15-OCT-2004
Relaxing on the Merced, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004
Two friends leave the chaos of Los Angeles behind to spend a lazy afternoon relaxing on one of the ancient boulders that line the Merced River. I was drawn to scene by the light. Whenever I can relate a bright foreground to a dark background, I know my image will be rich in contrast and emphasis. However as I considered my possibilities, the body language of the fellow in red captured my imagination even more forcefully than the light. His posture expresses a human value we all can relate to – relaxation. He looked even more at ease when I compared his posture to his friend, who sits upright next to him. The Merced River itself makes an idyllic context. My vantage point aligns his legs with the middle of the river itself, virtually wrapping him in dark waters. Yet his body rests firmly on a warm rock that has spent an eternity in Yosemite. He seems to be living a dream, and he was.
29-AUG-2004
GI Cut, US Military Cemetery, Omaha Beach, St. Laurent, France, 2004
The men who tend the vast lawns of this cemetery take great pride in creating a sense of unforgettable peace and serenity. Every blade is groomed with great care and military precision, which is only fitting for a cemetery holding ten thousand World War II dead. I wanted to express that sense of perfection in this picture by placing this man out front of all of those crosses. Using a 24mm wideangle converter lens, I was able to give a feeling of thrust to the lawn mower, a spearhead, if you will, for the silent ranks of graves that range behind it. The living care for the dead with much diligence and great respect, human values that I feel come through in this image.
29-AUG-2004
Beachcomber, Omaha Beach, St. Laurent, France, 2004
Sixty years after more than 34,000 American soldiers landed on Omaha Beach, a lone beachcomber searches its sands for treasures. Given the context of what once happened on this beach, this image takes on new meaning. I was trying to say that this beach, which was one of the great battlefields of World War II, is now a place for solitude and pleasure – both very real human values. These values stand in stark contrast to what happened here sixty years before. Scale incongruity plays a big role in this picture as well – a tiny red figure played against the sweep of sand and sea and the cliffs that once took so many lives.
01-JUL-2004
Bricklayer, Three Gorges Dam Project, Sandouping, China, 2004
Workers are still doing brickwork at the massive Three Gorges Dam visitors center on the Yangtze River. (This fellow seems to be taking a break at the moment.) The opposite of work is rest. Both are basic human values. I organized this image around those rhythmic patterns of bricks but this man is in no great hurry to get to them.
13-JUN-2004
Shy child, Zhujiajiao, China, 2004
A Zhujiajiao family invited me into their courtyard to make photographs, but this young child would have none of it. Shy or perhaps just tired, she seeks comfort from her mother. All of these feelings are human values – we’ve all had them. I was able to stress the child’s feelings by comparing her response to her mother’s. I also make the picture more abstract by partially obscuring the child, which brings the viewers own imagination into play.
14-JUN-2004
Card game, Shanghai, China, 2004
Gambling and card games are old Shanghai traditions. A walk through the old section of the city reveals that little has changed in this regard. It may be raining, but that doesn't stop these men from enjoying the betting. Competition, risk, and friendship are all part of this game, and all are human values. The many small details that make up this photograph, including the bicycles, stools, laundry, and the fellow having a smoke behind tree provide context that is also rooted in human values we can relate to.
19-JUN-2004
Prayers, Buddhist Temple, Jinshang Park, Beijing, China, 2004
The contrast between the intensity of this mother’s devotions and her young son’s curiosity makes this image work. These emotions are so strong that they overcome the somewhat chaotic background. Emotional responses always reflect human values, and these are no exception.
22-JUN-2004
Good luck rub, Xian, China, 2004
The parks of Xian are lined with sculptures of Tang Dynasty figures. A good luck rub on the hands of these fellows is apparently a morning ritual for this lady and others, because the statue’s hand is polished to a brilliant sheen. Superstition is a human value that all of us can understand and appreciate. I also thought the woman’s small hand contrasted to the large metallic hands of the statues, making for strong scale incongruity. This is a very humane image, and the human values it expresses more than make up for any distraction caused by the clutter of random people in the background.
12-JUN-2004
Lunch break, Shanghai, China, 2004
A cart makes a handy bed for this Shanghai worker on lunch break.
Population pressure forces people to adapt and invent, and both adaptation and invention, along with fatigue, are values shared and understood by humans the world over, not just in China. But I did see many people sleeping at midday in public while in China – it is just part of the scene, and accepted as such. I thought this image was particularly incongruous because a cart is not usually perceived as a bed, yet this one serves that purpose well. I also was able to effectively organize this photograph around the repeating diagonal lines offered by the ropes, legs, and pipes.
19-APR-2004
Egon’s Wall, Tecate, Mexico, 2004
Accomplishment is a human value. It is hard to make a photo of an accomplishment unless you can link people to it. That’s what I was able to do with this image. I came upon a group of teenagers on lunch break just outside of their school, and was admiring a nearby wall that had been vividly transformed into abstract shapes and colors, along with many words, representing a community experience of some kind. As I began to photograph it, a student came over and told me that he had painted that wall. He even showed me his signature. He told me that his name was Egon, and that he was thrilled I had stopped to photograph it. I asked Egon to stand before his work, and tell me a bit about it as I made an environmental portrait of him. As he talked with me with me, he reached behind to feel the texture of the stone he had painted, and touched the very point where two arrows dynamically speed towards each other. At his touch, the paint becomes energy, and Egon, the creative catalyst.
14-APR-2004
Two for the Beach, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2004
Friendship is also a human value, and I’ve used the context of a long walk on a deserted beach to bring that value home visually. Friendship is all about trust and sharing. In shooting this scene from the balcony of our beach house, I was able to build an image around repeating pairs – the pair of people, one of them wearing a bright red shirt that creates the focal point of the picture, is dwarfed by the expanse of sand and sea. A pair of long shadows anchors the foreground and gives depth to the scene. And even a pair of tire tracks peels off from the mass of tracks at center, as if to intercept them. The sea and beach converge in the upper left hand corner, suggesting that their walk – and friendship – will continue
03-JAN-2004
Commemoration, Magellan Monument, Punta Arenas, Chile, 2004
This dual portrait reflects the living history of Southern Chile. Dressed in vintage costumes, this man and woman stand impassively before a monument to Fernando Magellan as they participate in a commemoration ceremony honoring the great explorer. They were but two of many local residents in the ceremony – I chose them as my subjects because I sensed how much this moment meant to them. They wear their costumes well, and their faces boldly emerge from the softly focused sculpture of Magellan’s ship behind them. I see a number of important human values represented within this image, including a sense of history, dignity, pride, and honesty.