I had the opportunity to go to Raja Ampat for a week, and jumped at the chance. I can’t think of a better place to get away from all the chaos of the Corona virus. The entire area was quiet. No liveaboards, no tourist, and only a handful of divers. It reminded me of the old days diving in Raja Ampat. I would have stayed longer, but Indonesia closed all access to Raja Ampat for at least a couple more weeks…so, had to fly back to Jakarta.

Before this outbreak of the Virus, I was busy creating some new custom sport photos. Of course, all business now is on hold while we all hunker down in our separate caves around the world.

Here’s hoping you all are sitting at home with clean hands…

You might remember my story from last August about photographing TIM…the largest elephant in Africa. Well, I just found out that Tim died this morning. Fortunately, he died of natural causes, and wasn’t taken out by poachers! I feel so fortunate to have seen him up close in person, and to have photographed this magnificent animal!! RIP Tim!

By the way, he will be stuffed, and put on display in a museum, so he will “live on” for millions to appreciate him.

Yes, I am well aware that is now the 22nd of January, so a bit late to say, “Happy New Year”. Better late than never, right??

When I get around to it, I would like to post my favorite photos from 2019, but you know me…terrible about posting. Funny, I am pretty regular on FB and Instagram, but when it comes to my own personal blog, I am terrible about posting. I could make it my new year’s resolution, but have decided to not do those anymore as I rarely follow through with resolutions. I would actually be interested in knowing what percentage of resolutions made by millions of people everywhere around the world are followed through with.

Any way, how about this shot from Old Bagan in Myanmar for my first post of 2020??

I have been having lots of fun working with my students (and ex-students) the past two weeks, and also my daughter, Kayla. All of these girls volunteered to be my model, and they were all so professional. Who knows? Maybe they have a career ahead of them modelling. I learned how to post-process these photos from the incredible, Manny Librodo, who openly shared his techniques with me. He is a true artist when it comes to Photoshop, and has a great eye and creative mind.

These photos below are somewhat my “experiments” with the new techniques I learned. I am still fine tuning those techniques. Here are my favorites from my experimentation so far…

Believe it or not, I didn’t go to Sumatra at all last year. Garuda over double their price to Padang, so it just made it too expensive to spend just one day in Sumatra to see the races. This year, however, Lion Air started flying to Padang for nearly half the price. So, I organized a trip this past Saturday, and brought 9 people with me.

It is always an amazing experience, and it’s tough to NOT get a good photo!

I usually shoot with my Nikon D800 and the Sigma 50-500mm. This time, I shot with my Sony A7R3 and the Sony 100-400mm lens. No comparison which was better…the Sony wins hands down!!

Two summers ago, I took a motorcycle trip from Hanoi to Sapa in North West Vietnam. It was a spectacular trip. The best part about traveling by motorcycle is that it is easy to pull of the road and take photos. I felt like I was stopping every five minutes to take a photo. The only bad part was the routine to take a photo. 1. pull over and park. 2. turn off the engine. 3. take your helmet off. 4. open the seat. 5. grab your camera. 6. take a photo, then do everything in reverse. With all that effort, it was kind of a pain to take many photos, and often I would just keep driving unless there was something spectacular to photograph.

When we arrived a small villages to spend the night, there was always time to take a hike or go on a photowalk.

This little girl was on the trail at one of our hikes through some incredible rice paddies. Would be great to go back there a few years from now, and see if she is still there!!