Categories
Quotes

John Chrysostom on Possesion

This also is theft, not to share one’s possessions. Perhaps this statement seems surprising to you, but do not be surprised… just as an official of the imperial treasury, if he neglects to distribute where he is ordered, but spends instead for his own indolence, pays the penalty and is put to death, so also the rich man is a kind of steward of the money which is owed for distribution to the poor. He is directed to distribute it to his fellow servants who are in want. So if he spends more on himself than his needs require, he will pay the harshest penalty hereafter. For his own goods are not his own, but belong to his fellow servants… I beg you to remember this without fail, that not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs.

— John Chrysostom (347 – 407)

Categories
Sidenotes

TRIM22 HIV-Resistant Gene

This is interesting… Researchers discover gene that blocks HIV

Categories
Quotes

Camus on Great Ideas

Great ideas, it is said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations a faint flutter of wings; the gentle stirring of life and hope.

— Albert Camus

Categories
Quotes

Basil on Charity

That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you were able to help others, and refused, so often did you do them wrong.

— Basil of Caesarea (329 – 379)

Categories
Sidenotes

“All Talk and No Action on Darfur” – BBC

Five years on the Darfur conflict continues to languish. Why, interests me. One thought is the conflict lacks a compelling contrast and antagonist to draw attention to the story. With words like “genocide” it sticks in the back of the brain, but against other conflicts it seems not to arouse the emotions of injustice as readily… and so it languishes in the minds eye.

The BBC reports on why the West has been loathe to intervene in Darfur…

Categories
Video

RED Rwanda – cloud timelapse

While I’m getting my edit suite set up, and data moved around & backed up ready for a six-week edit session, Jesse‘s been playing a bit with some of the footage from Rwanda. This one’s just too cool not to post. Click the image to see a 1K cloud timelapse (down-res’ed from 2K, processed in RedCine and After Effects).

There’s also a few RED frame grabs from our shoot in Rwanda posted here if you’re interested.

Categories
Photography

Photo Essay – The Bulembu Story

Bulembu Cableway

Bulembu went from a sleepy hollow of Swazi homesteads to a major mining operation – producing one-third of Swaziland’s GDP – to a near-ghost town in the space of several decades. Now it’s in the midst of another transformation. To tell the story, I’ve put together a photo essay from my recent assignment: “The Bulembu Story” (There are a few dozen photos, so it may take a minute or two to load).

Categories
Photography

Gallery – Portraits of Bulembu

Maria Portrait

My recent assignment in Swaziland was a 2009 calendar on Bulembu. The concept was to photograph people involved in transformation, telling their story in a single frame. I approached this primarily through wide-angle portraits of the characters in context, attempting to include hints of past, present, and future as much as possible. I made extensive use of my new lighting rig to control tone and contrast.

Click the image to view a few selects from my portraits in Bulembu.

N.B. I’ll be posting a photo essay about the town after I get back from some R&R on the mountain this weekend.

Categories
Updates

Back Home

63 hours in transit coming home is enough to make me never want to fly again… OK maybe not :) This trip set my new record: 14 flights, including two aerial photography helicopters and six long-haul legs.

I’m so very glad to be back on firm soil in the cold Vancouver air. (Just in time to travel a bit more up to Silverstar :)

Categories
Photography

Wallpaper – Bulembu Moonrise

I took this photo a few nights ago, waiting for dinner out on the lodge porch. The clouds were billowing over a nearby hillside. When the crescent moon began to peek over the horizon, I grabbed my camera, tripod and telephoto and snapped this long exposure. I’ve created it as a wallpaper for you to enjoy (right-click to save): Bulembu Moonrise Wallpaper