Look Up!!

Do you ever get that feeling you're being stared at? You know the one... when you have a giant tri-pod draped over your shoulder with some foreign looking device attached to it, while walking in a village where the word 'technology' seems like it is still coming into fruition?

I get that feeling a lot. It's interesting to see people's reactions. Some are incredibly interested. Some could care less. But they all seem to stare.

This job is fun because I get to meet all kinds of people. It encourages me to walk blindly into places I normally wouldn't. Earlier this year, I was asked how I go about designing my timeline once I arrive in a new country. This made me laugh. It dawned on me that I have never done this. In fact, to be quite honest, I am often quite ignorant of the possibilities a country has to offer before stepping foot on it's soil. But it makes traveling fun, when you don't know what you are going to do or where you will be in 2 days or 2 hours.

I really grasped this mindset this year... Floated with the wind, you might say. But it made it fun, and 'most' days quite interesting. I think it is common knowledge that if one plans everything out before hand, it's easy to forget to look up from the schedule to the exciting things that lay right next to you.

Back Back, to Kashmir Kashmir

This past year was full of randomness. Without getting too far into the details, (don't want to spoil any future blog posts!) I did manage to go back to Kashmir again. After going last year to shoot a documentary called Azadi-Freedom (click here for trailer,) I was keen to get back there after word that a helicopter had finally been brought in.

Kashmir is one of those places that grows on you instantly. It is almost unexplainable how the sites, smells, and sounds just grab a hold of you and won't let go. Going back felt like going home. It was great to see friendly faces that I had gotten to know a winter before. On top of that, our film had been well received by the locals and visitors alike. A refreshing note was that I was meeting people that had gone to Kashmir for the first time only because they had seen the film. That was a very humbling feeling.

While in Gulmarg, I helped out on 2 webisodes produced by Jase Hancox. (See more of his stuff here.) He was hired by Gulmarg Heli Ski to produce 4 webisodes as weekly updates for the first year of operation.

These are 2 that I helped on:

Pathetic

It took me forever to be convinced to write my first blog back in December of 2010, and almost as long again for my sophomore follow up. If I am honest, I feel weird about writing blogs. I have always felt lucky to have the experiences that traveling and photography have brought me, but never really felt comfortable sharing those experiences with the world.

I now look back and think, "Why not?" Why not share stories with a broader audience? If I can convince one more person to look around the corner, to exit their 'bubble,' is it not worth it? So that is what I am going to do here. My head is normally in the clouds and I don't set aside a lot of time for writing things like this, but my promise to you is to update with random pictures as often as possible with a little blurb about what/when/why/where the photo was taken.

Enjoy if you have time. Constructive criticism or just flat out criticism is always welcome!

In order to move forward into this new endeavor, I have decided to show a you photo of my 'home' for 3 months of the year. Introducing the FV Coventina, a commercial fishing vessel based out of Valdez, Alaska. I first started working on this boat in the summer of 2007 and have had the privilege to enjoy every summer since working, eating, and sleeping on it.

Working on this boat has provided me a life-style that I am whole-heartedly passionate about. I work hard for those summer months; putting in long hours, enduring stormy weather, and eating lot's of fish with rice or potatoes, so that the remainder of the year can be spent exploring this incredible earth. In the forth-coming blogs I hope to share photos of these off season adventures.