Check Out Lightbox Gallery in Astoria (Oregon)

We're down in Astoria for a few days and stumbed across a real live photography gallery. The genre is becoming few and far between these days (the Benham Photo Gallery just closed in Seattle). I had a pleasant chat with Michael, one of the gallery's owners. The gallery is striving to provide a venue for photographic exhibitions, a B+W and color lab for use by gallery members and is moving into the offering of workshops in the near future. Photo prices are most reasonable (the range for framed prints seemed to be from $75 to $400), with the gallery believing that the right price will result in more overall sales. Check it out next time you're visiting the Oregon coast.

http://lightbox-photographic.com/

Travel Planning and Vacation Photography Workshops

I'm please to announce that I will be offering two workshops this winter/spring. The first is an Introduction to Travel Planning - March 13 and 20, 9:30am - 11:30 am at The Traveler on Winslow Way, downtown Bainbridge Island, Washington. The Traveler, a great travel bookstore and travel accessories emporium, is sponsoring the workshop. A hearty thank-you to Susan and Barbara, the co-owners of The Traveler.

The second workshop is on Vacation Photography. It, too, will be at The Traveler, April 17 and 24, 9:00am - noon. Additional workshop details, etc. will be available soon. Please contact me at chuck@chuckkirchner.com to be put on the mailing list for details.

Great Railway Bazaar II

Probably my favorite travel narrative ever is Paul Theroux's Great Railway Bazaar. It captured my imagination and accompanied me on a coach potato journey from Europe to Asia and back. Thirty-three years later (YIKES!), Mr. Theroux undertook a similar journey from London to Singapore to Tokyo to Moscow to London, mostly via train once again. Paul is definitely more acerbic than he was 33 years ago, but perhaps less so than in some of his more recent tomes.

It took me a while to get into the book, but once I was on board the train through Georgia and Azerbaijan, I was once again hooked. Definitely a if-its-Tuesday-it must-be-Bangalore type of narrative, he includes enough encounters of fellow train cabin mates and locals in big and small towns alike to keep you wanting more. His political observations on the ruthlessness of national leaders such as the head of Turkmenistan and Singapore can be a bit ponderous (though right on the mark IMHO), but its what we've come to expect from Mr. Theroux. All in all, I heartily recommend the book and wish I had the guts (and time) to undertake a similar journey. And, since he's older than I, maybe I will!

I Can't Imagine Not Having Art

The YouTube video linked below succintly states the importance of art to the artist. Worth a view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkMGb2Y3Ttw&feature=player_embedded

An Empowering and Exciting Time in Photography

"Photography is not dead and if we can harness all the creativity and tools available to us, we can make some amazing work and deliver it to audiences we never dreamed of reaching before. I see this as an empowering and exciting time." Ami Vitale, documentary photographer, as quoted from her website, http://www.amivitale.com/.

Ami is an amazing photographer. I had the opportunity to spend a weekend with her and other photographers in 2008 discussing documenting life and making extraordinary images of the same. It was a weekend well spent and I've redoubled my photographic efforts since that weekend. Her quote above, of very recent vintage, comes at a difficult time for many photographers and may be just the inspiration to get the creative juices flowing again.

Also check out her video shot with the new Nikon 300S at the same website.

Awe - Blue Highways

The first travel narrative I ever remember reading was William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways. I always think of it when I start planning a road trip. CNN.Com has an interview with the author, who has just completed a new journey to many of the same places in a book entitled "Roads to Quoz" (which I haven't read yet - waiting for the paperback version to come out!) His insights on changes in the American landscape and in Americans themselves reflect the changes I think we all have seen but maybe not formulated in as concise a manner. Worth a quick read. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/11/18/bluehighways/index.html

A Travel Tip Actually Worth Considering

I'm not a big fan of the lists of "travel tips" found in travel magazines. Most are either too obvious or too weird. But I actually stumbled across one in this month's Budget Travel that caught my attention. "Buy a postcard each day and job down a few sentences on the back" as reminders of the day's highlights or a special thought. When you get home, there will be both written and pictorial reminders of your trip. Not a bad thought. In this digital age, one could also take a quick photo with your iPhone or similar devise and then attached it to an e-mail to yourself with a few lines of text that would then be waiting for you upon your return home. Maybe this is an obvious tip or just too weird. Then again ...

Two Roads

I'm not much of a fan of the Wall Street Journal, especially the editorial page. BUT, in today's edition (11/13/09) that are two great travel-related articles. The first is an interview with Cormac McCarthy, the author of that most depressing yet hopefully fictional (we hope) travel novel, The Road. The interview's Q+A is fascinating with insights on writing and movies and life. When asked about how involved he is in movie remakes of his novels, he replies "No, you sell it and you go home and go to bed. You don't embroil yourself in somebody else's project." Forthright for sure.

The second article is on Tim Cahill's Montana log cabin, down a 20-mile gravel road from Livingston. "It often hilarious to me that I'm writing about Tonga or some tropical place and there's a blizzard outside and the cows are on their backs with their hooves in the air." Tim's travel narratives are some of the best around, and include "Jaguars Ripped My Flesh" and "A Wolverine is Eating My Leg." Check them out.

And check out the two WSJ articles at your nearest library.

And There's Always Someplace New

This weekend's New York Times Travel section includes an article on the islands of Bijagos, Atlantic islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. Simple lodging with only 4 rooms along a wonderful beach with no other travelers; freshly-caught fish grilled on an open fire; just wild beauty.

"... to arrive in the Bijagós after the two-hour ride in a small speedboat from the decrepit yet ingratiating capital of the country, Bissau, is to enter another world and another century, though it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly which ones."

Makes you want to go, doesn't it? Well, it does me.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/travel/08Bijagos.html?nl=travel&emc=tda1

Anywhere I Would Be Going Would be Fine

Pico Iyer, a wonderful travel writer (Video Night in Katmandu, among other books), is featured on a quirky video on the more obsessive frequent flyers around - folks who fly for the sake of flying and earning miles and flying some more. His closing quote, something to the effect of "anywhere I would be going tomorrow would be just fine" is not a bad outlook for travelers.

http://vimeo.com/7167640

Q and A

I came across 2 videos yesterday that really got me thinking - about travel, music and life. The first asked 50 people a seemingly simple question - where would you like to wake up tomorrow? The answers were all over the board, though the most common was in their own bed next to their partner. A second category was Paradise, a moon made of cheese and other spiritual, mystical or fanciful locales. The third category were exotic locations, especially Paris and the South Pacific. Funny that Cleveland or Buffalo didn't come up. http://vimeo.com/2540216

The second video, via youtube, is of the great Irish singer Andy Irvine. And the tune is O'Donoghues,' an essay on the importance of pubs in setting career goals! The last few lines are especially memorable: "I never could have guessed as I walked through the door with the future had in store - a blueprint for my life I saw lying there before me."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLP92-enW6Q

Now, you may ask, what do these have to do with each other and with this blog - travel, photography and life. Well, you never know what you will find when opportunities arise - waking up in some exotic locale, walking through a door and having a new experience. Isn't that part of what travel is about? And, as a photographer, you never know what new opportunity will arise when you look around - ahead, behind, to the side, up or down. Life is full of opportunities and when given the option, shouldn't you at least peek through the door to see what's on the other side? The safe route - waking up in the same spot - has its merits. But so does taking that leap. I think my answer would be safe and exciting - waking up next to my partner and finding us BOTH somewhere new, different and exciting! And if there's a pub nearby, its probably worth a pint to see if life has something new in store.

Fine Examples of the Visual Art Form

I came across two extraordinary videos this morning that should inspire travelers, photographers and artists of all stripes. The first, filmed in the Ukraine, is a 10-minute video of a woman using sand and light and music and sound to tell a story like you've never seen done before. The second, filmed in London, is of the Underground and the wind that blows through the tunnel and stations, with short snippets and a great musical soundtrack. Both well worth the time, IMHO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvXVkZysOrc (Ukraine Video)
http://vimeo.com/5721277 (London Underground Video)

Mistakes on the Road make Great Stories Later

Robert Reid, a blogger on the Lonely Planet website, has an interesting list of "47 or so Dumb Things I've Done Traveling." Worth a read (check out: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/68/1256/47+or+so+Dumb+Things+I) if for no other reason than to prime the pump of your own brain storage device and remember some of your own dumb things. I'm sure I can come up with 47 or so given time and a Mai Tai or two. But for now here's a start.

1. On a day trip during a visit to Washington DC, Greyhouding it to Williamsburg, Virginia and then refusing to pay the then outlandish fee of $10 or so for a day pass to tour Colonial Williamsburg. I ended up pay $3 or so to visit each of first 2 buildings in the complex and then looking through the windows of others - all to save $4. Chuck's rule #1 - don't skip on the admissions. After paying air/bus/rail/car rental/gas/hotels/visas/meals, don't skimp on why you're actually there - seeing and experiencing the place!

2. Not going back to the festival site in rural Bhutan (OK, OK, almost all of Bhutan is rural), wanting instead to nap and get over my cold. Actually, Nevada Wier, the master travel and cultural photographer and trip leader, talked my out of napping and encouraged me to grab the camera and go back to the festival. Her logic - you're in BHUTAN, for goodness sakes, likely a once in a lifetime experience - save the nap for later - see and experience now! Good advice! (I did pass, later on in the day, on an excursion to another temple, sans monks and festivals. Consensus of the group was that I had made the right choice - both times.)

3. Not going to San Miguel Allende for Holy Week several years ago, with family in tow, and joining up with a good friend for the festivities. While it made sense on one level not to go with a 7 year old, I missed an opportunity to visit with a photographer friend who, sadly, died a year later.

4. Making a reservation at a motel in Cortez, Colorado a day or two before our arrival because the lodge in Mesa Verde National Park was full. We passed the park entrance, drove to the hotel, checked in, and then drove back to the Park only to see the sign at the entry booth - rooms available at the Lodge! #*$)# Even more so when we saw the Lodge. %$(*&%

5. Passing up a stop in Bilbao, Spain to see the Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry, because the weather was threatening, we were tired and didn't want to deal with the town's traffic. Over the next several weeks, the weather wherever we went was always threatening and we missed seeing one of the architectural highlights of the world.

Oh, well. Enough for now. I'm sure I'll think of others soon. And so will you.

To Photograph or Not To Photograph

A recent article on World Hum, by Doug Mack, ends with the phrase "The best travel moments, it turns out, are not the Kodak ones." As a photographer and a writer (more the former than the latter), and most of all a traveler, I carefully read the article (Doug is more a writer than a photographer, but definitely a traveler as well), I came to a more mixed conclusion. Its the circumstances, its my mood and my interests that will be involved in defining a "best travel moment." Listening to a gamelon performance in the evening on Bali sans camera is a forever memory. So were the photographs taken of stained glass in Paris that will live in my memory AND on my walls forever as well. We each bring our interests and skills and priorities and moods into each and every experience. And what comes out of the experience will be ours and only ours.

The article, entitled "The Best Travel Photo I Never Took," can be found at: http://www.worldhum.com/features/speakers-corner/the-best-photo-i-never-took-20090826/

New Photography Exhibit

An exhibit of my photographs of the stained glass of Paris has just opened at the "Art in the Parlor" at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Finch at Wyatt, Bainbridge Island, Washington.

The photographs were taken in Paris during the fall of 2008 at Sainte Chapelle, the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Church of Saint Eustache (the above photo was taken at Notre Dame). I’ve used motion to bring a sense of liveliness and, hopefully, awe to what would ordinarily appear in a photograph as just another two-dimensional sedentary object.

Art in the Parlor is open weekdays 9am - 1pm and Sundays from 8am-noon. The show will be up through New Years.

You've Got To Be Kidding

According to an article on the importance of taking vacations for your own health, 34% of American workers do not use all of their vacation time. There's a whole world out there, even if close to home!!! Rest, refresh and experience! The article, by the way, can be found at: http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/501374.

Travel Writing 101

Sicne this is a travel and photography-oriented blog, travel writing surely fits in. As with breaking into any profession, travel writing has its hurdles. A straight-to-the-point yet interesting (good writing always requires the latter) article is found on the Verge Magazine website.


http://www.vergemagazine.com/articles/40/100-6-tips-for-aspiring-travel-writers.html.


By the way, Verge magazine, a Canadian production subtitled "Travel With Purpose," is aimed at a younger (or younger-at-heart) audience looking for adventure, planning a "gap year" journey, or hoping to live and work overseas while on a longer journey. It kind of fills in for "Transitions Abroad," a magazine that I thought was a bit more well rounded but that bit the dust last year, but that still exists in cyberspace: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/.

World Hum - Travel Site of the Day ... or Week

Anyway, I recently returned from a wonderful conference in the Bay Area devoted to Travel Writing and Photography. And during the course of the 4 days I came across a number of travel websites either for the first time or was re-introduced to sites I had once perused. So, I though I would start sharing some of those sites on the blog that I find particularly useful or interesting. Hope you do to.

So, the first site is www.worldhum.com. It contains a wonderful mix of well-written features, a multi-category blog, photo slide shows, videos, etc. And the best part is the specifics of the destination is often not the story - rather its the journey itself which makes it rather refreshing!

A recently posted feature by Sophia Dembling on India is a great intro to the type of articles you;ll find on this site:
http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/the-bucket-and-the-cup-20090828/

Enjoy!

Wanderings

For those of us who are full of wanderlust, even if bound to home much of the time, I have a book recommendation that may get you on the road sooner than you think. "The Way of the Wanderer: Discover Your True Self through Travel" by David Yeadon, was the perfect book to read WHILE traveling. David discusses those serendipitous moments that I think we all have while traveling that make all of the inconveniences and risks and cost (time and money) worthwhile. A world traveler who lives both in Japan and upstate New York (another dream of mine in concept if not specifics), David in a very conversational style (illustrated with his own sketches) matter-of-factly lays out spiritual or magic moments in his travels, some of which came while walking through the valley of the shadow of death. It brought to mine several that have occurred in my own travels and caused me to start writing those thoughts down which I MAY share at some future time.

If you been blessed with serendipitous moments or wish you had, then get a hold of a copy of Yeadon's book - you won't be disappointed.

Holy Cow Indeed!

As my home library attests, my favorite book genre is the travel narrative. Starting with William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways, the collection runs the gamut from P.J. O'Rourke's crazy journey from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhole Bay, to Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, to Robin Cook's solo camel journey across the Australian outback. I just completed one the best ever - "Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure" by Sarah Macdonald (2002, Broadway Books, New York). Part travelogue, part spiritual journey (and what better country for spiritual journeys than India - read the book and find out why), and part autobiography, Holy Cow mixes humor, insight and adventure with the realities of ex-pat community, societal conflicts and the pitfalls of newlywed-ism. As close to a page-turner as an travelogue ever gets.

My favorite passage - a quote, from the guru Krishnamurti: "When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature then temples, mosques and churches become important."

Vacations Ever Onward

Its Saturday and, as usual, in my e-mail in-box is the weekly Travel Dispatch from the NY Times. Some - or most - weeks, the articles are fairly interesting but not necessarily worth saving. But one this week caught my eye - "Making Vacation Last for Months," about folks that work hard at summer jobs (or winter jobs as the case may be) and then travel the rest of the year on what they've earned. Here's the link: http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/making-vacation-last-for-months/?8td&emc=tda2

Always worth a thought or two.

Festival Photography - The Tango

The Northwest Folklife Festival, held each Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle, provides numerous, though challenging, opportunities for photographers. With over a dozen indoor and outdoor stages, performers, food and arts and craft vendors, tens of thousands of attendees, plus a few Seattle icons like the Space Needle and International Fountain thrown in for good measure, the photographic potential is great. But the crowds, the intense sunlight (on occasion - like this year!) and equally intense shade, and the general milieu provide a challenge for even the best of photographers in creating a worthy image.

One of my favorite Folklife events is the three-hour long Tango Dance, with both amateur and professional dancers. I stake out my spot well in advance of the first group of professional dancers and wait. And the wait is well worth it. This couple, professional dance instructors, know the ritual of the Tango and exhibit the sensuality of the dance in amazing ways - often subtle, sometimes extravagent and always intense. The combination of ritual and sensuality is what draws me to capture the feel of the dance. Hopefully I've succeeded in some small way.

Girl from Ipanema

"Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking, and when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah." The next line goes on to say that when she walks, its like a Samba, ..."

The Tango instructor, between numbers, confidently sashayed along the dance floor. And the only thing that popped into my mind were the lyrics from the 1960's hit, The Girl from Ipanema. OK, so Ipanema is in Brazil, not Argentina. And the Tango's center of the universe in Argentina, whereas the Samba is larger than life in Brazil. But, no matter. The memory creates its own linkages sometimes irrespective of fact!

The image is also clearly reminiscent of the Figment post earlier in May, one of my favorite photographic themes.

Out of the Way Places

In an increasingly small world, its not often I come across a place I've never heard of and immediately want to visit. I came across such a place this morning on the NY Times Travel page - Caddo Lake, Texas (on the Louisiana border). And the quote that really grabbed me: "But what struck me about Caddo Lake the first time I saw it was the powerful suggestion of the supernatural that it evoked. Honestly, it’s kind of a creepy place." The initial photo that accompanies the article fully illustrated the quote - a small steamboat slowly motoring through the baldcypress swamp. Feeling like you've been transported back in time to a primeval world. Gotta go - sometime.

The link:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/travel/escapes/22Caddo.html?8td&emc=tda3

Figment

Its been a little over a year since I flew down to the Bay Area and attended a photo workshop by one of the most intrepid photojournalists around, Ami Vitali. I hadn't been doing a lot of photography recently and needed a jump-start (as we all do from time to time). I had admired her website (http://www.amivitale.com/main.html - be sure to check out her "Intro") for quite some time and when the opportunity arose to attend a weekend workshop, I went for it. One of our "assignments" was to go somewhere - anywhere - and remain there for an hour (not really moving more than a foot or two during that time) and see what photo opps presented themselves. It was a gloomy morning and I walked from my motel room to a nearby bakery, ordered a cup of tea, sat by the window and waited. I eventually started a conversation with two gentlemen who were clearly regulars at the bakery and my photos and conversation with them became my "presentation" back at class.


Fourteen months later, I came across the photos taken that day and noticed this photo for really the first time: "Sunday Morning, Berkeley, in the Rain." The photo represents exactly that. Monochrome photos can emphasize the gloom on a rainy day; the "figment" walking up the street and the red car taillights show that life continues regardless of the gloom. The reds of awnings, the taillights and the no parking strip provide visual linkages. Simple and complex; black and white and red. And a good reason for not deleting photographs the first time around!

Its Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

Having worked on the Safeco Field project (environmental and transportation analysis) in the late 1990's, I occassionally return to the stadium to see how well it is aging and even to see the Mariners play. Camera in hand, I wanted to see what I could do to create a fine art piece within the world of sports. There was a decent crowd that evening and using a slower shutter speed and the zoom lens, I was able to create this starburst photograph. Motion, even if created within the camera, conveys excitement, an important representation of a sports crowd, even if in a somewhat abstract form.

This I Believe

This morning marked the final broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio) of a 4-year series entitled "This I Believe," the personal philosophies of famous and ordinary people. For most of the series, I thought about writing my own statement, but never quite got around to it. Until this morning. And the thoughts flowed. Not necessarily related directly to travel and/or photography - but one's philosophy toward life, I'm sure, has a bearing on all aspects of life. So, without further ado:

This I believe ... I believe in calculated risks. Not jumping off a cliff without a parachute into a foggy mist. But taking a leap of faith with a worthwhile goal in mind and the odds at least a bit in my favor.

I have not done this too often, but there have been those times – moments actually – when the leap seemed a good option and I went for it. And they have always worked out – maybe not exactly as intended – but worked out nonetheless.

I remember some of my dad’s final words – “I wish I had taken more risks in life” – and how proud he was that I had taken risks here and there.

* When I changed majors the first week of my junior year in college from the “safe” major of “business administration” to the “interesting” major of “political science.”

* When I quit my decent paying, pension-oriented job with a Seattle transit agency and moved to New York City, sans job, to be close to my then-girlfriend (and now wife).

*And when I quit my decent paying, pension-oriented job with the same Seattle transit agency a number of years later to go out on my own as a consultant so as to have more control of my time and to work on a project dear to my father’s heart – Safeco Field.

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t make any of the leaps on account of my dad (at least I don’t think so!) – I had my own reasons for each – but it certainly made it easier knowing of Vic’s support for each.

Leaps of faith require faith – a belief that it will all work out – and require a leap – taking off into the unsecured future. Most importantly, they require making a decision based on incomplete information, “trusting in the universe.” And, thankfully, the universe provides!

Ever Onward - Why We Travel

I was just reminded this morning of one of my favorite sites within the NY Times website - a slide show that is updated from time to time entitled "Why We Travel." There's obviously no one answer to the question and that's what makes this site so interesting - 17 photos and short stories of individual responses to the question. Check it out - it might inspire you and your next journey.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/04/26/travel/20090426_WHY_slideshow_index.html

And note, if the link is broken at some later date, just go to www.nytimes.com and search for "Why We Travel."

Hot Time in Belize

We recently returned from spring break in Belize. During our ten day stay, we hung around the pool, snorkeled, ate very well, did lots of walking, got WAY too hot, saw a few Mayan ruins, got addicted to Belikan beer and fresh limeade and met some of the friendliest and most helpful folks in the world. Some photos and a more detailed description of our experiences can be found at my realtravel.com site:

http://realtravel.com/b-283249-belize_blog-spring_break_in_belize, or click on the Real Travel link on the right column of this blog.

Inspiration from Jodi Cobb

"There are stories everywhere—in your own house, your backyard, your town. You need to find out what you’re interested in, what you’re passionate about, what you want to change, celebrate, illuminate, interpret. It’s right there. You just need to get started. "

This quote is from an interview conducted by Hannah Theim on the photo.net website. The link to the full interview follows: http://photo.net/photographer-interviews/jodi-cobb/?p=3#love-documentary-project. Occasionally (or more often!), we all need a kick-in-the-pants, an incentive, an inspiration to get us going. And I feel that Jodi's comment fits the bill.

Writers and Photographers

Today marked the end of the print version of the Seattle P-I. A sad day for all of us in the Pacific NW. Lots have been written (kind of ironic, isn't it) about the demise of the paper. But I wanted to add one thought. A surviving member of the P-I staff that will now be working on the on-line version of the P-I stated that she couldn't wait to become a better photographer now that she had to take any photos related to her writing. Hmm. They should have kept a couple of photographers around who, with a little time, could have learned to become better writers! Professional photographers are getting a bum rap these days - it still takes more than just a cell phone camera to take a moving photograph. Skill still counts. Or at least it should.

Opportunities

Whether its planned serendipity, listening to the universe or just dumb luck, an opportunity to learn, grow and experience often arises. I had been wanting to take a photo workshop from Chris Rainier for many years. I am moved by his photographs of cultures and rituals around the world. I finally found a window of opportunity that match a Rainier workshop in Santa Fe. And never one to just go and do one thing, I flew down several days prior to the workshop to explore one of my favorite parts of the U.S. In looking on the Internet for lodging options, I came across the Christ in the Desert Monastery, 2 hours or so northwest of Santa Fe. The price was right, all meals were included, as were 7 or so monastic services a day, beginning at 4 a.m. The calm, serenity and quiet was the perfect prelude to a photo workshop on a "In Search of the Spirit." During the 2 days and nights I spent there, generally spent in silence (conversations are not encouraged outside of very limited times), I took lots of photographs (again, a good prelude to an intense week of photography at the workshop), attended a lots of services and ate well. An opportunity arose, I went for it, and all was well.

Turning Dervish

Speaking of rituals and journeys, I'm always fascinated by spiritual journeys and rituals. I've observed Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) rituals in Guatemala, Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions in Spain and Buddhist festivals in Bhutan. I've watch believers lighting candles at the Temple of Maximon (an interesting cult figure in Guatemala), at Lourdes (a Christian pilgrimage site in France) and in churches throughout Europe. And I've seen pilgrims walking up Crough Patrick in Ireland, being blessed (and incensed!!) upon completing the Way of St James in Compostela, Spain and sitting in quiet contemplation in churches, both large and small.

I recently had an opportunity to observe an intense spiritual experience - the Turning of a Sufi Dervish. A concert by the Yuval Ron Ensemble included what is commonly called a Whirling Dervish. More accurately a Turning Dervish, the gentleman first offered a ritual prayer toward Mecca and then began slowly turning at ever increasing speed, entering a trance-like state. The white tunic worn by the Dervish was itself mesmorizing to those observing the prayer dance.

Journey On!

The world is full of exotic ports of call - whether Bhutan or Aitutaki Atoll or Krakow or even Bainbridge Island. Journeys can involve a place (the Grand Canyon) or an event (NW Folklife Festival) or a person (friends, family) - often all three. Journeys can also be explorations - whether of the physical world or the spiritual world or the recesses of the mind.

There's basically nothing that interests me more than going on a journey! But right up there is creating a artistic memory of a journey through the medium of photography. My hope with this blog is to share some photographs and some other aspects of life's journey with you. And always remember to Journey On!