Tag Archives: vacation

Yellowstone National Park

After the council of The 13 Grandmothers, my friend Terra Celeste and I went to Yellowstone National Park for the first full moon in August. Upon leaving Grandmother Margaret’s home, we were asked to take an offering to the Medicine Wheel in eastern Wyoming.  This location is one of the oldest sacred spots in North America and may have been built over 10,000 years ago.  Different indigenous tribes have been coming and doing sacred ceremonies there for so long, no one is exactly sure who built it in the first place. The meeting of the Grandmothers was a very intense experience, and it was really nice to complete the ceremony at the Medicine Wheel, with an offering of tobacco and prayers.

As we continued our journey, through the park to the town of West Yellowstone, we saw an owl, a pair of coyotes, and a buffalo, all wandering in the middle of the road.  After arriving, we had quick dinner, checked into our hotel, and headed back into the park to see how geysers and thermal water look under a full moon.  August in Yellowstone is high season, and you can expect throngs of tourists unless you head out in the middle of the night.  With the exception of a few other photographers, we had the place to ourselves.  If Yellowstone is a magical place by day, it is far more amazing by full moon.  As we walked around the geysers, moist steam rolled off the thermal pools and punctuated the chilly air; intermittently enveloping us in shifting clouds of blinding, white, warmth.

Over the next two nights, we shot for several hours in the park and came up with some really nice new images.  I would love to return to Yellowstone, as I feel like there is so much more we could have done.  I love the color and texture in the park, from the vibrant blues of a full moon sky to the rainbow colors of the pools.  Although, I think they do work in most of these shots, one of the hardest things about shooting in the park are the walkways.  It was a real challenge to either incorporate them, or to hide them in the images.  Regardless, I am very happy with what happened during this shoot.  I think that a few of these photos really need to be viewed big, so please click on them to enlarge.

The Thirteen Grandmothers

This summer I was invited by my friend Terra Celeste to attend the 11th council of the Thirteen Grandmothers.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into by attending this gathering, and in a lot of ways the repercussions of this event may directly affect my life for the next several years.  The thirteen grandmothers are indigenous women from different cultures around the world.  They are on a mission to pray in their own individual and collective ceremonial ways in order to bring peace, and balance back to the universe.  Although these women are often confined to walkers and wheelchairs, make no mistake; they are possibly the most powerful group of women I have ever encountered.

The Council was held on the Lame Deer Cheyenne reservation in eastern Montana.  Cheyenne grandmother Margaret Behan hosted this gathering.  Originally, three hundred participants were expected, but over the course of the four-day encampment, over seven hundred arrived from around the world.  I, like many others, did not know what to expect but the importance of this council was quickly evident, especially in regard to the Cheyenne people.

Initially, the event was to be held at Grandmother Margaret’s house.  After a forest fire came within a few hundred feet of her property only days before the opening, the gathering was moved to the local public powwow grounds, a move that proved to be quite fateful.  Although, the grandmothers are on a peace mission, change often comes with great resistance. After only a short time on the reservation, I was given a crash course in tribal politics.  Basically, it is tradition for the elder men to speak and hold council, and although women are generally free to express their opinions, they do not make important tribal decisions or hold councils of their own.

By bringing the grandmothers to the reservation, Margaret was going against thousands of years of tradition and was met with physical and psychological opposition.  A group of militant young men came onto the powwow grounds before the event and threatened cause problems if the grandmothers did not cease and desist.  This clearly shook up everyone involved and after a meeting between the grandmothers that lasted into the wee hours of the night, they decided to proceed.  Thankfully they did, because this may have been one of the most important events held in recent Cheyenne history.

As the days progressed, the grandmothers prayed, and began telling their stores, both personal and historical.  They told of war, oppression, massacre, marginalization, and the loss of land, food, water and children, they mourned the loss of old traditions and ways of living.  Many white people also came forward with stores of their own, including the great grandniece of General Custer, who asked forgiveness for her family’s roll in oppressing and murdering the Cheyenne people.  Slowly, the men started to come around, to hear the stories, and witness the healing the grandmothers were offering.  By the end of the gathering, many of the tribal chiefs had don their feather headdresses and welcomed the grandmothers, thanking them for taking action and opening their eyes to the possibilities of a new future.

So much happened while I was at this event I cannot begin to summarize everything in this brief blog.  Suffice to say, I saw a wild wolf, ran out into a lightning storm, witnessed a crowd react to a tiny ancient Nepali woman the way one would expect from a revival church, slept in a tipi, and made a promise I intend to keep.  In our final meeting, Grandmother Margaret asked me to return to the reservation and hold a photography workshop for the local kids.  I am just starting to work out the details of this agreement which involves a lot of research, grant writing, and planning, but hopefully by next summer I will be able to fulfill my commitment to Grandmother Margaret.

Finding My Vision

This summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a photography workshop at The Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado. The workshop was called “Finding Your Vision,” and was co-led by Arno Minkkinen: prolific self-portrait photographer, and Jonathan Singer: technical genius extraordinaire.  Having these two team-up was really wonderful, as Arno is a master teacher and conceptual thinker, and Jonathan has an ability with Photoshop and printing beyond compare (as well as a brilliant mind).

Our class was comprised of twelve students whom have varying levels of experience.  As one of the more advanced students, I was really happy to find that the experience level of the others hindered no one in the class.  We all got our time, and we all had the opportunity to learn and grow as photographers (even though a week is a very short time to get anything accomplished).

If you have read some of my previous posts, you may have noticed the growing frustration I have had with my work.  I have been feeling a bit stuck, like my work is not maturing or developing.  It was for this reason I decided to take a workshop.  After sharing some of my images with the class, I was given a private meeting with Arno in which to discuss possible new directions.

Arno himself is quite a poet, and his critiques are certainly an extension of this philosophy.  I find Arno’s style of teaching really helpful for my creative thought process, as it leaves me loads of room in which to learn and explore.  Out of our discussion came this: most of my previous work was either performance art or opera, and now it was time to give the viewer front row seats to the theater!  This means that rather than feeling like the viewer has stumbled upon a performance, or is witnessing a spectacle so large he can only marvel, he is there with you, invited.  Up close and personal.

I can’t say that I have firmly grasped and embraced this in my work yet, but I do feel like it is slowly drawing me somewhere I was not before the workshop.  Yes, I still do opera and performances, but I am also trying to get closer to the camera, to sit in the discomfort of the situation, and to move the work into new realms.  I am excited to see where this takes me over the next year.

One of the new elements added to my work during this period, was finally using my 10 f-stop neutral density filter. This allows me to take long exposure photos during the day.  After years of only working at night, it opens up a lot of time to shoot and practice.  The filter also mimics the conditions I have in full-moon light and forces me to work through some of the issues I have found so troubling.  Since the workshop I have been using this filter a lot, and I am thrilled with the outcome of some of my newest images.

But rather than jump ahead, I am going to show you a few of the images that came out of this workshop, leaving the “ghost horse” series for the next post, as it deserves attention all its own.  Keep in mind that each image was part of a particular assignment so they may feel quite different from the work you have previously associated with this blog.

For more info on Arno Minkkinen: http://www.arno-rafael-minkkinen.com/

For more info on Jonathan Singer: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Singer-Editions-LLC/116575908398381

For more info on The Anderson Ranch: http://www.andersonranch.org/

The Bridgers

Concluding The Sacred Door Trail opening ceremony, a group of us headed to Weston Pew’s stunning family-ranch that nestles up against the Bridger mountain range just north of Bozeman, Montana.  The week spent there was a much-needed decompression after the spiritual intensity of the previous few days.  We spent our time resting, singing along with guitars on the porch, eating home cooked food and going on a bunch of outings.  One of these outings was on the fourth of July and included rafting down the Yellowstone River, eating a picnic lunch, and singing and dancing the night away at the Bank Bar (a local cowboy watering hole), in Wilsall, Montana.

During this time there was a full moon and though I was pretty spent from camping, I found time to take a few photos.  My previously mentioned partner in crime, Melanie Malia, helped me wander out into the moonlight to take some photos with the Pew’s lovely grey horse.  Just as we were starting to get our rhythm, “Bill” the notorious beast of a dog, came and did a fine job of chasing the horses away.  As everyone who was there can attest, the name “Bill” on the ranch is generally said at full volume and followed by some sort of accusation or negative…. “BILL… NOOOO BILL… NO BILL… BAD DOG BILL… STOP THAT BILL… BIIIIILLLLLL!!!!!!!!”

Once Bill was content with the horse situation, he lay down in the road and happily watched us finish the shoot.  As I have mentioned before, I have a very hard time working in full-moon light.  The conditions are very similar to working in daylight and present a huge challenge when working alone.  It’s a bit like being on a fully lit stage with no script, set, or props, and told to just do something cool. Inevitably, whatever you do ends up feelinging a bit contrived and awkward.  Personally, I feel this way about these images, but I have also had some good response to the work, so I feel like I am close to something new.  In the next post I will go into some of what I learned in my workshop with Arno Minkenen… as I try for a breakthrough.

Fun with New Friends

On our last night at The Sacred Door Trail opening ceremonies, I had stirred enough interest in my photography to obtain two playmates: Foxie Flambe and Melanie Malia.  This was a lovely break from my normal self-portrait style as I had both models and new ideas flowing my way.  The night began with Foxie quietly asking me if I would like to wear a feather mohawk to the final event of the day, a wonderful African drumming group called The Drum Brothers.  Of course! Silly question. After shaking all our inhibitions loose on the dance floor, we headed out into the meadow armed with my usual lights and Foxie’s LED hula-hoop.  In the end, the hoop became the toy of choice and I think we got some really different types of images, possibly even giving the light painters a run for their money.

The mohawks added such a fun element to the images that I am definitely thinking about adding some costumes back into my work.  I find that there is such a freedom in having a prop to work off of when making this type of image, whether it is a light, a costume, a person, or an object.  Since I am generally working alone these days, sans Aloyse Blair, I find that I need this element to create some sort of a storyline or the images can become very flat.  In my mind, the most successful images keep you wondering and never let you complete the sentence.  You must come back over and over, wondering what exactly are you viewing.  The images are like questions rather than punch lines. Props help me to create these types of images.  The hardest thing for me to do is work in full moon light without props, as you will be able to see in the next post.  Until then, enjoy the Fake Full Moon Mohawk Dancer, Spirograph, The Flaming Mohawk, The Exploding Cloud Heart, and Meditating Moon Panda.

The Sacred Door

Late this June I was invited to the Big Hole area of Montana to be part of the ceremonial opening of The Sacred Door Trail.  This trail was conceived and created by Weston Pew, a Montana native, with a lot of vision.  After hiking the Camino de Santiago himself, and then further exploring ideas of pilgrimage, spirituality, and healing; Weston decided to connect several existing trails and create the first interfaith, American based, pilgrimage route.  The trail covers approximately 175 miles of remote wilderness and generally takes about a month to hike.

 

For the opening, a group of about seventy-five gathered to light and tend a sacred fire that burned for three days and nights.  While the fire was burning, the group was involved in ceremonies led by different spiritual leaders from around the world.  Among the vast variety of faiths and ideologies represented, we were especially grateful to engage in Sufi dances, Buddhist and Christian prayers, Hindu Pujas, Kundalini yoga practices, sound healing ceremonies led by Peruvian shamans, and even the chance to smoke a nineteenth generation peace pipe with Chief Looking Horse, bundle keeper for the entire Sioux nation.

 

The event was held at the western most portal of the trail, in an enormous meadow, at Hogan cabin (this cabin gets my vote for the world’s cutest cabin).  Surrounded by pine trees, filled with thousands of purple and blue flowers, flooded with starlight and a waxing moon, I could have not asked for a more beautiful place to make images.  Due to the fact that we were all camping, it was really easy to grab my camera, walk a short distance away and find a terrific shooting location.  These images were shot over three nights and I am very happy with how they turned out.

 

 

As a final note, I just wanted to say that getting to experience this ceremony, the new friends I made during the process, and where it has led me over the course of my summer is already having profound effects on my spiritual growth as well as pointing me in the direction of a future I could not have previously imagined.  For that, I thank Weston Pew for inviting me, and every one who came, participated, and made it a very special event.

 

Valdovino 2012

After a very successful art opening during the month of March at the National Arts Club League in New York City, I headed off to Spain.  Arriving in early April, I headed south to Seville and Granada to take in the Spanish version of Semana Santa, or Holy week.  Night after night, processions of pointy capped and robed penitents (think KKK, but not), lead several hundred-year-old litters carrying life size, candle lit, Mary and Jesus figures though the streets until dawn.  This was one of the most interesting and beautiful festivals I have experienced in all my travels.

Two weeks later, having thoroughly enjoyed the Alhambra, and much of fabulous Granada, I headed north to Pamplona to begin walking part of the Camino de Santiago. This is a thousand-year-old Christian Pilgrimage that spans 500 miles from the French border, across northern Spain to the Galician coast.  Although, I had hoped to walk the whole thing, weather, bed bugs, blisters, and a nasty cold stopped this pilgrim in her tracks after covering about 175 miles.  I would still love to go back and complete the walk, but at the time I knew I was not prepared to actually reach Santiago.

As I walked, I kept getting Facebook messages from one of my dearest friends Marilyn Poon, tempting me to ditch the Camino and head to surf camp in Valdovino, Spain.  After about two and half weeks I relented, hopped a bus, and was surfing the cold Atlantic Ocean the following morning.  I ended up spending five weeks at the Seeker Surf Camp, the last of which I was in convalescence due to my generally crummy lower back.  Thankfully, I find inspiration in times of pain and during this recuperation, there was a brilliant full moon accompanied by the rare clear, warm, Galician evening.  What follows are the images I made that night.

Due to the fact that I walked the Camino, I only brought my Cannon G12 camera with me to Spain, a glorified point and shoot, with few long exposure settings.  Thus, the ever-generous Marilyn Poon lent me her very fancy Nikon camera, but as I was unaccustomed with its format, I felt a little uncomfortable with the lenses and settings.  I honestly can’t say that these images begin to touch the ones I shot in Valdovino last summer, but I am not going to wholly discredit them either.  So with out further adeau… Valdovino 2012…

Chiang Mai, Thailand

It has been a really long time since I have done any personal work. It feels so strange not to be working with Aloyse.  I really wish that she had been here tonight. There are just some things that work better when there are two people.  I had to resort to putting the camera remote trigger between my teeth, and well that really didn’t help, so I didn’t get some of the shots I had imagined.

This image is my homage, to not only the golden Buddhist temples I have been visiting here in Thailand, but also to the temple gong that wakes me up every morning at 5am.  I have never been able to sit still and meditate; I have no discipline in that area of my life whatsoever.  I often dream, even make resolutions to start meditating… but nope, it never happens.  So, when that gong starts going off, I snuggle deeper under the covers and smile to myself, thinking of all the wonderful monks on their way to enlightenment, and here I lie, completely content with my suffering, warm in bed.  It’s a silly, delicious moment that I have come to savor in the wee hours of my jet-lagged sleep.  This image is me and my monkey mind… never settling down.

Goblin Valley

Well hello there, long time no posting…

So, it has been a while since I got on here and posted some new work.  Between getting back from Burning Man, packing my whole house in storage, and moving to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, things have been a bit crazed.  Never fear though, I have been working a lot and have some exciting new work to put up over the next few days.  Aloyse came down for a week to visit during the full moon, even with the rainy hurricane Jova weather we still managed to get some terrific new images. First things first though, I still have one shoot I did on the way home from Burning Man that I never got around to posting.

One of my favorite places on the planet is this bizarre spot in the middle of the deserts of Utah.  Named Goblin Valley, for its unusual sandstone rock formations, I can truly say this place is one of the world’s most magical and psychedelic locations.  I have been coming to Goblin Valley since I was about sixteen, and my friends would be surprised to see the new pay station, on grounds ranger housing, and full campground.  The cat may be out of the bag.  Fortunately, we were still able to drive right into the park at night and “illegally” run around in the moonlight.

Getting to Goblin Valley was the end of a great adventure. We had had a long few weeks of road tripping across the American west, and when all was said and done we had traveled over 4000 miles.  Accompanied by my great friend Angelo Valenzuela, we had driven from Colorado to Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and Black Rock City, now were slowly retracing our steps towards home. As we crossed the desolate strip of highway between Salina and Green River, Utah, I watched the moon traversing the mackerel sky, illuminating the vast desert emptiness.  Slowing heading for the horizon, I was concerned we would not get there in time to use the moon’s natural light.  As we pulled in to the parking lot, the moon was low, but on an angle that was reminiscent of the “golden hour” just before sunset.

The night was cold, and I was afraid that shooting naked might be miserable, but once disrobed, I adapted quickly and felt comfortable enough.  I climbed up on to the rocks and went through the usual static poses.  Then something happened.  I became a four-legged alien monster creature. Always looking for new directions and growth, this seems like a very fun interesting avenue for exploration.

Goblin Valley is a truly bizarre and amazing place.  Wherever you look there are rocks and towers that resemble everything from falaces to faces.  In the second image, if you look at the rock, you can see the profile of a face, leering at me in the dark.  After shooting in the first three locations, the clouds began to move in and the light became obscure, so I pointed the camera directly at the moon.  At this time, Angleo decided to jump in to the photo and we got a wonderful backlit image.

On the way back to the car, the moon set, the clouds really came in and we didn’t have much of a flashlight.  Suddenly, we became wildly disoriented.  Goblins reared out of the darkness, and I was irrationally terrified.  Although Goblin Valley is not large enough to really get lost, that moment of panic was an amazing experience.  After a few frightening moments, we retraced our steps, and were able to find the truck.  The campsite was full, so we parked a few miles away, and fell asleep pretzeled together in the front seat.

Temple of Transition

I am going to acknowledge another less successful attempt in my photography.  At Burning Man this year, the most impressive art piece was certainly the “Temple of Transition.”  In years past, the Temple was this really spooky place you visited, left an offering, and got the hell outta there.  Even though previous temples had been incredibly beautiful, they were certainly not the hub of action that this year’s temple turned out to be.

My first close view of the temple happened from an art car manned by the Piñata’s Revenge Camp.  We cruised around the magnificent structure at sunset as the earth harp was being played for the masses gathered below.  The great sky changed color every few minutes from pinks to purples and finally blues.  It was really something, something sacred and special, and something I wanted to come back and photograph.  I kept putting off shoots for various reasons, eventually choosing the night of The Man burn.

I arrived early and sat around for a while as the sun dropped behind the horizon and it became dark enough to do long exposures.  The problem with sunsets and sunrises is that they happen so quickly and the light changes so fast that you are constantly readjusting your camera settings to keep the same basic exposure.  It is a real pain, and if you are me, you normally go out without a specific game plan, and things don’t always go so well.   I ended up standing with the backlit temple behind me, which was beautiful but left me a dark blackness in which to work.   Without a front light source I was too dark to see, so I tried to light myself with two very bright flashlights and that was pretty much a failure.  The composition is pretty awful as well, as I am standing central and static in front of the temple and not engaging with my surroundings, sort of an alien tourist at the temple image.

I was trying to achieve this “many armed goddess” thing by dragging the light over my arms in different places; it kind of worked, and might be great in the future but not here.  By the time I started to explore, the light was gone and we were going to be late for The Man burn.  We abandoned the shoot, and I came away from the burn without any new images.  Disappointing in retrospect, but sometimes that is just the way of things. These are the results: nothing special, but as this blog is not only about success but the learning process I feel the need to post what I captured.  (No worries though, the next shoot kicks ass!)  Click on the images for a larger view.