Is a port town about 2 hours east of Santiago. A lot of people told me that it was really nice here, I think I still believe those people despite my personal experience. Let’s weigh it out.

Cons:
Its been cold. Its been grey. Its been rainy. We got robbed.

Pros:
The food has been pretty good. We met some nice people who helped us fumble through our bad Spanish. Our hostel is cheap and familial.

Hmm. I think if I had visited Valparaiso in the summertime my opinion would be completely different. In the cold gray weather the colorful houses and bright graffiti murals seem to clash with the grey sky and the cool air. I can imagine this place being a little tropical paradise when the sun is shining but for now I just kind of wanna curl up in my hostel bed.

Whine whine. We’re jumping on a bus tonight and taking a 27 hour ride north to San Pedro de Atacama where cooler climates and more appropriate vistas are supposed to prevail. We’ll see.

For now here are some boring pictures I took of the town today:

I walked a lot yesterday. Up hills, through, alleys, through parks, through a spice market and a mosque. I saw a shop that sold deer antlers with giant knives imbedded in the end, I saw dead fish, I ate baklava, I drank orange juice, I saw too many hardware stores and not enough grit, I got lost and then found again, I almost fell asleep on the ferry, I worried about thunder and rain and gear damage, I battled to stay awake during class, I talked shit, I hung out, I drank beer and today… I’ll probably do it all over again.

This guy is fixing a pipe… less than a foot from where my head goes when I sleep. He starts very, very early in the morning.

Photos from a little walk I took to explore my neighborhood.

Today was the first day of Fashion Week in Delhi. It got off to a normal start, well normal for India I suppose. There was massive line (and I use the term line loosely) for credentials, the set up of the venue was pretty rough and the first show didn’t get going until an hour and a half after the scheduled start time.

The clothing was pretty wild as you can see. Massive plasticy headdresses, weird day glo colors and giant futuristic looking shoes. The lights went on and we started shooting but soon the problems would start.

Apparently the venue didn’t get the proper certifications for fire safety. A squad of police and fire officials put a hold on the event before anyone got on the runway and everyone was told to wait.

The models changed out of their outfits and everyone went to the lounge to hang out. A couple hours passed and no one had heard any news. We ate lunch. A couple more hours passed and people started wondering what was going on.

Models and media sipped beers and waited. Eventually after a new sprinkler system was installed a rumor circulated that the last three shows of the day would be presented with the rest being cancelled.

The hairdressers and make-up artists went at the models like a well trained NASCAR pit crew…

But alas the rumor was just that and in the end the fire safety officials would win this battle. The day was cancelled and after six and a half hours of waiting around everyone was told they could go home.

After a great two day stop over in New York I’m here again in India. It’s hot, sticky, overwhelming and wonderful just the way I remember it.

Over the next two weeks I have a pretty much nonstop work schedule. Tomorrow I start shooting Fashion Week for Harper’s Bazaar and right after that ends I fly down to Mumbai to shoot a couple assignments for CNNGo.

As long as jet lag doesn’t kill me it should be a really fun couple of weeks. It’s nice to hit the ground running, I just hope I can manage to keep up with myself.

Here’s a look at what I did on my last couple of days in the States:

Hung out on the roof of my friend’s awesome apartment in Greenpoint…

Listened to some impromptu ukelele picking from my friend Ian while the sun went down over Brooklyn…

Saw greenery beginning to show up on trees that were bare and frozen just a couple months ago…

Witnessed an incredible performance art exhibit by Marina Abramović at The MoMa…

Ate some real old school Brooklyn pizza at Sam’s…

And did a little currency trading in the subway.

I’ve been trying my best to grind out the arduous process of battling with Flash to update my website and make it look sexier.

I’ve been spending about eight hours a day editing, ordering, processing and reformatting imagery for the great Interweb. It makes me feel productive but it also sort of drains my soul and my eyes staring at this screen for so long.

Anyway the other day I was at the end of a long session and I decided I’d had enough and got on the ol’ Raleigh and went for a ride. Here are a few images.

I saw this guy walking around a drainage ditch. When I got close he flew off. I followed and caught him on the roof of an old hotel with the sun hitting him just right. I pointed my lens, got my exposure and started making lots of noise to get him to fly. He took off and I pushed the shutter. Luck and a little cheating.

This is a picture of a car wash that also happens to be a liquor store. It’s kind of a strange combination but kind of useful too I guess.

I went inside to see what their selection was like and ended up being really surprised. They had a big kitschy beer cave filled with neat stuff. I picked up a four pack of Oskar Blues Gordon Ale. I think it’s my new favorite beer. So delicious. Try it if you can.

I think it’s about time I grab a can right now in fact. So I’ll leave you with these. Look for that website update soon. It’s going to be at least 7.5% more sexy guaranteed.

An assistant to a local artist cleans the glass that covers a painting of the goddess Durga. The painting is on display on the City Palace road in Udaipur as part of the ten day durga puja festival.

Below is a little series I made of a recent trip I took to Bombay to say goodbye to a close friend. For the best experience view it in full screen, click options uncheck the embiggen box and select the slow speed…

And for all of those who care about this kind of thing I shot these photographs with an old 50mm Olympus Zuiko lens that I adapted to my 5D Mark II. I like the vintagey look that the colors take on.

Hope you enjoy it.

A few weeks back I took one of the most incredible road trips of my life, a 20 hour van ride through the mountainous deserts of the Himalayas to get to the town of Leh.

I saw incredibly dramatic scenery as we careened down winding mountain roads and across desert plains in our little Force Traveler van. The landscape changes so much. At times it reminded me of the mountains I saw when I backpacked through Denali national park in Alaska and then I would fall asleep and wake up in a place that looked like the surface of the moon. There was just no telling what would come next.

It’s hard to believe that drivers take this trip daily. A good portion of it is unpaved and the at one point the road climbs to a crushing 17,582 feet as you cross the second highest motorable pass in the world at Taglangla.

I plan on putting together a slideshow presentation covering the trip in the few days. For now here are a some stills.