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Natural History

Found this nest next to my car last evening when on my way to a meeting. It was most likely dislodged from nearby branches by the strong winds we've been experiencing of late. 

Belonging to Zosterops Japonicus and commonly referred to as Mejiro, Japanese White-Eye or Silver Finch, I've learned that construction of this nest can take 7-10 days. A combination of spider webs, grass, coconut fibers, lichens, moss and mammal hair (this one appears to use shed hair from my dog)are the materials used. They are delicate and intricately woven.

This one contained the fully feathered remains of a fledgling either left behind to starve or unable to extract itself from the nest when it was dislodged by the wind.

In The Lair of Fair

Spent a couple of hours last week nosing around the home & studio of artist Deybra Fair (http://www.deybrafair.com). Turning into the hillside drive way I am greeted by the screeching of peacocks roosting in nearby trees. There are found objects and art made of found objects liberally scattered around the grounds, hanging on walls and spilling from every shelf and covering every surface. Deybra's paintings, assemblages and sculpture have been a fixture of the local art scene far longer than either of us care to acknowledge.

Hungry Now?

Monday morning, bleary-eyed drive to the airport in torrential monsoon rains so that Assistant Niki & I could catch the first flight to H'lulu. Upon landing, we're greeted by sunny skies, picked up & whisked away by our client who transported us to the commercial-fishing waterfront where we would spend the day photographing all manner of tasty offerings from the kitchen of Nico's Pier 38 restaurant. Overwhelmed upon entry by the smells of smoked shellfish and other seafood... mmmmmm!

Intense full moon this phase cycle...

Reaching out to clients and potential clients with regular marketing spam is one of the necessary evils in pursuit of work. When given the opportunity to, I always ask what their feelings are about receiving these things from photographers. Most are kind and generous and positive about receiving them.

Here's winter's effort... destined for 650 inboxes worldwide.

[VIEWWEBSITE]

The best & most productive days always start like this.

After the morning pup stroll, it was back at the desk sorting through emails, going through end of year business for the accountant and organizing a shoot scheduled for Wednesday. 

Weather has taken a decided turn for the worse since the dawn stroll and predictions are for heavy winds from the south and rain thru friday. Hoping this doesn't put a damper of Wednesday's project... fingers crossed.

Waiting around for a corporate meet-n-greet event to begin, started staring at the ceiling of the hotel where the event was held. Rather bland architectural details took on a luminous abstract quality when isolated.

A hectic two-week shoot schedule has just concluded. A top-secret outing for the FORBES Magazine brand suddenly appeared. Along with it came an introduction to wonderful Photo Editor R, a woman who, to date, as provided the best, most direct and generous creative direction I have ever been provided for any assignment. The assignment involved some inter-island travel and should appear between the pages of Forbes Life sometime this winter.

Then contacted by Getty Images offering representation for their assignment photography division and another top-secret assignment destined for the pages of Runner's World Magazine sometime late in the year. Needless to say, I signed the contract and can now claim representation by Getty.

Two days followed shooting more images for box covers and packaging for Hawaiian Host Chocolates and a portfolio for one of the state's leading design firms. 

The highlight of the past two weeks came somewhere in the middle of the madness when I spent an evening photographing and chatting with celebrated cellist Yo Yo Ma... perhaps the most generous, kindest and friendliest performer I have ever had the opportunity to meet. Gathered at a private residence high on the volcano slopes and the night before his sold-out performance, Mr. Ma worked the room like he was everyone's new best friend. Some old friends were in attendance including old friend DL, a fine violinist in his own right.

1.15.2015

Just arrived... Cargo Cult. New book from New Mexico based photographer & wundergal Karen Kuehn. A signed copy, no less. Mahalo KK!

1.9.2015

1.7.2015

1.6.2015

1.3.2015

Already behind in my daily posting resolution for the new year. Selah...

1.2.2015

1.1.2015

On To Raja Ampat - Things Really Get Interesting...

Nikko ferried us to the docks of Sorong early monday morning. Our plan was the catch the first ferry to Waisai Island that morning and return on the last ferry back to Sorong. From Waisai, we assumed that we would somehow find access to the marine preserve and fabled tiny islands of Raja Ampat.

Boarding the large ferry, we had plenty of company. Inside the boat where plush red velvet seats similar to what you would find on a nice bus or airplane. Loud karaoke seemed to be the morning's entertainment for the 2 hour passage to Waisai. The day before, we had made friends with one of the girls who worked on the ferry. She allowed us to pass through the wheelhouse and on to the open air front deck. There was no seating here save for some wooden slats. The front deck, however was open and gave us easy access for making photos along the way. The three of us, Mr. T, myself & Widi were the only passengers on deck... except for a man dressed all in black, wearing a black ball cap with a gold medallion and carrying a black leather "man-purse" emblazoned with the same gold medallion. He kept to himself, chain-smoking kreteks as we found our places and readied for departure.

Mr. T, immediately upon spotting the stranger in our midst, nudged me and whispered "keep an eye on that guy... he's somebody". We all assumed he was some government official. Later, we would find that our assumption was correct.

As the boat prepared to cast off it's mooring lines and leave the harbor... straggling passengers continued board via a rickety gangplank. Even as the ferry began pulling away from the docks, a couple of last minute passengers made the last minute leap, clinging desperately to handrails along the side of the boat until they found steady footing.

As we finally left the docks and made our way out of the harbor, we were granted front row views to the waterfront of Sorong. Unfortunately the morning was grey and hazy. We hoped for better conditions once we were out to sea and on our way to Waiego Island. The ferry crossing would take just a little under 2 hours.

About halfway through the trip, the mysterious man in black, still puffing on kretek after kretek, began to strike up conversation with us. He proved to be friendly and talkative and we quickly learned that his name was "M" and that he was the head of Indonesian National Intelligence... the head "spook" for all of Indonesia. Learning that I was an American, he seemed to take great interest and began telling me how he had just been with our Secretary of State, John Kerry. Kerry had been in the country for the inauguration of Indonesia's new President Jokowi. As we talked further, we learned that M was meeting another top Intel friend and the Chief of Police in Waisai, Waiego Island's capitol. They were there on official business but M was also in the process of developing a small eco-dive resort on the island. He then offered to give us a ride from the docks once we arrived on Waiego.

The ride on the ferry was smooth, fast and uneventful. Our new friend was very talkative and once we arrived in Waisai, as promised, M and his friends picked us up at the ferry terminal and drove us into town.

Sadly, the skies were no clearer in Wasai than when we had left Sorong. We piled into the car, M's companions stuffed themselves in the far back, Mr. T and Widi occupied the back seat and I was given the front passenger seat next the M. 

Waisai looked like a frontier town just on the front edge of a boom. There were the usual rustic storefronts and food stalls found everywhere through asia but there was a more organized feel of development about to happen. M took us to a large, new hotel where he planned to stay during his time in Waisai. The place had a big minimart and modern looking restaurant and was situated a block from the town's waterfront. M suggested we stay the night in Waisai rather than return to Sorong that afternoon as were our plans. We considered his suggestion and took a look at the rooms... barren, sterile and cold. From what we could see from the drive into town, this was not what we had come looking for and, at that point, decided we would stick with our original plan of returning by afternoon ferry.

M looked disappointed but decided that he would become our guide for the remainder of the day. First, he guided us across the road to a large, newly developed and very modern, recently built public park... now in disrepair and a state of decline. The park, we learned, had only recently been completed. There were large water features left dry and with giant dolphin sculptures. A giant electronic jumbotron rose on a scaffold between the coco palms, the large, wide walkways were paved in mosaic stone & lined with wooden lighting towers that no longer worked.

M informed us that $8 million US had been spent creating the park. It had been nice & functional for about a week. Former Indonesian President SBY had flown in to make a speech here and dedicate the park. Once the former president returned to Jakarta, the park had been abandoned. The place was surreal... an idea far ahead of its time. We saw no signs of life there other than a couple of young people lying the the shade of one of the pavilions scattered around the property.

Heading back to the car, the three of us were left scratching our heads over the waste and immediate decline of what could be a magnificent waterfront for what appeared to be a very small town.

Driving around with M, we could see that Waisai was, indeed, on the cusp of a boom... a holiday resort for scuba divers at the gateway to Raja Ampat. Everywhere we drove, land was being cleared for small hotels, an airport, shopping centers. M took us to his property, just on the other side of the ferry terminal. The land was still being cleared and M described to us his plans for small wooden huts on stilts that would extend out over the crystal waters and coral gardens. We were also told that all available land along the coast had been scooped up and about to undergo similar development. 

It turns our M had a plan. His plan did not involve us returning to Sorong that afternoon. Shortly after leaving his property, we followed the road along the coast, eventually ending up at a beachfront dive retreat called Waiwo Dive Resort. The word "resort" might be stretching things a bit but the place had a certain charm as we wandered down a shady path of coral-lined sand, among a cluster of small wooden bungalows, eventually emerging from the forest at a magnificent beach, complete with long wooden pier, water as clear as glass and colorful fish everywhere you looked. Small islands drifted offshore but still, this didn't look like the Raja Ampat I had found on the internet. Making inquiries with M, I learned that to see these islands, we would need to charter a motorized long boat for the day at a cost of roughly $600US. None of us had brought that much money with us as we had only planned to be there for half a day.

Then M grinned widely and told us he had already chartered a boat for early morning the next day. If we would change our plans and spend the night, we would be his guests. The idea sounded promising but we had already booked flights to fly back to Bali from Sorong on the following afternoon. When we informed M of this plan, he smiled, shook his head and said "no problem". After all, this was head of National Intelligence for of all of Indonesia. He "knew" people. He took out his cellphone, made a call and hung up. Then he informed us that our flight had already been changed and our tickets would be waiting for us at the airport... no additional fee. OK... this seemed like an offer we could not refuse. I would be a returning to Bali a day later than planned but still had four days to conclude my business there and check on production. We looked around the property some more, then decided to stay at this retreat for the night. 

M shook our hands at the wisdom of this decision and we checked in. As we had not brought clothes, toiletries, etc. M then suggested we carry on with our tour by car and on the way back to the beach, he would take us back to the other hotel where we could grab toothbrushes, etc. We grabbed our cameras and wandered back up the path to the road and waiting car.

First stop... M decided to treat us to lunch at a Maskan Padang style warung in town. These places cook a days worth of food early in the morning then stack plates of the daily offerings in the front window of the warung. You simply grab a plate and help yourself, cafeteria style. The food was excellent and we were happy to eat something besides fish for a change. After lunch, M and his friends continued on as our tour guides and showed us all around the island, then took us to the mini-mart to secure necessary items to spend the night and then back to our lodgings late in the afternoon. M and his friends stayed with us and we all headed out to the pier for some swimming and snorkeling. The water surrounding the pier was like an aquarium... fish everywhere and water clear as can be... other asian tourists staying at the dive lodge were also out enjoying the scenery, warm afternoon air & water.

Once the sun had set, M and his companions suggested that they drive us back into town & treat us the a grilled chicken dinner at one of his favorite warungs on the island. M assured us he would return us to the hotel after the meal and that we were to meet him and the chartered long boat on the pier the next morning at 7am. Dinner was exceptionally good and we talked and laughed with our new best friends for a couple of hours before, as promised, M dropped us back at our hotel on the beach.

Mr. T and I shared a bungalow that night and slept like logs, excited for what we might see and do the following day.

Sorong

As promised, we began the approach to Sorong around 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. We had been sailing for 9 days and this would be the Manta Mae's final port of call for this trip. Here the boat would anchor for more than a week as it waited for it's owner to arrive from Europe. The crew, in shifts, would fly home for a few days each, leaving someone always on board to keep an eye on things.

The entrance to the harbor was dominated by a rock island with a lighthouse.

Beyond the lighthouse lay a large and congested harbor. Freighters, tankers, cargo and fishing boats, quite a few dive boats much like the one we had been living, on were anchored in the harbor or tied up to the piers fronting what appeared to be a bustling port city.

The air was thick with haze as we entered the harbor and dropped anchor squarely between the busy waterfront of Sorong and a smaller island on the opposite side of the harbor. I later learned that the name of this island was "Doom". We would visit Doom later in the day.

We also learned that this was as far as we were going. I think we all had been under the impression that we would be sailing into the exotic marine preserve of Raja Ampat... another 2 hour ride away by "fast boat". Hmmmm...  A short time after anchoring, we were boarded by some friends of the crew members, in port and working on other boats anchored in the harbor. One of these friends told us we could take a small, fast boat from the docks of Sorong to Waiego Island, the largest land mass in Raja Ampat. These ferries ran twice daily from Sorong to Waisai, the capitol of Waiego.

We quickly made plans to catch the ferry to Waisai for a day excursion the following morning. Later, we talked Nikko into taking us to shore on Doom Island to do a bit of exploring. From the boat, Doom looked more primitive & rough than Sorong... a couple of large old buildings, a large mosque and some small homes lining the shore. 

We disembarked from the zodiac and entered the marketplace for Doom. There was little activity and only a few shopkeepers there to ply their goods. We later found that even though there was a big mosque on the shore, the island was mostly christian, no doubt due to early Portuguese or Dutch influence, and most businesses took the day off on Sunday.

The occupants of the village seemed to be out for a lazy Sunday stroll or were pedaled around on brightly colored pedicabs know as becaks. The sun and heat were brutal at midday so we wandered into the cool shade of the market for some relief and to have a look around.

 Later we wandered away from the market and down a small lane dotted with brightly painted houses running along the waterfront.

At the far end of this lane, the homes became decidedly rougher in appearance, wooden structures up on stilts jutting out over the water's edge.

Children played in the shade along the lane or at the water's edge. After an hour or so of walking, being given a tour of the local cemetery and chatting with a few of the locals, we decided to turn around and walk back to the docks fronting the market and catch the dinghy back to the boat and then check out the other side of the harbor... the town of Sorong.

Sorong appeared to be much like any other bustling asian seaport town, a cluster of buildings along the waterfront, the ubiquitous mosque or three and whatever else a town depended on ship and cargo traffic thru it's port might need. We did learn that there was a supermarket nearby the docks... a KFC too! So Nikko dropped us off at the docks and we walked almost a kilometer to the supermarket alongside a relatively modern highway along in a relatively modern city. We learned that there were several hotels, the best being a Le Meridian. There was an incredibly efficient and cheap system of public transportation by bemo... small minivans painted bright yellow and constantly moving back and forth, up and down the highway, picking up passengers and depositing others, virtually anywhere they were seen or needed to stop... all for the equivalent of far less than a dollar. There were hundreds of them and they were everywhere.

At the supermarket, we were very happy to find fresh baked goods. We had eaten no bread or pastries for over a week now and we loaded up on almond flavored treats, more fruit and bananas and other snacks. Another giant KFC was attached to the building but we decided against it even though we were tiring of fish.

Comparing our purchases, we opted to return to the docks by bemo and were met by Nikko and the zodiac and quickly ferried back to the Manta Mae.

That evening, we agreed to rise early and catch the 9am ferry to Waisai and have our first look at Raja Ampat.