Photographic Adventures

Time with the families

2012-01-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Whew, December was a crazy month!

In addition to a heavy diet of political news and client-driven visual story-telling (more on that in the next blog), I spent some quality time with some families making beautiful images of some wonderful personalities.

With little comment I wanted to share a few images from an evening with Mike and Amy and their little ladies, a morning with Randy and Terri and their lovely daughters and a few frames from a shoot that although was postponed due to a delayed star, still presented an opportunity for a few natural light moments of Susanna and Dylan's personality-filled toddler.

It's all circular

2011-12-24T09:29:00.010-07:00

It’s Christmas Eve here and I have wanted to share some images of generosity for a few weeks. This time of year my lens goes pro-bono documenting the work of some generous people to make the holidays a bit more merry for folks who don't have much but their life (refugees) and some family.

psyched!

The Welcome to America Project, as you may know, provides basic needs, household items for newly arrived refugee families and adopts 60 families each holiday season. The Pedal Power Foundation provides bikes to kids who whose families could never provide themselves.

I’ll keep it simple.

Whaaaat? No wisdom, no deep heart-felt thoughts inspired by the holidays and the benefits of giving?

Okay, well maybe just one.

I’ve mentioned this one before because it resonates.

Double duty, photo'ing my family bearing gifts for a Burmese family.

I’ll never forget the bit of wisdom of John Benson, a nurse, counselor, jack of all trades and entertainer of orphans in AmeriCares camp on a Rwandan mountain top in 1994 contemplating why he volunteered to spend three months helping the Rwandan people at this clinic, “I get more than I give...(but) it's all circular.”

His example, the more you give the more comes back to you.

Volunteerism, do we do it because it feels good, or because it is the right thing to do?

YES!

A new game to help with English

Is Pink okay?

Mike presents one of 70 bikes

Loves her new dolly

Joy comes in green.

A little story of challenge and success from Burundian refugee.

Girl talk

Warmth in a gift of thick socks.

Add caption

Before giving we must assemble

Gene delivers another bike after quality control check

Mike the bike elf himself.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!!!!

Guyana Part II

2011-11-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

In September, I was at it again back with one of my favorite clients. They work all over the world dealing with healthcare issues, to education, disasters to daily life.

     In addition to assisting to the improvement of HIV/AIDS care, they are involved in a number of programs to help improve lives. When I share the work that they and similar clients do, it is sometimes a surprise at what form those projects actually take.

     The goal of vocational education projects is to teach students marketable skills that will help them to earn decent wages to take care of their families and keep a roof over their heads. In Guyana that goal takes the form of masonry and child care classes, computer skills and cake decorating.

     I can hear it now, "Seriously, cake decorating?"

     Absolutely!

It is a skill that, like others, were requested in surveys of potential students in the communities. It is a skill that has as much value as carpentry and masonry. (I promise to share my story about one such lady whose skill is in demand in her community, since she learned how to bake and decorate, but of course my client has to publish it first.)

Meanwhile at the same facility students learn from a former superintendent of presidential building projects the foundation skills of carpentry and masonry, while others develop and sharpen their abilities in marketable crafts, computer operation, general cooking and nutrition and remedial education. As with all such vocational programs it gives some students a second chance and others just a chance at a reasonable living.

Jumping the hurdles with respect

2011-10-31T10:41:00.005-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to work with one of my favorite clients.

Counseling a man who has not told his family his HIV st

They're not just my favorite just because they love what I do. They're not even my favorite because any gig for them means a flight, a passport stamp and usually a headlong interactive experience with a culture I had not yet encountered.

It is also because what they do is important.

By working with them I have the great opportunity to show the world that important work. In a way to be a part of what they do, even if I don' see myself as the one doing the heavy lifting.

That said, these projects are hard work.

When there are hurdles in a shoot, you still shoot.


When the patients say no, a portrait of the doc is still valuable

When in a permission-only situation you figure out a way to make those images for which permission is not needed.

When frustrated, you take a deep breath and then try something else.

In a case like this, you respect people's wishes and find another way to make telling images.

Work it and then work it again.

Testing blood for HIV

This was the nature of a part of my work in Guyana recently where the larger lesson taught me that the stigma for having HIV/AIDS is still significant.

With this stigma comes the unwillingness to be photographed. We would ask permission from the patient, who would say no. All we could do was wait and ask the next patient, after a while, asking permission even to photograph over their shoulder, no face, to see the healthcare professional in action rarely saw success. Sometimes they agreed, more often, they did not.

Unfortunately these folks have very real concerns.

Hospice. A vigilant son and his mom.

As I photographed a group-counseling session, (only the side of the room where people had consented), a woman discussed with the group her challenges, being avoided by people she cared about, a family member not accepting extra vegetables she had purchased at market.

It is not unusual for people to be shunned, for employers to make up excuses to fire the HIV-positive person. Another group member confronted that challenge.


A consenting patient checks in with a program nurse.

The level of difficulty in making pictures, of course pales in comparison to the real-life challenges people live with in this place. Sure there are ad campaigns, radio programs broadcast constantly to educate the populace, to mitigate this ostracism based on ignorance. In Guyana it seems a tall mountain they're climbing.

As I kept trying to produce images of these programs that my client would find valuable, the government and the aid organizations keep trying to eradicate the stigma.

Results come from picking yourself up and trying again.

Lend a hand! Check out Rick's Kickstarter project.

Pixels of Mercy

2011-10-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

As you may know, the workshop that we have planned and worked so very hard to promote, was put on indefinite postponement this summer as it became clear that the economic landscape was just too much to overcome. We hope that sometime in the future the times and interest will develop and alllow us to bring it all back.
Meanwhile, it was our most disappointing task to let our new friends at the partner organizations know that we would not be coming.

They were probably more disappointed than we were.

We did not want to let them down.

We decided to try a different tack.

We decided we'd put together a team of photographers to put together an essay that looks at the work of a number of these small organizations that are doing some pretty amazing work. By treating it as one essay, we could cover more ground in a short time and create an essay that blends four styles.

The thing is, these kinds of projects are not exactly cheap to pull off, especially on an economic landscape where publications buy pictures but do not fund essays.

The new landscape is more about crowd-sourcing and grant-writing to find the funds to give these people a voice in photographs.

It is with that in mind that we have launched a project fundraiser on Kickstarter.com to to make this project a reality.

Two things make such a campaign a success, a project that people believe in, and lots of networking: spreading the word, retweeting, Facebook posting, until so many people know about it that it must succeed.

This is really important because, through the Kickstarter model, the goal that we set to cover our project costs, must be met in pledges.

If we miss the goal, none of the funds are collected.

Spreading the word is absolutely key.

Please visit the site, watch the video, meet my colleagues, learn a little about the organizations we will photograph.

Be inspired.

Pixels of Mercy

2011-10-28T14:50:00.003-07:00

Vital Signs: healthcare and the workload

2011-08-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

Vols react as a virtual patient suddenly speaks at Banner's training hospital

It's all based on vitals signs.

One of Banner's sleep disorder experts

And scans.

And health maintenance.

It seems photography can be a very healthy practice. Just try pushing a carload of lighting gear around the labyrinth of passages and hallways of a hospital that has undergone multiple expansions over the years (most hospitals). Stretch out, bring your walking shoes, its a great workout!

Lately, the health care industry here in the Valley of the Sun has been providing the workout, keeping the vital signs of D'Elia Photographic in a good place,

A number of entities have kept me running, documenting moments and making portraits to tell the stories of new facilities and programs, while dispensing advice on health maintenance, stress management, kids' health, mens' health and other common health concerns.

A PCH pediatric surgeon

Some say that in tough times, health care is the one thing that remains relatively stable. "They" actually point out that now health care is the one industry that is actually growing thanks to the numbers of aging baby boomers who are beginning to need more care. I actually heard a comment to this effect about six months before these projects began developing in quick succession

While contributing to an increased pace of work, this combination of portraits, documentary, action, and interior spaces, demonstrates just how diverse the lineup can be for client assignments that are equal parts commercial and editorial/documentary in scope.

Phoenix Childrens Hospital expands

It supports the philosophy that a photographer steeped in editorial sensibilities does not simply leave those skills behind as the diet develops a more commercial flavor, rather, they get thrown into the blender to create a new flavor as unique as the individual photographer.

A commercial photographer's value, enhanced by the editorial background.

So far, this flavor that is keeping healthcare clients pretty happy, is happily challenging my art directors and me to hatch different approaches in creating these images.

Given the relatively limited demographic of our subject-matter, the goal is to save the very clinical settings such as doctors' offices, for when appropriate and necessary, while exploring more visual possibilities, looking for something unexpected on pieces that present more wiggle room.

I love it when the challenge leads us in an interesting direction, you can almost taste the creative energy.

Oh wait, that's coffee.....

A fitness director encourages working out for stress reduction

Psychologist avoids stress of a car breakdown

PCH's new CT Scan lab.

Nurse and patient have a moment.

Scanning for issues in womens health at SMIL.

Staying healthy by getting out to enjoy nature

Wall O'Dust

2011-07-06T07:04:00.001-07:00

Having no idea that a regular summer monsoon season phenomena had taken aim for my neighborhood, I glanced out the kitchen window last night as I made dinner. As often as this spectacle develops in summer months, the approaching wall never fails to arrest all activity and inspire awe. By the time I'd grabbed the camera and a higher viewpoint upstairs, Red Mountain had disappeared into the approaching cloud.

Ten minutes later this view turned completely brown.

Firestorm recap

2011-06-29T15:44:00.001-07:00

It looked like a firestorm.

Clouds of white, black, gray, swirled and billowed in the high mountain winds, turning oily-orange each time a fireball or 300-foot flare attacked and devoured another Ponderosa pine in the western flank of the Wallow Fire.

Burnout ops Produce a spectacular display south of Greer, Az.

As I stood on the road photographing alongside four colleagues, flames from a burnout operation marched over the ridge a mile in front of us and made its toward the edge of a vast meadow that lay between us and the forest carnage, a fire break. The scale made it among the most impressive displays of natural force I'd witnessed. If not for the firebreak I might have been terrified.

Evacuees share news of the Wallow Fire

We always photograph the best of what is available and always hope for something more significant. We do not hope for disaster, only that when it does strike that we may be able to effectively document its most important effects.

I began the four-day journey photographing folks who had left their homes and who had not slept much in their gymnasium home. Gracious and accepting of the historic nature of their experience, the Coffmans experienced their emotions unperturbed as a Republic photographer and I made emotional images. About 75 people had spent the night, but even more would arrive when the Salvation Army began serving lunch.

the Salvation Army keeps evacuees fed at the shelter

I ended this journey feeling as if I had accomplished more than at any of the handful of past major Arizona fires that had presented opportunities to document history; feeling tired, feeling a form of jetlag, and finally being relieved to be out of the smoke.


Families take shelter at Pinetop school

When the landscape burns, it turns lives upside-down. Worried parents and small children leave their homes to sleep in school gyms, never knowing if they will see their home again, intact.

Firefighters converge from across the country, working in altitude-thinned air thick with smoke, for 12-16 hour days of hard physical labor, spending their nights in tents in dusty fields.

Upside-down, they battle, they worry about their progress and they themselves inside-out trying to make a difference.

Hot shot crews set a burnout to stop the Wallow Fire.

Covering the Wallow fire was documenting history. It is the largest monster to ever consume land in Arizona, at least for as long as anyone has been writing it down.

On my second day of coverage, we approached a crew setting a burnout from the edge of the road, working to form a containment line by taking away fuel that the main fire would use to pick up speed to jump the road. After shooting for half an hour, we loaded up again to caravan toward Alpine.

Just as we slowly pulled alongside, a large bush flared.

As firefighters continued to set the burn walking south along the road, we watching this through the lens and the car windows. We weren’t sure whether to shoot or shield from the heat as the burnout found larger bushes of fuel. Of course we shot, as a wave of intense heat washed over us until we began shouting at the photographer driving our vehicle, GO, GO, GO!!! It soon become clear just how hot things had become as the photographer to my left, closest to the flames, realized his fingers no longer had the hair with which they had started the day.

Yikes, that was exciting….

A Surprise, Az. FD, crew mops up near Greer.

The next day the information officers confessed that they had only been able to arrange some interviews in the field with a crew that had made the stand a few days earlier to protect Greer. I had already learned that with 4,000 personnel working the fire, we never knew what we’d find while moving through the area. We knew very well that we might find nothing, and we just might come across something worthwhile.

As reporters and television photographers interviewed the firefighters who saved most of Greer, a brush truck and mop-up crew from Surprise (near Phoenix) worked their way along the road, attacking smoking holes, chopping up and extinguishing smoldering stumps. A day of low expectation had suddenly yielded another piece of the story, another aspect of fighting a massive, historic blaze that ultimately came down to four-man crews ensuring that the blackened landscape was completely free of fire.

Families with animals opted to set up home in campgrounds

With the day's results in hand and filed with the picture agency, it was time to take another look at the shelter and see if anything had developed. Turns out, the Red Cross had made the rounds of campgrounds in that area and discovered families with animals had opted to camp out. Volunteers were preparing to head out to deliver ice, food and other supplies to families who had no idea how long the might be using their outdoor homes.

Camping evacuees unload ice from the Red Cross

One group of families and friends suspected they might be in for the long haul and organized their camp into sleeping and community areas complete with an outdoor kitchen with hanging pots and pans, cooking and food-prep surfaces. They were making the best of a tough situation.

By the fourth day the information officers were not sure whether they could get us out to the fireground. Commanders were very concerned about the effects of the increasing winds. The respite from fire-growing high winds had ended and everyone was worried.


German journalist Thomas witnesses the firestorm

In spite of that concern the information folks knew we needed to continue covering the event and a Pinetop fire officer knew just where to take us. It was then that the five of us found ourselves witnessing the unfolding firestorm.

While much of my work these days has had more of a commercial mission, news is in my blood, and will likely always be a part of my photographic diet. It is difficult to not be involved in documenting such a historic event in our state as it affects so many lives and will probably have many other ramifications for years to come. It's tough, dirty, stressful, fascinating and rewarding work to be a part of making the record and bringing home views of an event to inform the general public.

If you missed it, there are more images downpage (a few repeats) as well as many up at the agency archives at Corbis: http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#p=1&s=50&sort=2&pg=Rick+D%27Elia

Wait, Slow down... Noo, go, go, go

2011-06-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

We caravanned to the fireline where hot shots were setting back burns to cut off fuel to the fire along US 180 north of Alpine. Some trees flared up big as we moved passed slowly, making pictures from every opening of the vehicles. And then the bush flared just as our lea car came to a stop. We continue to shoot as it got pretty toasty... go, go, go! That was HOT. Okay, I admit it, a little exciting.

Passing the time at the Pinetop/Lakeside shelter.

Conferring on fire progress

Fire crews continue to arrive an grow the force in battle with the Wallow fire.

Evacuated residents of Eager watch the

plume consume more land around the town

Firefighters check fire progress before hearing into the field for the night

Burnout operations along HWY 180

Looking out for spot fires along the line

A bit close for a bonfire....

Five of us, The Republic, The Star, AP and Getty along with my representing EPA, crammed in one car with all of our gear, made our way through fireground in a forest service convoy run by an information officer who understood what we needed and did his very best to find it for us. Public shoutout to Steve of Orange County FD and his great work! Hard work in a day of some rewards.

Wallow Fire Part 1

2011-06-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

So, a sort of last minute call sent me to Showlow an beyond to try an work through the silly red tape that surrounds these fire events and make some meaninful photos. Its tough when you can't tell whether you fell short in your own performance as the photographer or that the space in which were allotted as just pretty darn useless?

Ask me again tomorrow after a media tour with information officers from the forest service. Hoping my A game shows up too.

Photo backpack giveway

2011-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

One of the sponsors of my photo workshop in Africa sponsors, Think Tank has provided a really cool camera backpack, the Rotation 360 to give away.

There are two ways to enter:

You may enter on the workshop’s site, and become a follower under the "Following" heading on the sidebar.
On the Facebook page NGO/Wildlife Photography Workshop, tell us what you think is the coolest thing is about this workshop, or, if you are thinking about joining us, what is motivating or inspiring you. You may also make these type of comments on the website blog postings.
Do both and you will be entered TWICE.
Are you planning on joining us? this is the time to sign up, as we will enter your name an additional FIVE times for a chance to win.

And then be sure to return to the page as we post stories from the field, tips and observations that may be useful to you in your own photographic explorations and a few other goodies.

Then on May 16 we will select the winner at random and post on FB.

Think Tank Rotation360s This camera backpack lets you access the gear inside of the backpack without taking if off of your back, allowing the comfort of a backpack with the convenience and accessibility of a belt pack.

Golden-hour Golans

2011-03-24T12:01:00.001-07:00

     A friend pointed out that it has been nearly two months since I last posted, and to some degree, that means that I've been busy making photographs.

     So, time to share a few of those that are not still embargoed by various clients and project statuses (or is that stati).

     A few weeks ago a dear friend's daughter and family dropped by for a visit, and for some family images in nature. We chose one of the more breathtaking settings I know in the area, not saying where, and headed out during those beautifully-lit last couple hours of daylight (the golden hour(s) in case your taking notes).

     With the energized attention spans of the smaller folks, they tire quickly of any positioning or posing that we grownups can invent. While it is always a good idea to have a few poses in mind when you head out, it's not unusual, and in fact critical sometimes, to throw out those ideas and see where the children lead you. Where they usually lead is to better quick poses and active portraiture that better fits their personalities.

More than we give

2011-01-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

Among the coolest things photographers get to do is to witness good works and bring them before the eyes of the rest of the world. Around Christmastime for me that means photographing, for example, things like soldiers arriving home after a long deployment and kids receiving new bikes.

Mike gives away another bike

For the second year, I have spent several Saturday mornings in December helping out the Pedal Power Foundation by documenting their work in Phoenix an Tempe.

This year Mike McIlroy, his wife Amy and their crew gave away 275 bicycles to kids through a Tempe school and various Boys and Girls clubs in Phoenix.

Excitement hung in the air as kids stared at the field of blue, green, pink, red, and yellow bikes challenged them to restrain themselves while Tempe and Phoenix police officers demonstrated proper adjustment of bike helmets and as Mike said a few words about Pedal Power.

Fitting a helmet

And then kids were called by name or by group to receive their brand new bikes. The elation, the pure joy of the kids had me grinning like an idiot as I photographed kids receiving their new wheels.

It is possible that some may had never smiled so much and so wide, while others, I could tell, were just too stunned with "is this real, is this bike mine?" written all over their faces.

When I find orgs like this that become a part of my volunteer portfolio, the orgs are always very grateful to have professional photographs of what they do. They may not have otherwise had access to much more than snapshots.

Rules of the Road

I once worked an assignment for AmeriCares, documenting their volunteer doctors treating the sick and injured in a field clinic in Rwanda just after the genocide in 1994. On this shoot, I interviewed the doctors and nurses about what they did and why they did it. John Benson, a nurse and jack of all trades, said that while what he did was important, he suggested, "I think I get more than I give," for his work with patients and in his play with the orphan kids who lived in the camp.

At the B&G club, the distribution was done, the club personnel and Mike's crew were all smiles. I helped pack up the truck with the leftover bikes (they bring a few extras in different sizes just in case) and headed out. As I drove away I saw no less than five kids cruising around the neighborhood on their new bikes with permanent smiles plastered on their faces.

Don't tell Mike, but I may get more than I give.

A Cup'a joe and business photography

2011-01-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

It came to my attention recently over coffee. (big surprise, right? me? coffee?).

My latest general porfolio book lay before my friend Tanya who had a look of, "wow, cool', on her face that alternated with simple surprise.

Tanya is a great graphic designer and project organizer who knows what she likes. Only part of her reaction was rooted in the way layout, color and light are things that naturally please her own creative vision.

You see, she has a fair amount of her own international experience and it is that commonality, a discussion of faraway places that led to a friendship. When we first
met, she couldn't wait to look through a portfolio of purely NGO (development and relief) images.

And, of course, she was moved by the photographs, the moments of emotion, and intimacy, the respect and care that I try to use in telling the stories of the people and the NGOs who work in such places.

Tanya has known me as that kind of photographer and she has kept her eyes peeled for local projects that might be well suited to these professional inclinations (T, thanks for that, by the way). It is such a part of who I am as a photographer at home (Pedal Power, Welcome to America Project) that she didn't realize this is only half the story.

Until she turned a page.

A storyteller/historian portrait.

A unique Yoga Studio.

A CT Scan suite.

An automobile fluids recycler.

Images that represent who the businesses and people are, images that tell their stories well, on a website or glossy sheet. Some of my most favorite business-commercial work to date.

This is where the revelation comes in.

I wondered who else only thinks of me as a photography provider in that way?

How many who know about my NGO work are completely unaware of how I tell the stories of businesses as well?

With a career that began in some of the Valley newsrooms, vast amounts of assignments developed and blended a sense of awareness in emotion, interaction, simplicity, lines, shape, form, overcoming bad light and making the most of good light. It is that blend which informs my commercial and editorial images, and has helped a few of those specialties emerge as favorites that really get my creativity and passion for the image, get fired up.

Those specialties, working with businesses and organizations large and small, on their architecture, landscape and the activities of their people, make up probably half of the work that I do.

Whether recycling computers, providing high-tech medical testing or building homes, these opportunities drive my passion as a photographer just as much as the health and education programs in Africa.

These companies have happily discovered what my blend of experiences and specialties bring to their projects and they have collaborated well to find interesting visual solutions that present their companies' settings and missions clearly and attractively.

At the end of the day, that is the goal of my entire package as a photographer, whether commercial, editorial, NGO documentary: communicate the message clearly and in a compelling manner

That and having a good cup of coffee with a friend.

Holiday Adoption

2010-12-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

In journalism school they teach, among many things, that an event, by definition, is not annual until it happens a second time. There is no such thing as "first annual". Based on individual experiences, I think my Arizona family’s adopting of a refugee family will become annual.

The Welcome to America Project (WTAP.org), is an organization you may be familiar with through my blogs as one of my pro-bono clients.
I like what they do. It dovetails nicely with some the overseas work that I am involved in from time-to-time and so I chose to contribute the best way I can, through professional my services.

They deliver furniture and household items to three refugee families most Saturdays through the year. During the holidays, they enlist a small army of volunteers to share spirit of giving with as many families as possible in one day. This year WTAP was able to provide for 60 refugee families in Phoenix and create some moving and life-influencing experiences for the givers as well as the receivers.

I decided not only to do the usual shooting that I do, but to pitch the idea to my own family of siblings, children and parents. They immediately jumped in with both feet, looking forward to the opportunity to help out, adopting a family of nine from Somalia.

After much organizing among the families within my family, we caravaned to the apartment of our Somali family to lend a hand and help them feel more welcome in their new home.

On this day I also remained a witness, documenting the event for WTAP as a sister-in-law handed out gifts to the children and Dad showed to off the daughters how to use the electric griddle.

"Do you like pancakes," he asked the ten-year-old daughter who sounded fluent in English. "Yah!" our translator answered excitedly.

One of the boys immediately took the the new soccer ball while another was elated with an eight-inch tall Buzz Lightyear figure.

Several side conversations developed as one sister chatted with the eldest daughter about how she was settling in and about her traditional clothing, and a nephew demonstrated the working parts of Buzz and Dad explained, to a wide-eyed daughter, how many pieced made up her new puzzle.

After perhaps half of the gifts of fun and of necessity were distributed, as if by telepathic agreement, we realized that their dad, who had work that day, was missing out on the moment. I think as a group we became concerned that the family might feel obligated to open all that we had delivered. One of my sisters spoke up, "do you want to wait for your dad to get home to finish?"

Their mom said she thought that was a good idea.

The mom and children expressed their thanks and as we drifted, one by one out the door, we thanked them for allowing us into their home and allowing us the priviledge of lending a hand.

In the days that followed the feedback from family was about the same, the warmth of the Somali family, the friendliness of the children and the beauty the interaction of the two cultures and the confirmation that perhaps this rich experience needed to become an annual event for our family.

Flash takes one for the team.

2010-12-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it was a last minute creation in the last few days before the big holiday that send me from store to store looking for the best size of Christmas lights that would fit with their accompanying wires into the partially-gutted shell of a Nikon SB24 flash.

It was a faithful servant up until perhaps 2001 and probably has lied dormant since then, outpaced by three or four newer generations of Nikon hardware. And yet, I hesitated before cutting the wires to remove the flash-head guts, forever turning a formerly faithful servant into a prop.

And, in case you're wondering, fire can be persnickety when you're trying for an even flame with raw firewood. The extra key, besides the usual fireplace tools, the well weathered, never-been-used, new yellow pages, tossed into the fire a couple pages at a time into the appropriate locations to turn lopsided burning into the warm and comfortable evenness that I hope has warmed you during a week that has been pretty cold all over the country.

Happy New Year to my treasured friends, followers clients and fellow travelers.

So thats what 240 bikes looks like!

2010-11-16T16:28:00.001-07:00

I know you were wondering.

Mike McIlroy sets the brakes.

Mike McIlroy knows not only what it looks like, but what it feels like to give them all away to excited kids who have never had a new bike before.

240 Bikes.

Mike and his wife Amy founded the Pedal Power Foundation a number of years ago to get bikes into the hands of disadvantaged kids in situations during the holidays.
This year they are at it again with some help from their friends and supporters.

This is second year I have been lending my skill to help tell their story with good photography. Last Saturday a crew spent the morning assembling 60 bikes in preparation for the giveaways that will be taking place in December. The McIlroys gave away about 230 bikes last year and hope to reach 300 this year.

All in the Family

Father and son

Mom and son

Amy McIlroy

Mike McIlroy, center with a little help from his friends.

A Pleasure to shoot

2010-11-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

Kids are tough. Sometimes.

All that energy mixed with a short attention span can make a shoot shorter than you hope for sometimes. The window closes fast, forcing you to let go of some other ideas that occur as you shoot. When they’re done they’re done.

Not so, a couple weeks ago as I worked with a client and their two adorable little girls. We found a beautiful green spot that stretched time for usable outdoor light while the girls sat still for some shots and by their actions inspired others. It took 90 minutes for them to show signs of cracking. Well done, girls.

Okay, on to the next photo...

Waiting for Rick to decide what to do next.

This family shoot was an absolute pleasure.

Thanks to Randy and Terri for a great day.

Serving refugees

2010-11-08T11:19:00.001-07:00

From time to time I spend some of my pro-bono contribution time keeping the photo collection up to date for the Welcome to America Project in Phoenix. For those of you who know me, you know how this type of work, whether in a camp for the internally displaced in Uganda or an apartment in west Phoenix, is near and dear to me.
A couple weeks ago I went out again with a group of teenagers and adults on a rare WTAP Sunday delivery to bring furniture to a couple of recently-arrived families from Somalia. They had been refugees for something like ten years before finally being resettled in Phoenix so that they could get on with their lives.
One of the young teens who had been on deliveries before wanted to share the experience with friends, and so she organized the group of workers.
I was pleased with my images from this shoot and want to share some with you,
Enjoy.

Picturing Maricopa, the Piper Grant

2010-11-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

Field Goals

It just kind of worked out this way. Working with non-profits, using my visual experience and skill to tell their stories has become one of the foundations of my business as a professional photographer.
It's one of the things that makes my job so rewarding and enjoyable.

Adopted Elation

So, when the Virginia Piper Trust Picturing Maricopa Grant came up last spring, it was a no-brainer for me to apply. By the time July, the slowest month of the year from my work, rolled around, I was making photographs at the Child Crisis Center in Mesa, my part of the Picturing Maricopa project.
It was a challenging project that stretched my vision and made me work hard for every great image, whether sheltered kids could not be identifiable in the photo to adopted siblings who have settled very well into their new home. (we will not speak of enduring the heat with a broken A/C system in my truck!)

Playtime Princess

Recently the resulting exhibit opened at Burton Barr Library in Phoenix showing the results of hard work and vision of 15 talented local pros including four of my friends.

Sheltered Contentment

The exhibit was curated by Rebecca Senf , Assistant Curator  Center for Creative Photography at University of Arizona  and Phoenix Museum of Art; Elizabeth (Betsy) Schneider , Assistant Professor of Photography  ASU Herberger Institute School of Art and Graphic Designer, Eddie Shea.

Water for Humanity

2010-10-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

Unloading water jugs for the half-mile trek into the desert.

Last weekend I met up with a former colleague who when not writing about the activities of the faith-based communities, spend some of his time living it, working as a volunteer, assisting Humane Borders in maintaining water stations in the Arizona desert.

It is an effort to reduce the number of deaths of illegal immigrants crossing one of the harshest landscapes in the country.

Using a specially outfitted truck with water tanks, five-gallon jugs, wheelbarrows and other gear, we set out with two other volunteers to service the stations. One of of the stations requires volunteers to wheelbarrow the five-gallon jugs to a station that is half a mile from the road in Organ Pipe National Monument.


One of the stations has to be reached by wheelbarrows.

Stations are marked by a blue flag.

Fortunately, only two trips over rocky and sandy desert were needed to top off the barrels. The second station is near a dirt road north of the National Monument and is a little easier to service. In addition to filling the plastic barrel, the crew will check the chlorine levels to ensure drinkability, make any repairs if needed, and collect trash in the areas surrounding the stations.

In case you're wondering, HB has worked with the Border Patrol and a number of other agencies to identify where people have perished in the desert in order to install stations in areas that are most likely to save lives.

More Humane Borders images on Corbis

Griffiths adds to a barrel before purifying the water.

New dates for the workshop

2010-10-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Um, okay, no post since May?! C'mon Rick get with it man!

Okay I'll fix that soon. Meanwhile Laura Martin and I have been crazy busy getting the word out on the photo workshop in Uganda. In one week, we spoke with three orgs to clarify some details and met with some photoj students from ASU AND NAU to fill them in.

The really big news though was posted a month ago on the home site for the NGO/Wildlife Documentary workshop:

If you are considering joining us in the incredible opportunity, but have a scheduling conflict, we just may have solved that problem for you. Take another look at your calendar for January 7-24 and July, 2011 and give us a call to sign up.

Also, it takes time to get all the bookings done, and the sooner we get them done, the better. Sign up soon!

A photo workshop in Africa

2010-05-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

One truly interesting aspect of my work has been for years the opportunity to work with and photograph the projects of international relief and development organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and AmeriCares.

In the process of making some great images, it has been an eye-opener and truly a feel-good thing that I am, if for only short periods of time, a part of the team that is making a difference all over the world.

In the intervening years, as some of you know, I have learned to teach my craft in college and in workshops. I've discovered an enjoyment for sharing this as well with others.

Now, with the help of fellow Phoenix photographer, Laura Martin we have decided to combine the two passions and put on a photo workshop in Uganda.

In the workshop, we will team up photographers with organizations of various sizes, to spend a week photographing the work of those organizations. Through editing, coaching and critique sessions, the photographers will work at improving the quality of their images daily. The organizations will receive a collection of that photographer's images to use in their communications.

Just to sweeten the experience some more we decided to include a proper wildlife safari to the second half of the trip. We think this is going to be a really amazing trip. The full details can be found at the workshop blog at http://ugandaworkshop.blogspot.com

Natural Light and the Small Wonders Map

2010-02-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

I LOVE natural light.

It can be so soft and inviting that you want to linger in the image. It wraps around the subject and almost makes them glow while producing equally soft shadows that can create an intimate-feeling moment.

Natural light pouring sideways through a window is even better.

That great window light is a classic in creating mood while opening up faces so that you can see the eyes an expression of the people in your images. It is also, by the way, is a great way to take that harsh, unflattering midday light from outside and convert it into beautiful, usable illumination inside.

The other day I used it to my advantage while shooting a press conference.

The event was to launch a business map of locally-owned businesses in the area. The map was produced by Local First Arizona, (yes, I am a member), an organization that promotes supporting locally owned businesses, while educating government and the public about the positive effects on the local economy of shifting your buying habits to support your neighbors. The goal of course is to create a healthier local economy. The map is one tool to promote that goal.

In the many, many press conferences I have photographed over the years, natural light is rarely a part of the toolbox. In fact, even with natural light, I might normally use a flash to fill things in.

So, imagine my delight as I arrived to photograph a little Local First Arizona presser and found a wall of beautiful, soft, natural light flowing through the expansive front windows of the venue, the Calvin Charles Gallery in Scottsdale.
The gallery walls, painted bright white, only made things more amazing, further softening the soft light as they drew that light deeper into the gallery.

It was too great to pass up.

And so, leaving the flash off, I made my images of the pre-event mixing, the announcement and comments about the very real effects of buying local.

And, it turns out, the effects of photographing naturally had a nice effect on the images of a usually common-looking event.

Trying again.

2010-02-09T13:20:00.006-07:00

   Even if you think you have the image, if time and deadline permit, it doesn't hurt to see if you can improve an image you feel strongly about.
   Such was the case the other day as I was working to make a few simple images to illustrate the use of the Recovery Act money at Sky Harbor in Phoenix for my photo agency, Corbis.
   The airport is completing an $11.7 million concrete taxiway so that jets will be able to move more efficiently to terminals from the north runway.

With the project in its last couple weeks, I had no idea whether there was even a photograph, as I made arrangements with the airport media relations person for access. She also made proper notifications to security so they wouldn't send SWAT to ask me what I was doing. It was possible that there wouldn't be much to see, especially since I could only shoot from a distance, either through the fence or from a small nearby hill, over the fence.

That day, constantly-changing clouds blanketed parts of metro-Phoenix. I couldn't be sure whether I would have anything resembling a blue sky to work with, but I figured I should at least scout it out and maybe do a dry run to see if there was an image worth making. I was already thinking I might have to try again on a clear day to get the warmer more directional early-day light.

As I began looking over the site I couldn't see much activity. Steamrollers sat unmanned and a number of belly-dump asphalt haulers were coming and going. Whatever was happening was hidden from view.

I made an image with the Stimulus Act road sign, picking up a roller in the background and, finally a landing plane above. Not that great, but something. It appeared that would be the end of it.

I began to leave, but as I drove over the nearby overpass, I discovered that the paving crew had just moved into view of the only elevated viewpoint of the site. It was a sort of window bounded by trees to the left, a building to the right and heavy-duty fence at the bottom. I had to stop and try again.
Conveniently, as I worked this opportunity, jets began arriving at tighter intervals. Finally, I had something that showed work and a sense of location with a bit of action all in one.

I still wondered what it would look like with better light. Also wondered if photographing between the fence slats at ground level so that the jets would be even closer to the paving crew would be a better image. This was also contingent upon the crew again working in an area that not only allowed planes into the frame but that would fall in line with Piestewa Peak or Camelback Mountain in the background.

Well they were, sort of. Let's just say it had to be pretty entertaining for anyone watching as I ran back and forth along the fence trying to predict where I needed to be each time a jet approached so that, the moving steamroller and the approaching jet would cross in front of one of the aforementioned mountains.

It's funny, in the grand scheme, not an earth shatterring image by any means, but maybe because the a combination planning, experimentation, execution, a little luck and willingness to try again, I made an image far better than I thought would be possible from outside the fence.

...And my creative muse was pretty happy with the result.

Feverish event for Refugees in Phoenix

2010-01-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

A night for dancin' fools, refugees from the late 70's and those who just love how the Welcome to America Project and its scores of volunteers makes a difference for newly-arrived refugees from all over the world, is approaching faster than disco fell out of style at the end of the 70's.

Every Saturday, WTAP welcomes another three families to our country, providing them with some decent furniture and much needed household goods and making them feel welcome in their new country.

Imagine giving up everything and making sometimes harrowing treks across inhospitable deserts in west Africa or swamp and jungle in southeast Asia only to find yourself spending years in limbo in crowded squalid camps, not knowing what's next. I can't imagine it and I have seen some of these places with my own eyes.

Finally you have the opportunity to immigrate to America, a place so different from your own that you have to learn not only how to get around and how to prepare meals with modern technology (a stove), but how to communicate so that you can find a job to pay the rent and feed your family. Imagine having to figure out how to function in a culture so far and away different that up is down and down is up. You don't even know where to begin.

WTAP partners with the resettlement agency International Rescue Committee, to soften the blow of such life-altering changes and make people feel welcome. They help with some of the basic needs so that the refugees can focus their energies on other important things like finding a job and learning English.

On Feb 20, you can relive your youth, dress silly (although it wasn't silly back then), act silly if you like, an have a great time while helping WTAP continue to fulfill their important mission by attending the annual WTAP Prom fundraiser. The Saturday Night Fever-themed event runs 6:30-10 p.m. at the banquet hall at St. Patrick Church 10815 N. 84th Street in Scottsdale.

As usual I'll be stepping out of my usual role as a documentary photojournalist to set up the traditional Prom portrait studio. For more information on this cool fundraiser please go to WTAP's site.

Hope to see you there!

Haiti: a brief view from 2007.

2010-01-19T11:15:00.007-07:00

If you are like me, you are watching daily the incredible images happy and disheartening of all that is happening in the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti over the course of the last week. Most of us can't even begin to comprehend the scale of the death and destruction.

Catholic Relief Services, one of my clients, sent me to Haiti in December of 2007 in a whirlwind tour of points north of Port Au Prince and the locations where the NGO's AIDSRelief programs were saving lives. We moved hospital to clinic to hospital documenting the programs with little time in between to document daily life. We, nevertheless could see a country struggling with poverty and struggling from the beating dished out by conflict and hurricanes just in the previous three years.

We rolled into Port Au Prince on the last day as the sun was fading and the traffic was thick. As we made our way toward the center of town, I caught a glimpse of a shanty that clung to a riverbank, and was impressed by its size, and not surprised by the makeshift nature that was obvious even in the quick glimpse. Of all of the shanties and poorly constructed slums I've seen all over the world, I'm not sure why I noticed it, I didn't even have an opportunity to get a frame off. The next morning,after checking in at CRS's main office in PAP, we headed to the airport.

Again, no real time to stop and explore a neighborhood, and so I did what I could, trying to make images from a moving vehicle. When I do this, every once in a while I get something good. And then I was homeward bound.

In the first news of the earthquake, it was that image that first popped into my mind. It was only one example of how poorly-constructed are even the more officially-built structures in Port Au Prince. My heart sank. I knew just how horrible this was going to be before the first pictures emerged. If you can imagine the entirety of your city collapsing. I mean ALL of it, with people trapped in every single structure, you begin to see. I just can't get me head around it. I wonder how many of the people in my few PAP photographs how many for the people I met are alive.

So, I wanted to share just a few of my more favorite images from that brief time in 2007 when I first met Haiti, perhaps just as a short break from all of the much more difficult images we're seeing from the disaster.

Mike the Bike Elf II: A Day of Giving

2009-12-24T10:22:00.007-07:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!
This is my Christmas card to all of you who follow.

For some of us this time of year is about family and faith, for others it's about giving and maybe being a little nicer to people around you. For some its about all of those things and more.
For Mike McIlroy, his family, friends and supporters, it is also about bikes for kids who probably have never owned one before and who certainly could not afford one right now.

I have had the privilege this season of sweetening the spirit by being a witness to the Pedal Power Foundation in Tempe this year, documenting their work in photographs. Saturday the 19th they gave away about 75 bikes to kids in central Phoenix. Some kids were so excited they were stunned, while others just couldn't stand still.

One by one, they received their shiny new wheels and a helmet, got a helmet fitting from Phoenix PD officer Arnie, got a few tips on the rules of the road and headed home with their new-found freedom.

Enjoy.

Love is...

2009-12-02T12:57:00.002-07:00

....sharing your talents with your family...

I shoot maybe one wedding a year, not really pursuing it as a part of my business model, but open to the idea under the right circumstances, depending mostly upon schedule. In this tough economy, it's something that bears revisiting as a part of the big picture of what my business as a photojournalist in commercial photographer, is about.

As with the wedding I photographed in April, I was very pleased with the results as I photographed some of the highlights of my neice Ryan's wedding and unofficially providing some back-up to the very talented Debbie Moon of Photography by Moonlight.

Especially when you have a dynamic wedding before you, what a great way to record the day by using the photojournalism/documentary style!

The Pour

2009-11-30T10:06:00.002-07:00

Bronze Sculptor John Tuomisto-Bell's hosted this month's Creative Connect gathering at his Phoenix art studio and turned his sculpting into performance art. I decided to use as much ambient lighting as possible only filling in with a bit off-camera lighting to subtly fill in the blanks.

Creative Connect is a monthly gathering of creatives in Phoenix (and now in several other cities too).

Habitat three, Paint-a House

2009-11-24T15:42:00.017-07:00

"Paint'a house" in the immortal voice of Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi...

It is AMAZING how quickly a house can be built. And with quality. Inspectors say this all th time that the Habitat houses are solid. They build them to specs and often the volunteers build them a little better than spec.
A couple weeks ago I was out at the site in Phoenix where a crew from my church, St Maria Goretti, took their turn in the four week rotation with crews from three other churches to move the Habitat home toward completion. Last time I had seen the house, it was a frame with some plywood, on the outside.
Now with electrical, plumbing, drywall and stucco installed, it was ready for sanding and painting already. Couple of news posts lately so, please read on below...

Mike the Bike Elf

2009-11-24T14:34:00.022-07:00

Whew! It's been, six weeks since the last post, so in several photo blogs here are some of the cool images and events I have been photographing.

Mike McIlroy and his wife Amy are making a difference for kids. A few years back, they started the Pedal Power Foundation by raising funds and working out some smokin' deals with some bike manufacturers to provide bikes to kids in need in metro-Phoenix. They even got Bell Helmets to donate the cool hard hats. Safety first!

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to do my part photographically, to witness about 30 volunteers of all ages plow through the assembly of 120 bikes in just four hours.
Incredible.

These two seemed to do about five bikes an hour.

All ages were turning wrenches

Finished product

Get that wheel straight.

Teamwork

And more teamwork

Airing up 240 tires

This year, the McIlroys hope to set a record for their little charity, donating 200 bikes to kids in the community. During the assembly party, Mike said that another 50 bikes were on the way. Today he told me he just got another donation and will be ordering more bikes this weekend.

Habitat House Round Two

2009-09-21T12:17:00.010-07:00

Father and Son

Just a few more from round two of the Habitat build for St Maria Goretti Church. as the crew put together the inside walls.

House leader Mike
Teamwork

Keeping the crew hydrated
Team leaders
Patti
Mark

Faith-based Framers

2009-09-14T11:11:00.018-07:00

Last weekend I spent my Saturday making pictures for a ministry at my church.
Yes, another one.

For a number of years some folks at the church have been joining forces with three other Catholic churches to build a home with Habitat For Humanity in Phoenix. How I went this long without getting out there to make some photos?

No idea.

At the beginning of the build, volunteers from all of the groups come together to get the framing of the house put together. In Subsequent weeks, each church takes turns working through the next step of the build.

By the way, the crew of about 40 had all of the outer walls of the house framed in about four hours.

Pretty amazing! It really shows what a large group of people (about 40) can get done with a little skill and some great leadership!

Anyway, thought I would share a few images from a toasty day.
This is only part one as the SMG group will be back out there next Saturday for round two.

Obama, Part Three

2009-08-18T09:49:00.016-07:00

In the past it was unusual that a president, any president, would visit Phoenix once in any given term, let alone three times in one year.
I had the opportunity to photograph Obama for the third time this year as he spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix.

According the the press release, equipment had to be in place for the security sweep between 3 and 4.

AM that is.

Interestingly, only one other photog was there that early along with a number of TV folks setting up their sticks, staking their claims on the press riser.

I staked my claim, affixing a business card to the floor in my chosen spot an then vacated so the secret service and police to could do their security sweep of the hall an the building.

So, at 4 am, there I am in an otherwise deserted downtown Phoenix.... nothing to do but find somewhere to sit and read my book.

Fortunately the lobby of the Hyatt nearby offered a comfy spot to read until the bagel and coffee shop opened. By then I felt as if I had been traveling all night and was stuck in an airport waiting for the next flight and needed, as my brother-in-law likes to say, to pour a big cup of coffee in my eyes.

After sharing a calm and pleasant bi-partisan chat with a couple of convention attendees in the bagel shop, I headed back to the media camp on Third Street.

By the time the doors reopened for media, about 7:30 am, the protesters had begun assembling and my pickup had been hemmed in by two tv satelight trucks. Cool.

Obama arrived about 10:15 in spite of two different pieces of info that said he would speak at 10:30 and at 11. The organizers had set up two risers, one with a straight on view and another from one side with flag positioned as a huge background. Obama spoke long enough so that I had time to use both vantage points for a variety of photographs. This is pretty important as when I shoot for Corbis and there was usually another Corbis guy in the White House press pool who has up close access. I have to work hard to make some images that he can't.

With all of this, once you get down to business it is just that. Photograph a speaker, using as many angles and elements as you possibly can to make a variety of good, usable images. Oh and by the way, they guy in the photo is the President of the United States.....

For a few more pix, the Corbis address is pro.corbis.com, then search for Obama, D'Elia

Collecting news in Kampala, Week one.

2009-08-09T14:32:00.052-07:00

Part two of a series, a year in Uganda

Oct 6, 2003
Threading through downtown Kampala traffic seated on the back of Willy’s dirt bike, I pulled my knees closer to lessen the chance of knocking them on the car we pass between. He makes his own road as he turns in an unexpected direction moving between more cars and matatus before zipping up a hill toward the National Theatre off Siad Barre Road.

The Mystery Assignment tour had begun.
--Willy and his ride.

Earlier, as we exited the news meeting, the photo editor, Henry suggested vaguely that I go shoot pictures in Owino Market.

Okay. Henry, is there a story? What am I looking for? It’s a big place with a lot of common things going on (common to local readers, anyway) so I’m not sure what he really wants. He explains they like to have some file photos of stuff happening for business pages.

First I think I’m going on my own, my first challenge. Go to a place where people frequently shy away from or shout unapprovingly at photographers. It is a wild place with many people moving about and it can be a security risk, and I’m going in on my own. Am I nervous? Do Ugandans drive on the left? (yes!)

Before I have a chance to get on my way, another photog comes to me and tells me “your going with this one” referring to Willy. So off we go on his motorcycle to, I assume, Owino Market.
Instead, we go to the National Museum.
Hmmm, Willy neglected to mention this.
“What are we doing here?” I ask. He doesn’t answer as we search the building for something unknown. We find a press conference with a Senegalese filmmaker talking about his new film.
--Filmmaker Absa
Our next stop, another backstreet near Owino, he tells me to take a picture of bikes and cars moving through the sloshy mushy mess of a street. It looks pictureless to me but I’m playing along as I try to understand how he operates. At the same time, I’m feeling a little like photographer in a box: take me out at the desired location and tell me what to shoot.

While we’re standing there, Willy points out a place down the street where mayirungi, is sold. It is a green, leafy drug being pedaled in the open from stalls on the sidewalk. We need a picture of it he informs me.
Are you kidding me?
When was THAT mentioned, I wonder?
Shoot that picture in broad daylight? Are you insane?
--Nimarungi for sale.

He assures me it will be okay as long as I don’t linger too long. He says that they won’t bother a muzungu, where they would possibly attack him.

“You’re sure its okay,” I ask for extra assurance.
“Yes, no problem,” Willy says.
“You better be nearby with your bike if they start chasing me.”
I’m really feeling lost now.

With the camera already out in the open, I wander toward that corner trying to look confident. I climb a small mound of dirt across the street from the intended site. I survey the area with my lens intentionally like a tourist. My heart pounds against my ribs as I swivel toward the sellers and knock off a few frames and then lower my camera. Looking in another direction I try to show no special interest in the corner. I’m sure that drug sellers have noticed a muzungu with a big camera just across the street. I wait for a reaction.

Finding, none, a tiny sliver of confidence forms and, I point my lens again, lingering a bit longer, shooting a couple more frames including a woman behind her makeshift counter of drugs and a small child standing in front. Another woman hides her face.

“Okay, that’s enough exposure to danger,” I think, and look for Willy. I meet him and he suggests the angle he’s standing at. Still nervous, I look and I shoot some more frames under some cover of a parade of people walking along this other side of the three-way intersection.
Time to move on.

We travel to two more assignments without Willy ever really sharing our destinations. He makes stops as if he saw something interesting just by driving by, although both have the feel of an assignment the last is a big meeting of Boda-Boda drivers with their union boss. I think they were engaging in a mini strike to protest either too much government intervention or no government intervention on how some Boda drivers operate. I couldn’t figure it out.
Boda Boda union meeting--

Willy looks at the outdoor gathering, from an elevated sidewalk and decides it’s a great picture with the knot of people and the Boda-Boda’s in the background.

I see an uncompelling photo of blob people and some shiny things which will never look like boda-bodas in the background and tell him so. He can take that picture but I will not. Feeling led around and not being respected enough to be informed of our activities, I decide to take back control of my day and lead by example at the same time. I want to demonstrate a better way to handle this assignment. I shoot a preliminary shot with a couple of Boda-bodas’ in the foreground with the crowd in the background and move to the crowd. As I look for a space in the crowd, a couple of drivers realize I’m media and encourage others to make space for me. The crowd parts as I move toward the boss, who is making loud speeches for television and radio interviews.
Leaving a few people in front of me to use as framing for the central figure, I am rewarded as the drivers cheer for their leader with arms raised in the air. Now we have a picture which has some meaning and emotion. My example is highlighted by the photo editor as encouragement to think a little more outside of their box in doing their assignments.
--Union leader

I realize that it looks like Willy is not a good guy. He is actually a nice guy, just trying to make some sort of living on the pittance they pay him.
I reminded myself of something easily forgotten once I get in the familiar mode of working. I must be more patient at times in a place where even journalists communicate in a different way. I understand the fact that I must ask more questions to avoid the mushroom syndrome (remaining in the dark) as full disclosure of any activity is not automatic with Ugandans.

The week proceeds at a busy clip as I allow myself to be involved in the daily grind long enough to get more of a feel for working here. It also gives me a chance to get my photojournalism brain energized again after a month and a half of lethargy.

Wednesday proved to be another busy and challenging day as I accompanied John, another photog and a reporter in a company car (!) to a function involving the Kabaka. The name is loosely translated to King of the Bugandan people in central Uganda. They use the term kabaka as the Egyptians used the term pharaoh. It would be written, the Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II .
We left blacktop and bumped along a dusty partly graded road in the company four wheel drive truck toward what I was told was a function with the king. The jostling 40-minute ride left me feeling I’d ridden in the bed of the pickup rather than in the cab.

The little function, it turns out, was Independence Day for the Buganda. The thing was filled with music of the kind I’d only heard on the CD’s or in Rwanda. School choirs, elderly women, signing with equal skill and the complex harmony of African singers. Alongside the king’s tent, men stood in traditional dress of the kings guard wearing bark cloth, and a weapons belt as well as carrying a spear and shield.

But the Baganda really love their speeches. Everyone who was anyone, had their turn at a long-wind speech in Luganda. We waited four and half hours to photograph the king making his comments.
--King Mutebi

Riotous Time
While returning to Kampala, John got a call from the office about unrest at Makerere. As we approached, cops in riot gear prepared to break up what was apparently a peaceful gathering. John spoke to a commander who told us to get back. Following John’s lead, we stayed nearby. One cop, holding a shotgun yelled at us again and began to dismount. (the shotgun was ore likely for using to fire teargas using a special nozzle).

Okay, I thought, so it’s a country of hiding from the press anything distasteful. We backed off until we were out of view of the cops and cut through the woods and behind small dorms. Not sure about dealing with the cops, I stayed close to John, assuming he knew what he was doing. As we moved parallel to the cops we began to hear the pop of tear gas guns followed by shouts and screams of students. Soon we encountered students, some of them grasping softball-sized rocks, running away from the apparent gathering area. As I tried to capture that I wondered where the police were and how they would feel about us being in the middle. As I followed students, I began to notice a burning around my eyes. And then tears. I had passed through a dissipating cloud of tear gas.

Eventually we found other cops and some commanders. They recognized John and he asked them, just to play it up, “can you protect us, some students were chasing us” etc. (it was either a joke or he was playing up to the cops a bit in order to get on their good side so we could continue shooting.). After that they didn’t care what we photographed as they made a circle of the campus to root out any other pockets of students they felt were a problem. The rooting by the way constituted firing some more tear gas canisters at offending students.

The interesting thing in all of this is that the students were engaged in a peaceful forum that supposedly they didn’t have permission to hold. Police moved in with their tear gas and their truck-mounted water cannons and fired without any prior warning to disperse, or so the reports say. The subject of the gathering? Student opposition to lifting the constitutional limit of two terms for the presidency. Hmmm, convenient, huh?

Many people believe that if this president is able to convince or coerce the constitutional commission to change the law and he wins reelection in 2006, it may be the beginning of a life presidency for him. If that happens, this country, which has come so far in development, could plunge backwards in struggle. (Historic Note: they did in fact find a loophole allowing a third term. There is now talk of a fourth).

I did make it to Owino another day, on my own, finding some who didn’t care whether I photographed them and some who did. And I emerged without and attempts to relieve me of my gear.

Just wondering whether this format is working. The whole idea of Photographic adventures is when we have the opportunity to work in and on some interesting projects home and abroad. Clearly the year way fits the bill. The question is since it is archival, should it be a separate blog?

The transition and the website.

2009-07-27T11:54:00.006-07:00

Over the last several years, a whole transition has been underway in my work, about how I see and present myself as a pro. With a heavy newspaper background, I have struggled to truly redefine myself in the larger world as it became clear that newspaper work was destined for my rearview.

Surrounding me are people who specialize in many things, things that I thought I would have to start doing in order to get a piece of the pie. Things that just do not inspire me as a visual artist or a journalist.

I pressed forward dabbling in this and that, only sometimes feeling like what I worked with resonated with my inner creative.

Along the way, I learned to teach photography and improved my skills with architecture and artificial lighting. I was finding ways to continue growing.

And then, one day it became clear.

It took a couple clients with the right kind of job to help me see it.

I realized, I do not have to completely relearn what I do and throw out the thing I love most, telling stories about people with photographs. It is what I have spent my career learning to do well and what I had continued to do for several clients.

Everyone has a story to tell, individuals, organizations and businesses, and they need their stories told visually by someone who has honed that discipline with passion, artistry and effectiveness.

I never needed to change what I do, only needed to recognize another vast market.

This realization came with some others. J-school taught nothing about business or marketing (we were all going to work at NP’s and magazines, who needed these other skills??). Many of us artists have had to put in our own efforts to correct this shortcoming.

When it comes to marketing, presentation is as important as the work. If you do not reach potential clients with the initial presentation of who you are, they will not see the great work you bring to the table.

It may not be fair, but if potential clients do not move past the landing page of your website, “fair,” will only be the place where you go to eat cotton candy and corndogs then get on that ride that spins until you feel sick.

I suspected this may be a problem in my business, an older, clunky website that is hard to use, and does not do enough to truly showcase my best work.

As if to confirm this suspicion, a few months back, a friend and client referred another potential client to my old .net site. After taking a look, the potential client told this friend, “ I am so glad that you recommended I look, otherwise I would not have made the effort to see that his work is great. The site is so hard to use.”

And so, as I approach my 20th anniversary as a professional, (Aug 29th to be exact) and begin to truly emerge from a crucible of change in my career, I am today presenting the new face of my business, D’Elia Photographic at www.deliaphotographic.com.

You will find a mix of my familiar and new international and local work, in portraiture and storytelling with great light and moving moments. You will see work that is effective and versatile for many types of commercial and editorial projects.

You will note that these are not purely people. During this transition and even before, my skills, inspirations and clients have never been limited to that of photographing just people and this collection represents more of what I bring to the table as a professional.

One thing that at the moment you will not see is the fourth portfolio. I encourage return visits to the site as I have reserved this space for recent projects such as new overseas work and for other images I love that I want to share.

I am more pleased than ever with that which represents my work and business on the web, and hope that it inspires you whether you are a friend, colleague or client to go out and make a nice image or better yet ask me to do it for you!

Uganda Reloaded

2009-07-17T18:25:00.017-07:00

A few years ago, after much soul searching, I decided to join what I call Peace Corps Lite, A Visions in Action Program in Uganda designed to connect volunteers with programs in a variety of disciplines for a one year commitment. For my part, I connect with the national independent daily, the Monitor (or with the local accent needed when giving your destination to a taxi: Moe nee tah) as well as with various organizations for one-offs and projects to work on projects at a greater depth than is possible when I parachute in on short trips.

Back then I was blogging before I knew what it was. I had a list of about 100 people who wanted to keep up with the adventures of daily life in Uganda.

Since the economy has helped to make this a pretty challenging year in pursuing the international side of my work (don't forget I am valuable right here in metro-Phoenix), I thought it might be interesting to replay some of the more interesting blogs in the place that they really belong. I will periodically post more Uganda letters depending upon whatever else is going on in realtime.

As I worked on improving my descriptive writing, many of the blogs contain a fair amount of details, but if you are interested in this kind of thing, I encourage you to stick with it and read through for a little entertainment, sometimes or maybe often at my expense.

Kampala, 092603
The eight of us are relaxing with our second cups of tea after the five-hour return trip from rural Rwakwezi west of Mbarara, our rural home stay complete. It followed our first dinner in a week devoid of any banana-based staple.

Van Morrison hangs like a haze above our heads as we appreciate the brightness of the recently-repaired electric central light fixture in the living room. The very idea of illumination lacking the orange oiliness of a paraffin flame comforts us as the experience of village living sinks in. A sense of relief floats on the air as we realize we have completed the most difficult part of our orientation with everyone still standing.

I feel that my words will not fully describe the week, but I’ll give it a shot.

Traveling south through the constantly lush, hilly landscape south of the equator we bumped over successively narrowing dirt tracks, deep into banana country to reach our home for the week. As the path narrowed, banana leaves slapped the sides of the van as if tell us to go back, that the path really was the footpath it resembled rather than one suitable for motorized transport.

Crossing the equator we traveled south in the very mode our British doctor told us to avoid- the matatu. (they pass on blind hills and curves and drive too fast) Ours had seen many city miles and demonstrated the level of care it had seen in its life as we raced along the two lane roads with a lug nut missing on each of the four wheels and as the undercarriage tire rack dropped and dragged twice on the trip. Further concern arose as we slowed outside Masaka to notice an audible vibration in a front wheel, feeling like the wheel might consume its ball bearings causing a failure that, in my worst estimation could have caused the matatu to veer left, dive to the pavement and flip us over and over at high speed.

We arrived on Africa time, about four hours later than we were expected.

The purpose of this stay was to work with the villagers on starting a cash-generating mushroom-growing project with the village. The process was simple but tedious involving soaking the remnants of cotton crop (seed husks and bits of cotton left on the plants) overnight in water. The next day was spent squeezing handfuls of the stuff to drain as much water as was humanly possible. Then handing it to someone else to squeeze again. Then the village ladies packed it tightly in plastic bags and into a banana-leaf lined drum to steam over a charcoal fire. The sterilized bedding would then be mixed with mushroom seeds and placed them in a dark mud-walled room to grow.

Part of our program fees paid for some of the materials as well as some tools to help the village build a culvert over a swamp to connect the main road more directly to the village. The other purpose was to understand how much of the population of Uganda lives and to better appreciate and adjust to our Kampala home with all of its shortcomings.

Our first lesson preceded even the first stage of mushroom preparation when we discovered that our hosts were not Baganda, whose language we are studying, but Banyakole, who speak Ruyankole, a related, but different language. (the greeting is “agandi” to which you respond either nimarungi or adiaho).

My next lesson in rural living followed a fulfilling dinner of matooke, (better made in the country than the city) groundnut stew and doodo (sort of like spinach and pronounced doh-doh) by lantern light.

After dinner I made the 20-minute walk to my host’s house where I was fed dinner a second time. It was washed down with fresh, boiled milk mixed with tea and fresh honey.

Following dinner, I found more culture shock after my affirmative answer, concerning the desire to bathe. I found myself standing in my host family’s front yard, with a plastic water basin and two jerry cans- one filled each with hot and cold water. Hidden from the road by a rising slope, rows of banana trees and absolute darkness, I mixed the water and bathed as family members discreetly avoided stepping outside the front door until I was finished. A basin bath under the stars.

Only the next morning did I discover that they actually have a “shower,” a surround made of narrow poles draped with banana leaves for coverage. The actual shower mechanism is operated by mixing the water provided, for temperature, and pouring the basin over yourself. You stand on a slab of slate which is placed atop other small stoned to allow drainage from the surround. Apparently since darkness provides a shield, the family sees no point in using the surround at night.

My accommodation I discovered was actually rather plush. A foam mattress and bed frame under a mosquito net in a ten by ten foot mud floor and mud-wall room while family members slept in three other bedrooms. Some of my colleagues lived in much smaller homes. One slept in the same room with the family

I found my family to be very much involved in getting a full education as they all were beginning a three-week long testing period which determines promotion to the next level of schooling. I also found that while they seemed to be better off than many of their neighbors, they were not part of the emerging middle class. They had only a few sets of clothing and their hanging-around-the-house and neighborhood clothes all had holes. (It’s okay, the organization pays them for our stay so that they can afford the extra demand on their food and time) I also discovered that my family is very close. They joke a lot among themselves and although they are divided among several rooms at night, with the walls not reaching to the corrugated metal roof, they can and do converse from room to room as they fall asleep. It sounds like a slumber party.
On the farm I found the results of a diversification of crops to help keep the soil healthy. Bananas, of course, are the primary crop.
Most if not all plantations grow four types of bananas. My family grows all four types, the long yellows, a sweet variety similar to those seen in the US; the small yellows, a very short, slightly more intensely flavored version of the first; and the matooke, a green one tasting a lot like a white potato and used as a dietary staple in the paste of the same name.

The fourth, I have been told is used in making a banana beer which can be distilled and turned into a clear, hard liquor known as Crude Waragi which is 90 proof. (a more filtered version of about 50 proof is also sold) The explanations I got were not entirely clear. Some told me that the matooke banana was used for this. Some of the beer I tasted, known as tonto was very sweet, but some was sour, so it’s possible that more than one type of banana is used in these spirits.

Growing in the shadow of the banana plants, this family has planted, beans, sugar cane, grapes, coffee, apples, green oranges (a really sour variety), papaya. They also bees and longhorn cattle. (15 of them) Of course always wanting to learn something, I accepted the offer from their second youngest, Christophe, 15, to teach me how to milk them one morning.

One of our group, Calvin can take responsibility for spreading the classic children’s game, Duck, Duck, Goose to Central Africa. The high school teacher was a natural with the children of the village, organizing game after game, as well as camp-like songs, entertaining the throng for hours during down-time. We later spotted the kids playing the game on their own when Calvin was elsewhere, so we know it caught on.

Snippets:
All of us using various forms of outhouses with dried-mud walls and a simple hole in the floor to “ease” ourselves (their term) at our various homes.

Poor Chris with the family father who was at different times trying to get him to take his youngest daughter to America (I suppose for a better life?), trying to set him up with another daughter of 16 for marriage, and always simply following close at hand.

Emily’s family who spoke no English and spoke little to her during her stay and whose daughter was cleaning a panga (like a machete) when Emily arrived which made her quite nervous. They made up for it by sending her home with papaya, avocado, a sugar cane and wanted to give her a live chicken.

Monique’s family who lived in a tiny two-room mud-block house and where all of them slept in one bedroom and would listen to the radio late at night to ward off insomnia (?!). Not to mention whose neighbors came over the first night to stare with no great effort made to have a real conversation.

Calvin’s family who hosted our daytime meals with culinary skill (the same stuff but it was somehow more tasty) were warm and welcoming and simply a lot of fun. (breakfast at 11 a.m., lunch at 3 or 4 p.m.) They cooked not only the best matooke around but added other simple things like stewed beans and stewed peas at lunch time as well as millet porridge, which resembled a very soupy cream of wheat with bread, tea with a lot of milk and sweetened with local sugar.

To my family whose mother went to town for most of my stay to participate in a seminar for women in agriculture leaving her teenage children to cook for me. They were all very nice kids who warmed up to me after that first night of some conversation in lightly broken English and a lot of sitting there, staring at each other. (the photos of family helped melt that ice).

In the end it was an experience that lasted about the right amount of time. I feel I could have gone a few more days as the last group had but was not disappointed to return to our home in Kampala. The nights were cool and peaceful with a brilliant night sky and sounds that resembled the rainforest in variety if not in decibels. The simplicity of the life and the forgoing of even the simple luxuries of Kampala made us all feel much more ready to take on the city life than we were before the week began.

PHOTOS:
Jumping rope with some of the village kids. The first rope was made from dried banana tree skins tied together before someone found a real rope.
A walk in the hills surrounding the village.
Monique is an oddity to kids in Mbarara as we made a stop before reaching the village.
The shower surround, no kidding.
Taking bananas to market.
Praise slices tomatoes and her sister Shifra watches the food cooking dinner on the family’s range: a mud platform with two rectangular shaped voids for fire topped by rebar on which pots and pans could be placed. The space is a separate structure in back of the house. A tin can parafin lamp provides light.
Christophe milking a long horned cow.

Taking a break, Extreme tubing

2009-07-02T18:01:00.035-07:00

I took a break.
Sort of.
Another friend and I took the long drive to visit another friend in Utah whose family has a place near Bear Lake. Idaho. It’s a family who plays together and works together to make it a wonderful summer weekend getaway from the city for each other.

These folks play hard, so, as getaways go it was that, but not a mini vacation for R&R.

And of course, it was a chance to contribute my pro skills the family’s photo collection. I love it when I’m able to do that!

So, a little wake- boarding, go-carting and, of course, extreme tubing (pulled behind the family’s brand new Wake Setter boat as the brothers leap from tube to tube and back again.)

Buying Locally

2009-06-18T18:47:00.006-07:00

The more money you can keep in your local market the better the health of the local market as a whole. That is one of the primary tenets of the Local First Arizona organization of which D'Elia Photographic is a member. I am not perfect and, gulp, yes, I confess, (slap my hand), I do spend money at chains. But I also try to spend locally whenever I can.

I live in Fountain Hills and try to spend my coffee money at Mountain View Coffee when i can and at Euro Pizza Cafe to satisfy Pizza and Pasta cravings when I need a break from a long day editing photos, writing a blog and reaching out to potential clients from the home office.

In a couple weeks, Buy Local week seeks to help its members make the most of the summer and promote commerce with local companies.

Of course, it will probably come as no surprise that my little outfit, D'Elia Photographic, is a member and is one who is happily accepting the Golden Coupon for a 20% discount on services during Buy Local week, June 29-July 5, 2009.

In fact, I am feeling pretty generous to all my friends and potential clients who appreciate a nice image and will honor this coupon for jobs SCHEDULED during this week.

If you mention this blog, I'll lop off another 10% of the final invoice whether a commercial job with all the bells and whistles or a personal portrait shot on your own location. It is a great way to save a few bucks and keep your local businesses sailing along through the summer. This will also apply to any fine art images in my catalogue that you may want to use to soup up your walls.
You may also go to the LFA site to find other locals who are participating in the campaign at http://www.localfirstaz.com/independents-week/golden-coupon.php.

BUY LOCAL!!

Portfolio on Lightstalkers

2009-06-17T12:43:00.006-07:00

IN the internet and social networking age it never hurts professionals, especially in my field to have more places for people to find me and see my work. Anything to up the odds of gaining new clients on a more regular basis. The Lightstalkers website is an important tool for photogs who are active in documentary/photojournalism and who are traveling from time to time. Be sure to check it out:
http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/21035

Also stay tuned to the impending launch of my brand new shiny website which will appear at www.deliaphotographic.com

Kirabu and Calvin

2009-06-01T09:58:00.010-07:00

I met Calvin Knight in Kampala, Uganda where we were housemates in 2003 in the Visions in Actions program. Me a photojournalist contributing my skill to the Monitor and some NGO's and Calvin taking his experience as a High School teacher in Canada to design some new education materials for the Education Ministry in in Uganda.
My housemates and I quickly learned that Calvin was a guy who not only searches for more way to make friends out of almost anyone he meets, but hungers to make a difference in which ever way he can for his friends and for the people around him.
At least once a week, (or was it more?) he began running an after-school (after his day-job) activities program for kids in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Kampala, Uganda. He took that to the next step, single-handedly organizing a Kampala Kids Day, to educate and entertain these kids with help from ALL of his friends and the Ndere TroupTheatre. I'm not sure who had more fun the Troup, the friends or the kids, but is was an unforgettable event that truly made a difference to these kids.
Once he returned home to Toronto, after his year-long stay, he found a way to share this experience and make an even greater difference to those kids as well as other kids in Lira, a town in the north that is only now beginning the very long road of recovery from war.

He figured out a way to not only make Kids Day annual, but to start another project to make for a lighter work load to some folks in need in Lira.
He founded Kirabu.

This year, for the month of July, Calvin and his Kirabu crew will descend upon Uganda not only to run some fun programs for kids in Lira and Kampala, but to lend a hand to the reconstruction of the Almond Secondary School in Lira

"The school educates and boards over 400 children each year, many of whom are orphans and all of whom have been affected by war and poverty."

The crew also has the chance to develop an understanding of what the region has been through under 20 years of war which included rebel use of child soldiers.

The program not only makes a difference for the kids but aims to create an ever growing group of people committed to helping improve the lives of others.

It is a true exchange that benefits everyone involved.

Don't forget to make your contribution to visually documenting Kirabu's important work so they can move even more folks to join their effort.

Click on the Paypal button at left and make a contribution today.

We can't get there without your help,

You can find even more info about what Clavin and his crew will be doing in Juy at the site, http://www.kirabocanada.ca/.

Obama's economic stimulous for the freelancer

2009-05-17T09:58:00.021-07:00

Like everyone else, we freelancers are getting our share of bumps and bruises. So it never hurts when you can photograph a high profile event with some relatively well-know guy like, um the President shows up in your backyard to shake hands at a graduation.

This time, a hot, sweltering day inside a concrete and steel bowl, that is Sun Devil Stadium made for a long and brutal day waiting for many hours to photograph President Barack Obama as he addressed the graduates of Arizona State University.

About the time Obama took his seat on the stage, the heat had faded from blast furnace intensity to a hair dryer on medium allowing the braincells to begin functioning again.

In spite of what began as some pretty brutal heat for May, this is one of those things that I really do enjoy about my job, the opportunity to photograph some pretty amazing and interesting people in news-making situations.

What I enjoy even more is when there is time to be thorough.

In photographing any event, thoroughness tells a better story. When there is time to pick up your feet to explore multiple perspectives, multiple lenses the collection provides a more complete view of an event. It also means, trying to find windows to see through the clutter, the teleprompters and stage rigging, that obstructed some vantage points and provided distracting photo content in others.

Who doesn't love a challenge?

Obama provided the opportunity to do that exploration by doing more than just delivering a speech and hitting the road. He stayed for most of the event, shaking hands with all of the doctoral candidates who crossed the stage to be recognized for their years of hard work.

You could call Obama's visit a sort of a stimulus package for freelancers. The longer Obama spent at ASU and the more he did to interact with students, the better the collection of images became. The stronger that collection, of course, the more play it will get.

Nothing like a little personal involvement in stimulating the economy.

STREEETCH and help some kids.

2009-05-06T13:50:00.019-07:00

It’s the economy, every day. “They” say things are getting tougher.
Seems like what we spend buys less and less.

How cool would it be to stretch some of that green and make a difference to kids at the same time?

How could I possibly do that, Rick?
I am so glad you asked!
(But wait there’s more?)
It’s simple.

Help three small organizations that focus on education and other necessities mostly for kids in Uganda keep their programs running.

Let me explain.

As it is, small orgs must use whatever resources they have available not only in keeping the lights on but in trying to draw donations from a diminishing pool of donors in a increasingly competitive arena.

They draw donor attention through their communications tools, websites and mailers. Powerful photographs help make those tools successful. If the photographs are compelling, they convey the importance and strength of an organization. They motivate donors.

Small organizations, however, often can’t afford to bring an experienced, skilled photographer to their site. Their photographs are taken by staff-members whose expertise lies in education and social work. Those staffers are not trained in finding telling and emotional moments that make powerful photographs from which a viewer cannot look away.

Many of these organizations wish they could have work done by a pro.

With a little help, a little funding, a pro could be put into place without cost to an organization.

Wouldn’t it be even better if there were three or four organizations in the same area in Uganda with a similar need, the photographer is already in place to help out not just one, but several organizations accomplish the same goal?

Three for the price of one?

Just by pure coincidence (!?) atleast four organizations have expressed excitement at the prospect of getting great photographs of and for their programs:

Teach a Child to Fish http://www.teachachildtofish.org

Bega Kwa Bega (Shoulder to Shoulder) http://begakwabegaugandaorphans.org

Uganda Community School Project, Nawantale http://www.nawantale.org

Kirabo (http://www.kirabocanada.ca)

My plan is to spend about two weeks photographing these projects as a volunteer, as well as another five or six days of post production time. Travel expenses for two weeks, which would include, transportation, food and lodging, etc., will range between $3,000 and $3,600 depending upon the cost of the airfare. Departure depends upon how quickly these expenses are raised.

How do we raise them?
It’s really easy.

If enough of you throw in, if we all spread the word through our respective networks, it would only take a 10-spot, or maybe a 20-spot each to get there.

So, send a check to Teach a Child to Fish, the collector of the funds, and send with one of those “forever stamps” (remember the price is going up very soon) to:

Teach A Child to Fish
P.O. Box 491
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Enter in the notations, "NGO photo project."

TCF is 501(c)3 so, donations are deductible.

Once the expenses are covered, the rest of the donated funds will help TCF with their program.

Don't forget, without your help this project will not be able to go forward.

Growing and revisiting

2009-05-03T19:55:00.012-07:00

Growing forward is always a good thing. I always tell people, especially when I am talking to a group, that if you stop growing in your photography then you might as well hang it up. What fun is there in a creative endeavor in staying in the same place all the time? Isn't one of the motivations of regularly creating to create something in a little different way than before?Sometimes its the little stuff, like making better use of the infrared triggering system in the Nikon flashes (Canons do this too) when you can't set up the full-blown portable light kit. It made for a better result in this image from a couple weeks ago for a client who was writing about a young man who is interning at the state capitol. One strobe with an Omni Dome on his face and another putting a little highlight on his cheek, thereby separating him a bit more from the background. Some assignments must take place when they must take place. This lighting also allowed me to make the best of that shadowy, unappealing midday light.

That said, it also doesn't hurt to revisit the old days, like when my newspaper work took me to the weekly drama of high school age competitions. I don't miss some aspects of newspaper photography, but, I always enjoyed the fast moving athletics, and kind of miss those assignments. In the grand scheme of things these games might not matter too much, except to these kids, but it was always a fun challenge to pull the best image I could out of each opportunity.

The old skill came in handy for a friend whose son plays volleyball for a Valley school and is about to finish his scholastic athletic career.

Volleyball is tougher than it looks to photograph. That little white ball moves pretty fast and it takes some practice, or some re-oiling of some old skills, to get that timing down to get those frames where the ball is still close enough to the players to matter. Its great to move on to new skills but it can also be a great deal of fun to revisit some that haven't been exercised in a long time.

Playing with fire, to flash or not to flash

2009-04-28T12:00:00.006-07:00

I was shooting a fundraiser for Nawantale or Uganda Community School Project at Taliesin in Scottsdale. They are working with the Nawantale village to create this school that will better serve that area of remote Uganda, about an hour north of Jinja.

IN edition to a silent auction and presentation by student architects of their designs for the new school, a group of fire dancers provided a little excitement for the evening. Thus the question would arise.
Shall I use the fire as my only source of light and risk many, motion-blurred faces of performers or mix in a little flash to try and freeze and fill in the faces? Of course the dilemma is whether the flash would create a problem for people who were spinning balls of fire on the ends of short chains that would at times whiz within inches of their faces.

I tried a little of both and and decided that by shooting many frames with available light, to improve the odds of have some frames with sharp faces, it also created a more moody, shadowy atmosphere for the images. It also allowed for longer exposures which also allowed the painting of longer arcs of flame.
I tried flash a few times, doing it in a way that it didn't create problems for performers, but didn't like the overlit feel that technique created.

Your own perspective

2009-04-16T07:55:00.010-07:00

I was facilitating a discussion of members' work at the Fountain Hills Photo Club, and made this point about critique and personal style, "understanding how other people see your work is important to helping you better communicate whatever it is you want to say. This does not mean that you are changing your style to conform to someone else's point of view. You are simply understanding how people perceive the photographed image so that you can harness it to show your point of view of beauty or humanity."

And then my friend Stacee posted this today from Oscar Wilde:

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken”

Photo: Guaymas fishing boat, 2008
Why? The little voice said, "this is cool light, find an image."

The Human Paint Brush

2009-04-15T13:16:00.020-07:00

In creative fields, the creation is usually as satisfying as the final artwork. For sculptor, painter, artist of many mediums, Jeff Zischke, the process is not only part of the payback of creating art, it has become a performance. It has become the art itself.
During the monthly get together of Creative Connect, in Phoenix, April 14, hosted in Jeff's studio in Scottsdale, he unveiled his latest creative process, creating abstract paintings with a human paintbrush. He suspended his willing subject from a mechanism that allowed him to dip her volumous hair into a pot of watered-down ink, and then move her hair over the paper to create six or seven abstract black paintings to the delight of the 80 or so creatives in attendence. Creation as art.....

Keep shooting

2009-04-11T08:34:00.006-07:00

When it's slow there is the potential to get into the habit of spending more time, online researching, promo-ing, and yes, even playing a game or two. Of course researching and promo-ing are important too, but not at the expense of, as I like to say, keeping oil up in the engine.
The only way to stay sharp as a photographer is to keep shooting.
Last week I worked on two projects without paycheck. Both major undertakings for charity clients. One was all day, submitting photos all along the way.
Busy, hectic, challenging.
I have often told people in the past that I don't do weddings, "way too stressful."

In between the two pro-bono's, I photographed the wedding of a very dear family friend in the driving wind of last Friday and had a lot of fun. Aside from working for a friend, it was another chance to keep sharp, hone the skills.
From a business perspective, when times are slow, and the economy is challenging, what do you need to do to keep things moving?
Shoot.

Shooting regularly means staying sharp are keys to making good photographs whether covering news or working for specific clients.

Under 40 mph winds we still made photographs, challenging stamina and creativity, and trying to go with the flow.

Family and photojournalism

2009-04-03T10:45:00.005-07:00

Meet Riley!

I love photojournalism. It lets me be the fly on the wall and capture intimate telling and emotional moments. Even better when I can record a bit of family history with this gift. My brother Andy and his wife Bryn added a little girl to their little family yesterday. For some reason this was one of the more moving moments of my first meeting of the many brilliant and beautiful nieces and nephews (hey I am their uncle, they are ALL brilliant and beautiful people!). I love when the emotion gets into my photographs. Here are a couple. I made a nice one of Bryn too, but she was recovering from the morning and probably wouldn't appreciate me posting that image.

A few months back.....

2009-03-13T15:47:00.005-07:00

One of my clients, Save the Children, asked me to comment about a couple of recent images I made of their literacy programs in the Southwest.

"Something about this image, the connection between student and teacher, always brings me delight. While involved in an game of “deck of cards” at St Joseph’s School in San Fidel, New Mexico, Felisha and her classmates bring a spirit of fun to the exercise. She embraces the development of her young vocabulary while working with Literacy Coordinator Jeanette and challenging the educator to challenge her even more. It is not simple, unengaging learning by rote, it is something that reaches and empowers the kids.

"To me the image not only demonstrates this engaging interaction, it demonstrates the best of an effective literacy program and programs in general.
Make learning fun and the kids respond."
..........

And another,

"Reading programs are tough to shoot. How many ways can you find to photograph a reading program? In the last few years I have photographed reading programs in the US, Central America, Western Asia and Africa. With each new job comes a new challenge to find a new photograph, a new angle, a new moment, while serving the needs of StC.

As I tiptoed through the silent classroom, this image presented a combination of the fun personality of the program setting at St. Joseph’s in New Mexico as well as the personality of different kids clearly engrossed in their books.

Each child takes up individual postures to best absorb their books. While photographing under any circumstances, I always look for not only an unusual angle which is eye-catching all by itself, but also an angle that allows us to see faces even when turned downward or buried behind the spine of a book. Although faceless photographs have their place and can be very powerful, nothing connects to viewers more effectively than a readable face especially when shot at different angle that allows you to tell a more complete story in a single frame. "

When work is entertaining, is it still work?

2009-02-26T20:55:00.012-07:00

As I turn to direct the next couple into the background-decked corner bathed in perfectly aimed White Lightning strobes, I have no idea what I will find as my assistant Amy checks in the next couple.
Another portrait right?
Sure, but every time I finished with one subject and turned to invite my next to the environment, I was disarmed by their imagination, class, outrageousness or a combination of the three.
First, the super-volunteer woman at church dressed in an outfit that is part lounge singer, part Elvis and a little Tony Soprano crew-member, then a very dapper couple, the husband with a top-hat. Then appears an 80’s hip-hop star look-alike with an alarm clock around his neck and a couple dressed to the nines in orange.
As I did this, my other assistants, former photography student Jen and colleague and pro photographer, Steve, slaved away processing and printing the pictures, trying to keep up with the party that spilled through our door, one couple at a time.
When I mentioned to another colleague my pro-bono work last Saturday for the Welcome to America Project Prom, their eyes turned to the ceiling as they remembered having to cover proms as news events for small-town newspapers. I knew that look. I had worn it more than once, wondering about the news value of such an event during the first couple years of my news career.
I assured them the satisfaction of not only helping a great organization pull off a fun event, but the simple joy and entertainment of repeated gut-laughs derived from working with 200 fun people who choose to help this organization make a difference.
This is one prom, I will never get tired of working. Thanks, Carolyn for the opportunity, and thanks to those who attended for the great time. And thanks on behalf of WTAP for your great generosity. You make the difference in making refugees feel welcome in their new homes.

Also a special thanks to Stephanie for the generous loan of her laptop and printer.

GREAT NEWS!
In a separate note, Carolyn has been recognized by CNN Heroes. This from WTAP:
We proudly announce that CNN has named Carolyn Manning, Founder and Director of The Welcome to America Project, a CNN Hero of 2009.

CNN bestows this international honor on a handful of individuals from around the world each year.

Please take a moment to click through and view Carolyn's story online, and see the powerful impact that she and her organization have on the lives of refugee families here in Phoenix: http://www.cnn.com/heroes

The story will be online all year, and will be broadcast on CNN and its affiliates this weekend as follows:
(times listed are EST broadcast times; check local listings for Arizona times)

FRIDAY
CNN: 9-10p Larry King Live Interview
CNN: 8a, 11a, 2p
Headline News: 7:30a, 1:30p, 5p, 8p
CNN International: 2a, 7a, 12p, 8p

SATURDAY
CNN: 10a, 2p, 5p, 11p
Headline News: 2p

It's News

2009-02-18T15:16:00.026-07:00

I love this job.

I get to tell a story under interesting circumstances.
Who doesn't love that? I get to reach people to show them things that they might not otherwise see. As a job, I get to make photographs. In the process of my photojournalism, being the eyes of others, I get to cover notable events up close. In spite of the passion most journalists thrive on to cover news, there is, honestly, a cool-factor that adds to the experience.
Everything the president does is news. For any given city, the arrival of any US president, it is news. The fact is that I found out about Obama's visit to Phoenix, it was already too late to work out a credential to his speech in Mesa, but the funny thing about news is that even the landing of the his supercharged airplane is news. You cover what you can. Hey, why not. Maybe I'll get a nice picture or two.

Sharing a laugh with Gov Jan Brewer and Mayor Phil Gordon.

Obama checks out the gift from Gordon, an autographed Shaquille O'Neal shoe.

Gotta get a picture with the president.
Or maybe, gotta get a picture with the mayor?

The motorcade pulls out while secret service ensures that the press doesn't rush up and get pictures of themselves up close and personal with the coolest 747 around.

(from press platform, those secret service guys are serious!)

Prom date

2009-02-11T21:04:00.003-07:00

Saturday, Feb 21, I will be out at the Welcome to America project Prom, an event for everyone, designed, of course, to raise money for a great local organization that helps newly arrived refugees to Phoenix feel welcome.
As you know I am a big supporter of this organization and do what I can to help. The fundraiser will help pay the expenses of the organization from fuel and insurance on the truck, to storage fees for the growing number of donations of furniture and household goods.
With some help from my friends (thanks, Steve, Jen and Amy!), we will help to make the "prom" experience complete, setting up the prom photo studio for free photos for attendees. Normally I am happiest roaming a room shooting candids, but it really is fun running this little Shoot, Print and Package operation while getting to meet every attendee, getting at least a couple minutes to visit and maybe be a little silly too.

WTAP development director
Sue and her husband Jay.

The Joy of Teaching my favorite craft.

2009-01-18T19:37:00.004-07:00

I spent my Saturday morning talking about one of my favorite things. Photography, of course.
The Fountain Hills Photo Club asked me to put a workshop together, to help some folks with their foundations in the discipline that I am lucky enough to earn a living with.
I can prepare for weeks trying to be sure that the explanations are clear to folks for whom f/stops and shutter speeds are not second nature, but, unless they are eager, I will not be as effective as I always strive to be in teaching.
I have to thank all of you who were there for asking great questions and not letting me off the hook until you were sure you understood each concept.
I and some of my professional friends say that we do not make photographs all by ourselves. We make them WITH our subjects. It is this collaboration of subject and photographer that often make better photographs.
I think that the same is true when teaching. I try to be sure everyone understands a concept before we move on, but it is those who keep asking the questions until they get it, who help to make these workshops effective.
Thanks!

WTAP under CNN's eye

2009-01-14T17:39:00.012-07:00

Earning more Kudos, the Welcome to America Project in Metro-Phoenix reached out to refugee families last Saturday in front of a CNN camera for an upcoming Heroes segment. With a full crew making light work of heavy furniture and other household goods, WTAP furnished the homes of three families including two from Burma/Myanmar and one from Sudan. While the adults moved the big pieces the young volunteers made new friends, bridging language barriers with new toys for the refugee children. As volunteers shook hands and welcomed their new neighbors, some of the grateful refugees, moved by the generosity, rewarded them with big hugs.

WTAP to be on CNN

2009-01-08T20:25:00.006-07:00

One of my NGO clients, the Welcome to America Project, will be in front of CNN cameras during the weekly deliveries to Phoenix area refugees on Saturday. We will be out to document the documenters. The organization started in the aftermath of 9-11 as the founders, Phil and Carolyn Manning were touched be an article about a recently-arrived Afghan family who had nothing. A few images from a delivery last fall, Volunteers assembling furniture and otherwise helping set up furnishings delivered to refugees from Burma and elsewhere.

Brazil Follow-up

2008-12-22T14:45:00.002-07:00

The first piece from the the work in Brazil for Catholic Relief Services is up at http://crs.org/brazil/casa-fonte-colombo/ more will follow soon.
Meanwhile, we just completed some work for Save the Children, photographing their education related work in some poor communities in western New Mexico. StC is working in a number of states helping raise the level of literacy of kids in these communities in the hope of giving them a fair chance at a promising future. I will post when these pieces become available.
Happy Holidays!
Rick

Election junkie

2008-11-06T11:39:00.045-07:00

Coming up for air again after finishing the CRS project, and working until 4:30a.m. Wednesday getting a few pictures out into the world via Corbis of how the election looked from Phoenix. Packed in like sardines barely able to move, let alone get enough room to make a photo with a wide enough scope proved a challenge, but here are a few results.

A Phoenix couple watches with growing concern, the results of the US election.

300 points of light. The media risers alight with soft light meant to illuminate reporters when they stand up in front of their respective live cameras.

Young and old McCain supporters begin to understand the outcome of the race.

McCain supporters are enthusiastic with the very early results.

Hank Williams Jr., performs for McCain supporters.

A young supporter watches McCain conceed the election.

Coming up for Air

2008-10-13T09:15:00.017-07:00

Have been home for about a week, busily editing, selecting segregating and captioning photos from this latest adventure in NGO photography. A long hectic session following a hectic trip netting something like 5,000 frames shot, 50 gigs of memory consumed, I am wraping up the submission to the client and getting ready to write six accompanying stories about the people an the projects. This whole projeect has been even more tight on time than I expected, which is why I was not able to blog in the way that I had hoped, but plan to post the best o the articles I'll be writing next, please stay tunes. Meanwhile I am adding a few more pix from Nicaragua, before I get back to wraping this up.
A rural farmer in Esteli, Nicaragua pauses while digging a ditch for a new waterline to one of several homes included in a drinking water project in the area.

CRS and FIDER work together to improve quality and consistency of crops in Nicaragua. This process begins with growing stronger seedlings under the protection of greenhouses in the area.

Farmers dig a waterline for homes in area, to provide drinking water directly to homes from springs in the area. The project is a part o the Global Water Initiative, led in Nicaragua by Catholic Relief Services working with local partners.

An Esteli area farmer pumps drinking water from a new well on his land. Water projects across Nicaragua and Central America are changing people's lives, allowing for more efficient farming and better health through clean water for drinking.

Photos from Brazil

2008-10-01T05:41:00.022-07:00

A member of the Ichu area women's group creates bolt of cloth which will become a table cloth or other cash generating product. This and other projects teach women skills that allow them earn more money to support their families in the semi-arid section of northern Bahia state, where sometimes irregular rain prevents them from completely depending upon their crops for food and income. Irrigation projects such as the construction of cisterns (Below) supported by water collecting devices are also serving to improve people's lives in the area.

A client of the Casa Fonte Colombo visits with friends while drinking chamarrao, a traditional tea made from ervatierra tree leaves.

Family who have been saved by the counseling and other services available at the Casa Fonte Colombo in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The husband suports the family by making leather goods at home.

Bikeshop on the sidewalk in Porto Alegre.

Program in Northern Brazil supporting farmers in irrigation systems and in diversifying crops for year-round income.

Before the water tank construction project reaches him, a farmer still must collect water in plastic jugs with his donkey.

Esteli 2.5 hours north of Managua

2008-09-30T05:57:00.002-07:00

Looking forward to a more sane day of work, with only two locations to work with that are close together. Time enough to really work the situations.
Yesterday was a little nuts with a drive up to Esteli, and then ffurther into the field with a prgram agronomist who lled us to three stops, two in really, really bad light. Although my translator and CRS fellow who organized this a couple weeks ago, asked for location visits where we could shoot action, it was a little like the telephone game where the agronomist had only been told to "take them where there are plants".
The end result was moving from field to field trying to find people working with the crops that have been improved through the ACORDAR program we are photographing. Communication crossing cultural lines to get the needed images is as challlenging as getting to the actual locations when the light is still good.
With bad light, half the energy is spent directing one and sometimes two people with off-camera flash (gotta love Nikon's infrared flash remote) to fill in the shadows so that the high overhead light looked a little less awful. A day of excercising a lot of patience. Will try to post a fiew images tonight...

Managua, Spanish respite

2008-09-29T05:35:00.002-07:00

After a long series of three flights from rural Brazil to Nicaragua, the taxi ride from the airport on a sultry evening, passed with a feeling of relief as I spoke labored but passable Spanish with the driver about politics (they have a elections coming up for mayors and such) and security of Managua and Nicaragua as a whole, always a subject to be discussed with locals rather than the briefing page on the State Department website).
Safest in central America, by the way.
After a week of trying to extrapolate meaning from Portuguese conversations, translation fatigue had set in. When I am working in northern Mexico, I have the same experience with my Spanish, and yet to my surprise, now, Spanish was a welcome respite. I could communicate without help! In the last place I spent some nights in Brazil, I could barely communicate with tte desk clerk and ha to take a translator to cover important stuff like checkout.
After a day of R&R, I will travel with a CRS staffer to Esteli in the north. The week will mostly be spent looking at projects that are designed to improve farming techniques and stabilize the farmers' access to the markets, both national and international. This, of course, will allow them to establish a sustainable income to improve their living standards.
When you wonder what can be done about poverty, well, this is one of those things.
I hope to have a moment to post some pix soon, so please stay tuned.
R

From Feira de Santana

2008-09-26T17:49:00.003-07:00

It's already been a full week and I am heading off to Nicaragua tomorrow. A hectic shooting and traveling schedule visiting some interesting projects funded by CRS and others through local partners here in Brazil. The first part dealt with an HIV/AIDS project in Porto Alegre providing some services, counseling and education to help people deal with their disease.

In the north in the area surrounding Feira the projects deal with the erratic supply of water int eh northern part of Bahia state. They have contructed cisterns fed by the roofs on their homes as well as other methods to collect and store water for the dry seasons. The project also involves teaching better agricultural practices such as diversifying what they grow so that they avoid exhausting their soil. IT has had the effect of allowing folks to grow enough to sell to improve their quality of life. More to share but 3:30 comes pretty soon.

On the Road again.

2008-09-16T09:05:00.002-07:00

D'Elia Photographic is on the road again, heading south on Sept 20, to Brazil, photographing some projects for Catholic Relief Services. With 190 million people, it is the 5th largest country in the world with a mix of cultures from all over the world. Everyone has settled there at one point in their history. This being my first run to South America, I'm looking forward to what I expect will be a totally different culture from previous experiences.
After a week, I'll break camp and move onto Nicaragua for more documentary of CRS' projects in another country that is working to put those years of civil war and violent overthrow behind them.
Stay tuned.

Stories from Punta Arena, the summer program Left the humidity at the border

2008-08-04T10:39:00.003-07:00

I love the Arizona heat.
"Art you nuts?"
No, actually.
After the humidity of Guaymas that I embrace when I go in the summer time, the dry heat (even in monsoon season) is a nice respite. It is rewarding work, but working in the morning heat and humidity for a mere three hours, feeling like a zombie for a couple of hours that follow, while attempting R&R in the air conditioning while pouring down two or three liters of a hybrid of Gatorade and Electrolyes is tough duty.

Talented Crew
The crew returned home after a two-week program in Guaymas that reached about 60 kids in fun, education and school supplies for the coming year. They left the class with a goodie bag of crayons, pencils, markers, rulers, Elmer's glue and, of course, a few treats. They all had great time as far as I could tell and learned something about creativity and mutual respect with their peers.

Finally wrapping up the image package after shooting something like 2,500 frames over the two weeks. It is time consuming work that allows reliving some of the fun moments over the course of the project.

The trip reconfirmed my view of Renee as being among the best teachers I know. Her enthusiasm, her methods of reaching individual kids, making them feel success while having a great time, her use of tools like the community circle in a fun way to teach kids how they should not only treat each other with respect, but how to work as a team to accomplish goals, is inspiring.

As a deacon and a professional teacher Herve reminded me of his gift of teaching faith and teaching practical things with a perfect balance of focus and fun (he did attend clown school at Ringling Brothers, once upon a time).
The rest of the crew, Harvey, Gabriella, Cassandra, our Mexican helpers like Alberto, Alma, Gabby and others, are the role-players who do some of the important heavy lifting under leadership of Renee and Herve, also deserve credit for another successful program.

Technically speaking...
This trip was an opportunity to compare my own similar work of five years ago and now to see quantifiable improvement in my skills as a photographer and photojournalist.
Assignments are rarely so similar that you can do such a direct comparison.
This was the best of both worlds, bringing to bear greater skill and creativity while photographing something that matters.
Of course, in such a field, improvement over time is the norm. If in such a craft as photography, if you aren't improving, adjusting, changing, then your craft is in danger of becoming rote and therefore more a job and less a passion.
Fortunately this remains a passion.

On my website you will find a larger collection of photographs from this trip, including some new fine art images that are available for purchase.
If you have enjoyed this Summer Program blog please email me your feedback or post under comments.

Rick

Beachball news

2008-07-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

July 22, 2008
Guaymas has been my July destination, on and off, for 11 years. It is challenging sometimes to pick out little moments when so much has passed, when we have seen so much.
The unusual becomes common.
Amazingly enough you almost don’t even notice the poverty.
The kids look dressed for a day of summer camp, mostly dressed like kids at home. As I look more closely at those waiting to get into class, I remind myself that the messages on t-shirts are in the English of donated apparel from north of the border. The kids often have no idea what their own shirt says.
Next to their Sunday best, those clothes are the nicest ones they own.
Sometimes those are their Sunday best.
--------
With a little help from my friend.
Luz Marie reached over to coach her friend Paola, who colored the sandal shapes stenciled on the white parts of her new beach ball. It seemed as if she needed a little help. After a while Paola returned the favor.
I wondered if they were so close as friends that they were trying to create identical artwork. For 20 minutes I watched as they traded tips, helping each other in the way of best friends.
At the end, however, they had each created independently unique versions.

In other beach ball news:
Jesus colored his beach ball according to expression.
When he used a red marker, he pressed his lower teeth into his upper lip; purple brought a twist of his lips the left. With orange, he wore the perennial favorite expression, his tongue between the lips. (okay, I was recently caught with a similar expression while focusing on a photograph)
The removal of a pen cap, tight with newness, brought a look of consternation.
On thing remained constant: his focus.
I can only wonder whether he had an emotional storm going on inside, only because he changed colors often, and so his expression changed often, until the spell was interrupted by Community Circle.
-----------

Live from Jerry's Club, circle the kids.

2008-07-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Camera in one hand, origami paper in the other I come to you live from Jerry's Club in Guaymas, for the second of two weeks of the summer program.
Jerry's Club is a place where kids can come and hang out, play games, shoot hoops, read a book, learn to roller skate and be inside a compound the size of four basketball courts (some of it is shaded) where they are free from the harassments of the barrio. In side the club, respect and good behavior are the rule. Kids love to be at the club and so the threat of losing access is usually enough to keep them treating each other according to those rules that Jerry set up something like 15 years ago.
It is also a great setting for the class, with shade, but great airflow.
Renee is trying yet another technique that she and many other teachers have used successfully at home to begin to instill community and mutual respect among the children, and in this case, for each other's artwork.
Sitting in a circle each child, while holding a ball introduces them self and says something about the subject of the day. Maybe it is why are you here or what did you like about today's activities? "Because my mom sent me" or "because I heard it would be muy divertido"(very fun).
This is a tool that while using it herself, Renee is teaching it to Jerry, who is here all of the time. It is a great tool to help develop respect and honesty toward each other.
The class begins and ends with this community circle this week.
It was the same lineup as last Monday of Origami boxes, coloring name tags and the covers of cloth notebooks. Creativity, manual dexterity, and community.

Trials of Guaymas:
We have been without water at the house for two days. No washing dishes, no showers and, of course, nothing with which to flush. It is unclear why but, from time to time, the city shuts off the water to one section or another of town. The volunteer house has a tank, about ten feet deep and five feet square that fills when the water flows. A pump pressurizes the the house, and voila, the water flows through the house.
Over the course of the weekend, the tank nearly went dry. When that happens we have to shut off the pump to avoid burning it out. This morning we thought the drout had ended as water began flowing into the cistern again. I went out to prime the pump and get water flowing again before everyone was up. Just as I watched the pressure gage arrive at 40 psi, the line from the pump to the house sprung its second leak in less than a week.
What else could be done. I laughed, and shut it off......
Chiano arrives this later this morning to make repairs.....

I am curious to see who is checking in, feel free to post comments below.

Success, and the little things.

2008-07-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, obviously I have not been able to access the internet as regularly as I thought. Of course there is also, always more to do here and, of course, preparing for class each day, working with the kids and making the photographs takes precedence over everything else…..and so with some delay:

Monday, July 14,
Her face wrinkled in frustration, In front of her a neon pink square of paper creased in intersecting folds.
Eight-year-old Karla, had stopped smiling.
Around her, 16 other children furiously folded paper this way and that forming Origami boxes with varying success. The tension in Karla’s forehead seemed ready to squeeze tears from her eyes.
Seeing this through my lens, knowing the other teachers were busy, I stepped in to help. Identifying a missed cut, an extra fold, I helped her correct her mistakes and get her started on a fresh box.
Suddenly it clicked. Her little hands picked up speed, folding this point to the center, creasing here, cutting there.
Karla began folding as furiously as her classmates, folding each little box a bit more precisely than the last. When it was time to move on to the next activity, Karla had amassed six Origami boxes and had relocated the smile on her face.
Success!
When I work with this program for some inexplicable reason I find myself having to explain the purpose of arts and crafts. I am not an elementary teacher, however I know that these projects teach basic skills such as using scissors, paints and pens, teach children like Karla, to stick with a project until they get it and get better at it. These and other projects to follow teaches children to think creatively (not always present in Mexican schools) and ultimately to have these things reinforced with success.
AND such projects give the kids something different and fun to do in the depths of a hot and humid Guaymas summer.

Tuesday, July 15.
It’s the little things.
Many of the children here wear flip-flops as shoes. IF they have nice shoes those are reserved for school and church. On other days, many simply go without.
Yesterday a little girl approached Renee, the lead teacher, with a broken flip flop.
Knowing very well that fixing the only part of the shoe that keeps the foot in place would not be possible, Renee immediately thought of the bag of shoes that her own daughter had outgrown. She had brought the bag along for donation and realized the solution lie in her own suitcase at the volunteer house.
The little girl exploded in surprise and delight as Harvey, one of the managers of Franciscan Causes, laced up a pair of tennis shoes on her little feet.

Today’s agenda included a number of activities fitting for the level of every child. Coloring and painting.
The children attacked the first project, an unadorned, cardboard, Lone Ranger-style mask waiting to be colored. They poured out their creativity, applying colored pens and stick-on shapes designs from simple to complex.
Those masks stayed on their faces or foreheads until they left at 10:30.

At another table, beach balls, stenciled with outlines of flowers and fish, awaited customization by the kids. After explaining the day’s activities to the children, Renee started some of the kids on their beach balls. Veronica’s face lit up with uncontained joy when it sank in that not only was the ball for her to keep, but that she could decorate it as she saw fit.
Children have so little in the barrios. Receiving such toys is so rare that it is usually outside their realm of expectations for them to ever hope for such things. Top that with one that will contain your own artwork?
Think of your own childhood delight on your birthday or Christmas, combine that into one delirious package and that would be the Veronica’s reaction.
……
Did I mention that Guaymas is HOT?
Guaymas is a place with the heat of Phoenix and the humidity of New England.
Working in the classroom, the din of our comfort masks that of children being creative.
Six ceiling fans, and four floor fans create the illusion of cooler air in San Benito, the mission’s meeting hall. The class runs from eight in the morning until ten with the intention of avoiding the worst of the heat. In spite of this effort, between the five Mexican helpers, we four adults and the 26 children in attendance, we consume maybe four gallons of water each day.
------
Wednesday,July 16.
Missed half of class running to andd from the photo lab (gotta love the speed of digital) to finish off portraits for the picture frames the ids were making today. The hit of the crafts projects however was the flowers made of tissue paper. For the kids who really struggled with Origami, They loved the success allowed them to experience.
......

Happy July, welcome to the blog

2008-07-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

I hope this find you all dealing well with the heat and finding new ways to enjoy the long sunny days of Summer.

In doing my part to reduce my carbon footprint, my international work this summer will take me only a short distance to Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico to document the 2008 outreach program at the Casa Franciscana. This is a program that has been supported with great passion by the parishioners of St. Maria Goretti Church in Scottsdale as well as by other committed donors around the Valley for 21 years.
Through the lead organization, Franciscan Causes, the program reaches out to the children of the poorest of the poor conducting classes filled with a healthy mixture of reading, arts and crafts and other fun every weekday morning for two weeks. It is a brilliant highlight in the rough summer in the lives of these children and one that leaves an indelible positive impression.
It has been five years since my lens last took this all in, so I am anxious to see just what great new images are waiting to be made as I update the archive and show donors the impact of their generosity.
If I can get a dependable internet connection, I will update this blog regularly of the program so that any of you who are interested may keep up with how it is going.

Independents and The Golden Ticket
No, not an uprising at the Willy Wonka factory, but a local phenomenon designed to help you save a few bucks this week with many of local businesses.
Local First Arizona is celebrating Local First Week by encouraging Valley residents to buy from local independent businesses from June 30 to July 6.
The Golden Ticket, available at http://www.localfirstaz.com/ entitles the bearer to 20% off purchases with participating businesses, including, of course, D'Elia Photographic.
For those who are not familiar, Local First is an organization that encourages buying local whenever possible to keep our dollars in our local economy.
At D’Elia photographic this translates into a 20% savings on invoices of assignments booked during this week.
If you need a family or corporate portrait shot, an event covered, a marketing or advertising campaign photographed, or even a piece of fine art to spice up your walls this would be a great time to get it done and save a few bucks in the process.
As an added bonus I will take another 10% off jobs executed before I travel to Guaymas on July 12. Did I hear a "But wait, thats not all"? I will honor this coupon on jobs booked through July 11.

To book an assignment with D’Elia photographic, please contact us at 480-452-5723 or email at rickdeliaphoto@yahoo.com.

To find out more about us, please visit our website, deliaphotographic.net.