Destination Destin

It’s more than a little surreal to jump in less than a week from a destitute place like Haiti to photographing a wedding in a resort town like Destin, Florida. The wealth disparity between the two realities has nagged us every day this week. But we are reminded, too, that both these worlds have virtues and vices.

We had a super time photographing Jami and Taylor’s wedding. It was a great example of how a simple wedding can come off as quite classy. The whole ordeal was a reflection of their personality as individuals and as a couple: laid back, warm, welcoming – the kind of folks you feel like you’ve known forever.

And I must admit I really enjoyed the helicopter flyovers during the ceremony, even if they were unintentional.

Being in the Destin area (and in particular, Seaside, where The Truman Show was filmed) has been good practice for Erika and me to learn contentment no matter where we find ourselves. In Haiti, we were quite happy to trek around the countryside in the back of rickety trucks, covered by omnipresent dusty grime. In Destin, we had to work through our feelings about the guilty pleasure of driving around in a convertible – ours only because of a glitch at the car rental counter. OK, we did not feel that bad about it…

It’s made me reflect about our little business and how we dream that it can be used to make a difference. We work with great clients in the States to serve them and, hopefully, make their lives a little (or a lot) better than they were before. In turn, our clients partner with us, in a way, as we travel to Haiti and other needy parts of the world to make lives better by what we capture and share in our photographs.

Jami and Taylor, congratulations and best wishes. May these images remind you of joy in the good and the difficult times. And thank you for allowing us to be a part of your day. Know that your decision will play a part in bringing joy to others in far-away lands you may never see but you have already helped.



Jami and Taylor – Destin, Florida

Note: I’m quite a bit behind on blogging about this year’s weddings, and I’m doing my best to catch up. There are some great weddings we shot this year that haven’t appeared here yet, but they’re coming soon! So stay tuned if yours is missing.

Home Again, Briefly

As I write this, we’re on a plane somewhere over Florida, flying toward Kentucky, remembering how cold airplanes are in relation to Haiti’s smothering heat and humidity. Couldn’t seem to find time to post anything until just now.

The past few days have been something of a blur, clouded by our lack of sleep. My return to the Far West region of Haiti was a bit easier than the first – amenities like concrete stalls in which to take bucket baths were a nice touch.

It didn’t work out too well with the goat families, because Haitians and goats are apparently a particularly difficult combination to photograph compellingly (goats are terrified of cameras, and so are some Haitians, so put them together…). But I did pass the rest of the day shooting portraits of some folks I met. I took an American missionary (Curtis Rogers, a great guy and a good friend) and went walking through town in search of interesting faces. Almost immediately we stumbled upon a Haitian cowboy who had ridden nearly 30 miles to come to market. He gladly let us photograph him, which was the find of the day for me.

I spent another day wandering the rural dirt paths of Beau Champ, visiting families there with a pastor and an American nurse.

Two of these house calls impressed me most: The first, seeing a man who most likely has TB and has been ill at home for days, unable to work. Haiti’s Northwest Zone has among the rates of TB and AIDS in Haiti, according to a doctor from Port-au-Prince we met at an airstrip near the mission. I can’t back that up with hard data at the moment, but I would believe it. Unfortunately for TB patients in extremely rural areas, treatment is hard to come by – a government-run clinic is just a short walk from the man’s house, but has almost no medicine on its shelves and certainly does not stock antiretroviral drugs.

The other visit was with a woman named Masala, an elderly paralytic who has not left her home for years. She sleeps next to a bedpan on a tattered mattress, in the still, hot air of a Haitian country house. The pastor prayed with her. A day later, he bought her a wheel barrel that her family could use to push her around town. On Sunday, they pushed her to church. When the service was over, she laughed loudly and said she did not want to leave.

Erika stayed behind at the mission, helping interpret for a Cuban doctor who works at the mission clinic but speaks little English. She got to know a number of the American staff quite well. She shot portraits of the Haitian nurses who work at the clinic, and helped an American nurse who just moved to Haiti create a blog and get settled in. As a bonus, she helped teach an English class one afternoon to Haitian teens. All in all, she kept herself pretty busy, just as I knew she would. :) She shot photos of activities that a number of the American groups were conducting.

If it is not obvious, she had her hands in a lot more activities than I did. I’m so proud of the way she thrived during our time in Haiti and am so grateful for her super help.

In the end, I felt like it was one of my more productive trips to Haiti and we came away with a lot of decent images that will be put ot great use. Though I’ve only posted a few here, they’ll show up in various places in coming months.

We’ll be home for two days of enjoying our own bed, then we fly back to Florida to shoot a beach wedding and take a few days of long-overdue down time. Looking forward to it.







Photos: The Haitian cowboy; a nurse examining the daughter of the potential TB patient; Masala, the paralytic who now cruises around town in a new wheel barrel.

Medicine, Haiti Style

Above: A few more portraits from yesterday, some clinic shots, and a baby photo, for good measure.

I'm heading back out west in a few minutes, just waiting for a truck to finish some repairs. Erika will be staying here at the mission to help interpret for some Spanish-speaking medical staff here (I'm sure she'll post more on that later). I'll be spending some time with a Haitian family that raises goats gifted to them by the mission and will be shooting more portraits at a market out there. At least that's the plan, which almost always changes in Haiti...

We spent most of yesterday shooting at the mission clinic here in St. Louis. I watched some pretty graphic treatments (at least, graphic for what my stomach can handle). Third-world health care is legendary just about anywhere, and Haiti is no different. Even at a mission where above-par care is available, procedures that would seem simple in the States are anything but.

We also spent a bit more of the day in the baby orphanage, just to round out our images.

A humorous side note: Some things in life can happen to anyone, anywhere -- they are almost universal to the human experience. It just so happens that I was in Haiti yesterday when a baby decided to soil itself all over me. It was funny because I don't often pick up the babies as I usually have cameras in my hands, so it happened one of the few times I did pick one up.

That's about all the time I've got, so Erika will post more a bit later. I'll be back at the mission on Friday night.

Dehydration Bliss

Sorry it’s been a few days since our last post – as mentioned, we were in an extremely rural area with no Internet, or electricity, or clean water, or shade.

Salines Mayette, where the mission is building a new orphanage, is roughly 30 miles west of St. Louis du Nord but sits in the rain shadow of some of Haiti’s rugged mountains and receives scant rain. We camped there two nights in a field ridden with goat droppings. When camping there, one would shoot…well, what would one shoot? Not a lot, but it made for a nice camping trip. The mission’s director participated in a ground-breaking ceremony for a new church being built there, and I was just along for the ride.

The heat and intense sun took have taken their toll on a number of American visitors to the spot. It’s easy to get dehydrated there – I drank nearly two gallons of water one day and could have easily taken more.

For lunch today on the way back, we swung through a small town, Beau Champ, where I made a few contacts that hopefully will help a lot when we return there to shoot later this week. Erika was having slight stomach pains this morning, but they eventually went away with some rest and she’s doing well now.

We hired a driver to bring us back in a tap tap – a two-hour, excruciatingly bumpy ride. We were both covered completely in dust so thick you could blow it off into a cloud. Jumped right into the shower when we returned to the mission campus.

Tomorrow we’ll stick around the mission to shoot some medical photos and work on a few more portraits. On Wednesday, we’ll head back out to Beau Champ for a few days to catch a busy market there and hopefully spend a morning with a family raising goats the mission gave them.





Above: A couple of shots from the past couple of days – a Haitian youth in Salines Mayette and the bright stars there, as seen over a church.

Happy July 4th

If you are following Andy’s blog, then you’ve seen that we arrived, settled and are beginning our work.

The day began slowly, as they have so far. If I learn nothing else in Haiti, I learn to experience waiting. Nothing happens quickly here, so you have to learn the art of presence. There is a beauty in simply being, thinking, praying, the quiet. Of course, I’m sure the tropical paradise surroundings help that experience. ☺

An hour later we had bumped over the road from St. Louis du Nord to Port au Paix, where the orphanage is located. Our ride was the mission tap tap – wooden benches on the back of a truck – Berlin, one the orphans riding back with us, sat at my side. She has been with us at the mission the last few days, visiting with Anita, her sponsor. She is 11, leggy like any growing preteen, and grins up at you as she cocks her head. She patiently corrected my vocabulary questions as we rode along. I guessed at the word for ocean as we drove by. “La mer,” she corrected me and giggled, her hand on my arm. Haitians like to touch. When they talk, they often are touching someone, like the sound of their voice is not enough connection. It is a good feeling, of community and simple closeness.

PDA is very taboo here though. This afternoon, the Haitian campus administrator, Magdala, was talking with her husband in the courtyard. The mission wraps around its central courtyard, where trucks and vehicles are parked. Suddenly, the group of women seated in the clinic waiting room overlooking that area started hooting and cackling loudly. Magdala blushed and walked away from her husband. Another American and I were confused, but it was explained that her husband had touched her hair – yes, that was enough to call down a shower of cat-calls from spying eyes! Lots of waiting means everyone watches everything and everyone here.

At the Orphanage I took their photos to send to their sponsors. Orphanage life carries a strong pecking order, fascinating to observe. They would jostle and volley to have their picture next, or to see one more picture. I worked on the “souple” (please) and they responded, asking more politely and waiting more quietly. After each child I would offer to show their photos and ask if they liked them. My heart ached knowing they would never tell me no. The chance to shower praise on each child – “Se bel! Twa bel sourit!” (You look pretty! What a pretty smile!) – that was precious for me. How I wished my words could go further.

Today was my baby fix…although it left me wanting more, I must admit. First, Andy sent me to the “baby orphanage” to document. Checking temperatures, rocking, napping, playing with bubbles – nothing earth shattering, but still beautiful. They ranged from infant to young toddler in a large room filled with cribs and toys on tile floor. The building is on the roof of another, so lovely breezes drifted through and the view is banana trees and the mountains.

I would crouch watching them, and little hands would grasp at my camera. “¿Eske ou vle we foto?” I’d ask in broken Creole (Do you want to see the photo?). The LCD screen on my camera fascinated them. I returned later in the evening to bring Madeline, a tiny baby, back to the room after she spit up all over us both. After delivering the messy child, my hands were grasped and I was directed over to the rocking chairs. “E-I-E-I-O” they repeated as I sang them Old McDonald Had a Farm. I doubt they even recognized my meows and barks – onomatopeia doesn’t often translate, oddly enough.

Tomorrow we drive out west, to Salines-Mayette, in the middle of NOWHERE. We’ll be camping for a night or two on the land where they’re preparing to build the new orphanage. No running water, no electricity, little shade, lots of heat and bugs, and a long, bumpy ride up and down Haitian mountains to get there. It will be unforgettable, no doubt. Oh, and no internet, in case you were wondering, so we may not post for the next few days, but no worries.

Well, no fireworks today, but a little lightning and rain to round out the evening. Happy 4th. – Erika







Above: a snapshot from the taptap ride; a quick portrait of Berlin; one of my favorite moments in the baby orphanage.

Back in Haiti, Again

Erika and I made it safely to Haiti on Tuesday after a rather long but uneventful couple of travel days. A year ago I would have counted having my camera gear nearly kidnapped for a day by a second-rate Haitian airline as a noteworthy event, but that is just a footnote in this place.

We were pleasantly surprised, however, when we opened the Delta Sky magazine during one of our flights and found some photos I shot for a restaurant client. You never know when you’ll see your work pop up.

This makes my third trip to Haiti, and Erika’s first. It’s such a great thing to come here and engage in meaningful work for a client I really believe in.

We spent most of the day yesterday resting – for some reason the travel here always wipes me out. Today we began working on a series of portraits documenting the varied host of folks who come through the mission’s gates every day.

I’ve posted just a few here. I like the high-key approach for these. It has always seemed to me that these people are even more engaging and powerful when removed from their surroundings of poverty and despair, which sometimes can minimize and dehumanize the masses who live in countries like Haiti. Our interpreter helped us record interviews with each person before we photographed them.

Tomorrow we’re heading over to one of the mission’s nearby orphanages to look around and see what there is to shoot. Erika will be helping the orphanage director update her file photos of some of the children for their sponsors.

It’s hot here, as always. And humid like a damp blanket. But oddly enough it has not bothered me much this time around. I suppose that could change tomorrow…

Erika is doing great here. She jumped in head-first with a thirst for learning Creole, and in 48 hours has already built a fledgling vocabulary that impresses even a few of the Haitians. Wish I could say the same, but Erika excuses me, saying I’ve got other things on my mind.

This time around the mission put us up in a great little room which happens to be connected to a back-up power system, so we are some of the few lucky ones in all of rural Haiti to have fans that run all night. Life has little perks, to be sure.