Where Am I?

New York City Shoot for Rough Guides

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

Rodin's - The Thinker across from El Congreso, Buenos Aires, Argentina © 2006

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!

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

Cartier's Cuba - From My Minds Eye

"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?

Deep frying will kill ALL germs, for sure.

Paper Bark Tree Forrest - El Ángel, Ecuador

May Day in Cuba - On the Road Again

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

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

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

For David(s)

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

Headed down the Rio Napo just outside of Coca, Ecuador

Cholo Machine

Chau Ecuador

Surfer Che

Miroslav Alcer Heads to Manaus!

Chau Miro a Manaus, Brazil!

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

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

"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

"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.