18-OCT-2009
Spectators, University Park, Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
We came upon a group of people doing exercises together in this park, but my gaze shifted from them to this pair of spectators who stood above them on the base of a monument. A young child takes her cues from her own personal trainer, and I photograph her mimicking the gestures of the exercisers that labor out of sight just below her. Some might wonder why I chose to leave out the exercisers? My answer is simple – I would rather leave room for the imaginations of my viewers to enter the story. Expressive travel photographs often work in tandem with words, and this image would best require a caption or accompanying article that would add the necessary context.
09-APR-2009
Ghost story, Congress Hotel, Tucson, Arizona, 2006
I don’t believe in ghosts. But after a visit to the Hotel Congress in Tucson, I am no long so sure of myself on this point. The hotel, built in 1919, is widely considered to be haunted. The front desk manager kindly allowed us to go upstairs and visit rooms that were in the process of being cleaned by the maids. I asked one of the maids if she had ever felt the presence of a ghost. She said that the door to Room 214 often closed by itself when she propped it open. I watched her clean Room 214, and as she worked, I photographed a pile of bedclothes that she had temporarily placed in a chair next to the window. It looks eerily like a person. The 1920s painting on the wall adds to the illusion. When the maid finished cleaning Room 214 she turned off the room's radio that she had been listening to. I stayed in the room for a few moments, and the radio mysteriously came back on again. I asked the maid about it as I left. She said it happens all the time. When I look at this image of the “person in the chair” and the 1920’s painting on the wall, it makes me question my own certainties.
10-APR-2009
Remembrance, Gleeson, Arizona, 2009
Gleeson was once a copper mining town, flourishing from 1900 to 1939. For the last seventy years it has been a ghost town. A couple of ruined buildings and its old cemetery are all that is left of it. In that cemetery, I found the grave of Paul Christiansen. He was born in 1931 and died in 1938, just about the time that Gleeson itself died. His grave is strewn with remembrances, left, no doubt, by visitors who were moved by the death of a seven year old boy, buried on a windswept hill outside of a town that was no more. The most touching remembrance is a figure of an angel, wrapped in a blue scarf. It seems to be sleeping here as soundly as the boy it commemorates. The mid-day light is harsh, the colors raw and unforgiving. They seem appropriate for both the purpose and place.
11-NOV-2008
Mysteries, Tozeur, Tunisia, 2008
This image began as a picture of man seeking alms, who finds none. (See my image of him at (
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/106454852 ) Gradually others passed through my frame, and one of them, a woman wearing the traditional black Muslim scarf, came towards me. As she neared, I could see that her face was quite sad. I made this image of her, while the man in the background continued to sit motionless, before a mysterious red gate, waiting for his own world to brighten.
14-NOV-2008
The leak, Matmata, Tunisia, 2008
I made this photo in the central courtyard of one of the most bizarre hotels in the world. All of its rooms are built into caves. It is so incongruous that scenes in the first Star War movie were filmed here. When I stood in the courtyard, I noticed a stream of water coming at us from a doorway marked “Toilette.” Using my 24mm wideangle lens, I use that stream as a diagonal to pull the entire image together and tell a story only a plumber would enjoy.
I made this photo in the central courtyard of one of the most bizarre hotels in the world. All of its rooms are built into caves. It is so incongruous that scenes in the first Star War movie were filmed here. When I stood in the courtyard, I noticed a stream of water coming at us from a doorway marked “Toilette.” Using my 24mm wideangle lens, I use that stream as a diagonal to pull the entire image together and tell a story only a plumber would enjoy.
10-OCT-2008
Returning to the herd, Gardner River, Yellowstone National Park, Montana, 2008
A female elk and her calf walk in the shallow waters of the Gardner River, making their way to the herd, which is grazing nearby. My high vantage point and medium 60mm focal length enable me to feature the snow-splashed environment, and thereby tell my story. It is a story of maternal instincts, the bitter cold Montana weather, icy rivers and snowy banks. The colors are muted, as chilly as the temperature. The only warmth in the image comes from the vulnerable pair of brown elk cautiously wending their way home to the herd.
15-MAY-2008
Sun Sun Wo Store, Coulterville, California, 2008
This tiny adobe building is the sole remnant of one of the California Gold Rush’s largest Chinatowns. Built by Chinese miners in 1851, it served as a general store until the 1970s, when it closed down. Shut down for thirty years, it was reopened two years ago as a curio shop. I placed my camera just inside of the front door and made this image of what you would see if you looked inside. Once our eyes adjust to the darkness, a mélange of heads, hats, dishes, figurines, lamps, dolls, and jewelry compete for attention. Where gold miners once purchased supplies and food, now tourists shop for Gold Country keepsakes. This image tells us about a hunt for treasure – be it gold nuggets, or an unusual doll.
15-MAY-2008
“He will deliver,” Coulterville, California, 2008
This parked vehicle tells a story of rural politics. It was parked in the center of Coulterville, a motorized campaign poster promoting the election of Silverman as Supervisor. An American flag flies in the background – as it does for all politicians. Two smaller American flags are precariously duct-taped to the poster. A red safety cone stands before the vehicle, probably intended to hold the precious parking space open for it. A painted promise to the voters is on the back window: “He will Deliver,” a pun perhaps linking the car’s former career to its present role. In spite of the political image building going on here, there are no voters in sight at this moment, and Silverman himself is nowhere to be seen, either. As for how this story will end, the only certainties are that Silverman should either win or lose.
19-MAY-2008
Saloon, Columbia, California, 2008
The only place still open in Columbia at 7:30 in the evening was the local saloon. There was just one person visiting the bar while I was photographing there. I moved behind him while he was chatting with the bartender and made this image. I am telling three stories at once here. The setting, the bar itself, is a historic site. It is decorated with humorous signage, advertisements, and a small memorial tucked in to the bottom of the mirror behind the bartender. The bartender, meanwhile, looks as if he has been around almost as long as his bar. He seems to be a good listener, and wears the cap of a volunteer fireman. Looking at the body language of the customer, we see a man eager to talk, learn, and share. He wears the hat of someone who spends a lot of time outdoors – and as it turned out, he only spent a few more minutes in this saloon than I did. I think of him more as a casual acquaintance, than as a customer. The last moments of sunshine warm the scene and give it a nostalgic tone. I made this image from the perspective of the next person to line up at the bar; when the guy in front of us has finished, it will be our turn to pass some time with both history and a living embodiment of it. And then each of us will have our own story to tell.
29-APR-2008
Rotunda, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
I climbed to the highest gallery in the rotunda to link an arc of contemporary high school students standing in the gallery just below me to the architecture of their past. The arc of students becomes a symbol of the fluid movement of history itself, as, one by one, they flow out of the gallery towards their own future. Other students are meanwhile moving past the great seal of the state that anchors the image on the first floor. It is a story of passage, generation after generation.
29-APR-2008
House Chamber, Old State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
I took one of my tutorial students to photograph in the old state capitol building in Phoenix. While there, we had a chance to make some images of local high school students getting a first-hand look at Arizona’s history in the 100 year old House of Representatives chamber. The room is set up exactly as it looked when Arizona lawmakers created the state’s constitution in 1910. Each desk bears the name of a legislator. The students are listening to a guide, who tells them the tale as a story. I made this image to tell a story as well – the old chandelier, primitive desks, and huge flag draped on the wall offer a sense of both time and place. My high vantage point thrusts the desks into rhythmic diagonals, which blend the rows of students and long-gone legislators into a single entity. Even more important is how I’ve made the light play a significant role in this story. It starts strongly at the back of the room and then fades to darkness at the front, where history still holds its mysteries for these students.
27-MAR-2008
The other side of the Taj, Agra, India, 2008
Few foreign visitors take the time to visit the park just across the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal. At sunset, only a handful of people were here to enjoy the view of its backside, while thousands of tourists were over on its front side. From here it looks like a back yard ornament -- an exotic guest cottage. This wideangle view of the Taj Mahal makes it seem just another part of Agra, no longer an enclosed monument unto itself. It becomes less of “wonder of the world” and more of what makes India India. That is the story I try to tell with this image.