Click here: US Court Rules Against Chevron in Ecuador Oil Case

Read about our brothers and sisters in the Ecuadorian Amazon who are already deep in the battle against oil and their victory today!

For more information on the case of the Achuar versus Chevron visit Chevron Toxico

Images Developed and Scanned

I am very excited to let you all know that the photographs have all been processed and developed! I have all of the images in my possession and have had the luxury of looking through all two thousand repeatedly over the last few days.

With film photography comes the marriage of excitement and anxiety not knowing how the images will turn out. The fear of light leaks, dust and dirt scratches is almost unbearable. Having had time to thoroughly look through them I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that my work was not immune to these glitches. The good news is that casualties are far and few between, and successful shots are aplenty!

I am looking forward to the editing process and have some promising leads to create a gallery exhibit here in New York City very soon. I am on the hunt for a web designer to help me setup a web space in order to showcase the images and promote the project. This will give people the opportunity to eventually select the image(s) they prefer and we can begin the process of sending them out. Closer to the date I will begin requesting contact information for mailing purposes etc.

I have selected  a few black and white images as a sneak preview that are some of my favorite (unedited) shots so far. Depending, slight changes to some of these might occur during the editing process but unedited versions will also be made available. Predominantly, the focus of the images which you have seen and are seeing are portraits, though you can rest assured I have some landscape and action shots on they way to you shortly.

Please note all photographs are subject to Copywrite and I would appreciate your discretion in regards to circulating them for the time being. I want to keep things pretty much under wraps until the website, gallery exhibit and prints are made available. 

I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! Cheers!

Amahuaca girl sits in her house in Maldonadillo

Henrique, an elder in the community, watches over the smoking 'Kawara' fish in preperation for their annual community festival 'Dia de San Juan'

Juan Pablo poses in the midst of a water volleyball match in the river. Children will often cool themselves off during the scorching hot summer days by spending hours playing in the river

Hanka poses for me while Chris is engaged in an interview with his Grandmother Margherita who is the eldest of the community

REDD Alert: Lessons from Peru’s Camisea Pipeline Project | World Resources Institute

Another interesting article for those interested in REDD projects and the way they influence the indigenous people using a case study from the Peruvian Amazon.


REDD Alert: Lessons from Peru’s Camisea Pipeline Project | World Resources Institute

Here is the link to an interesting article written up in The Guardian that discusses Peru's progress in supporting the indigenous population in its country. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/sep/12/peru-land-rights-indigenous-communities

Good News!

Good News! 

The test rolls came out great. Luckily it looks as though the film wasn't damaged by any climate ware and tear after all! I am thrilled to say the very least. What a relief. The only thing now is to keep our fingers crossed that I can do you all proud and have some images worth exhibiting. The rest of the negatives as well as the digitized scans will be ready on Tuesday. Then I go into editing mode. Once I have them all sorted out and ready to be shown, they will go up on a website for you all to view. 

Here is another image I took with my digital camera. This old lady lives in San Martin and is the mother of the professor of the village. She and her son hosted Chris over the course of three days cooking for us and welcoming us to their community as we came down river from San Juan. San Martin is another Amahuaca village sitting on the Inuya river closer to the city of Atalaya. 

This shot was taken while a group of the Amahuaca were looking over a copy of A Farewell to Eden, the book published fifty years ago by Huxley and Capa. They recounted stories of those they recognized in the images layered between the text. There is a sense of warm nostalgia that emanates from her smile as she seems to recount times passed. I miss her and the subtlety of her kind and humble demeanor. I miss the jungle...

Judgement Day! Test rolls ready to be looked at.

Saludos Amigos!

Well this is turning out to be quite a week. I moved into my humble apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I have a mattress and four walls, two of which have doors on them so you figure it out?? I think they call it a railroad, where my room sits between the kitchen and the other two rooms in the house. Little way of privacy but its a lovely open space and my roomies are very respectful. Luckily our schedules are usually opposed meaning I get a good amount of time to myself.  I need to get some shelving so I can stop living out of my backpack though this phase in New York is only temporary until I am repacking for my next journey in December. That's right! I am heading back to South America. I will be in Argentina for Christmas, my sister's wedding and New Years from mid December to the beginning of January. It is unclear as to my exact itinerary after January but I do plan to head back to Peru and see what work can be done to help the Amahuaca against the threat of oil extraction on their territory.

Currently, I am on the look out for work here in the city while I develop this project. I am mostly excited to let you know that test rolls have gone in for processing. I am on my way to see them right now! Stomach is churning and bubbling with nerves. I decided to go with a professional lab in the city recommended by many established photographers in the city. Though they mostly do commercial and fashion photography they also work with those looking to exhibit their prints in galleries etc. I only requested that a couple of rolls be processed for now. The reason being I wanted to be sure the whole bunch of them are not damaged from the ware and tear of climate and altitude changes during my travels across the Andes.

Once I give Bernard, the very sweet lab manager, the 'A-OK', he is going to send them all for processing and scanning leading me into phase 2. Editing! For now, lets just stay calm and wait to see the results from the test rolls.

Until later wonderful people! I bid you all a wonderful Thursday. Things are looking up as I prepare to 'walk the line' all the way to the lab. Judgement day! The rain subsides making room for the glorious sun to peak through the cumulus nimbus. Staying positive and hoping for the best.

From Kickstarter to Blogspot

Whooooopyyyyy! Hi Y'all! (Sorry, not quite sure why all the excitement...maybe its because I finally have electricity again after Irene blew over us and as a result blew out our power for 5 days!!)

This is an old (ancient) blogspot I am going to be revamping to start updating you on the progress of my Kickstarter photo project - 'The Amahuaca of the Amazon; A Re-Photography Project'. So FOLLOW ME!...Thanks

Now that I am somewhat more settled and at the edge of launching into phase one of post-travel production, I am hoping keep a more steady handle on all this updating. My biggest hope is that this is all just a prelude to the development of my very own photography website where I will be specifically showcasing my images from the Amazon. Of course it will be way more fancy, swanky and professional and then I can be done with all these blogging shenanigans (no offense to bloggers...this comment is mostly out of ignorance than anything else!) So stay tuned for all the updatin'.

More recently, in case anyone is wondering, I have done it! I have gone ahead and betrayed my Bay Area roots and relocated to Brooklyn, NY. The big BUT is that it is only until mid-December which is when I make my way back to Peru and Argentina! More detail on the next South America adventure coming soon. So if any of you are in the NYC area please let me know and I would love to connect.

***Note to readers about this blogspot: please don't bother reading most of the previous posts as they are outdated and mostly irrelevant. Cheers!