Tim Hussin | Photo Blog

Next Episode: Idyll Dandy Acres

2011-03-18T13:17:00.003-04:00

Check out our next episode on America reCycled

Notes from the Road | America reCycled

2010-11-30T20:34:00.003-05:00

We just posted a video, story and photographs from our first leg of the biking journey. Check it out at www.americarecycled.org

hitting the road, finally

2010-11-02T16:20:00.006-04:00

*Cory, bear pelt and fox cod piece, Hawk with bowling ball*

My brother and I are leaving on our cross-country journey today. We planning to leave in summer, but the great group of people we've met here in Asheville have kept us for several months. Winter is here and we will bike through the cold, despite the cringes from our friends. With our departure, we are launching our Web site where we will host all our short films, photos and musings. We'd love to have all of you follow along.

Check us out here:

www.americarecycled.org

My Workspace, at the Moment

2010-08-30T17:00:00.003-04:00

...the cutest workspace ever.

America reCycled Update

2010-08-24T16:27:00.020-04:00

It's been a long start, but we're finally at what feels like a tipping point. People say Asheville's the kind of place that sucks you in, where a week turns into a year and ambitions of global proportions give way to sipping a hot cup of maté while your friend plucks a rusted out banjo to the gentle chorus of a million insects.

This place has sucked us in, with so many amazing stories to tell. We were planning on leaving on our bikes a couple of months ago, but the story has actually kept us mostly in one place. Between building bicycles, developing the concept, raising funds, accumulating (and discarding) equipment, endless research, and documenting some truly inspiring pockets of Asheville, we've had our plates overflowing. We've been staying at a community house, forming perspective-bending friendships with the twenty or so residents and a constant flux of travelers. We're now editing the story about this community, and along with a piece about bicycle culture and the cooperative where we learned how to build and repair our bikes, we'll have two stories to launch the website with.

Thank you to everybody who has been so supportive and patient as we get this project off the ground. It's been unbelievably encouraging to see so much faith in a project still in its nascent stage. Thank you to Tim Klimowitz and Jacky Myint for their time and enthusiasm in giving the project a home on the web. We're ecstatic about the site design. Thanks to our sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Thom, who have been enormously generous and have helped us find a home here. And thanks to 82 generous backers (and counting), we have surpassed our initial fund raising goal, taking some financial pressure off of us and allowing us to focus on story-telling. And our endless gratitude goes out to all our new friends in Asheville who have taken us into their lives and dealt with the constant probing. It's not easy to live in the presence of a camera and microphone, but everybody has been wonderful. You have all done your part to create to what is turning out to be a massive community effort.

The air is growing cooler and the road is calling. It will be well worth the wait.

-Noah and Tim

Our bikes are close to complete.

Noah has a 5-Watt solar panel to power our electronics on the road and I built a camera mount for the front of my bike (see video below)

After scratching previous ideas for the mount, I ended up finding metal brackets to attach together to hold a wooden plate with a bolt for a tripod head. After hours of sifting through nuts and bolts at the bike shop, I finally found enough to make it work. The wood plate is attached at five points. Four to the front rack and one to the upper fork. I'll attach some more brackets before I leave for extra security. Right now it is pretty rigid and reacts to bumps noticeably, but I'm working on making some rubber washers to absorb some of the shock.

This is our solar setup. The 5-Watt panel powers a 10Ah Lithium-Ion battery. We have a solar controller between the two pieces so we know the level of charge.

The panel is 12V, so I got a 12V power cord for my laptop. Works like a charm.

Below is a beta test of the bike cam.

We have 2 weeks left on our KickStarter project. Support the project at www.americarecycled.org

Little Secrets: Pano Pt.3

2010-08-18T13:17:00.002-04:00

Surrender to Summer Pt.2

2010-08-08T07:29:00.002-04:00

Tie strings to clouds
Make your own lake - Let it flow
Throw seeds to sprout

"Do Go" - Jónsi

Surrender to Summer

2010-08-05T09:09:00.005-04:00

You wish silence, released noise in tremors
You wish, I know it, surrender to summer
We should always know that we can do everything

"Go Do" - Jónsi

watch and listen

Bele Chere

2010-08-02T10:27:00.003-04:00

Meaning beautiful living in an ancient Scottish dialect...an annual street festival in Asheville. At the surface it was a hodgepodge of greasy food, beer and abundance. But there is some truth to the initial intent.

Pano Pt.2

2010-07-26T12:38:00.001-04:00

Little Secrets: Pano Pt.1

2010-07-13T12:13:00.002-04:00

I borrowed a Hasselblad X-Pan during my Nat Geo internship and shot some color and black and white in my free time both in DC and Bolivia. It's always refreshing for me to use a new format, to see different and work on composing within a strange frame. These images were shot with Neopan 1600 and Ilford 3200 black and white film.

LookBetween

2010-07-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

On June 11&12, LOOK3 hosted an experimental two night event to present the work of 90 innovative photographers on a farm 30 minutes west of Charlottesville. This initiative, which we are calling LOOKbetween, showcased early-career talent and engage the presenting artists with media professionals on practices and trends influencing the direction of photography today. The brave souls heading off the initiative want to turn the traditional mentorship model on its head and let the next generation of photographers, editors, publishers, curators, and media professionals share their vision for the future.

We all had a beautiful weekend. From talking with friends afterward, we all can't express enough how grateful we are for being a part of this and for being given the opportunity in our hectic lives to come together and reconnect. In short, it was a gigantic family reunion. I think we all walked a way with that needed inspiration. Special thanks to Jenna, Miki and Andrew for doing this for us. http://look3.org/events/eventslookbetween/

Little Secrets: Last DC Moments

2010-06-27T14:22:00.002-04:00

Kenji, an awesome tech-saavy photo engineer at Nat Geo, let me borrow a Mamiya 7 during my last meetings at the DC offices. For a week I snapped photos here and there. On walks, with friends and around town. I hadn't shot film in a while, so there was something very liberating about using a new format. And if you look closely, you'll see that one of my stops before I left was the Nazi propaganda exhibit.

Little Secrets : On the Road '07

2010-06-21T21:22:00.005-04:00

After finishing an internship at the Deseret News in 2007, I hopped in a car with two good friends and drove for weeks around the northwest. Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon. A friend, Kristin Murphy, let me borrow her Holga and gave me a ton of expired film. It was careless, free and beautiful.

America reCycled

2010-06-16T16:56:00.002-04:00

I just launched a Kickstarter project to raise funds to develop a really great Web site for my upcoming bike tour across America with my brother. Check out what it's all about here:

7dot7

2010-06-02T11:30:00.002-04:00

Kids With Guns is featured on 7dot7 Digital Magazine under New Formats. Check it out, they are promoting some really great documentary projects: www.7dot7.net

2010-05-29T11:33:00.007-04:00

Little Secrets

I've had rolls and rolls of film piling up since high school. All stuck in a plastic back with who knows what on them. Little secrets of my childhood. I threw them in a trunk a long time ago.

I started off shooting during family vacations with a cheap panoramic camera and eventually, my sister gave me our grandfather's old 35mm Minolta. I started dragging that around with me, shooting random pictures here and there. A lamp post, icicles, my brother posing with a snowboard. And once I actually considered trying to shoot for a newspaper, I picked up a digital camera and threw my old one in a trunk with rolls of undeveloped film. Thus began my photography career.

I pulled them out recently, brought them to the camera shop and scanned them with the kind help of my friend, Mike Belleme. Many were under or overexposed. Some whole rolls were black. Many showed age -- dirty, dark, grainy and mysterious. As I sift through them, I will post them here, show them to you, and remember.

I have only recently shot film again, with the kindness of Kenji at Nat Geo, who let me borrow a couple different film cameras. So, I will post film old and new, a delicious sandwich of sorts encompassing my digital life.

Hair for the WSJ

2010-05-20T11:07:00.001-04:00

Matt Craig of the Wall Street Journal gave me a ring several weeks ago for a shoot about Dominican hair salons. Apparently they were posing significant competition to the African-American hair salons with less talk and speedier service. One of the ladies I talked to had been there for 4 hours already and wasn’t even done. “Speedier service?” I asked myself. I guess it’s all relative. I showed up the day before Easter and it was packed. I felt like a sardine in a school of mullet – a scrawny white male in the midst of a bunch of Latino and black women. It was hot and the fumes were intoxicating. But that’s what I like about this job, being thrown into totally foreign situations and navigating your way through. I took a deep breath and made some pictures.

Check it out here

Asheville: Lightness and Pain

2010-05-03T13:17:00.004-04:00

"Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes." -The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

The Woodlands Chalet

2010-04-24T21:27:00.002-04:00

Family Vacation, near Asheville, North Carolina

Washington Post.

2010-04-18T22:11:00.001-04:00

Legal Eagle

2010-04-08T13:12:00.003-04:00

I made this picture back the days of my internship at the Monroe Evening News. I was at a marine's house for one of those freedom holidays -- I think it was the 4th of July. This was sitting in the corner of the room. It was caught and stuffed back in the day when they weren't so endangered. Even though they had this thing registered, every now and then they'd have neighbors report them to the EPA. The picture wasn't so interesting to me then, but I just recovered it and realize how strange it actually is.

Jeff Powelson for the Wall Street Journal

2010-03-23T16:23:00.001-04:00

Building Mug for the Wall Street Journal

2010-03-17T11:54:00.000-04:00

Kudzu for Nat Geo

2010-03-11T18:37:00.003-05:00

The first day of my internship at National Geographic Magazine, I was sent out to shoot a picture of kudzu, the invasive vine that blankets vegetation. It's not the most invigorating subject in the world, but I set out at night to do some light painting to try to make it a bit more dynamic.

lost but found

2010-03-09T19:28:00.003-05:00

I came across these images in the depths of my hard drives - Circa 2007 in Gainesville, Florida, when my way of life was engulfed by the college, with plenty of good friends and good times.

Snowpocalypse

2010-02-25T21:37:00.003-05:00

There was a blizzard here in DC before Christmas. And I just found these photos on my desktop.

picking up

2009-12-02T01:23:00.004-05:00

I'm finally back in the states and almost done with my Nat Geo internship. So, I'll pick up from where I left off, leaving New York, and save some of those frames that would just end up sitting in the depths of my hard drive if they didn't have a home here.

on a jet plane

2009-10-02T14:09:00.003-04:00

I'm finally leaving this country for a little while. But I'm not leaving you empty handed. Some of my work will appear on a new blog some friends and I created to motivate each other to keep seeing, producing and sharing stories with our friends, neighbors, allies and strangers in this world.

So please visit us!

www.pangeaphoto.com

nycmisc

2009-09-20T12:32:00.001-04:00

moving on

2009-09-04T15:53:00.014-04:00

I just finished up my internship at MediaStorm and am working on closing up this chapter and starting the next one in DC for the National Geographic internship. I'm ready to move on, but will definitely miss the relationships I've made here. I learned a lot in these past 5 months, things that have and will continue to inform my shooting and take my storytelling to a new level.

I stumbled upon this time lapse I shot a couple months ago and threw this together on my last day -- A Day in the Life of MediaStorm -- (music by Radiohead - Idioteque (butchered))

nycmisc

2009-08-23T20:49:00.007-04:00

when i found the America Box it had a half-eaten piece of fried chicken in it.

nycmisc

2009-08-03T22:07:00.002-04:00

coney

2009-08-02T14:12:00.003-04:00

la

2009-07-30T09:08:00.002-04:00

I've never been to LA before. POYi hosted the awards ceremony there this year, so I had the opportunity to go. It was a strange place to say the least. Most of the weekend was consumed by the amazing work, but on the last day we made it out to Venice beach.

lightning

2009-07-28T21:07:00.001-04:00

I don't think I've every shot a photo of lightning...even though I did grow up in Tampa, the supposed lightning capital of the world.

train woes

2009-07-26T16:27:00.002-04:00

It's that time of night when everyone is sitting around wondering if the train will ever arrive and take them safely home. But you better stay awake when it does come, because it sucks when you wake up two stops beyond home and have to play the waiting game once again.

hydrant

2009-07-26T13:47:00.001-04:00

This fire hydrant spraying water on a Brooklyn street actually does happen.

On the Road with Danny Wilcox Frazier

2009-07-24T16:18:00.002-04:00

After wrapping up Driftless with Danny Wilcox Frazier, we team sat down with him for an interview, which I later produced. Watch it here.

Mermaids

2009-07-21T10:50:00.004-04:00

I shot these last month as I was running around Coney Island during the mermaid parade with Bob Sacha's workshop team trying to track down the Furries for their story. I wish I could've spent all day there, but I was at least able to make a few frames in passing.

burlesque

2009-07-06T21:26:00.003-04:00

These are from a burlesque comedy show I went to with a friend a couple weeks ago...kind of weird.

MediaStorm Workshop

2009-07-02T16:57:00.004-04:00

The MediaStorm workshop pieces are live. It was an intense and exhausting week but I enjoyed every second of it. Check out the two stories produced here:http://www.mediastorm.org/workshops_0006.htm

I shot and produced the Behind the Scenes piece. It was a challenge to get it done in the week. I followed each team around and did interviews with each person and the MediaStorm staff...11 total.

Check it out:

Coney Island, Pt. 8

2009-06-27T19:49:00.002-04:00

man and animal

2009-06-20T23:25:00.001-04:00

Coney Island, Pt. 6

2009-06-16T23:52:00.001-04:00

LOOK3

2009-06-16T23:05:00.002-04:00

I went to LOOK3 photo festival in Virginia this past weekend. Here are some pictures.

The Others

2009-06-14T18:21:00.002-04:00

Here are some photos that didn't make the final edit. I like some of these better, but they didn't seem to flow in the original edit.

Shootout

2009-06-08T10:36:00.010-04:00

I just got back to NYC from the shootout. They gave us about 2 and a half days to shoot. The story topic was rituals and the single topics were architecture and cable car. I'll post some more words later when I have time, but I just wanted to get the photos up for all that are interested. I placed 1st with these images. Congrats to Brian Frank and John W. Adkissonn who placed second and third, respectively, and to the other photo finalists Jake Stevens, Brian Anselm and Carl Kiilsgaard.

| Chronicle of Events |
When I found out I was accepted as one of the final six shooters, I made a list of people I knew in San Francisco and also asked friends for their contacts. I did a little research and bought a travel book to get a bit familiar with the city. I have only been there a couple times, once as a child and once pretty recently for a couple days. So my knowledge of the city was limited, but in a way that allowed me to have fresh eyes and perspective and not take common place things for granted.

I arrived to SF Tuesday afternoon, checked in and had the rest of the afternoon to do whatever. So, I walked around a bit, took a nap, and then met the rest for dinner. After dinner we had portfolio reviews with the judges and then received our assignments. I think most of us did a bit of research and brainstorming, got some sleep and woke up pretty early to get started. I struggled a while at first trying to come up with a good story. I called many many people and had a lot of ideas but nothing solid. Since one of the assignments was to shoot a cable car book cover, I hopped on the cable car in between attempts at finding a story. The cable car ended at Fisherman's Wharf, so I decided to check it out. As I entered the Disneylandesque tourist trap with 3 for $10 t-shirts sales on every corner I almost turned back. This is something I usually avoid, but I decided to keep pushing through until I got to the water.

I grew up on the water and seem to gravitate toward it wherever I go. There is always a sense of freedom and adventure that accompanies the water for me. So I figured that fishermen must think of it as a ritualistic escape from terrestrial humans. It's amazing how even though the pier is right next to the large tourist street, the tourists rarely venture out to where the actual fishermen come in and out.

I asked around for a while in an attempt to find some fishermen who were going out the next day and would be willing to take me out on a boat. I had no luck at first. Then I found a man at his large crabbing boat and I talked to him for a bit. He wasn't going out the next day but after 15 minutes he asked me if I had lunch yet and invited me into his cabin for some steamed crab he just caught and a cold beer. This was the first time that day that I calmed down and told myself that it was all going to be alright. Here I was, a mere 10 minute walk from overpriced restaurants on a man's boat who had been fishing all his life eating the fruits of his labor for free. All it took is a little curiosity, an open mind and the willingness to listen.

Finally, a boat pulled up next to his and warmly invited me to go out the next day at 8am. So, I took it easy for the rest of the day and continued to talk to different fishermen coming in and out with hopes of finding a boat that was going out earlier. The next day I showed up early, about 3:30am in hopes that there would be a crew going out earlier. There wasn't, but there was a crew coming in on a huge boat after a three-day trip. I hung with them for a while and shot the unloading process. Then, shortly before the meeting time for the other boat, one of the deck hands sparked one up and told me that smoking was one of his rituals. At that point things started to fall into place.

I spent from about 8am to 1am the next morning with the captain Sean and the crew on the anchovy boat. We made two trips out, one in the day and one at night, with a Hooter's break in between. It was very exhausting, but the energy on the boat and the beauty of the bay kept me rolling. We rode under blue skies in the day and a full moon at night, rubbing up close to huge cargo ships waiting to dock. As we slowly drove back to the pier, a couple of the crew and I went down to the cabin and slept. My body melted into the cushy plank and I finally felt at ease.

W.R.H.

2009-06-01T19:26:00.003-04:00

I'm heading to San Francisco tomorrow morning for the Hearst shootout. I have plenty of photos I need to post on here, but they'll have to wait until next week. So, please excuse the relative absence of blogidge.

Coney Island, Pt. 5

2009-05-28T10:04:00.002-04:00

| Scenes |

The second photo is one of a couple moments after he got down on his knee and proposed. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, but was late for the knee photo.

Coney Island, Pt. 4

2009-05-26T09:25:00.003-04:00

Flaca, the man pictured at the beginning and end has been a struggling alcoholic for a while now. He has also been sleeping under the boardwalk at Coney Island. He recently decided to take part in a rehab program for 28 days in Queens starting today. All of his friends are really hoping he makes it through and cleans himself up a bit. Old habits are easy to fall into again. So, I'm hoping once that month passes pictures like the ones at the end of the slideshow won't happen anymore. He's a sensitive guy anyway, but he can't seem to process his issues very well when intoxicated. I wanted to document this so he would be able to see himself at this low point and maybe take it as a reference for how he can improve his life.

Driftless

2009-05-23T00:08:00.004-04:00

Check out Danny Wilcox Frazier's Driftless if you haven't seen it yet. We launched it last Tuesday. I've fallen in love with this piece, so go to a quiet place and watch.

relax.

2009-05-20T21:12:00.001-04:00

Jason & Danny

2009-05-17T21:24:00.002-04:00

Leah & Will

2009-05-17T21:10:00.003-04:00

It's amazing how novel open spaces get when you live in the city. Even just to pass through a park is such a refreshing contrast from crammed streets and buildings. I finally made it up to Connecticut to visit an old friend of mine. There were woods, open roads and space.

pizza.

2009-05-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

subway.

2009-05-03T17:33:00.000-04:00

fish.

2009-05-03T17:32:00.002-04:00

Coney Island, Pt. 3

2009-04-29T00:26:00.001-04:00

Costa Rica

2009-04-22T22:18:00.002-04:00

From a place and time far away from here. Where the animals thrive, everything is wet and green and the people are calm, collected and happy.

Coney Island, Pt.2

2009-04-20T21:17:00.000-04:00

This place fascinates me. It's packed with interesting people from all parts of society. Some live here, some visit, some are homeless, some are filthy rich. I met a group of guys on the pier this past weekend and played some percussion with them for hours. We drank cheap beer and danced. Most of the group is from Cuba and accepted me once they realized I have decent rhythm for a white boy.

The man at the end is homeless and sleeps under the boardwalk. He was drunk when I met him and spilled his guts out to me. "I feel free here," he said about living on Coney Island. He started crying when he began to think about his former loved ones, including his mom that passed away years ago a couple days before his birthday, his twin brother who kicked him out of the house and various others he has met and lost along the way. He was happy to have someone to talk to and I was happy to listen. He told me that was more important than money - honesty, truth and friendship. As we talked he looked up to the sky and said that God has a plan for him.

As it is for many, Coney Island is a welcome escape for me. I grew up on the water and miss it when I'm far. And even though water surrounds this city, it's easy to feel claustrophobic and landlocked when you have so many people, buildings and trains holding you in. I plan to spend some time at this strange and beautiful place, to make photos, hear stories and refresh my senses.

outside

2009-04-19T23:41:00.001-04:00

I came upon a congregation of Hasidic Jews worshiping. The windows were cracked so I could see heads bobbing up and down while they prayed. The young ones seemed just as curious about the outside as I was about the inside.

Dog.

2009-04-19T20:45:00.000-04:00

Leo

2009-04-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

I was sent to the PMA conference in Vegas to produce a video for the convention (I posted a couple galleries a month ago). While scouring the endless booths for something interesting beyond the technology and marketing that occupies most people's minds at a place like this, I found Leo. He is the founder of a small-town camera shop in Klamath Falls, Oregon called Leo's Camera Shop. Leo has been attending the conference on and off for over 50 years. So, I hung out with him and his son for a little while.

Cats + Anarchy = Subway Party

2009-04-13T21:58:00.000-04:00

Some anarchists gathered the other night and had a subway party, all with cat masks. It was fun, but I find it somewhat funny that they all payed the fare to get down into the subway to party when many where there to protest the fare hikes. Regardless, it's hard to beat a bit of youthful mayhem underground.

Debauchery

2009-04-13T01:11:00.000-04:00

R.I.P Buttercup

2009-04-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

My roommate Alan's beloved cat Buttercup was tragically killed the other day in what has been called the "perfect storm." Each school day afternoon, kids flood our street. It's usually busy, and Buttercup has known the routine for many years since he's lived on this street. But this day was especially chaotic. The school children had exceptional glee on this day because of the coming of spring break and a certain sense of freedom that accompanies it. The combination of youthful banter and cars passing on a usually calm road must have pushed his luck to the edge.

It's hard to lose any creature you love, large or small. And for most, it makes you reevaluate the value and delicacy of life. It is fragile and should be appreciated in every moment. As hard as it is to try to avoid preoccupations in everyday life we must try and take a step back, breathe and think about all the beauty that surrounds us.

Coney Island, New York

2009-04-10T00:40:00.000-04:00

What a strange place.

New York City, New York

2009-04-10T00:17:00.000-04:00

And then there is New York. My final final destination...for now. Danny and Celia took me in when I arrived and made me feel at home. They cooked me food and gave me beer, maps and a futon. Without them I would probably be lost somewhere not far from the airport wishing I was home. Since then it has been a series of random encounters and experiences all of which have been unique and fresh.

I remember thinking of Denver as a huge city when I first rolled in. How naive. Now I have the task of trying to comprehend this overwhelming mass of buildings and people and maybe if I'm lucky I will be able to focus and find a story that needs to be told.

San Francisco, California

2009-04-09T01:10:00.000-04:00

Mojave Desert, California

2009-04-09T01:05:00.000-04:00

US-1, California

2009-04-06T19:26:00.000-04:00

Las Vegas, Nevada

2009-04-06T19:18:00.000-04:00

Zion National Park, Utah

2009-04-06T19:16:00.000-04:00

Somewhere, Midwest- The Journey of a Tumbleweed

2009-04-06T19:01:00.001-04:00

Somewhere, Western Kansas

2009-04-06T16:30:00.000-04:00

Kansas City, MO

2009-04-06T14:33:00.001-04:00

St. Louis, Missouri

2009-04-06T03:56:00.000-04:00

Asheville, NC

2009-04-05T04:30:00.001-04:00

My brother-in-law and dear friend. The Sophisticated Chimps

Bike Trip

2009-04-01T22:51:00.000-04:00

The first part of the trip actually started on a bike in the opposite direction of the destination. It was to St. Augustine from Gainesville, a 80ish mile bike ride. It wasn't as grueling as it sounds, especially for a unseasoned biker like myself. The trip was mostly along highways but when we finally reached the beach after a 8 hour ride, it was bliss.

Coast to Coast

2009-04-01T17:47:00.000-04:00

I set out on a road trip three weeks ago from Florida to the coast of California with Vanessa (pictured below). For a couple weeks I was able to forget about the pressure of responsibility and concentrate on the open road. The end was San Fransisco, where I caught a flight to New York to start an internship at MediaStorm. It's amazing watching the landscape slowly change and morph in ways that are so drastic. I'll post images from throughout in the next week or so.

Saint Augustine, Florida

US-1, California, near Cambria

vegas.

2009-03-07T22:27:00.000-05:00

fear and loathing, but mostly loathing.

spaces.

2009-03-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

Vegas. In a way, it's bigger than itself. It's already in the middle of a vast desert, but then they constructed monstrous buildings with huge rooms adorned with all sorts of crazy things you could only dream of. The Las Vegas Convention Center, host of this year's PMA convention and trade show has about 3 million square feet of space. So, in such a busy city boasting adventure and excitement around every corner, there's bound to be loneliness.

found

2009-03-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

from the depths of my mind...er...archives...

RIP, Rocky

2009-02-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

Scripps announced today that the Rocky Mountain News will publish their last edition on Friday. They have been up for sale for some time now and finally had to bite the bullet after not receiving any offers. It's devastating to see that fine paper go. The talent and work those people put into their paper amazed and inspired me and they will be greatly missed. Best of luck in the future to all of you...

Here are some random quotes I pulled from reader comments:

The English language is becoming increasingly “dumbed down” and turned into sound and video bites with no depth and even less intelligence. Newspapers help hold a community together and are an important voice for democracy.

This is a total bummer. The great American spirit doused by the torrential rains of recession. And now life goes on.

I love you Rocky Mountain News.

This is one of the saddest days in Colorado history.

Your front page was our front door.

I think I will cry...

Goodbye, old friend.

You will be missed.

Airshow.

2009-02-25T11:36:00.000-05:00

2009-02-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

missing

2009-02-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings, 5, went missing from her home in Satsuma, about a 1.5 hour drive from Gainesville, last Monday Feb. 9. Authorities are treating it like an abduction, but everyone is suspect. I spent the last three days there. It's a small tight-knit rural community, and the families have received tons of support from the surrounding areas. When I first arrived, the ground search was in full force, with a Texas-based group called EquuSearch on horseback trampling through the woods. Today, they called off the search and are pursuing only the investigative side of the case. The authorities they have leads, but can't give any details yet.

It's terrible when something like this happens, and as a photographer it's difficult to shoot when the families really just want to be left alone. They appreciate the coverage since they recognize the value of raising awareness about their child, but the hordes of TV cameras in their faces pushed the parents to the edge at points--already deprived of food and sleep. So, I tried to lay low and not cause them more grief than they were already experiencing.

honest abe

2009-02-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

Oh, Abe. Happy 200th.

otter

2009-02-12T09:51:00.001-05:00

no, it's not alive.

remembering home

2009-02-04T13:16:00.000-05:00

We met up with the Nicaraguan family the next day. My brother and I ran after them as they turned the corner, up the hill toward a place they currently call home. They welcomed our request to follow as they make their daily trek up the dusty mountain road. Fourteen in all, the two families ascended slowly, toting baskets on their backs for hauling the fresh coffee fruits. Their baskets are empty now, and their day picking in the arching steep mountain corridors of the coffee farm is over until dawn.

The children climbed arm in arm, playful, confident and carefree. Their parents ascended a bit slower, trailing behind but keeping pace. The daily routine would be depressing alone, but it’s hard to feel down when there are so many smiles—touching the edge of each child’s cheek.
A car drove up and the kids ran after it, jumping aboard only to be shooed off moments later when the driver had to continue on a different path. Eventually, a couple kilometers up the road, we turned off to their refuge—a mountainside shack surrounded in coffee plants. It overlooked the great valley below and the surrounding mountains—a vista I’m used to only seeing the wealthy own. They gathered below the metal overhang, with a single hammock and a halved tree set down to make a bench.

The rested after a 10-hour day—from the youngest, 5 or so, to oldest, about 70, all wearing knee-high rubber boots. One was on the hammock, another grasping a strand of barbed wire strung at the roof, three more fiddling with a rusted broken bike. We went inside. The floor was tightly packed reddish-brown dirt, untouched by erosion and hardened by years of migrant footprints. There was one bed in the room with a thin foam mattress, the rest were on the second floor. The room was covered with mangled metal—spotted with gaps where streaks of light shone through, illuminating pieces of the father’s forlorn face.

The look of longing was so apparent—I can’t imagine the burden on his shoulders. He held his youngest tightly and I saw a bond that I hadn’t seen between a father and his children for some time. I can see how living such a struggle can make one cherish those closets to him. This is a time for them—to sit and enjoy each other, to watch the sun slowly fall over the mountains—light shifting from face to face—the kids running through the coffee plants after chicks and the parents arm in arm on the wooden bench.

Before they left they offered to sell us a large bag of red and black seeds from some plant that their people craft into jewelry back home. Our Spanish isn’t fluent, so it took some time for us to figure out that she wanted us to pay her whatever we thought was fair. She brought them across the border with hopes to make a little extra money, but with a scarce tourist industry in this small farming town, they were practically useless. While babbling back and forth with my brother about what to do the father took a small handful and caressed them in his weathered hand—meditating on an idea of home that exists in his mind, but he may or may not find for his family in their nomadic life.
As I uselessly try to put a price to this he clenches his fist. I can only hope that he can hold on to his ideals and someday will be at ease.

Bridge

2009-01-31T17:54:00.000-05:00

Crossword

2009-01-31T17:43:00.000-05:00

The annual north Florida crossword puzzle tournament was a hit. I was impressed when the champ did a Saturday puzzle in 20 minutes.

Invade

2009-01-31T17:32:00.001-05:00

It's been a couple months since I shot a newspaper assignment. I forgot that getting up early Saturday morning to roam around the woods in search of air potatoes isn't so bad after all. Air potatoes are invasive in Florida, and apparently locals care enough to bring their families out to collect and trash them.

Respite

2009-01-28T12:48:00.000-05:00

I just returned to the States from Costa Rica and have been thumbing through my photos, hence the somewhat idle blog. I'm working on editing a project about a coffee coop, so hopefully I'll have some more photos and stories to share soon.

Monos en la Playa -Costa Rica-

2009-01-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

holidays pt. 2

2009-01-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

I was able to meet up with some of my closest friends after Christmas. We wandered around northern Georgia, the start of Appalachia. It's amazing how quickly the mountains rise up from the straight, flat asphalt. Blood Mountain was our home for a good part of the week, bringing us that wet freezing chill, constant fog and mist, and home-mashed hot apple cider.

holidays pt. 1

2009-01-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

It's been relaxing, rejuvenating and quite interesting. I don't care much for presents, but I always cherish the opportunity to see (most of) my family all in one spot again.

at home

2008-12-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

with my brother and dad on the beach in december. made up tunes and the open gulf...

graduation

2008-12-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

I'm finally done and was able to sqeeze off a few with my left hand as I shook Berine's hand.