Wow I haven’t written here in a long time. There have been things I’ve felt like writing, but other stuff usually gets in the way. A couple of things have been on my mind lately. Most recently it’s been this controversy over cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. Now seriously. If someone does something that is offensive to a large group of people, and they don’t know it, that’s fine. They should apologize for it and be done with it. To their credit, the paper that initially published the cartoon said that it would not have done so if it had known how offensive it was, and has issued an apology. On the other hand, we have some nimrod French papers re-publishing the cartoon in the name of “freedom of the press.” It has nothing to do with freedom of the press. It’s about trying to sell papers and a general lack of common respect and decency. There’s always a divide between what we can do and what we should do. For instance, I could take a photo of the Virgin Mary performing oral sex with a horse, but I won’t, because it might offend a couple of people. Or, I could make some money on it by selling it to the French paper Liberté. They love freedom of the press over there 😎

The travel bug seems hard to kick. I’ve been craving travel lately. I really want to go to Asia again, particularly Hong Kong and southern China. It hasn’t helped that I’ve been watching Hong Kong movies and documentaries about China. I really want to go take pictures in China in particular. It’s like the people there have been locked in a cellar for so many years, and they’re emerging into the sunlight, blinking their eyes, amazed at the possibilities before them. Capitalism on such a massive scale has never been seen outside of a Communist country. It’s kind of amazing, really. It’s also amazing, in a sad way, how so many are being left in the dust of this huge economic boom, being forced from their homes to make room for new skyscrapers and shopping complexes. I want to take my camera and tell their story too.

I’ve realized that although I like my home to be peaceful and relaxed, I like nothing more than to be out with my camera amongst chaos and uncertainty. I guess it’s all about balance.

Last night was kind of fun. I was out taking pictures with improv team Kung F-U. They’re a group of six improvisers, each portraying very different personal styles. They wanted a movie poster-type shot, and left it up to me how to get it done. I was driving around town the other day and spotted the perfect grungy alley for the shot. We went there last night. Although it was dark, freezing cold, and probably unwise to attract too much attention to ourselves, we managed to get a series of cool photos out of it.