ellipsis…

i wasn’t overly excited about the first part of my trip to asia. 16 days with a tour group isn’t really what i call travelling, more like a headache. the tour wasn’t all that bad, i was able to see all the touristy things that are the must sees in china; the great wall, terra cotta warriors, tien ah men square, and so forth.

travelling for me takes on a bit of a different style. it’s one that’s pretty much infused in the surrounding culture. eating at local restuarants, hell, going to the store and trying to cook with what’s available. walking down the back streets and getting lost in the neighborhoods. watching everyday life unfold. doing all of this with camera in hand. it may seem odd to you. maybe it’s the photojournalist in me.

up until yesterday i’ve been feeling that i’ve been missing out on a part of china. yesterday i visited a village just outside of guangzhou; it seems like more of a town (i guess compared to shanghai with 18 million people it’s a village.) the village is where my dad’s nanny from his childhood now lives. he hasn’t seen her in 22 years (my mom insists that i should remember the last time… i don’t… i was 2.) we were dropped off at the edge of town and a couple of ladies lead us through the narrow paths between rows and rows of old storied condos. wet laundry drips on my head, and people look up from their door ways or pots. we are greeted at a wide open door way by a little old woman, my dad’s nanny, and a host of other ladies. they all motion for us to come in, come in… sit, sit they say. this is what i’ve been waiting for. a non-catered view of china and the chinese people.

we all sat around an open living room. they chatted. i tried to follow with my limited knowledge of cantonese. an grandpa looking man brought out the best lychee fruit i’ve ever tasted. the room was a dim and only flashes of light reflected off faces. i was a bit mad at myself because i forgot faster film for my camera… damn, digital it is. we eventually moved to another house where a couple ladies had prepared the best chinese food i’ve had on this trip so far! nothing like home cooking. sharing a meal with these elderly people was awesome. their character and expressions when they talk. their laughter, and hand gestures. totally what i’ve been wanting to experience.

i’m so glad that i stuck out the 16 days of touring. it was all worth it for the afternoon in that village. i could have probably stayed 16 days in that village and felt that i’ve seen more of china than travelling to all the site of china. china is almost over for me. 3 more days and i’m off to osaka, japan. that’ll be a completely different story.

pictures to come…

so only my stop in pisa was quicker than this stop in xian. we flew from beijing to xian to see the terra cotta warriors. their a pretty cool group of status. 8000 found to date, and not one of them is the same! it’s too bad that my connection is so slow, because i would have pictures of all of this stuff to show you. all to come. we fly out early tomorrow morning to guilin for a couple of days in what they say some of the finest scenery around, the “finest under heaven.” i’ll let you know in a couple of days. it was homan’s birthday today too! he got all red after a couple of shots… so funny!

the beijing part of my trip is about to end. tomorrow morning we are flying out to xian for a couple of days. so far this trip has been completely packed. each day going to at least two sites. just crazy. the only free time i’ve gotten was during the first day. in the morning my dad and a couple of others went to visit a hospital and i ended up in a famous gardens not far from my hotel. it was gorgeous. i took about an hour to troll through it. being in the middle of the city i didn’t think it would be that large, but it seemed like it didn’t ever end. (i spent 40 yuan to get in, and then found out that guest at the hotel get in free.. ooops.. oh well). that afternoon we ended up at the temple of heaven, which is where the emporer use to make sacrifices up the god of heaven. there is a huge alter when you walk into the gardens. surrounding the temple it self there is a circlular wall called the echo wall. the way it was designed, you can be on opposite sides of the circle and talk into the wall and the person on the other side should be able to hear you…. there were so many people there that everything just sounded like one be jumble of noise.

people… SO many people. i know that i’m in the largest populated part of the world, but seriously there are so many people everywhere. and so many chinese tourist. the majority of tourist in beijing seem to be from the rural parts of china. tons and tons of them. i thought that vatican city was busy, that’s sparse to what the forbidden city or the great wall is like.

i was at the great wall of china yesterday, so cool. our tour guide told us there were two directions from where we started that we could go. to the right was the easier and more scenic route, and to the left was the harder less picture-perfect way. the only catch is the eaiser part of the wall was crawling with people… like shoulder to shoulder all the way up the wall!!! i opted out and went the harder way. the climb was steep but the picture of the wall turned out pretty good. i ended up going most of the other way too. by time i made my way up that side all the people had started to get tired and go back down. and the view of wall were spectacular from there. it was worth going to both parts. though my knee ended up giving up on my half of the way down. it hasn’t recover yet… boo…. it happened a bit when i was in europe last year, but not to this extent. steve, i know how you feel now when you go down stairs, it feels like my knee is going to just give out and i’m going to go stumbling down all the way down to the bottom of the forbidden city.

went to the forbidden city and tian an men square this morning… the square can hold a million people at one time!!! that’s crazy. walking around on it is actually kind of boring, but a huge slab of concrete with a momument in the middle. but thinking back on how many historical events have taken place there amazes me. the forbidden city was awesome! from beginning to end it’s 1km long, and it’s 900m wide. just huge! this is were i experienced an overwhleming amount of people. (langer, just imagine the amount of people cued at the vatican city, but now imagine that enitre court yard full of people all at once trying to get into the front door all at once… just insane) i was say to tyler today that all my pictures are going to look the same. all the architecture is pretty much the same here. all from the same time and all from the same traditional background.

it still hasn’t sunk in that i’m on the opposite side of the world in china. the tour group that we’re with tries it’s hardest to westernise a lot of things. which actually really annoys me. i want to see the true china, the gritty beijing. i saw a bit of it last night. homan’s dad, homan is my sister’s boyfriend, is working in beijing right now and he took a couple of us out last night. they have a great night life here. the main place, street, is surrounds a man made lake with bars, clubs and restaurants. so cool. with the chinese culture being so bright already, everything just sparkles off the lake. people roaming everywhere, and outdoor lounges lining the shore. if i had more time and wasn’t with a tour group i’d be there every night. speaking of tour groups…. i don’t fit in one! it’s been 4 days and i’m ready to pull my hair out. i don’t travel well in preplanned groups, where there is no freedom to do anything. this is the first and last tour group i will ever travel with.

stay tuned i will have pictures up soon. i need to get to dinner and this computer is SUPER slow….

well…. i didn’t realize that i would stir up such a tabloid style discussion over my photography. it’s actually quite funny to me. it’s like the hollywood press hit my sites! maybe i should get the guy from thesuperficial.com to cover this story… LOL, oh man.

for those who don’t know, someone on www.duathlon.com posted a link to my photography website with the title Canadian Athlete bares all for sponsorship. the best part of all is that they posted it anonymously. you can see the full thread at http://www.duathlon.com/forums/talk/16695.

first of all i want to give a shout out to HugeHammer (Dave) for is appreciation of my photography, and his level-headed thoughts. let me make one thing clear to all the duathletes who will visit this site, i do not and will not appologize for my photography. i am a photographer, period. my style and creativity is my own, and if you don’t like it i can refer you to someone who may suit you better. i produce good images that work well with my clients.

my reasons for temporarily taking down my “teaser” site are my own. if you really want to see pictures that “bare all”, wait for my full website to launch later this summer. i put up the teaser site for interest sake only. if the original poster actually read the intro of the site it would have said, Fashion Institute of Technology New York City Application Folio and then continued on saying, the following is a collection of twenty images submitted to the New York Fashion Institute of Technology Photography Program. i applied earlier this year to the New York Fashion Institute for their photography program in the hope to take my own photography to another level. the images on the teaser site were the images that i submitted. i don’t know how you twist that around to say that it’s a marketing ploy (a damn good one if it was, companies are always leaking their own products) or that someone else is trying to get sponorships by pointing companies to an art-photography portfolio. and really, what sponsor is going to put their product beside a gorgeous naked women… OH WAIT… ALL OF THEM!!! a couple years back an australian womens team (i’m not sure which sport) was featured in playboy, if you want to see naked pictures looks those up. the photography is amazing!

thanks for visiting my blog. take a look at what’s currently on my photography site. and if you’re interested, take a look at my design site too (it’s a bit dated but heh why not). and if you really want to get into it, come back and browse the asia link above. i am actually writing this from the vancouver airport waiting for my flight to China.

well… it’s been quite an anticipated trip, and it’s literally right around the corner. early wednesday morning i will be boarding a plan, destination china! i am off for a month long trip to asia; mainland china, hong kong, and japan. instead of flooding this page with all of my travel stories and pictures, i decided to give it a home if it’s own. above you will see a new link called asia. i will be updating it as much as i can with pictures and stories. it should be fun!

also, i have put up some current work on my photography website. call it another teaser site, since i still haven’t gotten around to developing a full site. the photographs are a collection of images i put together for my new york fashion institute of technology application. i still don’t know if i got in or not… i’ll probably have to wait until i get back from the trip to find out. just to warn some of you, this portfolio is sexy… really sexy. people hear me talk about some of my project, but don’t actually see them, well here is a little taste of what i do.

[update] unfortunately i have felt the need to temporarily take down my updated teaser site. in it’s place you will find one of two site. the first is my book beginnings that i make a couple of years ago. and the second is a mini site of images produced for duathlete nik vogler. if you would like to view more current work please email me.

i had the privilege of working with ryan and becky of F&M on their new album, let every light shine. the both of them had a specific idea for their album art photography. i had a great time shooting in their downtown loft. thanks guys for letting me take up half of your loft for my equipment. their new album comes out in june. you can find them on myspace at www.myspace.com/fandmtheband.

so i’m off to china for a bit… 16 days in mainland china with my fam, a couple grandmamas, my buddy tyler, a guy who will probably be part of the fam soon, and 2 people i don’t know. then 4 days in hong kong with most of those people. then off to japan for some shehstar style traveling! this is going to be the place to check out my whereabouts, and my crazy asian experiences. hope you enjoy it. i’m sure this travel blog will get quite color full… at least red.

so you know those pictures i took of my very good friend nik a couple of months ago. well, they finally made it somewhere that is going to give her some good exposure. in the may/june issue of IMPACT magazine (calgary & vancouver) there is a athlete profile of nik. i’m super excited! plus i get my picture published too!

a couple of saturdays ago, april 21st to be precise, my very good friend nicole got married to her man andrew. it was a very small intimate wedding. it completely suited her. though if you would have asked me if this is what i would have thought of 3 years ago, i would have said you were insane…. i had the honor to have been invited to their wedding, and the privilege of being their photographer. nicole is no longer a trojan but now a whitaker. good on you andrew!