wild & free

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if one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams,and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. [henry david thoreau] a new favorite photo. :-)

i hope i never forget to live deliberately -- wild and free...

and i couldn't help but fall in love with these words of henry david thoreau...

...be yourself -- not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be.

i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if i could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when i came to die, discover that i had not lived. i did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did i wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. i wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.

rideTZ | day ten

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the final day of RIDETZ 2012  -- a short five hour day that brought us to the mkoma bay beach in pangani (pangani was where slaves and ivory were shipped out on the swahili dhows to the wider world). the riders biked about 400 miles, from kilimanjaro to the indian ocean, in 10 days.  pretty damn awesome!

there were plenty of dogs roaming around TZ.  seeing a dog on a leash was very rare.

on a few occasions, we put the landcruiser top up and i shot through the roof.  and i had plenty of bruises to show for it, as i bounced around while driving on the bumpy dirt roads.

traveling through paved streets in the city.

and more chapatis, soup and tea.

this guy followed the bikers for the longest time, proudly cheering as he rode past all the village spectators.

we saw quite a few children riding bikes, but never on a child-sized bike.  most of the time, they could barely reach the pedals.

barry with the crew, who worked so hard setting up our camp day after day.

making it up the last big hill before riding into the resort at mkoma bay beach.

and finally...THEY MADE IT!!

a dhow sailing by, viewed from the patio of mkomo bay tented lodge, where we stayed.

i can never thank the foundation for tomorrow enough, for giving me this most-amazing and life-changing opportunity!!! so can't wait until RIDETZ 2014. one way or another, i will be there!

 

rideTZ | day nine

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day nine took us to the village of manyoni. we passed through lots of villages this day -- some we stopped at, others we just drove though. and to be completely honest, i was pretty ready to be done taking photos of bicycles by this point. but i kept shooting bicycles. :-) nothing like seeing an intanet' hotel as we depart mashewa.

another village that welcomed us to eat chapatis and drink tea. i don't really even like tea, but their tea was awesome. and things that are served hot in TZ are served really hot, which i love.  i have a thing about my hot stuff being really hot and my cold stuff really cold.

the women in the building thought i was pretty darn funny. the chapatis were actually cooked in that side little room.

and off we went.

AEIOU. at our lunch stop.

i loved all the footprints all over the front of this house.

you don't see all that many brick homes in TZ.

my driver, hamisi, waiting with some of the local villagers.

looking down from a bridge. washing clothes.

right after this shot, these two boys ran and hid.

crossing the bridge, where i took the two photos above from.

there were so many children around our campsite. i loved how they welcomed the riders.

mike played with the kids for hours. they loved him.

and kaitlin and marc taught the kids the macarena.

it was such a joy watching the kids have fun and play together -- kids just being kids!

they loved the beach balls we gave them.

and as we headed into camp, they crawled up as close as they were allowed and just watched and waited.

rideTZ | day eight

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day eight was an exciting, bit scary, interesting, picturesque, educational, fun-filled day -- taking us from mkuzu creek to mashewa via some uphill and lots of downhill riding. WARNING:  if you are an animal lover or your children are around your computer, you might not want to proceed past the goat photo below.

leaving mkuzu creek resort, it was cloudy and drizzling, but so beautiful.

a break at one of the villages.

the boys were so interested in the changing of the flat tire.

i learned that a hotel in TZ is not the same as a hotel in america.

so often, the children carry the babies.

barry celebrated his 50th.

i think i'm going to hang this in the entryway of my house.

 

we had lunch at this village. and this group of kids stayed very shy and stand offish the entire time.

this amazing group of children sang to us, for quite a while. i took some video, which i'm hoping to share later (still need to download it off another drive). i can't even begin to describe how beautiful their voices were.

playing with one of the balls we left them, as we departed.

poor simon!! a cow, crossing the path, ran right into simon, knocking him hard to the ground. thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured, but he did hit his head and the doc watched him closely.  he ended up riding in the truck with me for the following two days.

heading into mashewa.

barry's first surprise.

we headed into the nearby village of mashewa to shop for food, to accompany our main dish.

marc stopped to play football with the kids for a bit.

maji is water, which this village obtained in 1972.

in TZ, they burn their garbage pretty much anywhere.

 

three of the riders decided to get their heads shaved.

 

THE goat!

the goat, which ended up being our dinner. he was killed by the village elder / councilman (isa).  it was super quick and humane -- as humane as killing a goat can get.

and last but not least, barry's 50h birthday celebration. he had no idea this was coming and it was such a wonderful surprise.  once i knew the cake was coming, i told the group that i wanted to see if i could take some photos in the dark with some of their head lamps on. :-) i can't imagine a more incredible way to celebrate a 50th birthday!

 

rideTZ | day seven

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day seven began with a visit to an incredible orphanage, irente children's home, which is run by simon's grandmother, sister enna (simon is the 16-year-old TFFT student, who was selected to ride this year).  irente children's home is not only a most-beautiful, loving orphanage, it also manages an incredible training program for young women, who are interested in becoming matrons of orphanages. the orphanage was followed by a visit to simon's grandfather's house. simon's grandfather was a tanzania hospital administrator for over 30 years.  he's now almost blind and sadly, battling cancer. before we left, simon's grandfather gave such a moving speech about the gift that TFFT has given to his grandson.

the riders experienced lots of ups and downs this day, as they cycled through the heart of the mountain -- ending the day's ride at mkuzu creek resort.

sister enna not only provided us with a tour of her orphanage, she also served us a delicious mid-morning snack (samosas, popcorn, banana, water and tea).

we then proceeded on to visit simon's grandfather's house, where we had lunch.

the guys preparing our lunch.

most of the rest of the ride was beautiful, lush and green -- down the mountain.

 

our campsite at mkuzu creek resort.

 

 

rideTZ | day four

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day four took us to mporomoko. along the way, the riders experienced LOTS of dirt and sand, huge dust storms and some awesome clouds. it was a short-ish ride, arriving into camp a few hours earlier than the previous days. but it was also a day that seemed to go on forever. this was leaving camp. i learned that it's very normal in TZ culture for men to hold hands. and of course, i loved the mcdonald's jacket too.

the dirty legs of denise (my tent mate), who also happens to be 57 and kicked some serious ass on the ride.

lots of stretching.

and a little dancing. loved our guides so much.

the dreaded sand. sometimes the sand was just too tough to bike through and some of the riders would have to walk.

one of my favorite bike images form the trip.

one of my favorite people images. they stayed and watched us for a bit and then moved on.

later, we caught back up with them. the wind was crazy.

making wind shields with one another -- or something like that.

decided to try it with five people.

which led to this spill.

followed by this one.

waiting for the cows to pass.

locals' shoes (made from old tires) along side one of the guide's tennis shoe.  wish i had brought a couple pairs of the tire shoes home.  next time. ;-)

ETA:  a bit about shooting in tanzania.  obviously, whenever we stopped (break or lunch spot), i was able to shoot like i always shoot. when the riders were riding, shooting was a bit more challenging. sometimes, we would drive ahead. find a place that looked interesting to shoot the riders and then we would sit and wait for the riders to ride by.  much of the time, i was hanging out of the truck window, shooting while we were driving down these crazy, bumpy dirt roads. and a couple times, towards the end of the ride, we raised the roof and i was able to shoot from rooftop.

san francisco casting call

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we’re looking for a couple families to be photographed at our wallflower friends retreat -- the afternoon of saturday, april 28th.

casting call details: - will receive complimentary photo session - will take place at half moon bay, CA (exact location TBD) - families will be photographed by either myself or leah - must be willing to sign a model release - will be geared towards demonstrating client shooting to workshop participants - participating familes will receive approximately 20-30 5x7 prints (with the opportunity to order discounted enlargements)

if interested, please email us a recent photograph of your family -- be sure to include the ages of your child(ren) and the date the photo was taken.

some photos from our past wallflower friends retreats...

to see more photos from our past retreats, be sure to check out leah's photos too.

may we never stop

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we don't stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing. [michael prichard]

i think there is nothing better than a great laugh.  and to be honest, i wish i had a better sense of humor, was funnier and laughed more than i do.  don't ever ask me to tell a joke because it would be rather painful.  maybe that's why i'm so drawn to capturing a true, honest great laugh so much -- which is often a tough thing to do for someone who is not funny.

inevitably, we WILL grow old, but may we never stop laughing as we do...