James Nachtwey Needs Your Help :: TED

James Nachtwey and TED need your help. In 2007 Nachtwey won the TED Prize, and on October 3 he will be revealing the documentary photography project he has been producing as a result of winning that prize. Nachtwey has asked for help from the digital community in breaking this news story. Follow the links above and below for more info.... or revisit this blog on Oct 3rd.

Maybe one day this week?

Been busy around here, doing one thing or another, but I might, just might, get to go kayaking this week! Check out more kayaking pics in my Adventures Gallery, or more pics from Mexico (this image is from the Rio Pilon in northern Mexico) in my Mexico Gallery.

End of Days...

Welcome to the End of Days (4 years early)... This is why I've got a Ron Paul sticker on my truck. There are a thousand videos out there like this, Ron Paul saying what we need to hear, this is just one of the most recent. We may be about to get 4 years of Obama, but when you're playing Grapes of Wrath games someday soon, remember to vote for The Revolution of 2012.

Trouble in Burma...

One day before the 1 year anniversary of the military massacre of monks in Burma, a bomb blast rips through Rangoon. Thankfully, no one has been killed... this time. Read more here.

My friend Brian Scannell just got back from his second trip to Burma. You can see some of his awesome pics here.

You can also see more pics in my Burma Gallery. I highly recommend that you all travel to this fine place. Don't spend your money in the government owned facilities, or on their tours, spend it with the local folks... and don't talk politics... this is not a joke.

Lonely Planet has good info on traveling to Burma (Myanmar)... I challenge you, everyone needs to learn about what goes on here.

New Website (again!!!)

Well, I did it again... I rebuilt my website, again... I needed a faster way to update the galleries, so I am going with a Slideshow Pro plugin for Adobe Lightroom. The actual site itself I built in Dreamweaver. In the past I build the galleries with Flash, but that proved too tedious to update regularly. The Slideshow Pro plugin is adequate, but not perfect.

There may be a few bugs... I'd love to hear from you if you find them!

ShadowDetails.com

Kidnapped in Egypt for Ransom

It wasn't me... I read a story about it on Drudge today. Eleven European tourists kidnapped along with eight Egyptians (their guides) while making an off-road tour of southern Egypt... seemed to be 5 masked men speaking english with an African accent

This is a pic I took a couple of years ago making a similar tour (this is the White Desert). We didn't even consider a kidnap for ransom, and the only thing I feared was rolling over in the Landcruiser while speeding at 100-kmph over the dunes. I had nothing but wonderful experiences with all the folks in Egypt. Some of the wimpy socialist college professors I was traveling with insisted that they were Canadians to avoid conflict, but I, a proud vocal American, was always the one invited to sit and have tea and chat.

To see more Egypt pics, click here.

Laundry Day

Laundry day... I actually ran out of underwear a couple of days ago... don't tell anyone. I'm going to burn quarters while I work on updating my website today... I can't figure out how to make the background stay black in the seconds before my Flash Gallery loads... building this on my own can be very frustrating at times... I will be uploading the updates in a day or two... check back then.

More Pistol Packin' Paula

I have bad luck with the USPS... Talked with Paula on the phone today because she didn't get a package of pics that I sent her... I went through Lightroom to re-export them for her, so I figured I'd post another.

I lit this portrait with a little device that I like to call my LightPack... 2 Speedlights turned into striplights and mounted on my backpack... and another one behind Paula lighting the door. Fun Stuff...

The Wall Street Journal

Not the most exciting image in the world, obviously, but I did get my first Wall Street Journal submission today... See the article here. The pic was taken on a ship (Semester At Sea - the folks who've given me the opportunity to travel a lot of the world) on the way to Belize in January of this year. Visit SAS's website and you'll see a whole bunch of my pics... a fantastic group of folks.

Michelle Kvanli of Red River Racing

Speaking of Michelle Kvanli, I just heard through the grapevine that she took 3rd in the Nationals! Fresh off surgery to her should last season, Michelle has come back strong... I'll be looking for you in 4 years, Michelle.

To find out more info on Michelle, check out KayakInstruction.org and RedRiverRacing.org.

Mexican Creek :: Medina River, Texas

Fun stuff, though this run hasn't seen significant flow in over a year. It relies on Lake Medina being filled and with significant water going over the spillway. But watch out for the landowners and a Deputy Sherif who is hired on his off-hours by the landowners.

Wanna learn to kayak? Check out Ben and Michelle Kvanli in San Marcos, Texas at KayakInstruction.org.

You can see a few more kayaking pics in the Adventures Gallery of my website.

Here is a decent video from Mexican Creek... just hit the mute button first.

State Fair

A pic from my life...

I went to the State Fair for the first time in years and years and years. I love roller coasters, but carnie rides scare the hell out of me. I rode this swing device and did enjoy it, despite the stomach foam in my mouth... but the whole time I could only think of the following video:

Martindale Police Department

This is the first in a planned series of images that I am producing for a personal project / portfolio project. A few of the shots have already been completed and I will be posting them here ever now and then. See more at my website.

This is the Martindale, Texas Police Department... and awesome bunch of folks who graciously agreed to let me take their portrait.

Hurricanes in Haiti

Haiti is 98% deforested... I remember flying over the island a few years ago in a tiny little plane and seeing mountain upon mountain with nothing upon them but drought-stricken farms and dirt. So when a hurricane comes, so do the flash floods and mud slides.

The parents and siblings of this little boy were washed away by a hurricane a few months before this pictures was taken. They were sleeping in their beds when a flash flood took their house away. His only surviving brother plucked him from the flood waters and they spent the night in a tree. They live at the House of Hope now, an orphanage run by Jenny and Linda, some wonderful and amazing folks.

There are more pics from Haiti on my Website... and an essay on orphans which includes some images from the House of Hope.

Pistol Packing Paula

I'm running a test of some code supplied by Sean McCormack, an Irishman, photographer, and Adobe Lightroom Extraordinaire with a great Lightroom Blog.

These are some images of Pistol Packin Paula from an afternoon I spent with her at Enchanted Springs Ranch. This is a little slideshow created using the basis of a template supplied by McCormick for Slideshow Pro and Adobe Lightroom. Thanks Sean!

See more pics of Pistol Packin Paula in the Conceptual gallery of my website.

New Blog, Using Blogger, Good or Bad?... We Will See.

Well, I am changing blog providers again! This time to Blogger, from iWeb (er, .Me)... the .Me servers were just too slow... I am keeping it archived though, and you can find it HERE.

Let me know if you like one better than the other...

thanks

-patrick