Bowling Shoes

Bowling. Waldorf, MD

Cape Cod

Spent a weekend in Cape Cod with my Aunt and Uncle. They just adopted a 12-year-old girl from China who is as friendly as can be. She is quickly learning english and it will be interesting to see how she adapts over the next year or so.It was a wonderful weekend, the light there competes with Scotland, went clamming with my uncle and hung out at the beach. I'm thinking about quitting photography and moving there to take up clamming professionally.

John Philip

This is John Philip he is an ex-drug addict living at the Bethany Christian Home in Edinburgh Scotland. He started using drugs at the age of 14 an continued for almost 10 years. After being at the shelter for 9 and a half months, he has completly turned his life around. He plans to attend college this month in order to help other struggling drug addicts.

Polish Immigrants

I spent some time with Polish Immigrants living on the border of Scotland and England. There are 9 of them living in this house. Some are here for the summer, others have been here for a year and a half. They have a very strong national pride but recognize the problems in their country and come here seeking jobs and financial security. I didn't get the images I wanted and in fact spent most of the time just talking with them. However it was a great learning experience and I struggled a lot with how to tell this story, and not to make it come off the wrong way.

Zbigniew

The one day shoot in Berwick-upon-tweed today was rough, every idea i came across fell through. I thought a nap by the riverside would somehow make a story happen but that would have been a stretch. I wondered all over the town and to the towns across the river finding nothing of interest, and i refused to do something lame. Before long it was 6:30 all but three of us were gone and I was beginning to panic. All the shops were closed, not many people were outside and the sun was slowly fleeting. As I was running by the beach I noticed a man wadding out in the low tide pools. He wasn't doing much but I was desperate. It turns out he was Polish and couldn't much in english except, "I don't speak english". So unable to explain myself I pointed to my camera and he nodded. After a while of climbing on the rocks, I wasn't getting what I wanted, so I took off my shoes, rolled up my pants and waded out there with him. There I was jagged rocks covered in slippery seaweed with a $3000 dollar camera in hand, not the best idea but it turned out to be great. We would attempt to communicate every so often through butchered words and gestures. He took to my liking and offered me a ride in his car, to which I thought was the train station, but as I noticed us going over a bridge out of town I wondered if I'd make it home that night. He turned out not to live to far off and was staying in a house with 8 other polish workers, two of which were his children. The others could speak more english and one lady acted as a translator. They were very hospitable and I enjoyed them a lot. This was just the kind of story I had been looking for the past four weeks. I'm going back twice this weekend to get as much as I can out of it, but I wish I could spend more time with them.

RNLI Dunbar

Shot this the same day as the smokehouse. Didnt get back till after midnight but it was worth it. The lifeboat fleet at Dunbar was founded in 1808 and aids the coastgaurd in areas where they cant get to. The entire crew is volunteer except for the captain and mechanic. I shot one of there training exercises performed several times a week. They all are really nice people and love what they do, they also showed me a good time as i waited for the train.

Belhaven Smokehouse Part II

Went back to Dunbar yesterday. Had to leave the flat at 6:00 in the morning to get there by 8:00. The sun peaked out a little in the afternoon which was nice but by 1:00 I was exhausted and got a ride into town around 3:00 where I had 4 hours to waste before I was supposed to ride on the lifeboat there. By that point i was feeling miserable, I grabed some food, and looked for somewhere to take a nap as I saw the rain clouds rolling back in over my shoulder. I slept on a hill by the water on and off for two hours, got sprinkled on a little but finally the sun came back out and the day turned out to be gorgeous. I walked around the harbor for an hour chasing a rainbow and  watching fisherman feeding seals. It was just what I needed to refresh myself for another 2 hours of shooting.

Rainbows make me happy

Yesterday was long, and rough but very productive and filled with subtle pleasures. I saw this upon waking up from a nap on the hillside by the sea. It's the little things in life that are the best, like rainbows.

The Island Of Arran

Stayed at a B&B on Arran and spent the day wondering. My intent was to a find a story but instead I just wasted time. The ferry ride was fun and the devil child parking spot made me laugh. I snapped the bicycle while waiting an hour and a half for the bus shortly after visiting the Arran Brewery, on that note I won't show the other picture of myself passing the time.

Belhaven Smokehouse

This is the beginning of my documentary on fish farms and smokies. These were taken at Belhaven Smoke House, a smaller farm outside of Dunbar. I'm going back tomorrow to get more of the farming side, hopefully the sun will come out. 

Stirling

This is martin the gardner. He is the contracted gardener at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum. The garden is small but designed to display and provide information about various plants that are natural to the area. The lady in some of the pictures is Magde, one of the volunteers at the garden.