Selling Tiaras

Need I say more? Rangoon, Myanmar, 2004

Where in the World?

Is this. Read some of my posts below and you'll figure it out.

Basilica in Quito Splits Earth in Half

The equator lies on an east-west line, splitting the Basilica in Quito.

The Basilica in Quito contains treasures that can't be missed when you visit there.

First, the climb up is treacherous--steep stairs that soar to the sky--not to mention frightening, but well worth it. The views are incredible and there's a special treat.

You get to see the world sliced in half.

The shot above is looking east so that on the right side of the photo is the Southern hemisphere and on the lefts side is the northern hemisphere.

For more about the climb, check out his blog entry.

Man Shadows

Shanghai, China 2005

Song of the Carp

Hellow, my name is Cyprinidae. I live in a fresh water pond in Tokyo. I'm a city fish. I like to eat stuff that's at the bottom of my pond. If you ate me, I'd taste muddy, cause I live in muddy water (according to Wikipedia).

Oh, and generally, even though I have a big mouth, I don't bite (humans that is).

Painting Jesus

One good thing about candid photography is that sometimes you catch the darndest things.

I walked into a gift shop at the La Basílica, a grand church in Quito, to buy some batteries and found a man painting in the back.

Candidly, I asked him if I could photograph him painting. He more than obliged.

I showed him the photo on the LCD screen of my camera afterward, and he was amazed that I could get that good a photo with such poor lighting.

I thank Canon for that, as shooting with their cameras at 1600 ISO is like capturing a duck in the dark.

No duck here, just a guy painting Jesus.

New World Spansh Inquisition

The Inquisition museum in Cartagena, Columbia shows some of the brutality that took place there in the Middle Ages. Roman Catholics wanted to preserve the Church doctrine, which required that all people who didn't follow it were tortured and killed.

In the early 16th century the kings of Portugal and Spain ordered the murder of all Jewish people and others who did not convert, including many of the native people of the region.

Even those Jews who did convert (called conversos) were tortured with devices such as the one illustrated above.