Pictures from a lucky life. Although, it took me awhile to come to that perspective I realized that I’ve had a fun life. Everybody says they like to travel. I’ve traveled, seemingly forever.
I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve been to 49 of the 50 states. I’ve been to six continents. And, for the most part, I’ve been paid to do all that traveling. That’s not always good because it adds pressure to the trip. I’ve been able to adjust to that. Put a camera in my hand and the pressure evaporates.
I’ve long thought that photography and music run on similar courses.. As I’ve written in past Storytellers tours just plain suck for everybody who is in the tour group. But, for the musicians everything changes when they step on the stage. The suckiness goes away.
The music, like a photograph, is magic.
So.
The pictures on this page. There will be more similar pages. Coming.
Top opener. Montreal, Canada. I photographed the city as a patch for another photographer’s blown shoot. That left me with a very tight deadline so I worked during the week between Christmas and New Year, plus a few days more. It was cold. So cold.
Top left. Reservation, New Mexico. I photographed this ruined church before I moved to New Mexico following Hurricane Katrina. The dirt is really that red.
Top right. New York City. As exciting and wonderful the city to photograph, New York can be a lot of work to make a picture that’s even a little different. Usually, it’s about luck and timing. After a long day of not feeling very successful I returned to my hotel. I looked out the window and the picture is what I saw. It’s not any kind of a landmark or attraction, but it’s a cool picture made during the right time of day.
Middle right. Reno, Nevada. I arrived late in the day after driving up from Las Vegas. I was hungry. I was tired. I left the hotel as the clouds opened up. I didn’t care. I was wearing a water repellent jacket which is different than water proof. I eventually got soaked but my camera was dry. I saw this couple walking well in front of me. I splashed my way closer to them and made this picture. Then, I went to dinner in a dive Thai restaurant, which is to me, the best kind of food. They put my jacket in an oven. It was dry when I left.
Middle left and bottom right. The picture on the left was made in Rustenburg, a mining town northeast of Pretoria. I was traveling with a group of people including a professor who was making a presentation. I was the only person who felt comfortable driving on the right so I drove. Eventually I got tired and we needed to stop so we found a very new hotel that had small rooms that were like capsules.
The second picture was made at Sun City near Pretoria. Sun City became famous in the 1980s when a lot of big name musicians refused to play there until apartheid came to and end. Today, it’s just a recreation center. There’s food, gambling, music and some other options. It’s a weird place. To get in you must drive through two gated areas. In the first area armed guards looked in the car and made sure everybody was white. The only kind of Black people allowed in were service people.
In the second area armed guards searched the car. We got out and they got in. They looked in the trunk, they looked under the hood and under the car, just in case somebody was hanging on. The same thing occurred when we left .
The portrait of the African woman is a lie. Sun City has a little village to show tourists what living in Africa really looked like. She’s sort of an actor. She was paid via tipping. I always tip well and I received a smile for that. I’m pretty sure that before that she hated me with good reason. Black people were so horribly mistreated not so long before I made my appearance.
Bottom left. Taos, New Mexico. I just really love the sky there. I made the picture when I finally relocated to the state.
That’s the story so far. Stay tuned.
STORYTELLER 
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