For the last few days I have been reading Ryszard Kapuscinski's 'Travels with Herodotus' which have kept me from the computer. I scanned some 160+ frames of 35mm film in between that time. I started to edit them this evening but the process will take some time.
The book is a great journey though history and first person encounters with different cultures before the full blow globalization changed all that. There is a sense of understanding the changes about places like India and China and how some elements are deep rooted in the diversity of culture.
On my last trip to Poland I picked up a book which includes various brief interviews of some of Poland's best known photographers. The first one is Mr. Kapuscinski and my main motivation of buying the book. To be honest I have yet to go though the book at length and oddly I stated the book in english before reading his interview in Polish. But I wanted to read his true work. Photography was of second importance in his travels. And with that I read so far I see how talented he really was in his writing.
All this of course is related to photography. In few days I will drive out to Canada. I really like Canada for some reason. Actually its more specific then that. People and the climate have a very familiar European feel and the weather reminds me of Poland. A quick fix via a 5 hour drive. I'll be driving out to Quebec City which is about 3 hours drive further then my last two trips. Of course this will include a camera and film. I am thinking of finishing some of the 35mm film stock I have left from workshop. So more color soon.
For now I am including a photograph I like the best from the roll I did with the Leica which a fellow photographer lent me to use at the workshop. I have a portrait of him in action which I will post soon along with other color frames from the 160+ frames.
I like this photograph for the mere simplicity of the young girl's expression among the complex lighting though the pattern of leaves reflecting above. There is a natural balance in the photograph due to the human expression of the little girl.

I have returned from my summer recess. Not that I went anywhere but my last 3 weeks included multiple trips to NYC buying ink for the Epson printer (I am seriously thinking about selling this printer due to maintenance costs), printing a quick portfolio of B&W prints for the Mary Ellen Mark workshop, and running the film into NYC back again.
The workshop was good. Its a mix of networking and discipline in the presence of a world renowned photographer. I was the technically savvy guy and Mary told me she uses a Mamiya 7 as well. She suggested I add a flash for my general street work. I did. I got a Metz. I am still deciding whether to keep it or now. There is an advantage to using a flash as a fill in. Mainly its set minus 2 stops to the regular scene. My tests seemed to support the fact it helps. But more testing is needed.
The great thing about the workshop were some of the people I met. Neither have websites here I could share but the work presented was tremendous. Once they do put it up somewhere on the web I'll post the links right away.
I ended up shooting 5 rolls of 35mm film at a Fair we all went to. The film is still in NY at a lob recommended from Mary Ellen. But I did not get them to scan the film since it was $15 per roll in addition to the processing. I sort of regret it but need to take the film to a darkroom to print contact sheets and send them for review. The scanner I have here won't be the most time efficient nor detailed tool to scan the 35mm (for 120 it does a decent job) so I'll just need to devote some extra time to it.
A great photographer whom I befriended lent me his Leica M6 with the 21mm lens. Amazing tool even in the digital age. That was just one roll of TriX. The rest of all work was done in color with the Contax G2. Here is one photograph done with Leica.