Author: travel67

Cambodia Landmine Museum

Published by

After the horrific years under the Pol Pot regime, Cambodia was no longer at war, but huge swathes of the country were (and still are) covered in landmines. During peace time, landmines continue to kill. They kill  farmers trying to work the fields, they kill children who see something shiny in the grass. They maim, wound, and cripple indiscriminately. Aki Ra,  was forced to spend his childhood in the jungle with an AK-47. After the war he  began to disarm mines by himself, using his bare feet and a stick to discover them, and then a screwdriver to render them safe. Years later he set up a museum to show others some of the items he had found. If you’d like to learn more or make a donation visit the website Cambodia Landmine Museum. I met several Cambodians who’d lost limbs to landmines, some during war, some during peacetime. Any country that has produced landmines (or even worse continues to manufacture them) needs to deal with the long term consequences of their actions.

Back from Cambodia

Published by

Back from two weeks shooting in Siem Reap, Cambodia. A great experience, met a lot of interesting people, and really enjoyed my time there. Came back with four 64GB cards filled with images so I have a lot to sort out over the next few weeks. I decided to take the new Profoto B1 strobe and a beauty dish on the road with me. This would allow me to combine location shooting with powerful studio light. It’s something I’d been experimenting with on the latest karate master portraits, and is an exciting new challenge.

Pentax K-3 Exhibition

Published by

A couple of my images are on display as part of Pentax’s exhibition of images shot with their new K3 camera. The Ricoh Imaging Square Shinjuku (Previously the Pentax Square or Pentax Forum) is located in the Shinjuku Center Buidling about 5 minutes walk from the west exit of Shinjuku Station. If you’re in Tokyo, please stop by and check the exhibition out. It starts tomorrow March 26th and runs until April 7th. My pics are the shot of of Sarah in the blue dress and the eagle. Above is the map to Pentax square from Shinjuku Station. You can also copy and paste this address into google maps: 東京都新宿区西新宿1-25-1

Lab Report – Disturbance in the Cosmos

Published by

I haven’t offered family portraits in the cosmos fields. I’ve done model shoots in the cosmos, but I’ve usually referred parents with kids on to other photographers. However, in preparation for sessions next year, I decided I’d do a test shoot to work out the best locations and angles etc.  Bear played the role of a small child, and things were going fine, until I thought the pics might look better without the orange collar. Bad idea. Never feed Gremlins after midnight, never call Chuck Norris a sissy, and never remove Bear’s collar. Not unless you have a clearly defined strategy as to how you are going to catch, and then clean the ball of mud and fur, before putting her back in the car. She’s too fast for me, she’s too fast for the camera’s autofocus. In conclusion, from Spring 2015 I will offer family sessions in the cosmos fields. If your children like to roll around in the mud, then run until exhaustion, no problem. They’ll be going home in your car!

みさおとふくまる　Misao & Fukumaru

Published by

A couple of weeks ago I saw these amazing photos of an old Japanese lady and her cat online. I then found the book and a bit more information about big mama Misao and her cat Fukumaru. The images document their life together, and are so touching and beautiful  I was stunned. I wondered who has such amazing access, and it turns out that it was Misao’s granddaughter, a professional photographer. She really captured something special. It is by far my favorite book of Japan images, and I’m a dog rather than a cat person! It’s available from Amazon Japan here: みさおとふくまる Out of stock on Amazon U.S., but may reappear: Miyoko Ihara: Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat (Japanese Edition)