing for out here in the swamp?" I asked, probably like a typical tourist, if a tourist ever actually stopped and talked to a local fisherman tucked down behind a deep bank on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

"Whatever," he replied.

"What are you using for bait?"

"Crickets," he said after a short pause.

"Pretty beautiful country you got here... all this swampland," I stammered, realizing that he had become a bit weary of me and my camera.

Pause

"Cept you get caught out there loafin' and you best be standing next to a tree," is what came out of his mouth next.

"Excuse me?"

"You get caught out there loafin' and you best be standing next to a tree," he repeated, almost exactly as he'd said before.

"What do you mean," I asked, hair rising ever so slightly on the back of my neck as I look out to where he was looking.

"Pigs... WILD PIGS!"

Tom and I laughed about it as we drove off down the deserted highway, passing one run down trailer house after another but deep down inside I really was afraid.

Broke Beyond Belief

2008-09-29T02:27:00.009-03:00

How much money is $700 billion dollars? 7,000,000,000. Didn't Obama just say we've already spent a trillion in Iraq the other night when he squared off with McSame down in Mississippi? $1,000,000,000,000.

That's only three-hundred billion more than this current emergency bail out plan is asking for as a temporary stop gap measure to the 'mortgage crisis'. Hard to know what to watch these days, who to listen to or what to read as none of it seems to make any sense.

Naomi Klein's scholarly and passionate recap of the last half of the 20th century's geo-economic and political reality - 'The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism' - is a pretty damn good place to start.

Paul B. Farrell of the Dow Jones Business News sums up Namoi's monumental work best. "To more fully grasp this new economy, you must read what may be the most important book on economics in the twenty-first century... because it reveals in one place the confluence of cultural forces, the restructuring of a world economy as growing populations fight over depleting natural resources, and the drifting away of America from representative democracy to a government controlled by multiple, competing, well-financed, and shadowy special interests."

Without going into a full-blown, late-night diatribe on her analysis of Milton Friedman and his Chicago School of economics, starting in Chile in 1973 and leading up to Iraq in 2003, the most 'shocking' and shamelessly appalling aspect of her book this far, is the role that the United Sates has played in its perverted quest for 'global freedom and democracy' [read, expanding markets and increased profits] over the past 30 years.

"The brutal regimes that implemented Chicago School ideas in the seventies understood that, for their idealized new nations to be born in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, whole categories of people and their cultures would need to be pulled up 'from the root.'... But the Latin American juntas did not act alone: they were propped up before and after their coups by Washington, as has been amply documented. For instance, in 1976, the year of Argentina's coup, when thousands of young activists were snatched from their homes, the junta had full financial support from Washington. That year, Gerald Ford was president, Dick Cheney was his chief of staff, Donald Rumsfeld was his sectary of defense, and Kissinger's executive assistant [Kissinger was Secretary of State] was an ambitious young man named Paul Bremer." [Bremer was Washington's 'top envoy' to Iraq in 2003].

Hey wait a minute... didn't McCain mention that he's been friends with Kissinger for some thirty-five years?! Talk about Crony Capitalism!!!

Argentina's economy still suffers to this day, but now is our turn for some major shock therapy, just like the doctor has been ordering for the rest of the world for the last thirty years. But who is actually gonna bare the brunt of this behemoth bailout? And who is really gonna pay for it? Stay tuned... Part Two coming on April 15, 2009.

Chacahua & The Oaks

2008-09-26T13:54:00.006-03:00

Ironically, I find myself at The Oaks playing in the late-night 2-4 stud game across the way from my pad in Emeryville and I see this guy up on the rail who I've seen before, recently, who eventually introduces himself as Eddie, wearing this dark blue t-shirt and baby blue Hawaiian style truckers hat. I'd first spotted him a few days before playing in the new $100 spread limit Hold 'Em game. I broke from my table and saddled up next to him and asked about the dark blue shirt. Clearly printed across the back was 'Laguanas de Chacahua' and the image of a large Caymen or Crocodile, the fund-raising souvenir shirt for the small National Park and the crocodile preserve.

"You know Chacahua?" he answered, a bit surprised, slurring his words. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm a little drunk." he mumbled, swilling on his pint-sized cocktail.

You see, I had been watching this atypical Oaks card player (if one can actually define a 'typical' player in the house) from a far for a few days now. I saw him getting heckled out of the $100 spread limit game earlier in the week by two redneck 'radio talk show hosts' from some SF State on-line radio show. He had been purposely playing bad and reeling them into his world. "Show me your cards [just folded] and I'll give you $80, right now." he'd taunt, his over-bite showing with his giddy smile/laugh combination. "I'll buy those glasses you're wearing right now for $20 bucks," he clamored as the potato-head mirror-shade-wearing good 'ole boy immediately obliged. "That's a fine pair of shades you just bought there boy," he laughed. "I think I'll go down to AM/PM and get another pair for $5.99!" They both chortled at each other and gave a slammin' crank-fueled hi-five to each other across the table.

Eddie was also drunk that night and a bit disheveled, making him an even easier target. "Yo bro, that jacket you're wearin' ain't even official 'members only' and it's got the stuffing coming out of the neck. Time to retire it, bro!" The fat rednecks laughed and high-fived each other over the table again. The Hong Kong poker ninja with the black Independent skate hat watched in calm silence as he continued to grow his chip stack.

"Yeah, I been to Chacahua," I replied. I briefly explained I had been down there years ago to shoot some photos for a story that ran in the SF Chron and that I really loved the place. "Yeah, its a pretty hippy-friendly spot," he adds. "I was just down there in July. I'm trying to set up some type of 'Eco Lodge' and studies show that when you put it next to a National Park [Lagunas de Chacahua] you have better luck." He continued to sip his drink as he got called over the the $200 spread limit game, sliding back on his mirror-shades in true post-modern fashion.

"I like those shades," I mentioned as he started to wobble away.

"Oh... I bought them in a game the other night," he said, smiling that toothy grin.

"Where's the powder blue jacket?" I continued.

"Oh yeah... it's, um... retired."

TBC

RIP - David Foster Wallace

2008-09-15T05:05:00.007-03:00

In the middle of blogging the post below on Chuck Thompson's 'Smile When You're Lying' that I had started sometime on Friday evening, The Social Worker sends me this link in the SF Chronicle letting me know that David Foster Wallace was found by his wife hanging in his garage on Friday evening in an apparent suicide. Sigh...

DFW has been one of those writers, the ONE writer that has spoken to me in ways that no other recent writer has ever come close. It's hard to explain right now, or ever. You and your words, at times, have meant the absolute world to me. Thank you.

Thanks for your mind-bending wit, overly intelligent-at-times insight, literally laugh-out-loud words and all of those tiny footnotes. You were able to understand and write things (Truths) that I've only scratched the surface of experiencing and then begin to understand but never knowing actually how to describe those feelings and observations.

For anyone that is not familiar with DFW's work, he has written the BEST travel piece on the Caribbean and cruising in the Caribbean ever. This from the LA Times travel section:

"For example, here’s the intro paragraph: “I have now seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled suntan lotion spread over 2,100 pounds of hot flesh. I have been addressed as “Mon” in three different nations. I have seen 500 upscale Americans dance the Electric Slide. I have seen sunsets that looked computer-enhanced. I have (very briefly) joined a conga line.”

This same essay was also re-published in one of my favorites by him, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." But then I just came across this text, a commencement address to Kenyon College on May 5, 2005 which gives some real insight, not only into his mind and his own Truths of late by about all of us, our beliefs and our daily lives and the choices that we can make on an individual and daily basis. RIP DFW.

Travel - How It Itches, Burns, Stings and even KILLS

2008-09-15T00:57:00.018-03:00

Barely appeased (at ease) with becoming a cube-bound, computer-staring, office chair-wearing traveler at best (for now), I hopped onto my local 57 westbound bus over to the conveniently located neighborhood Barnes & Noble bookstore and picked up Chuck Thompson's road weary words 'Smile When You're Lying - confessions of a rouge travel writer,' trying to quench my delirious thirst for that next curious adventure just beyond todays reach. (*)

I'd briefly read about the recent 'scandal' with (ex) Lonely Plant author Thomas Kohnstamm which then led me to Robert Reid's review and comments of Kohnstamm's new book, 'Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?' There, Reid touts Thompson as the true author of the book (Smile While You're Lying) that Kohnstamm was ultimately trying to write - an insiders scathing attack of the travel industry at large and of travel writing itself. LP insider TravelBurro says that while Thompson's book is a bit long at times, its 'pretty fucking funny' and that Kohnstamm is a great guy but it seems like his book was 'a little rushed'.

On the back flap, the SF Chronicle calls Thompson 'reminiscent of' my main man David Foster Wallace (or at least that writer that I love to praise but secretly might not like as much as I preach). (see post above)

Like this passage about when Thompson is teaching English in Japan - living large as an expat. "The school's star Ping-Pong player and I could barely communicate, but we battled after school on an ongoing basis. Despite forcing her into dozens of overtime thrillers, I never managed to beat her. She was a mystery to the Japanese as well as to me, a gawky, five-foot-ten, one-hundred-pound girl with a mouth that could go weeks without opening, limbs like a grasshopper's, hair as limp as boiled noodles, slightly bulging eyes (which I mean in a good way - I've never minded a touch of Grave's disease in my women), and the filthiest backspin serve east of Beijing." Besides our noon-time running club (killed it today with a monster 5-miler) the other saving grace in my current life-as-an-office-worker is the grand ping-pong table next to my office and the daily death matches with Foley and Fletcher.

Thompson's living abroad experiences mixed with his paid travel abroad writing gigs provide a compelling background for any aspiring traveler, writer, travel writer, photographer, travel photographer and the other 25% of US Citizens that even have a passport. But mainly the US passport owners that actually use them. He's also from Juneau, Alaska and has some heavy-hitting commentary that is most relevant today considering a woman who is trying to be one heartbeat away from the big red button in Washington. Mainly that Alaskans sold out to big business and oil back in the 1980's with government 'pay back' checks to each Alaskan starting at $1,000 per person for their part in the oil boom. Still happening to this day even.

Moments of brilliant clarity and insight, sometimes more about things here at home than abroad abound. To the teachers of America:

"American public school teachers have the world's best PR operation going. Whining every chance they get about how demanding their jobs are, how many "extra hours" they put in, how little they make, how much of their own money they have to spend just to do their jobs, how noble they are working this job that nobody ever asked them to do - welcome to the fucking world."

On that note, I'll end as I'm only half way through it...

* I'd really gone over to Barnes & Noble to get a copy of 'The Places In Between' by Rory Stewart which is one of my all-time favorite travel books for Marina as she prepares to head over to Azerbaijan to do her 2.4 year tour-de-peace in the Peace Corps. More on our beloved Corps, including a lovely little diddy by Chuck Thompson later. Thank y'all for reading.

** Overly reveling in Chuck Thompson's cute and at times 'funny enough' little smirk-at-the-travel-writing-world as I prepare to sleep before the 9-5 kicks in bright and early tomorrow morning, I am jolted upright after reading page 174 sub-titled - No Cabbie Quotes. By the end of the next page I damn Chuck to hell and find myself thinking out loud, "you're a fucking dead man." (Not dead as in really dead, but dead like he uses real in his own book.) He wraps up his little sub-section, "my list of directives for writers and editors" on why cabbies are the bane of society and why any respectable travel writer would NEVER quote a cabbie goes like this, "The only reason a writer quotes cabdrivers or other service-industry minions is to disguise the fact that he or she didn't want to deal with the hassle of drumming up any authoritative local sources (emphasis added). Think of all the cab-drivers you know. You don't know any. That's because in every major city in the world-London excepted- taxis are driven by impoverished foreigners who don't know SukhumvitRoad frojm Euclid Avenue, work insane hours, talk to their buddies on their cell phone all day, and fall asleep as soon as the off-duty sign lights up. Cabbies having their fingers on the pulse of a city is the biggest travel myth since 'Hey, we can stop and get reliable directions at the gas station.'"

Having been a former cabbie in San Francisco where MANY of my brother and sisters are excellent resources and ambassadors to the millions of travelers AND tourists that visit our beautiful city (yes, many of them are from foreign lands, still one of those melting-pot facts that make us unique around the world) AND knowing a handful of EXCELLENT cabbies in Buenos Aires, many of whom I consider deal friends, great family members, impassioned locals and EXCELLENT 'authoritative local sources', you are now on my official shit list and you and your publisher and your publicist and agent and yourself will be hearing from me soon, Mr. former founding editor of 'Travelocity Magazine'... sheesh (funny how a quick Google search of this aforementioned magazine shows a few brief mentions about its launch from 2000. Maybe it should have been called TRAVELOFFITY)! Cabbies of the world that usher your sorry-ass around unite - you will have a change of heart, when you're not out slumming it on some limo-driven press junket at the latest 5 star resort in the Dominican Republic.

*** Now I'm pissed at myself for flying off the handle at Mr. Thompson. I choose to buy his book and I'm choosing to read it. And sure, I've had my share of un-knowing and infuriating taxi cab drivers around the world. I think really though, I'm saddened and frightened by DWF and his recent suicide. With all his talent, accolades and brilliance and he still choose to check out at the not-so-tender age of 46. Farewell.

KPOO-FM San Francisco

2008-09-07T19:26:00.003-03:00

"Baby Baby" - SF Community Radio out of the far NOPA district. Hate that term 'NOPA'. It should really be NOPI!

Street Message in the Tenderloin District, SF

2008-09-07T19:21:00.001-03:00

Bus Stop - Towaway

2008-09-07T17:57:00.002-03:00

The Shooting Gallery in the TL

2008-09-07T17:48:00.004-03:00

Federal Building in SF

2008-09-07T17:48:00.002-03:00

Shooting San Francisco

2008-07-25T03:17:00.007-03:00

"Not much Dog, what's up wid you?!"

More blur in Chinatown

Toilet seat paper dispenser - Wild Side West, Bernal Heights

Wolf Parade @ The Fillmore

Joseph Arthur solo acoustic at the Great American Music Hall

Christo Columbus looking out over North Beach above the Filbert steps.

Two girls on wall - Lower Height

Two girls walk by wall - 24th and Harrison - The Mission District

Lookie Lou Laundry - Chinatown

Fish-eyein' in downtown SF

Recent scenes from our fair city by the Bay. Finally gallery from this past 3 weeks of shooting for RG coming next week. Here's some add'l images from late last fall.

* thanks Senatra and Spears for the companionship to which these pics were made.

Scenes from Chinatown

2008-07-15T12:50:00.001-03:00

Fernet What?

2008-07-15T01:28:00.004-03:00

OK - that's great that SF thinks its the Fernet capitol, which its not - Buenos Aires is the Fernet Capitol, and probably some places I've never been to in Italy - but the green shit or menta, espanol for MENTHOL (mint)?! THAT is SF's best kept secret?! Let's keep it that way... sheesh.

And thanks Pablo Rivas for bringing back the old taste on your recent SF visit. For those of you who have never truly experienced the true BA Fernet experience, it's always to be mixed with Coca Cola - precisely 45-40% Fernet and the rest is Coke, and then lots of ice (and always well carbonated Coke, never from a tap gun or any other flat or watered down source) to give it that nice foamy brown head. In some strange ways it's almost like a root beer float.

Top of the Rio & Good Night Las Vegas

2008-07-02T01:54:00.003-03:00

Thanks Paula Glaser for the loaner 15mm f/2.8 lens (above) and to Danny Palmerlee (aka Travel Burro) for the hour long Adobe Lightroom session on the phone, specifically on color conversion exports in Lightroom*. Who the hell still uses RGB 1998?! sRGB is the ONLY way to export! Tommy and Ethan... where R U! Now to redo my DWF document for 20008 - to infinity and beyond. There's a whole slew of folks to thank for this past 12 days shooting in Las Vegas, including both of my younger sisters Leslie and Kristie.

* Up until now I've been batch exporting pics to this blog (see previous posts from Vegas below) with very flat colors. DP finally explained the difference between the older RGB 1998 output and newer color-for-web settings, namely sRGB. FINALLY!

Playboy's Miss Janruay - The Bank Club @ Bellagio

2008-07-01T14:10:00.002-03:00

They turned the snow machine on just for the two of us to make these pictures. "Can I put on some lip gloss?" was all that Dusty asked of me. Sure honey, knock yourself out.

Outside of the Venetian

2008-06-27T02:47:00.003-03:00

Looking towards the Fashion Show Mall. Yes, they have regularly scheduled fashion shows every hour, on the hour in the mall.

Planet Hollywood Casino

2008-06-27T02:36:00.003-03:00

(how's that for an original title for this post)

Overview of the PH Casino from the upstairs 'celeb' balcony. It's amazing how tourists can now pretty much shoot anything, anywhere at anytime. I need massive amounts of permissions and assistance, and not just with the photos. Tamar who does PR there was helpful in walking me around to get these shots. Thanks!