Siena in Black and White

2009-11-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

In Tajikistan the celebration of Naw Ruz or New Year brings out the fantastical in ethnic costume and traditions. Women from the National Tajik University lined the walks covered head to toe in elaborately colored fabrics, veils, crowns, and sequins in image of the queen of Naw Ruz. I passed this particular young lady who had an innocent intrigue about her. Her eyes caught me just as I took her picture. She seemed to stand out in the sea of color and fanfare.

Roccasparvera

2009-10-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

A quiet scene on a small road in Roccasparvera, a small seemingly deserted village high in the Italian Alps and where my great great grandmother was born in 1881 and lived before immigrating to San Francisco around 1906. There was a holiday that day, though you would not know it except for the colorful streamers flapping in the wind stretched from awning to awning around the town square. It seemed a moment frozen in motion and time. Ours were the only footsteps along the roads and the only voices echoing down the hills on which the precarious town is built. There was simplicity, history, and a quiet resilience in those walls.

High Tide

2009-10-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

Taken at San Marco square at high tide. This has always been my favorite view of Venice; the bobbing gondolas tied to old algae covered posts along the dock. From here a few dozen gondolieri perch on the bow of their boat or lean ever so nonchalantly on the pier railing cat calling to tourists with the ever familiar Italian nod and jerk of the head and the stiff fingered wave of “step into my office.” It is one of those more romantic things in life to float through Venice’s inner canals lined with high walls, open windows, and lines of laundry above your head—if you are willing to pay the price that is.

Self Portrait

2009-08-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

On the campus of the University of Utah, in the Natural History Museum, just inside and to the left is an old 50’s photo booth: hours of fun.

Royal Crescent

2009-08-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

"The city of Bath, England, where the rich and famous have vacationed to the mineral springs and ancient roman baths since the late 1760’s. The sulfur rich water has been attributed to better heath, fertility, and the curing of nearly every kind of human ailment. The Royal Crescent, designed by John Wood as a pinnacle of Georgian architecture, and in symbolic reference to the sun and moon, were the preferred vacation homes of British royalty and the well-to-do. It is a beautiful scene that seems dropped right out of the 17th century."

The Separation Barrier, West Bank

2009-08-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

The face of the separation barrier just outside of Bethlehem, West Bank. Rows of barbed wire top the thirty foot concrete walls which are plastered with posters and propaganda, graffiti, signatures, protests, insults, injuries, and bullet holes. Spending a day in the small town of Bethlehem I witnessed the devastation caused by the wall, a side of a conflict that is little heard. Children cannot reach their schools, farmers are cut off from their lands, fathers and mothers are barred from jobs across the border and its many check points. For both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wall is a powerful symbol albeit for very different reasons. In its controversy though, the wall itself offers itself as a captivating medium for expression, artistic, emotional, and political.

Summer Day

2009-08-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

My niece. Never shy, but coy and cute as can be. We visited This Is The Place Park in Salt Lake last weekend; explored a pioneer era town, witnessed a bank robbery, bought 5 cent candies, and watched a five car train circle its small track around the pond. It was a perfect summer day—90 degrees, a cool breeze, family, and The Pie Pizza to boot. (The Pie Pizzeria, Fort Union 7186 S. Union Park--amazing)

Buzkashi

2009-08-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

"One of the least known and most dangerous sports of modern the Persian world, Buzkashi is played only in Tajikistan and Afghanistan around the festivities of New Ruz, or Persian New Year on March 21st. The sport is played much like Polo, though in place of a ball and mallet there is a sheep carcass and bare hands; not to mention an utter lack of propriety. A few dozen mounted horses participate in the game, their riders all men from the area competing for the spoils of victory; a prize awarded by the city itself, usually a car, cow, or pair of goats. Each man fends for himself; though sometimes alliances are formed by promises of a share in the winnings. The animal carcass must be obtained by a horseman amid the fray of slashing whips, stomping hooves, and an impossible tangle of legs, arms, and limbs and then carried in hand at a gallop to the goal located in a high corner of the packed dirt arena. Men have been known to lose their lives in such a struggle. However, it is not only the players and their mounts whose lives are in peril. An audience of strictly men circles the entire arena, concentrated around the goal; they sit on their haunches ready to spring to their feet and out of the path of the stampeding horses. This is one spectator sport where daydreaming is a dangerous gamble. Myself, one of the only women to attend such an event, was nearly trampled by a wayward set of horses taking a shortcut through the crowd toward the goal. The above demonstrates the moment when the mangled query is dropped by the leading horseman, causing a sudden halt of his pursuers who quickly reach down from their saddles to retrieve the carcass and run it in themselves for victory."

Tajikistan, shoes

2009-08-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

" Though this picture was taken in Khorog, Tajikistan, this is a familiar scene to most of the Muslim world in some shape or another. Sitting just outside the mosque in the open square was this weather worn set of about one hundred cubby holes used for housing the shoes and sandals of the entering worshipers since shoes must be left behind before entering the house of worship. Such a descriptive portrayal of faith and humility, this image speaks to me of a devotion more sincere and tangible than almost any I have seen. I try to imagine all the shapes and sizes of the shoes behind those small doors and the places that they have been; and then I think of those feet at one point or another carrying their owners on pilgrimage to Mecca, Medina, or Mashhad. "

Poros

2009-08-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Isle of Poros, Greece. We spent an afternoon strolling the choppy island hills through a maze of white washed walls and bright blue doors. Through a red rusted gate a scene caught my eye, a scene of simple yet distinct colors and form. Stopping, this is what I found, a serene moment wrapped in elegant while and tied with a burst of yellow and red. Not being a sucker for stills fruit and flower pots are not my usual muse, though it is refreshing to try something new. Really it was the colors that drew me in rather than the model itself.

Old Men, Tajikistan

2009-08-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

"First place award winner in the 2008 American Councils for International Education Photography Contest."

Tajikistan

2009-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

A young girl on the side of the road intrigued me as we passed. She stood there with such a resolved and exhausted look on her small face, her body sagging; her hands hung limply at her sides. The pail at her feet told the story; that she had been retrieving water from a distance away for her family. Tajikistan's water supply is by any standard undrinkable, yet most Tajik people, whether by lack of proper means or education, still drink from wells, rusted pipes, rivers, and lakes.

My husband and I spent the last year of our lives living in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a small impoverished country in Central Asia. During our time there we traveled throughout the country; to its cities, villages, farms, to the cotton fields, the aluminum factory, monuments, archaeology sites, and museums. We participated in an intensive Farsi language program through the American Councils for International Education Organization. Learning the language opened wide doors for us to understand the culture, the people, and the politics of Tajikistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. While there I also interned with The Urban Institute, a local NGO working for the betterment of society through simple things like water purification, waste removal, and citizen participation in local government.

Paris Steps

2009-07-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

For anyone looking for something truly unique in photography, you must get to know Fan Ho. Shooting in China throughout the 1950’s, Fan Ho has an incredibly unique take on light, shadow, and line. His subjects, almost always candid, are caught in the mundane actions of life amid the lines and shadows of China’s seductive background. Visually his work is subtle yet stark, making no excuses for its bold strokes and contrasts, the kind of vision that requires the utmost patience. It simply makes a little fluttery knot of admiration in my chest that makes me want to run right outside with my camera. The above is a shot taken of the Seine river bank steps in Paris inspired by Ho’s use of line, asymmetry, and shadow with figures.
The only gallery featuring his photography is located in Palo Alto California on University Avenue; though his works are also published in a series of books, the newest of which is called The Living Theatre, which can be seen at http://www.modernbook.com/static.html under publications.

Class Clown

2009-07-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

As requested, the crew of the Indian coal ship in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Covered from head to toe in black coal dust they spoke to us in broken English dialogues taken from famous Hollywood blockbusters and posed like they were in the middle of a New York fashion shoot.

In Dubai nearly every taxi driver is Indian or Pakistani, many of which come from Peshawar, Pakistan where war and violence is almost a continual state of being and continues to escalate daily. A young Pakistani driver told us that he came to Dubai to make money to support his young wife and family back in Peshawar but he is worried because he hears of more and more violence in his home town every day. Thousands of hopeful immigrants flood into the United Arab Emirates every year looking to make their way in one of the fastest growing resort cities in the world, a place with its own middle-of-the-desert indoor ski resort, hundreds of high-rise hotels and a dozen or so man-made resort islands. However, the massive construction projects driving the city’s economy have nearly all gone stale in the current conditions, a state of affairs that began largely with the mass exodus of the city’s migrant labor backbone last winter. Thousands of cars were left abandoned at Dubai’s international airport with hand-written notes of apology for unpaid bills; but with the construction industry shutting down multi-million dollar projects and workers losing jobs, they have only a few short days to find new work or leave the country.

Perspective

2009-07-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

One of the more serine spectacles I have ever witnessed was an upturned tree on the island coast of Mon, Denmark. Hiking the long way to the island’s famed white cliffs, much like the ones in Dover, we walked across an endless sea of bleach white rocks and fossilized coral. This massive tree, once on the mainland has been evicted from its roots by the creeping ocean tides and now forms a barrier across the rocky beach. The mangled dry roots and the beating waves below them became to me an ironic symmetry of life and death, and a frozen image of the passage of time. Do you ever wonder what a tree or a hill could tell you could it speak? Imagine all the things they have seen, all the rings and sediments of time and age, each with an epic of its own, a struggle to survive, a will to live. Are we so different?

San Fransisco, MOMA

2009-07-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

In San Fransisco last week for the Ansel Adams and Robert Frank exhibit at the MOMASF. Inspiring. Frank’s “The Americans” a series of portraits had me glued to the hardwood for hours. A brilliant mind, able to accentuate the quirks and expressions that define a personality and a people. Note the eyes especially. I highly recommend the new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, which also includes Georgia O’Keeffe which will be there until September 7, 2009.
This is my imitation of Frank’s portraiture, though taken candidly, of a street performer in the city.

London

2009-07-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

Rainy summer day by the Tower Bridge, London. On rainy days the urban rush slows to a lazy crawl along the river and the buffeting sounds of the city are quieted by the patter of rain. The kind of dreary secretive setting you expect to have inspired Dickens.

UAE

2009-07-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

" Strolling in Sharjah, a quiet Emirate just northeast of bustling Dubai we discovered the sunset over the harbor and an endless line of cargo ships docked at its side. Men in tattered cloths and turbans from India, Pakistan, and Iran loaded their ships and inspected their deliveries. I was caught red handed pointing my telescoping lens toward the bow of a rather large coal ship by its crew; who vigorously waved us both toward a rickety red ladder connecting the bobbing deck with the solid ground below. With a quick glance between us Miles and I scaled the rungs to the black soot deck. We were greeted by a dozen or so coal-soaked Indian sailors lining up for a photo shoot, striking poses, nearly falling over themselves to get in front of the camera. "

Yazd, Iran

2009-07-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

"Yazd, Iran a woman walks with her daughter on a deserted street in the waning winter sun. Little stirrs here in the late afternoon during the Persian siesta."

Oakland Temple

2009-07-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

" It is eighteen months, twenty-nine days, twenty-three hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty-five seconds; two round trip tickets to the edge of the earth, eleven months abroad, twenty-two countries, thirty-six borders, twenty-nine thousand one-hundred and sixty miles and seven thousand five-hundred and thirty-four photographs since we were married in the temple in Oakland California, December 28th, 2007."