I Remember Holding You …
I had the weirdest dream last night. I was Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 2 about to sing karaoke in a Hong Kong nightclub. So strange as I *hate* karaoke (well, I hate to sing, but I love to cheer on and watch others perform). I’m too shy for performing Karaoke. (# ^_^ #)
What would I sing? I was on stage, being stared at! I was beginning to sweat. (-_-’ )
I quickly looked through the list of songs and saw an old favorite: “I Remember Holding You” by Boys Club (circa 1989). A YouTube link to the video is below: just click the album cover.
I was 21 when Boys Club released that introductory smash hit. They were SO COOL! The group was two guys who were very much like Wham! (George Michael and that Andrew guy) only they were not gay. Boys Club looked cool, dressed cool, and were cool. Their sound, style and lyrics really vibed with me.
Boys Club Trivia: The lead singer was the former lead singer of The Jets (a way-too-pretty family who could really sing: think of a Fiji family version of The Jackson Five, only this band had cute brothers and hot sisters).
In my dream I was so cool! The audience was cheering! Hot Chinese girls were all over me! I was even doing the dance steps, and making weird singing faces when hitting those long notes! I was a Rock God! (*‿*)
Then I woke up and ate oatmeal and drank sugar free tea. Epic Fail. (-_-;)
Cheers
————————————
Sent from my iPhone
Am I A Japanese Schoolgirl?
Hello, everyone!
Yes, it has been too long since my last blog post. I’m finally settled in Ubud, Bali, but not working for the NGO as originally planned (a long story, but definitely for the greater good). I’m currently rushing to meet submission deadlines for publication (more on this later). Also, the newly rewritten BeyondExposures.com site, complete with interactive galleries, has been launched!
*~ I just remembered I need to update the B.E. site as well: kyaaa ~*
I had the weirdest dream this afternoon (what is better than an afternoon nap after great warung food in a tropical paradise?hehehe), after watching the DVD “War Photographer”. My cloest friends know this DVD very well, as I’ve forced them all to see it at least once. It’s playing right now, yet again *LoL*
In the dream, I’m on my first International assignment, covering the stark and tragic misery of Kosovo. Several other notable photographers are there as well, listening to the United Nation advisor’s “can do” and “cannot do” lists for what may be photographed. I see James Nachtwey! Eeeeeee!
*~ You must understand. There are a few photographers I feel are truly elite: James Nachtwey, Eugene Richards, and James Whitlow Delano, are my favorites! ~*
Back to the dream: I see James Nachtwey. Before we are led in by the UN advisor, I go to James and introduce myself: “Hello, I’m Rodney Johnson, I’m a huge fan and have diligently studied your work blahblahblah …”
But soon in the dream I go on and on with praise to Nachtwey, gushing and squeeling like a Japanese schoolgirl in an Austin Powers movie! Even my accent turned Japanese and I was wearing a schoolgirl outfit, jumping up and down, holding on tight to my over-accessorized mobile phone. I was smiling so hard that my eyes closed to thin slits!
*~ If you have Chinese or Japanese friends, and have seen them laughing hard, you know their eyes disappear entirely hahaha: it’s cute actually! ~*
In a high-pitched-anime-girl-voice: “OMG! Mista Nachtwey! I so big fan! I … I eeeee! I so embarass! Eeeeeee! … I also shoot Canon! Eeeee!”. My Sailor Moon hair pompoms almost fall out, while my teddy bear backpack flops around.
*~ looking around in embarrassment: only tiny wall lizards are the witnesses ~*
Anyway. All is well. I’m alive here. I’m thinking of renting a motorcycle and taking a few days trip into deep Bali mountain areas. I will post images from bali shortly on the new BeyondExposures.com site. For now, back to the portfolio submission (and the War Photographer DVD, of course)!
Posted from BlackBerry
Sushi Therapy
Moshi Moshi! (hahaha, ok, I know that is for telephone greetings, not blog posts),
When life totally sucks, and no one to talk to, what should you do? Grab Your Best Friend, Buy Movie Tickets, and most important: GET SUSHI!
X-Tine, best friend and 1/3rd of “The Evil Us’s” (my circle of friends), and I really needed some sort of “escape from reality” time today. So, before seeing JLo in Bordertown (a VERY good movie, by the way!) we stuffed ourselves with sushi and Japanese desserts.
So Hungry, X-Tine’s Using Two Hands!
When ordering, we thought it was not that much food, thinking each individual sushi roll would be small, but OMG, the things were huge! I stuck to my Don dish (meat/veggies over rice) and Tempura, and left ALL THE REST to her hahahaha.
Dig Into That Jellyfish, Girl!
We ordered everything, from partly-broiled tuna sushi roll, to chilled jellyfish, to an assortment of shrimp, tuna and swordfish sashimi. And can’t forget the fish tempura! Put simply, NO WAY we could eat all of that! BUT WE TRIED! What we could not eat, we got for take-away for her mom hahahahaha.
“Mrrph?” (full-mouth talk for “Huh?”) Salmon Roe–eggs–Sushi goes Bye-Bye!
I Have to say, the mini octopi (plural for octopus) scared me at first, as they were whole, with heads still attached! I am not a big fan of eating brains and guts. X-Tine then calmed me down: “they removed the brains, see?” and showed the hole on the side of the neck, where the sushi-ticians scooped out the brains. Uhhhh….
The biggest of the tiny de-brained octopi, hahaha
I have to say, I’ve not tried jellyfish before today. I was apprehensive, but my policy is “I will try anything once!” (of course, this does not mean I will try it a 2nd time in the future hahaha). So, I lifted my skirt, grabbed my balls, jumped into the jellyfish! It was not bad at all! Would I order it in the future? Nope! (hahaha), but if others orderd it, I would not mind sharing it. 
Jelly Fish! (we don’t eat the white noodle thingy stuff)
Of course, anyone who knows me knows my rules of food: Always Leave Room For Dessert! NO EXCUSES! Hell, if you can eat all the veggies, you can eat ice cream! If can’t eat all the veggies and dessert, leave some of the veggies, and take a multi-vitamin pill!
Pino (Bon-Bons) and a half-eaten fish-shaped vanillia ice cream sandwich
I got the Pino (a order of six, chocolate-covered vanillia flavored pieces of ice: sort of like America’s Bon-Bons) and X-Tine got the uhhh ummm. I can’t remember the Japanese name, but it is a vanilla ice cream sandwich with red beans (very popular in Asia, but I am not a fan of it still).
Ok, take care. X-Tine and I both feel better now. We always know exactly what to do to cheer each other up: Movies and Sushi!
The Uniforms We Are Given…
Allow me to indulge for a moment, so you understand my thinking, before continuing the read this blog post:
No, I’m not in the picture. :p
I used to watch an American TV show called “Good Times.” The TV comedy was centered around a very poor African American family, The Evans (picured above), who was stuck in “the ghetto” (a very run-down, dangerous, inner-city neighborhood). The show chronicled The Evans’ constant struggle with “trying to make ends meet” (American slang for: pay for all things they needed, with extremely limited money).
James Evans, the father, was eventually was killed in a work accident (“killed” on the show, not in real-life). The youngest boy, Micheal (a black rights militant) was reminiscing about lessons of life that his father taught him. One saying James told Michael was “We must play the game in the uniform we are given.” (Meaning: we must go through life with the skin color we are born with, and deal with life as it comes to us.)
Just as we must live life with the skin color we are born with (unless you are Michael Jackson), children must live in childhoods based on their parents’ decisions. Sometimes the choices parents make are hard for the child, but for the child’s own good. Sometimes the choices parents make are purely out of selfish reasons.
My photographic projects, whether special interest or humanitarian, are always focused on unique sub-cultures. One current project is focused on the lives of orphans. This weekend I spent some time at one particular place that I am focusing on. For most westerners, orphanages are places for children who do not have parents due to death, and the kid has no other family.
Actually, I am such a child. My father was unknown, and my biological mother–a Jane Doe: an unidentifiable woman–died during childbirth. I was adopted at 6 days old by my parents (non-biological parents).
In the West, children given up for adoption by their biological parents are technically orphans too, but westerners never think “giving up child for adoption” is the same as “make the child an orphan” as parents are still alive. I am learning very fast is in 3rd world Asia most “orphans” do not fit the Western paradigm of what an orphan is.
The vast majority of orphans in the 3rd world have living biological parents, who have either abandoned the children out of selfish reasons (such as not wanting to be looked down upon for having a non-perfect baby), or the parents willing gave the child to a orphanage in hopes to give the child a better future than they could provide it. Some parents even give their children to the orphanage with an informal agreement it is for a limited time only, until the family can support the child themselves. Only in a very few cases are the children truly without biological parents in 3rd world Asia.
So, these orphans are dealing with the circumstances they are put into. This particular orphanage is extremely well ran, with caring staff and a clean environment for the children to live, learn, and play in. The children have a range of issues, from mental retardation, to physical deformities such as permanent blindness. One 2 year old boy has permanent brain damage due to high fever while fighting the flu. He lays in bed shaking and moaning. He has very good health care, thanks to plentiful donations from Europe to the orphanage, but he seems to have little human interaction at the moment (he’s still sick with flu).
![](http://www.rodneyonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/angel-1.jpg "\")
The children all have heart-twisting stories, but one stands out: a blind girl that I will call Angel (I’m not giving her real name, to protect the child). Angel is a 4 year old, Indonesian-European mixed girl. In addition to speaking Indonesian, she speaks fluent Dutch! The orphanage does not know her origins; she was merely given to the orphanage.
Angel has already gone to Singapore so doctors there could determine if there was any treatment for her eye condition (her blue-gray eyes are covered with a cataracts-like film, giving her a ghostly appearance). Doctors said there is nothing that can be done for her.
Some believe Angel’s Expat father and his maid conceived Angel, and when he left the country he abandoned the mom and child, and the mother could not cope with a blind daughter. Some others believe she might have been the result of a “contract marriage” (where woman is married to guy for a specific time)–I’m still trying to understand contract marriages. All of these are theories only. On one knows Angel’s true story.
She loves constant hugs and to be carried, even though she gets around the orphanage fairly well on her own. Every time she bumps into a person, she enthusiastically puts her arms in the air to be picked up. If that does not work, she tries to climb the person.
*~ We all had a fun laugh when this happened to our shy driver. After several failed attempts to be picked up by the driver, Angel tried to climb him like a tree, ending up with him standing there with her stuck in mid-air with her arms and legs wrapped around his legs in a wrestling death grip. hahaha ~*
She has no surprise-from-touch response, for lack of a better term. Meaning: if she is walking, and bumps something, like water she just flows around it without breaking the song she’s singing. If you touch her hand or suddenly speak to her in a quiet room, she is not the least bit startled. She must have been blind for most of her very young life.
I could not hold her for long, out of fear of adopting her hahaha. She is so sweet and adorable, she ripped my heart out when she called me “Papa” when trying to get me to hold her. I would have given her one of my eyes, if that was humanly possible (and I am not kidding). My friend, Yensi, spent a lot of time carrying Angel around the orphanage, singing with her as they went along. Angel’s extremely smart: she will be amazing one day.
Surprising was the fact the orphanage does not have an immediate need for money, as several organizations in Europe provide the majority of their monetary needs. What they do need is food items, such as Ovaltine, baby diapers, etc. I will help them with that each month.
Anyway, the kids make me rethink life. Maybe “the uniform i was givien” is not so bad to have received…
Take care!
Taxi Cab Coolness…
I meet the most interesting taxi drivers when I travel around the city and in other countries. I only wish I had taken pictures of them all. But, I do have two stories to share about taxi drivers who are out-of-the-box thinkers, and made their taxis so cool and unique! Pics of the taxis are at the end of the post. Don’t bitch about the pictures’ quality. I was in moving/bouncing taxis shooting with my Blackberry’s crappy camera! And no laughing at the drawing!
Fresh-N-Fruity:
If I am not using a private car and driver, I take a taxi to and from work. I usually find the taxi driver waiting inside of the taxi, with the windows rolled down. I usually dread getting in, as there will usually be mosquitos!
*~ I always feel like King Kong swinging at tiny airplanes! ~*
A few days ago, the taxi was waiting, with windows down. I got in with dread, but found a wonderful surprise: a fruit basket! This driver had a fruit basket between the front two seats, bottles of water in one front seat’s back pocket, and an assortment of magazines in the other front seat’s back pocket!
By the way, for my American friends: that brown fruit is Snake Fruit (I cannot remember the actual Indonesian name for it, but was told that is what it is nicknamed). The outer covering really feels tough and smooth and like scales!
The smell of the fruits and foliage was sooooo nice. No mosquitos, and no Jakarta traffic smell! Umm. The driver was very proud of his taxi, of course, and had a big grin at my surprise. He showed me a newspaper clipping where he was interviewed and his taxi was pictured! It was so cool. :)
Bling!
Last year I went to Singapore so many times that the immigration people knew my name, and began to even question was I living there on a tourist visa, and simply leaving and returning every month hahaha. When I had to go to the Indonesian Embassy for my work visa. As the embassy is always packed, I would have to get there EARLY morning to insure all can be processed before I flew back to Jakarta a few days later. So, I went out from the hotel early to find a taxi.
*~ Yes, you can NOT get the Indonesia work visa within Indonesia. You must get it from an Indonesian embassy in another country, go figure! This is the only country, by the way, that cannot process a work visa within its own borders–I’ve checked. I’ve no idea why! ~*
I flagged down one guy with these cool blue sunglasses, and got in. The car smelled like a buddhist temple (not in a bad way)! But, there were soooo many decorations! toy cars, coins glued to the steering wheel, and lucky charms from three religions hanging from the rear-view mirror! And he was playing some way cool music. He was a member of the music group, and taxi driving was his day job. He definitely had style!
Take Care!
iCarumba, Batman!
I know it’s really ‘Aye Carumba’ and not iCarumba–I studied Spanish for 4yrs! I’m using my “i” version because I’m noticing there are so many i-things in the world: iPods, iPhones, iGlasses (a software) and even iDogs, iFish and iCats! It’s enough to make you scream “iYaiYai!” *~ok, bad pun~*
Even worse than the iCat is the fact social networking web site popularity has dramatically increased over the last year, to the point many people have multiple accounts, with mostly the same individuals on their buddy and friend lists! Even more worse is some sites begin with one vision in mind, and it mutates due to the demands of a user base they never intended to attract. Facebook is a great example:
Facebook began as a way for people to be in contact with others they rarely meet or see: family who live on the far side of the country, fellow students from the university you used to attend, etc. And you can share pictures to them, since they are currently away from your “real” life. Facebook was not intended for daily friends to interact, or for posting quick, poorly written status messages every 5 minutes. It was meant to be a representation (or “Face”) of your life, so others who cannot see your life firsthand can at least sample it. Search was pretty much limited to companies, universities, and high schools (not for current high school students, but for high school ALUMNI to find each other). All was wonderful, until: teenagers!
Teenagers turned Facebook into Friendster (which is actually designed for your often-seen-real-life friends and buddies to have a cyber-life in addition to real life). While Facebook creators were not really happy with this newly rising group of users, it did increase their total number of customers, which in turns attracts advertising and revenue (as businesses did not care “who” was online, only that it was hundreds of thousands of them).
I’ve noticed that more than 90% of the people on the average person’s Facebook friend list is a person they see fairly often, talk to on the phone often, or SMS to often (or all of the above!). I’ve even seen people communicate in stereo! (e.g. sending SMS to each other, while also updating each other’s “walls”). When asked “why?” I often hear “well, they wrote me comment, so now I must write one.” (uhhh…)
These web sites are supposedly to be all in fun, I know. But, lets say you have Facebook AND you have Friendster. Does the average person interact with different people on the two different services? NO! most of the people on a person’s list for one service is on the list of EVERY service account they have! So now people are getting messages from the same individuals on Facebook, on Friendster, on SMS, on the Phone, and lets not forget Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger (hates it!), Sypke, ICQ, IRQ, Google Talk (I can name easily more)! *~OK, Moving On…~*
I am the same. I have all these services too! And I have SMS, Blackberry Messenger, and Twitter (which is the only service most people need, as all most people do is make quick comments to each other on all the other services, which is what Twitter does better than anyone, but anyway…). I have SO MANY Web 2.0, Social Networking Accounts, that when I do remember to visit them, I must always request “email me my password” or worse, “email me my username” Because it been SO LONG I cant even remember them for the web site! EVEN MORE SCARY is some people can’t even remember which email address they used to sign up for that particular web service, because they have SO MANY email accounts too! So, some people can’t even tell that web site where to send their forgotten info!
*~ How Fucked-Up is that? That you have accounts you not visit for so long, you cant even remember the username or password or even email account anymore, yet you STILL KEEP IT! It like keeping Duncan Donuts even though they are 3 months old! ~*
I recently began to think “why do I have these accounts? And I don’t even log into all of them alway, so why do I keep them?!” I asked friends and they too said the same! Most of the adults log into one or two often, and maybe check the others from time to time, simply to clear the messages from the inboxes. Teens like to use them all, but that’s OK: they’re teen hahaha!
So, I have decided to delete all my social networking accounts, except Yahoo! messenger, Twitter and Facebook. (I’m still undecided, Maybe I will keep MySpace instead of Facebook, which is Hell-A-Boring to me with its lame applications, while MySpace has lots of cool content, like Music artist pages, enhanced video capabilities, etc., and MySpace has many more users than Facebook–contrary to what most people may believe). For Facebook status messages, I do not even update them! I only update Twitter, and have Twitter auto-feed Facebook status box hahahaha.
Now that that’s settled, what about the buddy and friend lists? How many “friends” do you have on your Yahoo!, Friendster and Facebook? How many of them are really friends u interact with, or have history (such as attending the same university class, or coworkers) via that service? How many of those “friends” on your lists do you never even hear from? How many of them do u comment to (not counting you ‘replying’ their comments) because you are thinking of them, and want to give them a cool shout-out? I’ve seen “friends” with over 600 “friends” on their list (usually the pretty girls have this many, cos guys can’t help but add them, so they feel they are cool hahaha). Is it so bad to “decline” a friend request? Is it so bad to clean the list and keep just people you “actually” know and interact with? Is it so evil to delete 300 of those 600 people, because you heard from them only once, and not ever again? Let’s find out!
I’m trashing anyone on my list that I cannot immediately remember who they are! On my old Yahoo! Messenger account (I trashed it about 3yrs ago, cos so many people and spam email) had like 150 people on it! and I had NO IDEA who they were! Today I have maybe 20 total on my Yahoo! Messenger buddy list, but I know who they are, and I hear from them at least once in a while, but I separate them into Yahoo! Messenger groups. I’ve 5 groups:
- “A-List” (for those very few who are close, real-life friends I constantly interact with)
- “Friends” (nice people who I know in real-life, or interact with for many years)
- “Friends-At-Large” (good people who I don’t get to chat to often, due to distance, real-life things, etc, but we stay in touch from time to time)
- “The Others” (stolen from the TV show “Lost”: people who I’ve met, and rare to talk to, but feel I should maintain contact to. Usually ex-coworkers, or networking-relationship)
- “The Psychos” (only 3 on this list: Neurotic people I’ve marked as permanently offline, and ignored. Miss Split-Personality with her multiple accounts, The Stalker, and The Nympho-Travel Agent are in this group)
Anyway, I will soon be freed from the chains of too much Web 2.0 (social networking web sites, for you non-geeks). Later I’m cleaning house! I’ll keep only those services that have unique specialties, then trashing the rest!
Bahasa Indonesia Lesson For Today:
Lengkap: Complete
Contoh (example):
Ibu saya senang karena dapur saya sudah lengkap.
My mother is happy because my kitchen is already complete.
Take care! Oh crap, I forgot I used to have a Multiply Account! I have to log back on at home and trash that one too *cryyyy…. Lord All Mighty, Please Deliver me from the Evil that is “invite your friends to use this service”!
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet …
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet…
Anyone who reads this blog knows my passion is creating images (aka, photography). But what most readers do not know is VERY FEW people I know in real life, especially at work, know I am a photographer! Most see me as the shy, quiet techo-geek with a teddy bear body. This is great.
I mentioned in my last blog, I decided it was time to reveal to the world my current project. I met with some influential people to present my work. I dragged my 22in LCD HD display (because I hate how images look when presented by projectors) and 17in MacBook Pro to their meeting room, and like Clark Kent, I stripped off my mild-mannered persona, and became Superman. What is most interesting is the people were shocked this was my work. One of them said “it’s like discovering Clark Kent is really Superman!” because when I speak of my projects in detail, I cannot hide my passion of the subject, and I am uber-confident in my vision and goal (confident, not egotistic… there is a difference!).
*~ Now u see why I titled this post “Faster Than A Speeding Bullet…” hahaha ~*
The one hour interview ended up being more than 3 hours. I was so happy, because the individuals understood exactly what my goals and motivations were, and felt they can help the people and the topics of the project (poverty, education for poor children, and environmental issues). I also made it clear, while the government does need to make changes to address certain humanitarian issues, I did not want the government see as the bad guy, which they agreed. *~Hurray!~*
The audience was shocked both by the pictures (1. the high quality of them, 2. i got such deep information about the individuals–ex: I could say during the slideshow “This is Nelly, her father is ….”). They felt my deep sincere interest. And best of all, they saw that this is as much a cultural/anthropological academic study as it was a photographic study. Perfect!
At the end of the 3+hr meeting, I must say things went much better than I expected! I cannot go into specific deals (surprise hehehe) just yet, but I will give you an overview of where this project is going:
- Coverage of this project will be on a major talk show (Indonesians would be shocked, If I said what show: it’s that big) *Side note: I will be doing a documentary study on the talk show host, per that person’s request! wow!*
- Newspaper and magazine articles are being planned
- Internet photo galleries, with audio commentary will be created
- The first of several books will be a reality (and the book cover is ready)!
I am so excited, I’m not sure where to begin to explain it all. Let’s start by showing you the book cover, then I will explain the project, based on what you see.
The overall project is called “Fighting Desperation” and is a multiple-project project. What is a multiple-project project? Basically, I am working on a project that is made of several small projects. Each small project stands on its own as a solid, independent body of photographic work and research, but they each support my larger umbrella project, “Fighting Desperation.” Think of each small project as a stone block, and the umbrella project is the pyramid the blocks are used to build. If you are a Star Trek geek, think of the umbrella project as the starship Enterprise, and the smaller projects as the shuttle-crafts. :p
I should tell you, each small project is not worked one and completed sequentially (project #1, then #2, etc). This current project is actually project #3, not #1! Small project #1 is still ongoing. Small project #2 is completed (as it was a very small, but independent, project). I will return to small project #1 this weekend, and it will be even better than this current project (as I learned a lot of lessons from this project).
I picked the name, Fighting Desperation, as it has two meanings: 1. my projects are meant to fight various forms of desperation people are sadly enduring: poverty, economic instability, and and anguish suffered by women, children, and their families (these topics happen to coincide with some of the MDGs of Indonesia). 2. They are people who find themselves in desperate situations, which lead them to take desperate measures to fight for their existence, essentially the living, breathing models of fighting desperation.
When I first began this project, I thought of the people as scavengers. Certainly, they do use scavenging as a means to survive, but the longer I studied and spent time with the people, the more I came to appreciate, respect, and admire what they really are: survivors. So, in my book cover, I intentionally used strike-out for the word scavenger, and put survivor in red. I want people, before they even open the book, to know these are survivors!
Anyway, enough for now on this project. After the 3+hr interview, they wanted to see other forms of my work. I showed them slideshows of past projects. There were just speechless. I’m very happy; people will receive help because of my work!
Indonesian Lesson of Today
Yes, I’m trying to use more and more Bahasa Indonesia in my daily life: 1. meetings at work are painful sometimes, as people know very little English. 2. I find I like studying the language 3. I can interact more and more with people I encounter when conducting projects.
Yakin: sure, certain
Merasa: to feel
Tentang: about
Jawaban: answer, response
-nya: indicates possessive, (also specifies specific one to topic. like “the coat”, not “a coat”)
Contoh (example):
Yuli merasa yankin tentang jawabannya.
Yuli feels sure about her answer.
Similar words:
Seyakinnya: absolutely convinced
Meyakinkan: to convince someone
Keyakinan: conviction, belief
Take care!
It’s Coming! + Mail Call :)
It’s Coming!
I knowwwww, I did not post within two days of the last post. I am STILL writing the blog post (yes, this is not the one I wanted to post). The forthcoming post is so deep that I am forced to review and rethink some things (in positive ways). Trust me, it will be worth the wait.
For now, I will tell you what is happening, share some incredible news, and answer some emails (which I still get hundreds of each week: maybe I should create a forum).
I have been exploring some avenues for my current photographic project. I’ve made some amazing breakthroughs! I may be published in not one, but 4 publications, I may be interviewed by a well-known talk show host (I wont say any names, until it is confirmed). I may be able to get some of the impoverished children I’ve encountered some lasting support, and there may be a book!
Actually I have a horrible reporter to thank for all of this, as his actions made me feel I must give a more accurate accounting of some things. My friend, Yensi, told me to check the JakartaGlobe’s features section, as a reporter published a very short article about the very subject and location of my current project. But, he did not get formal permission to be there, and he only spent a few hours there one time. His information was so inaccurate I almost screamed (from laughing and from disgust). This was just another example of what my Ministry of Health acquaintance mentioned before: how foreigners ignore the government rules, and exploit the people for their own gain. Very sad. I took the time to get permission to do this, and to share my data, findings, and images with the government, and this reporter guy comes along and exploits the people! He only made it harder for sincere researchers to do work, as the government has yet another negative experience to cause them mental trauma. 
After I “googled” the reporter’s name, I found he published the same inaccurate article in other newspapers, with the same, singular misleading photo! *~kyaaa~*
All of this let me to take more action and move my timetable “up” a few months. Instead of waiting longer, I decided to proceed with bringing thing project into public view: thus the publications, the talk show appearance, the possible book, etc etc. And yes, gallery showings. I will tell you more next week
Mail Call:
Justin wrote: “Do you have gallery showings? If yes, where?”
I’ve only had one gallery showing since being in Indonesia, but you can count on another coming in the very near future. Actually, I’m planning for 3 showings, one month each, back to back in 3 different locations in Jakarta. I am still working out the details.
Kim wrote: “Your website does not allow purchases of the images. How can I buy one?”
Actually, some images are not for sale, such as the sex worker images. But when you select a photo on my website, it gives you the option to contact me. So far I’ve given away images, rather than sold them, when I see they will be used for the powers of good.
Kim (another Kim) wrote: “How are you and the stalker?”
Hahaha, funny you ask. I tried to work with the stalker on my current project, only to find out she was still telling people a bunch of bull. I made it clear I wanted co-worker relationship only (and others were witness to this) but it did not matter. Every time she and I work, it seems to be a 2.5 month time limit before she converts into craziness; at first, all is well, but as time progresses in that 2.5 months, she converts into a … not nice person. I won’t work with her again, ever.
It’s sad actually. When we “work” together, we are an *extremely* good team: we blend and mesh very well as we have the same goal: to help the people we are encountering. We know what the other is doing at the time we are doing our part; we even worked together to get the poor kids school supplies for their make-shift school. Working together has never been an issue, when we stay on-topic. It is the private-life items that ruins things every time, like where she tells people, in Indonesian language, we are married, then say they are lying when I learn what was said, or how she say my friends hack her email and cell phone to send me those hate emails/sms messages (ex: how all Muslims are going to hell, and they trying to take me with them, and she will kill them before she allows it, and God hates them all, and God told her it is her responsibility to keep me from their evil. God also told her I had a light blue sofa in my house, and a Hispanic babysitter (I’m not shi!tting you!): insane!).
At our last insane blow-up, 3 friends, the car’s driver, and I had to use a system to jump into the car, and lock all the doors, as she was insisting she wanted to go with us on the project (after I declined her because she cannot separate work and personal topics). I won’t go into more details of how we did it (it’s funny actually), but it ended in her breaking the car’s back-window and door with a brick! The driver got out and almost smacked her! People told him “don’t hit her, she’s just a woman.” (omg)
I had the choice of either giving the driver her address and phone number, so his co can sue her for $, or pay for the damages myself. She is a gov worker: committing a violent crime would certainly get her fired, and she would not be able to go to the USA for her PhD (UCLA, watch out!). I paid the damages (she does not even know they wanted her info, or that I paid the damages) so she would not be fired. I also paid the damages, so her chances of going to the far side of the planet Earth, far away from me, would not be ruined. I’m happy to say she is staying away (no calls or messages), and I certainly am too. Life is happy again.
Ivan wrote: “When shooting, how many images do you keep out of the bunch”
Hmmm, I have to say this will be in a future blog, but to give an base answer: maybe 1 out of 500. The future blog will explain why I am so “picky” about what images I keep.
ENOUGH. Take care, I have to work! And, I have to prepare for next week’s presentation :)
Updating The Updates
Hi all,
I’ll keep this post short and sweet, as I am working on a longer post that will be posted by Thursday (really! I promise!).
As I mentioned before, I redesigned my photography portfolio site, BeyondExposures.com, with a new logo! What do you think of it? I’m curious for opinions.
Today, I’ve uploaded color (yes, color!) images of The Mekong Delta and of Cambodia. The goals of these galleries are to give viewers a real-life view of these places beyond the typical cliche views you often will see. For example: you will see thousands of images of the temples of Angkor Wat, yet how many photos do you see of handmade rice noodles being processed? Ok, maybe some will say “we don’t care about rice noodles, Rod!” Well I do! So I shot it! 
Just click the photo to see the new galleries. I apologize in advance that the images are not as vibrantly colored as on my monitor (the color space for web pages is limited: on monitors, there are almost 2x the number of available colors). But, I think most will be happy with what they see. If want to see the “real” colors, let me know and I will send u a small file u can display on your monitor. *Ok, I’m rambling…I can feel it…*
I had a great Chinese New Year! I spent it with Christine’s wonderful family. I am still full from all the food, and I’m still working my way through all the cakes I brought home DD
*~Special Thanks, Again, Christine ~*
In addition to the yummy munchies Christine’s Mom (Momstine? hahaha), My friend from Singapore is here visiting her family for Chinese New Year, giving us a great opportunity to hang out as often as we can this week! So, I’m a happy Rodney at the moment. :):)
Ok, I’ve got to get back to work! I will post again within two days. Do take care!
Do The Ends Justify The Means?
I’m still post-processing gigabytes of images from my current project, as well as editing audio for the audio-enabled slideshow. Of course, all work and no play is no good for Rodney! Well, It is a labor of love, but still, I decided to take a one day break to see what has been going on in the photographic world.
Philosophical debates and situational ethics, relative to photography, are endlessly fascinating to me. I came across a few blogs pointing to a YouTube video about Bruce Gilden, a Magnum photographer. In the video, Gilden is interviewed while zigs and zags through the streets of New York (Gilden is famous for his NY street photography) and making images. Gilden talks of how he works, what he things, and so on. Check the video out before reading further:
Now, I am often quite opinionated about what I think and feel, even though I do not always express it verbally, but this time I must say (or write) “something.” I won’t comment on the quality of Gilden’s work (if you check his Magnum portfolio, some of his work quite brilliant). I won’t comment on his guts: the man has a serious set of brass (no, titanium alloy) balls, that’s for sure! It takes serious courage to do street photography in New York, much less in the way Gilden does it, with a beat-up Leica and off-camera flash suddenly jumping in front of you. I can certainly agree with Gilden about NY streets being dangerous. From my travels around the world, I can say Americans are some of the least open people for being photographed, and New York is even more tough than most places in the USA.
Did I tell you guys of the time I had my life threatened in New York’s Chinatown? That’ll be a future post: “Narrow Escapes!”
I am sure there is no one, perfect, way to get candid images, but certainly using surprise ambush tactics is not the way to go! He does not show any sort of caring, compassion or empathy for the people he photographs. Calling the people “characters” dehumanizes them! He holds certain paradigms about the people he encounters, and does not care what others think (“I don’t care about the question”). And saying “…I have no ethics…” certainly says volumes about how he sees life, and how he sees himself.
Gilden’s 4 minute video gave me the deep impression he is purely selfish in his motivations. Sure, when we work on self-assigned projects, a certain amount of selfishness is involved; we pick topics that are fascinating to us, or we pick subject matter that we feel can be used for stock, or we may even try to shoot photos we feel clients will one day want to use. For me, I am the former (I pick because the topic or subject matter is fascinating to me: I have no clients and I currently do not sell photos). But for most, that selfishness for self-assigned work does not mean proceeding in a way where we devalue people! He treated those individuals like a bowl of fruit being ambushed. Yet, in the end, a lot of his photos (not shown in that video) are truly amazing. Do the ends justify the means????
Street photographers have to have a certain level of confidence (or have the will to push through their fear) when they want to photograph people. Gilden has elephant size balls when it comes to street photography (I envy him in some ways for his confidence). But, when is too much simply too much? I am curious what others do to get images. For me, I tend to take a slower, more gentle approach. I am a overweight (ok, VERY FATTTT), kinda-tall, black guy in Asia. I cannot hide even if I want. I get constant stares as if I am a Sumo Wrestler/Barak Obama hybrid with an American accent. Add to this I use wide-angle lenses, means I have to be pretty close to people. I do not speak the language here in Indonesia, or other places in Asia I make images.
I use all of these unique, Rodney-physical traits as ice breakers: I use smiles, and slow movement when taking pictures. Kids see me as a teddy bear, and I always have fun with them, which in turn makes adults more open too. It is quite rare I ask permission before shooting, especially here in Indonesia (why? I have found even when a person wants to be photographed, fixing their hair, and striking a pose, if you gesture or ask permission, they will shyly say “no”, but if you do it, they are happy, or maintain the exact same expression and pose, or they smile after. I always say thank you (even if they do not know English) or wave, and sometimes try to show them the image in the camera’s LCD, when it is convenient.
Never have I had an issue (so far: keeping fingers crossed) because I treated someone rudely. When I see a person does not want to be photographed, I smile and keep moving (but very slowly, as I do not want to give the impression I am only there for a photo). When I leave with no photo, maybe I am still within a few meters of the person, even after being declined. I want to be part of the moment, not merely passing the moments, and I want that decliner to see that too (maybe it will make the next photographer have better success, if the decliner sees “oh, maybe they actually care, not just want ‘a shot’”).
After watching the video a few times, I have to say Gilden is right: the streat is not owned by any individual, and anyone in public is technically (TECHNICALLY) fair-game to be photographed. Fine, you “can” shoot anyone in public, but does not mean you should do so? He even had the nerve to tell some guy “how to act” in his “candid” photo! I thought a candid image is an image of the person being himself, undirected and undisturbed by the photographer? How candid can an image be when the unwilling person is told “keep walking!” then complain the person was smiling???
Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t has his ass kicked! Genius or not, the guy comes across as a total jerk who does not care about anyone or anything beyond getting the photo he wants.
Ok Ok. It’s just a 4 minute video. I am sure there must be more to him than what we saw, but I have a feeling there is not much more. There is another one or two videos on YouTube of him, so I’ll check those out as well. He reminds me of a character who could have been in “Grumpy Old Men.”
I ask everyone: Yes, he has some amazing work as a result from his methods, but does the ends justify the means?