old world Stone Town

Stone Town, Zanzibar has such an old world quality to it. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, most of the town is made of lime stone, much of which is crumbling and moldy. The roads are narrow and maze-like and, without the noise of cars and the flash of neon signs, it is almost as if one had been transported to a previous century….

I love color!

Most of Stone Town, Zanzibar, is white, gray and brown–very textured and beautiful–but yesterday, when I went photographing as I do every evening, I found one of the most colorful sites I’ve come across here. After winding my way through the maze of Stone Town’s narrow roads and alleyways, I found a group of children playing near a green and yellow wall. I was…

“Pole Pole” which means “slow slow” in Swahili

My Zanzibarian friend, Ahmed, says “pole pole” (slow slow) a lot. I know that what he’s saying is very symbolic of the Zanzibarian attitude which is to ‘take life slowly and enjoy every minute!’. Coming to this island from the US, I am constantly struck by both the slowness of life here as well as the vitality. One of my favorite things here that…

my moldy wall project

Today I found a fantastically moldy wall in Stone Town, Zanzibar, where I am working on a photo project about shellfishing. It was such a wonderfully textured wall–really like a painting more than a wall–that I couldn’t tear myself away from it. I decided to stay there for a while and photograph the wall as people passed by. Stone Town is a beautiful old…

The plottings of Winnie the Pooch

I love photography for its ability to capture the ordinary moments in life. Last night Mark and I were playing chess. We had a fire going and the dogs were lounging happily at our feet. It was about as cozy as it gets on a winter’s night. For anyone who knows Winnie the Pooch (or vizslas in general), you will not be surprised to…

“The Art of Reconstruction: Tattoo Artist Helps Breast Cancer Patients Reclaim Their Identity” by Michelle Gabel

Cherie Mullen, 40, of New Haven, NY, is one of many breast cancer patients who have been tattooed by Kim Leach, owner of Phoenix Rising Tattoo. After her breast reconstruction, Mullen, shown with her daughter, Desiree, 11, had Leach cover scars from her treatment. The butterfly covers her scar from her chemotherapy port and the vine covers a mastectomy scar. Michelle Gabel/The Post-Standard Photojournalist,…

first snowstorm of the year

A tree emerges from the water at Big Cliff Pond in Nickerson State, Park, Brewster, MA. Today it finally snowed. Not just a dusting or an inch or two..real snow! I love snow for its ability to transform our every day world into a sort of magical space full of curves and softness. The dirt and grit disappears and a monochromatic dreamscape replaces it….

the dolphin mystery continues…

Two stranded common dolphins wait to be transported to a waiting vehicle by a team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare at Herring River in Wellfleet, MA on Thursday, January 19th, 2012. The dolphins are two of 7 in the latest batch of dolphins found today bringing a total of over 80 stranded on Cape Cod shores in the last week. Since I…

a massive dolphin stranding and thoughts about objectivity

Yesterday around 30 dolphins stranded along the shores of Cape Cod Bay from Dennis to Wellfleet. While strandings happen all the time on Cape Cod, particularly in the winter months, what made this one different was the sheer numbers and how spread out the dolphins were geographically. While no one really knows why the dolphins stranded, the previous day’s intense 30mph winds were suspected…

the story behind a baby elephant portrait

Over the years, I’ve had so many people ask me about this orphan elephant portrait. Many were curious about the story behind it. I met this baby elephant while documenting a baby elephant and rhino rehabilitation and relocation program in Assam, India a few years ago for IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare). It had been separated from its mother during a flood…

“The Resurrection of Amalia Mendoza” by Greg Kahn

Amalia Mendoza turns her head as she is fitted with a wax prosthetic, a template for David Trainer to make a mold for her new face A few months ago at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, photojournalist Greg Kahn presented his extraordinary story “The Resurrection of Amalia Mendoza”. In 2001 a woman named Amalia Mendoza was in a car accident on a rural Colombian road…

documenting the last of the Hawaiian cowboys

Retired cowboy, Jamie Dowsett, 85, is photographed at his home in Waimea, Hawaii. Most people don’t know this but there are actually cowboys in Hawaii. Yes, there are also palm trees, mai tais, surfers and hula dancers and the weather down by the shore is pretty near perfect every day but the cowboys or “paniolos” as they are called locally, have been around longer…