Friday, January 16, 2009

Blue Window Essaouira




The view across the alley from a room at the Hotel des Ramparts in Essaouira, Morocco.

Tikal Engulfed


I really like the way the jungle has completely reclaimed this ancient Mayan pyramid at Tikal in Guatemala.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Grand Canyon Part 1



The day slips away while we watch from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon near the Tovar lodge.

Rambling Rose


A rambling red rose frames Joana in the courtyard of the Cameron Trading Post Lodge. Cameron, Arizona 2004

Lake Powell Part 2



We found a secluded cove where we anchored the boat and ate lunch. Afterwards I went for a swim and the water was almost warm enough. Late May 2004

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Jardin Majorelle





Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh, 1996

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Francophone, Paris 2001


John Jordan yaks on a Parisian pay phone in this image made from multiple video frames. It was late, we caught the Metro to La Defense but the trams from there to Suresnes had stopped running so we had to hoof it a couple or three kilometers back to Mike's house. Of course we had no maps and had never made the trip on foot before so it was a very indirect route until we finally got some where that looked familiar.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Congolese Marching Band on a Side Street in Brussels 2002






Because they just appeared unexpectedly, seemingly coming out of nowhere, this makes me think of a scene from a "Pink Panther" movie or the old "Get Smart" TV show. I can just see Clouseau or Max following someone up this alley and trying to get by these guys as they keep pushing him back! I ended up seeing them later in the Grand Plaz where they were performing for some official EU gathering. I'll post those pics later.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

The Casbah of Ourzazate



A really nice casbah. The place is pronounced Where-Zuh-Zat.

My Dad Vs. The Moose


My dad outruns a moose while my mom stays calm, cool, and collected enough to get the shot! Nice going! He had been shooting photos of the scenery on the other side of the fence when the moose came galloping down the fence line towards him. This brings back memories of Sunday mornings when I was kid. My mom would drag me to church while my dad stayed home and watched Rocky and Bullwinkle. I was very envious.

Michelle's Blue Bottle Collection Circa 2002



Michelle kept her blue bottle collection on the window sill by her front door. I contributed the glass Milk of Magnesia bottle with the flowers in it. I found it when I was a kid spending part of the summer with friends who moved to a farm in West Virginia. We were exploring the ruins of an old farm-house that we had run to after being scared by the sounds of "The Motorcycle Mamas" gang as we called them (yes it was the 70s) coming down the road on their choppers. Once inside we poked around and I found that beautiful blue bottle and kept it for years until I found it a better home, with "family" on Michelle's windowsill.

Paris Video Montages 2001



A couple of images stitched together from video frames. My first time visiting Mike in Paris.

Let's Kick It!



San Francisco, March 2000: For me the highlight of the first Flashforward conference ever held had to be Joe Sparks' presentation where I was introduced to Radiskull and Devil Doll and became a fan as soon as the boys started to kick it! If you aren't familiar with them do yourself a favor and check out the first episode below.

Radiskull #1: Radiskull & Devil Doll

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Placencia, Belize, Formerly Undiscovered Tropical Paradise




The old Turtle Inn was a rustic, laid back little string of palm roofed huts on the beach in Placencia, Belize. When I visited in 1999 the first dirt road had just reached the isolated fishing village that sits at the tip of a lush, sandy peninsula separating a tranquil lagoon from the beautiful blue-green Caribbean Sea. Placencia was remote, peaceful and had no streets, just wooden sidewalks through the sand. It was in the process of being discovered and developed though, and walking along the beach revealed rickety wooden scaffolding rising occasionally from sandy lots where I suppose hotels may have grown. The Turtle Inn and it's palms were leveled by Hurricane Iris a couple of years after these photos were taken and a new upscale Turtle Inn owned by Francis Ford Coppola now exists on the same spot.

Back here in cold, snowy, New England, on winter days like today I think back to that hammock in the shade of the palms on the warm, sunny beach in Placencia and smile. Hammock photo by Kara.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Tikal, Guatemala


Looking somewhat as it must have to those who rediscovered it, an ancient stone pyramid appears to grow out of the jungle at the ancient "Mayan Metropolis" of Tikal in the hinterlands of Guatemala.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Western Cloud Mountains

Glenmalure, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland


Even the green hills of Ireland get a little brown during the winter, and December 1996 was downright frigid. There was plenty of good company to warm our spirits though. The island's population swells between Christmas and New Years Day when Irish emigres from around the world return for the holidays.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Pumpkin Paradise



Picking a pumpkin on a beautiful Autumn day in Connecticut.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tinfou: End of the Line


We'd left Marrakesh before dawn, crossed the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass and the entire High Atlas range by late morning, and then refueled in Ourzazate by noon. The Anti Atlas and the Draa Valley were behind us by mid afternoon and soon afterwards we successfully found Garren and drove on past Zagora out to the desert, by late afternoon where we stopped, rode some camels on the dunes at sunset and slept in the courtyard of the Auberge at Tinfou. That night the milky-way flowed brightly across the sky and I felt very, very far away from my normal life and my normal world. More from a previous post here.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Over the High Atlas



Somewhere beyond the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass on the way from Marrakesh to Ourzazate. 1997

Monday, December 08, 2008

Where have all the Vikings gone?





The Viking ship sculpture in Reykjavik is a reminder of Icelanders' early days. It sits overlooking the water and is now watched over by unfinished "viking condominiums" stalled by Iceland's economic disaster and facing an uncertain future.

Sunday driving in Iceland






The road from Thingvellir to Laugarvatn is a great place to get away from the maddening crowds of Reykjavik. Well actually there didn't seem to be any maddening crowds in Reykjavik but out in the countryside it's almost uninhabited so in comparison Reykjavik seems downright frantic, teeming with hustling and bustling masses of Nordic humanity.

Me and the girls at Gulfoss


Joana snaps one of me and the girls during the last gasp of magic hour (which can last a really long time in Iceland.)

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Illinois Back Road



Tooling around the back roads of western Illinois, we dodged high water from the floods as we headed from Galena to Nauvoo.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Twilight in Iceland




A row of bare trees is silhouetted by the long twilight at the end of an Icelandic day in early November. Coming from New England I was struck by the lack of trees. Most seemed to have been planted intentionally.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Nauvoo, IL


After many detours due to the rising floodwaters of the Mississippi we finally arrived in Nauvoo, where Joseph Smith and the Mormons settled after being driven from Missouri. It was here that they set up shop and created a successful community that operated autonomously from the areas around it. Later Smith was killed and the Mormons were forced to leave Nauvoo and ultimately resettled in Utah.