A lovely story from Annie Griffiths Belt on her amazing career as a Nat Geo photographer and traveling with her kids.  I have just ordered her book.

Photographer's Peripatetic Life Is a Family Affair

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Annie Griffiths Belt was one of the first female photographers to be hired at National Geographic. Courtesy of Annie Griffiths Belt

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Annie Griffiths Belt

Belt's husband, Don, poses with their children, Lily (left) and Charlie, in Jordan. ©2008 National Geographic

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Annie Griffiths Belt

An opera star applies makeup in Hong Kong. ©2008 National Geographic

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Annie Griffiths Belt

A model poses on South Beach in Miami. ©2008 National Geographic

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Annie Griffiths Belt

A man wades into a swimming hole at the top of Victoria Falls in Zambia. ©2008 National Geographic

Weekend Edition Sunday, April 27, 2008 · For National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths Belt, the perfect packing material for cameras is — diapers.

The award-winning photojournalist and mother of two says even after her children were toilet-trained, she still made use of diapers because they fit around her camera lenses like a glove. And she has carried them to places around the globe during her 30-year career at the magazine.

One of the first female photographers hired at National Geographic, Belt documents her peripatetic life as a photographer and mother in a new book, A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel: My Journey in Photographs.

Belt, who was hired in 1978, and her husband, Don, a writer at the magazine, decided that their children should accompany Belt on most of her photo assignments. With the help of dedicated nannies and a hefty sense of adventure, Belt took Lily and Charlie around the world in their younger years. She found that even in the most remote parts of the planet, her role as a mother opened doors.

"People wonder if I would have access in the Middle East, and whenever I've been in a culture that's divided by gender, to me it's a huge advantage." Belt says during a conversation with Liane Hansen. "There are so many male photographers out there covering the guys, but let me tell you, the girls are having a good time."

From Jordan to the Galapagos Islands and beyond, Belt's children joined in her adventures, sometimes missing school for weeks at a time. The family experienced joyful moments — and dangerous ones — along the way. There were bear encounters at Yellowstone National Park and brushes with sharks in the Galapagos, and Belt says she and her husband routinely weighed the risks of exposing their children to exotic locales.

Eventually, academic demands made it impossible for her children to go globetrotting, and Belt eventually found her career taking off in new directions. Today, in addition to her work as a National Geographic photographer, she is an author and speaker. And Lily and Charlie are now 18 and 15, respectively.

Belt says A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel is testament to the fact that mothers, especially, can fulfill their dreams.

Photographer's Peripatetic Life Is a Family Affair : NPR

A simply lovely write and slide show in the NYT on the master photographer and printer.  Worth a read for sure.  Click on the link at the bottom for the details.  

Journeys | Yosemite National Park

What Adams Saw Through His Lens

Courtesy of the Cedric Wright Family

Ansel Adams, photographing in Yosemite National Park from atop his car in about 1942. Many come to the park to try to take the same photos he did.

• By LOUISE STORY

Journeys | Yosemite National Park - What Adams Saw Through His Lens - Travel - New York Times

Landscapes I’ve Dreamed: Photographs by Trevin Chow

Tonight my good friend Trevin has his opening reception at Trabant Coffee & Chai Lounge.   It’s a collection of his work from around the world.  I might be wrong but I think this is Trevin’s first show and I’m really excited for him and I’ll be there later tonight to support him and check out his latest art. 

Folks in Seattle who are free should for sure pop by, either tonight or later this month.  Address is 1309 NE 45th Street, Seattle, 98105.

So it begins

Landscapes I've Dreamed: Photographs by Trevin Chow | the fine art photography studio blog

So you have

• been feed because it must have been at least a couple hours since you last feed
• been brushed which feels really good because you are loosing your winter coat
• played with your furry toy that's your favorite
• even drank the remaining milk from your Dad's cereal bowl

What else is there left to do but lay on your back as the sun streams through the window and sleep the rest of the morning away.  Not a bad life.  Enough said, back to work.

Having given up coffee quite a few years ago and switching to tea I'm always interested in reading and viewing about my new favorite hot drink.  Reuters recently posted a lovely photography spread of a number of shots of tea that is quite wonderful.  I would have never ever thought I would have anything in common with both the Queen of England and Paris Hilton - go figure.   Click on the picture or link for the full slide show. 

A tea vendor holds an umbrella at a roadside in Mumbai July 5, 2007.  

REUTERS/Sima Dubey

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1603&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=13

I'm far from an expert on clouds and have no way to explain this dynamic cloud formation over the city of Seattle earlier today.  It was extremely windy, but that's not usual these days.  The clouds literally looked like wave's rolling in over the city, but of course in the sky.  There was some sunlight coming through the clouds and the windows on the tall buildings had some lovely color in them.   

All in all -  simple beautiful.  

I was catching up on my photo blog reading and came across this fascinating collection of photographs by Rachel Papo of the young women of Israel who are placed into military service at the tender age of 18.   Taken many years after her own service its a very insightful view of the life that these women lead for 2 years.  The collection is superb as it highlights their young yet their seriousness of their world.  Worth a few moments of your time to check it out.    Linked below. 

 

RACHEL PAPO : Serial No. 3817131

This week in Seattle has been very cold for us, but simply beautiful with bright sunny days.  This week has also been a full moon week and this time, rather than try and shoot the exclusive moon at night I thought I would try first thing in the morning. 

What is obviously different is that not only do you get the full moon, but you also get the sunrise and that lovely orange glow that last for a few minutes.  For us that means that as the sun rises over the city it lights up the snow on the Olympic Mountains in the West and a perfect spot with the moon as it sets for the day.  And then some kind captain also moored their large grain ship in a perfect place on the Puget Sound to add some depth to the photograph.

A lovely morning for sure and a great way to start the day.

One of my favorite animals from my trip to the Zambia's Luangwa Valley has to be the hippopotamus. There is something special to me about their eyes and the way these magnificent creatures constantly watch you, their moaning and groaning as they mark their territory and their cute waddle of a walk. Indeed I didn’t realize how much they do walk and it was quite common for us to literally bump into one of them just wandering around the bush, quite a long way away from the river.  Now this video is something pretty special!

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Harmonious Hippos & Crocs


They're ferocious predators, but these crocs don't give hippos a second thought.

For those photographers that use Microsoft Outlook there is a very nice little tool that has just been released that allows you to select which camera gear that you need for a shoot and enter it into your calendar item.   I've been playing around with it and it looks like its going to be really helpful for preparing for a trip as you can simply enter the items that you will need by selecting them and then view them on screen or print them out while you pack.  Much more details here and then the download here. 

Microsoft Pro Photo: Never Forget a Lens Again          

A nice list of the various 'photographs of the year from Mike. Enjoy.

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A Roundup of the 2007 pictures of the year

Monday, December 31, 2007 | by Mike Sturk

It's that time of year when many news gathering sites are posting their versions of the year 2007 in pictures. It's no surprise that MSNBC, which always has a strong weekly offering, has a great 2007 Year in Pictures. Others include the International Herald Tribune which can be found here; AOL has two very strong offerings in a People's Choice gallery and an Editor's Choice gallery; Time has a fine gallery of the Year in Images; Reuters presents more than 100 of its best photos here; some of the best photos from the European Pressphoto Agency (epa) can be found in its Yearender 2007; Sports Illustrated has amassed 43 of its best photos; USA TODAY uses a drop-down menu for various categories in its 2007: The year in pictures; National Geographic has a five-photo gallery of its best wildlife photos; The New York Times highlights 2007: The Year in Pictures; The Washington Post's Best of Post 2007 features several favourite multimedia projects; the Los Angeles Times features Best of 2007: Photography; The San Francisco Chronicle has its own Year in Pictures which features 12 galleries of the best Day in Pictures from the SFGate site; appropriate to the season, Canada's National Post has two very interesting photo galleries on Faith and Mirth and Joy.

Rob Galbraith DPI: A Roundup of the 2007 pictures of the year

Tonight saw the usual fire works display over Seattle's iconic Space Needle.  This was the 14th year of the event which was meant to last for some eight minutes or so and was supposed to be the largest New Years event in the US.  

This years theme was a tribute to Hollywood with music from classic movies such as Jaws and Star Wars being piped  to those that could hear.  I was way too far away to hear and all I could hear was the drunken yells from the folks close to me.

Apparently they used some 1500 fireworks this year with fancy devices coming from all over the world to create the huge display.  The fireworks had been installed over the last few days all over the tall structure with the highest ones being from the 540 foot rim that you can see in these shots.   Personally I found this years show underrated, it didn't seem to have the same length or wow effect of previous years.  Anyway, some shots from me tonight. 

Happy New Year!  Welcome 2008.

This initially started out as a quick paw shot, this time with Mr Jester.  However as soon as the big guy started to see me with the camera he started to play around, almost modeling for me.  

He was rolling around upside down and playfully swiping at my camera as I climbed up on a chair so that I was at his level.  It was very entertaining and I had to take 15 minutes to play with him.  These were all shot with my 50mm lens that was on the camera - I do so love that lens! 

Happy last day of 2007 everyone! 

This last week in Seattle we had some lovely weather days, especially the evenings.  I will add, that the lovely weather left us this weekend as we had snow and rain which had people running for their snow chains!   Anyway, back to last week as I'm still catching up on things - as usual.   I wish I knew the reason why, but for whatever reason the sunsets last week were incredibly bright with lots of yellow and orange evenings as the sun left for the day.  Way more than usual, sorta reminds me of those Africa sunsets.   Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to be able to get out and explore, but I did grab this shot of Jester as he was taking in the sun at the top of the stairs.  

Was it me, or did winter arrive really quick?  I guess seeing as its now Thanksgiving here in the US and in much of the country snow is already falling the obvious answer is yes, but boy was that quick!  I only got around to looking at this shot of a Japanese Maple taken a few weeks ago in its full fall color.  Long live winter I guess!

I was catching up reading various blogs this morning and came across this story of Photojournalist Richard Hernandez, from the the San Jose Mercury News.  He has created a really cool photostory that uses an interactive photo's and audio clips to create an interactive story.  This time he has created a panorama of Willow Glen, a small community in the vast San Jose city that is very unique for the area.  

The photo story can be found here http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/blog/2007/11/16/where-we-live-5/ scroll left to right and then click on the little bubbles to see the cool photo or story pop-ups. 

If you want to see how it was created see the video below from the ScoblesShow.  A very pleasant break on this ThanksGiving holiday here in the US.  

San Jose Mercury News photojournalist uses VuVox to tell photostory | ScobleShow: Videoblog about geeks, technology, and developers

Jones, well Miss Georgia Jones if you want her full name and Jester have an interesting relationship to say the least.  In the morning he is all feisty and his favorite game is to attack Jones.  She often puts up a good fight, but at other times he gets her and fur goes everywhere.  This is especially problematic when he attacks her when she is going potty.  I mean, now of all the times when we want a bit of privacy it has to be bathroom time!  It got the stage where today I had to go to the store to buy a separate litter setup to see if they can have one each.  Time will tell! 

And then at other times they will appear to be content to hang out together and almost like each other.  The other day Amy and I were walking into the studio to find them both sleeping, all be it one up and one down, on one of their perches together.    We were watching them for a while and then Jones saw us looking and its if she felt all embarrassed and had to leave and come see us.  Relationships ~~~ ahh! 

I've not been up on this blog as much as I would like recently.  Truth is that I've been working on a whole bunch of business stuff that has kept me busy in addition to client photo sessions with hardly enough time to get everything done.  It's all good, I'm not complaining, its just different!  Besides, my cats like me more when I'm home to entertain them!  

One of the projects that I'm excited about is a bunch of work done on my identity as a photographer.  I've spent a bunch of time with the designer Rebecca Jones to develop a new logo which you can see below.  The logo has been designed to try and mix the traditional side of my work with the modern.  Sorta of a Yin-Yang as it were.  As I have started to use this in various different executions I have found that's its incredibly versatile.  You can see the logo here and then at the end of this post a few of the many other designs that didn't make the cut. 

The second big project and its directly related to the logo is that my new web site has just been launched.  This has been way too long coming, but I finally got my act together and its ready here - www.philholden.com  I'm still in the process of uploading content as I have heaps of photographs that need to get developed, but now I finally have a platform to display my work.  The site was designed by Rebecca Jones in co-operation with the great folks at Fuse IQ here in Seattle who built it.  Its built for fast broadband connections and large screens.  Its been tested with IE and Firefox, it works ok with Apple's Safari but I have noticed some funny behavior in places.  Some additional details on some of the features can be found here http://philholden.com/about_the_site 

I already have a list of changes and additional features that I want to add early into next year, but feel to drop me emails or comments on anything you would like to see changed. 

Cheers, Phil. 

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I was out and about earlier and caught site of this amusing Halloween face that was 'painted' on one of the large buildings downtown this evening.  I had to double take at first and then laughed at the how the WAMU tower had arranged the lights to look like a happy Halloween face.  A quick capture here

Last night saw the Kuhlman fashion show here in Seattle.  The event happened in the restaurant Veil and the Kuhlman team has carried up the large 'K' sign that normally lives center of the hip clothing store and parked it right next to the Veil sign.  With the darkness of the evening it lit up street corner glowing all red.  I liked how the 'scissors' of the K surround the Veil sign not only with the size but the color contrasts.   A fun night, I should have time to look at the photographs of the various models and guests this weekend. 

Kuhlman fashion show