TORRID ZONE
Believing that the area near the equator was too hot for habitation, Aristotle dubbed it the Torrid Zone. While today we know otherwise when describing the tropics, he wasn’t far from the truth (just try some of the food).
Join me on an uncut visual journey through this compelling region, starting in Mexico and traveling east through the Caribbean… to Cuba, down to Jamaica, over to Hispaniola and out toward the Lesser Antilles. It’s raw out there, like coconut meat, and real, not like the glossy tourist brochures. The Torrid Zone will explode on your senses like a marketplace in Port-au-Prince, or suck you into the Ethiopian desert when staring deep into a Rastafarian’s eyes. Follow the line, but stay the course. You’ll be “in the zone,” for sure. And trust me, it’s HOT.
HELP HAITI
As survivors struggle to emerge from the rubble of January 12, it’s important to recognize the challenges Haiti has endured over the years – and that any support we can provide will reduce the suffering, if only a little. Visit Fine Art for Haiti on this site to learn how you can help by purchasing fine art prints at very exclusive prices. It’s art with a heart, and a gift that will bring years of viewing enjoyment.
PEOPLE
Look deep into the face of a “Rasta man” and you can see all the way into the past, to the dusty plateaus of Abyssinia – to the 1930s, and to the crowning of an emperor, Haile Selassie. It’s here, in Ethiopia, that the Rastafarian’s story begins. Full Story | Images
Place
As other photographers have discovered, great images materialize below an invisible line that bisects the Western Hemisphere, tracing a path through Mexico’s midriff and east through the Caribbean, skirting the Tropic of Cancer.Full Story | Images
Texture
We open them, we close them. We pause, then walk purposefully through them. We duck if we’re too tall, or linger inside their protective frame before saying good-bye. We sometimes look up before entering one, just in case something dangling overhead requires a kiss. But mostly, we simply walk by them.Full Story | Images
Intrigue
Emerging from the mélange of Mexico’s visual intrigue is a macabre sight called Isla de las Munencas, or Island of the Dolls, located along an ancient canal outside of Mexico City.Full Story | Images
Midnight Oil
They recall 1924, when California’s “Big Oil” commenced with a boom at the corner of Golden West and Clay. Or 1933, when fresh discoveries launched a Star Wars style occupation of “cricket pumps” that dotted the Bolsa Chica plateau.Full Story | Images
Urban Perspectives
From Alfred Stieglitz to Robert Frank, and within every genre of artistic expression besides photography, modern man has been attempting to reconcile the alienation of an industrialized world.Full Story | Images
Wet Dreams
If you’re a “flatlander” visiting Orange County, then the enriched white bread nature of its affluent communities might strike you as odd. Or perfectly fitting, if your image of Southern California – sun, fun, prosperity, sex – has been at all shaped by popular culture over the past 50 years.Full Story | Images
Just Deserts
To get your just desserts is to get what’s coming, and not necessarily in the most appealing way. However, the payoff for spending time under a full moon in the desert, or exploring the majestic beauty of Death Valley, can be sweet reward.Full Story | Images