The World in Focus Blog
Last week I spent some time roaming Joshua Tree National Park and photographing the epic Joshua Trees. If you’ve never been there before, let me tell you it is every bit as good as you might think it is. I loved it. I took a few images that are going to make it into my Great American West print portfolio, so if you’d like to have an image from that collection, please put an order in. Nothing would make me prouder than having one of these amazing trees grace your wall.
You have to work yourself out of the equation at some point, and if not, be willing to ask yourself what your motives are.
Okay, so now that I have your attention, there is more. But it’s not what you think. I encourage you to take five minutes to read the rest. If you are inclined to make a difference in life then don’t miss this. You’ll thank me later.
By the way, I adapted what you’ll read in the above link from my last book Testimony: Africa. It’s as timely as ever. And don’t forget…I have a new one coming out. Sign up for a FREE sample and get ready for the launch!
I used to think that saying was true. But…it’s not. Turns out people do judge books by the cover. Which is why Testimony Africa got a bum rap (unless you read it, and then you know why I chose the cover image and that the book contains some really good information on development in the hardest places in the world).
But I digress.
I have written a new book called Witness, and for this one I shifted the focus of everything. It’s not a book about African development. It’s not a book about other people’s incredible stories. And it certainly doesn’t have a hard image on the cover.
This book is a memoir, a retrospective of what I’ve seen and learned in 20 years in the world’s toughest places. It’s big, bold and beautiful. Aspirational and positive. It’s a treasure trove of wisdom from those experiences that I want you to read and experience along with me. And based on the cover, I think you’ll be proud to have this one on your coffee table. And give to friends. It’s coming soon. Read (and see) an excerpt now! Then please spread the word!
First, let me tell you more about this book. Then get a FREE sample.
Witness is storytelling like you’ve never seen. Literally. Witness is my memoir presented an an aspirational coffee-table photobook. It tells how I got started in this work and what has come out of it. Witness weaves a visual tapestry around my own story and my secrets of storytelling. It is beautiful, bold, and super cool. It will find a place on your coffee table for a long time to come. And you’ll want to give it as gifts to your friends for their coffee tables, too.
The book takes you backstage in the world’s most gripping scenes, helping you harness the power of presence in the heart of a story and to embrace emotion in our collective pursuit to inspire action and change. It will equip you with a deep application to your own personal and professional growth, inspired to fully leverage your own story to drive influence and create transformation at scale. Get a free sample today, and then let me know what you think!
Now–let me show you another image that did NOT make it into the book.
I made this photo in Rwanda in 2010 on assignment for International Justice Mission. It remains one of my friend’s favorite photos. But with the rise of Instagram came all these photos with people’s backs to us in some incredible setting. And I grew tired of seeing that stuff, as you may have as well. This photo just had too much of that element to it, even though I took it well before Instagram was even invented. So–it didn’t make it into the book. But plenty of others did. And I want you to see some of those.
Get a free sample now. Then stay tuned for how you can get the full copy!
As you can imagine, there is a lot that goes into making a book, especially an anthology of 20 years of work containing 300,000 photographs. My new book, Witness, is coming out soon, and I’m in the final stages of copy editing it and making sure I have all the right photographs in it. But there are so many to choose from…so I’m not sure. To placate my anxiety about this, I am going to start posting a few that I know aren’t going in, but that I still desperately want to find a place for in the book but probably won’t. So here is the first one.
Here is the backstory, when I shot this image for Mercy Corps in May, 2016 in Jijiga, Ethiopia: Berwako (she’s in the truck) buys milk from about 350 local pastoralist households every day, paying them 70 birr (a little more than $3) for every five liters of milk. Women in this village used to sell their milk to passing cars along the highway, but now they don’t have to leave their village to receive cash on the spot. Milk is a critical part of pastoralist Ethiopia, a central source of food and income for millions of people. Thanks to Mercy Corps, milk is now processed locally and is a higher quality, improving the incomes for hundreds of pastoralists and their families.
I loved this shoot, and this image. But there are more from the sequence, one of which DID go into the book. SO–want to get the book? I want you to get the book. But it’s not quite ready. So do me a favor, just so I can see who is reading these blog posts. Comment below saying you want it and I’ll make sure you get an email when it’s ready to order. That won’t be long by the way. As I said, the book done and going into copy edit this week. So you won’t have long to wait. More soon.