Friday, March 24, 2006

Nepal: Evil eye




A protective mother in Nepal would never think of letting her child go out in public without black kohl makeup around their eyes. It is believed the kohl will shield the child from the dangers of the evil eye. The kohl can have a powerful effect, but not in the way the parent intended. Unfortunately, the kohl paint often includes lead that is toxic and quite dangerous to the wearer.

It has always amazed me how much the eyes tell about a person. A subject's gaze will often reveal so much about them without a word being spoken.

If you would like to see a short Quicktime movie of portraits, please go to Look into Their Eyes

(70-200mm lens at 135mm, 1/500 sec, f2.8, ISO400)
(24-70mm lens at 24mm, 1/125 sec, f2.8, ISO400)

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Venezuela: Street Preacher


Imagine this scene. You are walking around the downtown district of a very prosperous city. The hustle of everyday life surrounds you as you set up your microhone and speaker and begin to attract a crowd, the people wondering what you are selling. Only you aren't selling anything, really. You have come to tell whoever will listen, that God is real, Jesus is alive, and that you would like to share the story of how you know this to be true.

It takes passion, courage and total abandonment to share your heart with total strangers. I have at times been glad I could hide behind my camera as those more brave did the frontline work. Over the years though, I have learned that fear of speaking out goes away when you are trusting the one that gave you a message to share.

I had photographed the street preachers many times and decided to look for a different angle. Fortunately, the doorman of a nearby building let me go to the roof without a lot of red tape and releases.

(70-200mm lens at 135mm, 1/500sec, ISO400)

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Hyderabad, India: Prayer


The heat, the flies, the people next to her...nothing distracted her from her conversation with God. She did not move a muscle. Others clapped, cried, and swayed to the music. In the crowd of over 400 Bible school students, she was alone with God. She stayed that way for the longest time and I kept being drawn back to photograph her, to capture her introspection.

India is such a visual feast of color. I was curious if my photos would still be interesting if I desaturated and toned them, reducing or eliminating their vibrancy.

If you would like to see more India photos in a Quicktime Movie, please go to India Movie.

(24-70mm lens at 66mm, 1/50 sec, f2.8 ISO 800)

India: Girl with flies


To this girl, home is made of bits of cast-off plastic,
wood, rope and palm fronds. The monsoon rains and
extreme heat of India must make a mockery of its
construction.

This child and her family are also cast-offs, part of the
untouchable caste of India. They live just outside the rich
metropolis of Hyderabad, but have little contact with it.

I watched her stand there, still as the horde of flies that,
almost magically, clung to her dress. Hope does not often
visit her, but today it seemed something was shared
by the touch of a stranger's hand and the meeting of their eyes.

This is another of the desaturated images I spoke about earlier.

(70-200mm lens at 130mm, 1/500 sec, f4, ISO400)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Katmandu, Nepal: Beggar



You’ve heard the story of Peter going to the
temple, seeing a lame man and declaring, “Silver
and Gold I do not have, but in the name of Jesus
Christ rise up and walk.”

I saw this lady outside a temple in Nepal. I wanted to
pray for her like Peter did. I wanted to grab her by
the wrists and pull her up. I wanted to walk in faith.
But I didn’t. I photographed her with a long lens
and quickly put some money in her hands as I walked
past her and out of the temple. God, help me to do
it better next time.

(200mm lens f2.8 focused on the fingers)

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

India: Muddy stop and Gospel tract



The group of missionaries I was with were travelling in a bus going from one village to another. They had no intention of stopping here. It was raining and they knew no one. Yet, the leader said he felt compelled to stop. They set up their loud speaker. One of the group spoke for 10 minutes about who Jesus is. It continued to rain; they handed out tracts with their message written in the local dialect. We left.

Did the little girl understand the brief message? Can she even read the tract in her hand? All I know is that the missionaries did what they thought they were being led to do. My wife once accepted a tract while she was in college. She kept it even though she didn't understand it. Years later it helped her understand the simple message of grace that Jesus preached.

The mission group I was with was Gospel for Asia.

Girl (24-70mm lens at 28mm, 1/320 sec, f4.5, ISO640)
Feet (24-70mm lens at 57mm, 1/160 sec, f5.6, ISO640)

Romania: Insane Asylum


The mental asylum in Romania was a warehouse for the mentally insane, the physically handicapped and even for some Christian pastors that had been drugged into insanity during the dark years of Ceaucescu's reign of terror. A year after his assassination, little had been done to help those closeted away in the mountains of Transylvania. I felt overwhelmed. What could I do? I decided to do portraits of as many patients as I could. They couldn't leave, but I could at least let others see in.

The language barrier really wasn't a hindrance; we had translators. The problem was, that for most of the patients, their minds were not in the same building we were. They were living a life outside the dreary and dirty rooms where they were housed.

If you would like to see more photos in a Quicktime Movie, click Romania.

(24mm lens, f2.8)

Monday, March 06, 2006

Katrina: Mud & the Rolex


I was in a neighborhood along the Gulf Coast that had been totally wiped away. These were houses that had cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gone. There were only foundations and piles of debris. As I was walking among the foundations, I looked down and saw a watch in the cracked mud. It was getting late. The sun was setting and I was losing the light. I shot a few frames and thought nothing more of it till I blew the image up on my computer days later. The watch was a very expensive, diamond encrusted Rolex. The things we think are so important are really meaningless. Jesus always put relationships before everything else. Before things. Before achievement.

(16-35mm f2.8 lens at 35mm, 1/60 sec, f5.6, ISO320)

Katrina: Wilbur lost everything



Wilbur is calmly telling me his story of how his wife of 25 years refused to leave as the storm approached the Gulf Coast. Wilbur left because he told me he didn't feel good about this one. As the winds became stronger, his wife tried to leave. She actually burned the tires off the rims of her car (behind Wilbur in the photo) trying to escape the mud in her front yard. With her car stuck in the ruts she had made, she got out and ran back in her house. Her phone still worked and she called Wilbur to tell him how frightened she was. A short time later the line went dead. The house was blown or washed away by the estimated 30 ft. tidal surge with only the pilings left. His wife's body was found in the woods.

The story doesn't end here. Many church groups have come to help Wilbur. The rest of his story can be found here.

(24-70mm lens at 24mm, 1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO100)

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Sri Lanka: Abandoned Flip Flops


I was standing on a beach in Sri Lanka that had been hit hard by the tsunami only a short time earlier. My guide told me that one thing he had noticed once the water receded, was the abundance of sandals and flip flops that had lodged in the tree tops and broken tree trunks such as this one. I looked around. He was right. Everywhere you looked you could see little piles of flip flops that the raging waves had torn from their owners.

(16-35mm f2.8 lens at 24mm, 1/125 sec, f6.3, ISO400)