Yes, I Do Artist Talks and other Trivial Stuff

Okay so this isn’t something that I push very hard but it HAS come up quite a few times recently–yes, I do artist talks. I know, ack. But in fact I have done a quite a few speaking engagements in the past, sometimes to pretty amazing audiences. Once I addressed the entire company of Blackbaud with their CEO, Mike Gianoni. Me and Morning Joe, who dropped by to look at some of my photos in the Blackbaud HQ!

Then later I spoke at their BBCon convention as well as gave a keynote to BBCon Pacific, which was awesome.  Here is a little teaser of part of what I covered in that show:

Sometimes people get excited about the talks and do stories. I blanch at publicity or exposure, even if it’s small potatoes.

But what I DON’T shy away from is telling the story of what I have witnessed around the world in my photojournalism and filmmaking career. In light of current geopolitical events, it’s probably more important than ever to tell the stories of justice and human resilience. Keep the faith!

 

The Mercy Corps Top Ten

In 2012, Mercy Corps sent photographers to cover some of the most remarkable stories in 10 different countries, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Colombia to South Sudan. I had the good fortune to be assigned to Central Africa Republic, which was a fantastic trip. Over 17,000 photos from all these shoots landed on Phil Ottum’s desk at Mercy Corps; here are his top 10 (check out #s 2 and 3!). Below is one that I, being a card player, really liked that did not make it into Phil’s top ten. But that’s cool; cards aren’t for everyone. Be sure to check out Phil’s list–there are some very fine images in there, 8 of which rank way over mine…

 

 

Vote (early and often)

I just got back from India and Nepal with Kyle Jackson and Kristian Anderson. Cool trip. Will post more photographs, but for now, please vote for the one below to win the World in Focus travel photo contest presented by National Geographic Traveler and  Photo District News.

A woman poses for her portrait in the K.M. Garden Community, home to 60,000 people living in close proximity in Chennai, India.
A woman poses for her portrait in the K.M. Garden Community, home to 60,000 people living in close proximity in Chennai, India.