January was a busy month that I spent catching my breath from last year and trying to "clean house" so I can prepare for a great 2010. I think February is going to be a little more of the same so if it is quiet for a few more weeks here know that March will be ramping up to with lots of pictures to share. I must admit that I cherish this time of year because I get a lot more family time and even some great me time that is definitely recharging my batteries.
Yesterday I spent the morning hanging some of my Laos work at Macrina in SODO (1943 First Avenue South). I am excited about how it looks on their walls. Macrina has DELICIOUS food and breads so take a trip down there this month if you have time. I will be moving the images to their Queen Anne location next month.

Two weekends ago I had so much fun hosting my workshop. Once again all the participants made my day with their openess to share and learn. As the morning progressed I saw light bulbs going as everything started to click. By the end of the workshop everyone was so excited to go home and put to use what they had learned. I will close with a few images that I received from Brianna Donegan that she took during the workshop using some of the tips during the capture and postprocessing. She has a blog which is already full of great image & I think her images are just going to get better and better!! It is obvious she has an eye and passion for photography which are the most important ingredients to capturing powerful images. Thank you Brianna for sharing these images with me!

More Laos...

I am fearful that all my Laos picture will end up sitting on my hard drive never to see the light of day. Before too much time passes I figure I should continue to share them and hope that one day I will do more than just put them on my blog.
This next batch is from the middle part of our hill tribe trek. We left the Hmoung village early in the morning. Leaving was tough, the people were so friendly & welcoming that if I were younger and w/o the need to get home I think I could have stayed for a month or two to really soak their way of life in. Instead we pushed on. The first image is the last woman I saw as I was leaving the village. She was cleaning her machete and had the brightest smiles for me. About 20 minutes out of the village we came were passed by about 20 school kids. We all have heard the "I walked 5 miles uphill to school" line from the generations ahead of us, well these kids did have a tough hike to and from school every day. I can't imagine what the trail is like in the rainy season. They were as curious about us as we were about them. Then we arrived at a Khamou village that sat above the clouds. The setting was so picturesque. Again the people were very welcoming. We came across a man forging a metal knife. We were constantly flabbergasted by their ingenuity. As you will see I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the people. I was definitely in Heaven!

Here are images from the trek to the remote Hmoung village. We hiked and hiked and hiked before coming across a single soul. In all we passed 3 villagers before arriving at the Hmoung village of 28 families after 6 hrs...they were out there! Obviously I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites so excuse the overload. But if you want to see even more (or get a few explainations behind the images) head to my Facebook page and soon I am hoping to have a slideshow up online.
The first image caught our eye...river transport of livestock a first for us. The next woman was one of the 3 we passed. She had to be hiking at least 3 hrs to deliver her grasses to the next village. And the bundled weighed about 100 lbs. I just stood in awe as she passed.
I hope you enjoy these.

The first few days...

Here are a few favorites from the first few days in Laos. We spent a few days in the beautiful World Heritage site town of Luang Prabang walking the alleyways and night market was the highlight. The food was tasty but I avoided many of the offerings that were roasted on a stick. There is a picture here of roasted intestines but I missed taking pictures of the roasted frogs and chicken heads...YUCK! Enjoy...