My Istanbul Window

I came to love this window in Istanbul …claimed it, in my casual colonial way, as my Istanbul window. I have photographed it often over the years, measuring my progress as a photographer, seeing the instinctive capture become a knowledge-based action. Still instinct-driven but enhanced by a growing ease with the technical realities of each …


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The 860 Turns Of Mexico’s Highway 120

There are 860 hairpin turns on Mexico’s Highway 120 which snakes through the Sierra Gorda Mountains in the Northern Central Highlands. Looking down at the valleys while the bus driver navigated 180 degree turns with skill I couldn’t help but wonder what little a guardrail would do (where there were some) to stop a mammoth …


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Name Calling

‘When you talk to them about the mooring fees, I wouldn’t mention the fact that you’re changing her name’ said Nick, my sailing mentor and the friend whose house I was redo-ing in exchange for him buying me a boat, ‘they’re an odd bunch, sailors’. But we knew this, right? I mean, in my 5 …


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Chicken of the Seafood

The first time we went back to visit my sweetie’s family on O`ahu (I had already met them on one of their visits to Seattle), we flew into Honolulu, picked up a rental car, and drove across the Ko`olau range to their home on the Windward Side. I was immediately invited to sit with her …


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There’s Only One First Trip to Paris

When I say it’s a very big deal to come to Paris, I don’t say it because I’m an idiot, I say it because where I come from people stay in their places. And this can’t be understood, perhaps, unless you grew up in exactly the same way, in a town of 8,000 people and …


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Guest Post: Hiking Weather

The low turnout at the bus stop should have been the final clue. Just three men stood there, clad in hiking gear and holding umbrellas. But our American optimism was unshakable, and we were well-prepared in any case, wearing ponchos and Gore-tex boots. We looked up at the sopping clouds. “They’ll blow over,” I said. …


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