Self-portrait, Arlington, Massachusetts, Dec. 2018
This woman near Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, smiled when she saw me and my Ethiopian son, Semeredin. Looking at her eyes, I felt somewhat unworthy to capture the hardships she earned in her lifetime.
This elderly weaver was sitting by the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Abay). about 30 kilometers downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. Her weaves were colorful to be sure, but I thought the black and white treatment os her weathered visage was, in its own, way, more colorful.
Horace was originally from Louisiana and found himself in San Francisco for the past 20 years. Soft spoken but affable, he wears most of his opinions around his neck or pinned to his lapel. He's worked as a janitor most of his life. Now, he says, he's "just sittin."
Greetings from Zanzibar. I had the great pleasure of spending some time with the people of Zanzibar (Unguja) in 2018, while working with D-tree International. I went out early Friday morning and planted myself along one of the winding paths of Stone Town, hoping for an interesting photo op. Before long, I spotted this young lady just coming back from the market with a live rooster. "What have you got there?" I asked. She laughed and then soothingly stroked the hackles on the bird's neck. "Dinner."
I first saw this fellow at Ho'okipa Beach, the world's top wind-surfing location, reading music and softly singing Hawaiian songs to himself. Kelley noticed him, too, and suggested I take his photo because he had such an interesting face. I’m glad I did. Turns out he’s Ilima Kalama, 1962 West Coast Surfing Champion. Born in O'ahu (Pua 'ilima is the official flower of the island), Ilima’s family moved to Southern California when he was a teenager. At the age of 19, he won the surfing championship at Huntington Beach. (Later on he joined the ski patrol in Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada.) “The ocean gives me energy,” he told me. “The water is medicine.” He's 76 years old, and his only regret is that he can't play the ukulele as well as he used to because of stiffness in his hands. Otherwise, he says he thanks God for the gift of living so close to nature. Read more about Ilima here: http://bodasurf.blogspot.com/2012/10/ilima-kalama.html
