Cascada de Tamul... a Big Freakin' Waterfall!

Attention paddlers and wanna-be paddlers!!!! Visit your local pro-shop and pick up the latest issue of Rapid Magazine! The good folks up there in the nether-regions of North America have always treated me well.

In this latest issue you'll see a kayaking pic a took in Mexico of my friend Ben Kvanli. Ben is an Olympic lunatic who must paddle every day, lest his brain explode. This photograph was made at the Cascada de Tamul. Where the Rio Gallinas and the Rio Santa Maria rivers meet to form the Rio Tampaon, you will find the Cascada de Tamul... a behemoth. Ben, in his infinite wisdom, figured it would be a good idea to try to paddle as close as he could to the falls.... Now Ben is a strong dude... he paddled in the 1996 Olympics when they were in Atlanta (though the kayaking events were held on the Ocoee River in Tennessee), and like I said, it is very rare that Ben goes a day without paddling. Thank heavens he wasn't strong enough to actually make it to the falls... I don't think anyone would be. The air current alone from the downdraft of the thousands of cubic feet of water pouring over that cliff was thankfully enough of a barrier to hinder his self-destructive attempt.... because I guarantee if he made it all the way he would have been pummeled to death by the ferocity of those waters.... boooooo... no one likes it when a friend is pummeled to death.

Anyway... at least the attempt made for a decent photograph. :)

Life @ The Top...

Mount Mitchell circa 1920

Heading up to Mount Mitchell, NC for a few days... shooting a picture story on the lives of the Park Rangers who live on the highest peak east of the Mississippi during the winter.... over 4 feet of fresh snow... should be fun!

Portraits of Hope - Haiti

If there is one set of memories that I would take to the desert island, it would be from my time spent in Haiti. It was a few years back, and one of the most impactful experiences of my life. This country deserves to be saved... who will do it?

Just encouraging you to help with the post-earthquake operations in Haiti. Here are two worthy North Carolina organizations directly involved in Haiti: Samaritan's Purse and Mission Manna.

See more of my pics from Haiti, visit the Haiti Gallery and Portraits of Hope.

Please visit the House Of Hope blog, and support them also.

More DIgging... RIDE India

I often find myself late in the night, netflix on one screen and lightroom on the other, digging though old folders of images unseen in months and months... It is a quest to find something that I'd passed over time and again. I don't archive every single picture I take, though I probably should... I can't honestly afford that many duplicate terabytes... but I do save a large and vague selection of picks... vague enough to return to every once in a while and find a small overlooked jewel.

This pic is from India... from a school in a small town who's students are primarily children rescued from child labor camps... they were sold by their parents who couldn't afford to feed them, let alone themselves... the children are released from the labor camps, their mothers given a small community loan to get back on their feet, and both are educated.

Wanna learn more about the school?

Wanna see more pics from India?

Burma - Calendar of Support

I've put together a few high quality wall calendars for the new year. This version contains images from Burma shot just prior to the military crackdown. A portion of the proceeds from each calendar sold will go directly to The US Campaign for Burma.

Follow these links to preview or purchase the wall calendar.



Burma - Premium $36.33 - 12 months, 13.5" x 19"

Burma - Standard $24.99 - 12 months, 11" x 8.5"

Burma - The Power of a Crop

I was digging through my Burma gallery in Lightroom, trying to come up with a few new images for a Support Burma calendar I'm making, and stumbled across a pretty lame image that, once cropped, wasn't half bad... Due to the now low resolution, I had to bump it up a bit in Photoshop... it's staring into these faces that make the pic worthwhile.

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.

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.

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.

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.