BOLIVIA

I absolutely love what I do for a living.  I just got back from a 20 day shoot in Bolivia.  We flew into La Paz, drove to the Chapare (in the amazon basin, around 1,000 feet above sea level) and worked there for a few days, then worked in the lovely city of Cochabamba (about 8,500 ft) and then ended the trip shooting on the side of a mountain at nearly 15,000 ft above sea level.  We went from shooting in the jungle to shooting in a silver mine, man what a wild trip!!!!!  Oh and the entire shoot was on the RED.  Yes, the RED.  Behind the scene photos to come! Driving out of La Paz.

The town of Villa Tunari, my first time in the Amazon Basin.

Jungle Roads /// Yes, we brought a dolly into the jungle.

The whole reason we went to the jungle was to film on Coca farms. These were legal farms, yet some of these plants still end up as cocaine.

We spent a lot of time on the road. We had an awesome Land Cruiser and a cargo van with all our gear. The roads in Bolivia are pretty insane. Thank god we had two awesome drivers. Thanks Macros and Ricky! You guys rocked!

Street vendor in Cochabamba

The high plateaus (around 13,000 feet) where simply amazing. Its like the wild west, unbelievable.

Another plateau shot.

And another. I was just completely blown away by these beautiful yet harsh landscapes.

Storm. Dust cloud /// Valley at sunset. A lot of Bolivia reminded me of the American West.

The city of Potosí, one of the highest cities in the world. That's the mountain we shot on the side of. Amazing!

We had a day off in Potosí for "Altitude acclimatization" -- First time I have EVER had a day off in the middle of a shoot for altitude acclimatization, so I walked around (slowly) and shot a few photos. Street vendor.

Women with cellphone, Potosí /// Street festival, Potosí.

View from the side of the mountain where we were shooting. This was my "office" for the week.

This is Nick, my wonderful amazing AC on the trip. We had a killer time, but how could you not when your shooting on a RED on the side of a mountain at 15,000 feet.

This is one of my favorite shoots. Miners chewing coco, Potosí.

Miner with a bag of coca, Potosí /// Women in traditional dress, La Paz.

CHINESE NEW YEARS

One of my new years resolutions was to shoot more still photos, so I headed out to Chinese New Years with my new-ish 24mm f1.4. I also wanted to play with Diptychs and 1x1 cropping. Here are a few results. Untitled Chinese New Years #1

Untitled Chinese New Years #2

Untitled Chinese New Years #3

Untitled Chinese New Years #4

BERLIN! BUENOS AIRES! & LONDON!

I've been slacking hardcore about putting up photos.  But now that its the middle of the winter and I'm stuck inside on the weekend when I much rather be outside riding bikes, I figure its a good time to put up some photos! So this past fall I was traveling almost non-stop.  While shooting for the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange project I ended up going to Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto.  Then in December I headed to London to shoot a project for PUMA.  Here are a handful of photos from those trips!

BERLIN! I missed the charm of Europe, its been three years since I was there last. Berlin was awesome!

I loved this.

Jewish memorial.

Between some tech issues with the rental cameras and long hours, the shoot in Berlin was pretty tough, but staying at Hotel Adlon made up for the street. The hotel room was by far nicer then my apartment in NYC. Man, this place was sweet, the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at!

BUENOS AIRES!

Next up was a trip to Buenos Aires. I flew in a day early and got a chance to walk around and "scout" the city. I also stay an extra day and made it out to the Tigre Delta, which was really cool and reminded me a lot of New Orleans! Highlights included coffee, cafes and more coffee! Oh and the food, my god, the food. No matter where we went, we had amazing food!

La Recoleta Cemetery and a street musician.

La Boca neighborhood.

La Boca at sunset. Great light.

Lots of great and cheap coffee. Cafe creama was my favorite (picture cafe con leche)

and with coffee comes really cool coffee shops.

Boat ride through the Tigre delta.

gas station in the Tigre delta.

LONDON

The final international trip I took this fall was a week trip to London to shoot a project for PUMA. I was staying and shooting about 45 minutes outside of London, but I made it into London a few times to get dinner. The job was extremely demanding so I kinda took a break from my camera at night, but here are a few stills i snapped off.

NYC TO NE BY TRAIN!

So my friend Emily was finishing up an artist residency outside of Lincoln, NE when I got back from Beunos Aires. She wanted company for the drive back east but with the amount of flying I was doing I couldn't image getting on another plane. Instead I used that as an excuses to do something I've been wanting to do for a while and that is, try out long distance train travel in the states. I took off from Penn Station on an overnight train bound for Chicago (via going north to Albany first), had a short lay over in Chicago and then took off on another train for Lincoln. All in all it was about a 28 hour journey. I wouldn't recommended it for everyone, but I had a great time. Slow travel really is the best travel sometimes. Much more about that later!

Waiting for the Shore Line Express at Penn Station.

Everything I need for the 1.5 day train trip and the week long drive back.

We headed north and right around sunset started to pass the Catskills. The train follows the Hudson all the way up to Albany.

I made it safe and sound to Chicago the next morning.

The best part of train stations is that they are in the middle of cities. During my "lay over" i was able to pop out to the Lou Mitchell's, an awesome and famous dinner located a few blocks from the train station.

I thought the ride after Chicago would be really boring, but it was really pretty!

The train I was on had a sweet observation car... this same train would continue on all the way to San Fransisco! Right through the Rockies!

A train yard somewhere west of the Mississippi.

I finally made it Lincoln, Emily was happy to see me, I was happy to see her. We stayed on the farm where her studio was for a few days and then took off.

We took Highway 2 through the northwest section of NE know as the Sand Hills. It was very different then what most people picture NE to look like.

The next morning we went and saw Mt Rushmore and then climbed to the highest point east of the Rockies (a look out tower in the Black Hills)

It was cold.

after making it to Rapid City (what a weird town) we spent half a day exploring the Badlands.... i think this was the highlight for both of us! I felt like we were on Mars!

After this we B-lined it home, stopping in Chicago to see friends, and Cleveland to play pool and western PA to go bowling! What a great trip, makes me realize how much more of the US I need to see.