Rufus Went To Town

Well, now look at what you've done, Rufus. Got an Editor's Pick over on my favorite Camera Channel. Sonaova(gun)? Gotta be professional, here, Sonavabee, might not be PC !

Anyway, first thing I want to do is thank Nancy Harder over at Matador Life for putting my buddy in the spotlight. I really owe alot of people over there on my favorite Travel Channel, the Matador Network for the things I've learned and friends I've made but, this isn't exactly the Acadamy Awards so, I won't rattle off all their names.

What's really important to mention, though is all the neat tricks you can learn by thumbing through the magazine pages and picking-up little handy gadgets to make more people see a photo of yours. Whatever they use for tools to advertise articles, you can use for photos, too. I got everything they got, and more. Installed so many tools on my dashboard the monitor got top-heavy and fell off the bar one day. I caught it just before it hit the floor.

I really have no idea what all this SEO stuff means (Secret Envelope Opener,or something)and don't want to waste my time trying to figure it out. Analytics, bah, that's for analytical people. I just take a photo like Rufus after he hits the wire somewhere and post it everywhere, paste in some links and start whackinum with all these tools. Magic happens, quicker than overnight. Go home for lunch, take a nap and when I get back, over 100 views showed up on a photo. Could be robots or the CIA lookin' at my pictures for all I know.

The day my dog hit Life at Matador, here's where I put him, besides on this blog:

JPG Photo Magazine 250 VIEWS

Flickr 80 VIEWS

BetterPhoto Published at Matador LIfe in the caption.

Now, the Editors over at Better Photo, who judge these contests aren't your typical magazine editor. They're all professional photographers, the kind of folks whose pictures are in Outdoor Photographer and most of my other favorite print magazines.

That photo of Rufus has been entered at least 2 or 3 times in the contests there, before. But, he never got an Editor's Pick. So, here's my way of analyzing things; ask the readers. You're the ones who keep me writing. Was the photo selected because:

A. Technical excellence

B. Title

C. It's been published

D. SEO From Tweets/Stumbles/Digg/FaceBook/Ping/Reddit

E. All of the above

This isn't a quiz, just an unscientific survey. I value your opinions, everyone.

Cheers,
Mike

Rufus Goes to Town

Today my bodyguard, Rufus got published at Matador Life. This is a big deal for me, as well as, him. I'm in the photo, too. You just have to look real close in both of his eyes; that's me kneeling in the patch of light right in front of him.

This is the only photo I have of Rufus where he's looking straight at the camera. He's been entered more than a few times in photo contests, but hasn't won anything, yet. Now, his brother, Gizmo, that's a different story. He's cute, a people dog, loves attention, talks to you and demands attention from anyone he meets. But, today is Rufus' day so, lets talk about him.

He is half Siberian Husky and half Shiba, a Japanese breed. He has six toes on his back feet, just like a wolf. He is an escape artist. He will watch every move you make. If you build a fence, he's studying how to un-build it. When I used to drive a jeep, he watched where I put the keys, how I depressed the clutch and how I shifted and made it go. I just knew, someday, he'd steal my jeep. I got rid of the jeep but I kept Rufus. We walk alot.

From the day I brought him home from the animal shelter at six weeks old, Rufus has always slept either at my feet or nearby, where he can watch me. When he isn't asleep he's watching. He doesn't blink his eyes. He is always watching.

When he was a year old, someone stole him. His brother and I walked for miles in every possible direction, looking for him. After a week went by without a trace of him, I started thinking about getting another dog. Huskies are pack animals and his brother needed a companion. I knew, if Rufus was alive somewhere, he'd escape. He did.

Nine days after being kidnapped, Rufus escaped. My son saw him in a village about 5 miles north of home. It was Valentines Day, February 14th, 9 years ago. The wife and I had decided to order steak from the restaurant downstairs and have it delivered rather than get all dressed up to go out and eat.

The phone rang before we had a chance to order. The son, a construction worker, was at a party outside his boss's house. They were barbecuing chicken. Huskies love chicken, more than cats. Rufus showed up. He was hungry, dirty, malnourished; starving. Construction workers wear uniforms. And they drink. If they tossed a bone, Rufus would eat it. When they tried to approach him, he'd run away. The son knew it was Rufus and he'd been missing. He knew that anytime I shook my car keys, Rufus would run to me. He tried shaking his car keys; Rufus ignored him. He only comes to Papa's car keys, no one else's.

Without even knowing where in the village Rufus was spotted, we jumped in the car and drove north to the next town. I pulled over, in the dark, and stopped at a parking lot where I could be safely off the highway. I got out of the car, jingled the keys and whistled as I walked back to the highway. Within 30 seconds, out of the darkness, a stinking, scrawny, filthy, black, Rufus came from nowhere and jumped into my chest. Best Valentine's gift I ever had !

It wasn't until I got home and saw the dog where there were lights, that I realized what he'd been through. He had two inch incisions, cut on each side of his chest. Someone was using him as a fighting dog. That's the way it's done in this part of the world.

Would the dog ever be the same? Would the grandchildren be safe around him? Would he be vicious? Would he ever be normal again?

Rufus is ten years old, now. He's fine. Grandkids play with him, ride him like a horse, sleep with him. He protects them; they make him sit, give his paw, lay down and give him cookies and leftovers.

He doesn't like uniforms. He doesn't like drunks. He avoids them; he won't attack unless he or a family member is threatened. If that were to happen, remember, Huskies are pack animals.

Green Tea

Here, Doc caught me shooting Green Tea fields. Awhile back someone did an article with photos on the tea workers in China. Then a few months later, I saw another photographer do a piece on the tea in Korea; really beautiful photography.

Well, I happen to have a sister-in-law who has a job working with the green tea, right here in Okinawa. So, I decided, that's what I'm going to do; a whole year's worth of shooting tea. Not just the plants, I want to get the whole story, from the care and feeding, cultivating, harvesting, processing, curing, packaging, advertising, drying, whatever else they do to get your tea from the fields to the cup on your kitchen table. That's my plan.

This kind of story and photography, you can't just do overnight. It's more like one of those things that could take years. Little bit at a time, shoot baby tea plants, come back a month later and check on their progress. Get the stages of growth. Shoot under different lighting conditions. Catch sunrise and sunsets over the tea fields, people cultivating the plants, harvesting the tea and finding out what they do with it afterwards. Maybe get some photos of the people actually doing the stuff, give a helping hand, eat what they eat for lunch and find out what they drink at night. That's how you get the whole story; just a little bit at a time.

Well, I had this shot of me taken in June of 2008 and I'm still working on my tea story. I've only been out to the tea fields five or six times and still haven't caught the sunrise or sunset, but I will. I'll catch them in the perfect light, catch the sun, the ocean and the blue skies. Maybe even get some shots during a typhoon. I want my story to be better than the other people's tea field stories. I want the owner of the tea fields to order a 4X6 foot wall mural from me when he sees my best shot. He already ordered one from me and I haven't even shot it yet !

Nuthin' Wrong Here

Now, here I'm not doing anything wrong and Doc just shot me, anyway, behaving myself and shooting a picture of Nakajin Castle under almost a perfect blue sky. Not bad picture-snappin' on Doc's part, either. Think maybe I'll start callin' him a cameraman too, someday.
There hasn't been much free time for me to post a blog, so far this week because things get pretty wild around the middle of the month. In fact, it's going on 9PM right now and I've been doing computer stuff since 7AM today. Except for a quick run home for lunch and my hour power nap, I've been banging away at the keyboards on two laptops in a dimly-lit bar. That's my office, for those of you who don't know me.

Haven't seen a camera all day. Heck, I still haven't done my Christmas cards yet. When I get busy doin' important stuff, everything else just falls by the wayside. There's people in Haiti need help, editors screaming for articles, deadlines to meet, photos need uploading, captions to type, articles that ain't done, stress, pressure, blogs to write, dogs beggin' for a long walk, promotional stuff to do and I'd complain, but there's nobody here but me. And I love it, even thrive on it. And every once in a blue moon, it pays off.

Yesterday, another one of Rose Witmer's articles hit print, along with some of my photos. That's a big deal, to me, no big bucks, yet, but, someday, maybe, I hope.
See, ya just don't decide you're gonna get in National Geo and expect it to happen overnight. What you have to do is become famous first and you don't become famous if nobody knows about you. Then, when lotsa folks know you, all of a sudden, you become famous. You don't need to be beggin' the folks at National Geo, or any other fancy magazine to publish your pictures. When they want good stuff, they'll come beggin' to you, way I figure, anyhow !

If you get a chance, check out Rose's Sakura (桜) Article and give her a Thumbs Up. Poor kid has to put up with my rantings and ravings, no pay, deadlines, pressure from editors, stress and ain't got two Huskies to walk to put a little enjoyment in her life. I'm gonna walk mine, now!
To be continued.....

And There Was That Time

Sometimes when I'm on the road trying to get the inside scoop and some pictures for a sensational, once-in-a lifetime event, I have to wear things you wouldn't normally see me wearing. Like in this photo taken by Doc Graff. I'm wearing a HAT. I hate hats and always did. But, for this event which was some kinda secret ritual conducted in the mountains of northern Okinawa by men, only, I wanted to make sure I blended-in, as much as possible. That's just in case them mountain boys started playin' that tune "Dueling Banjos" and started lookin' around for strangers to fool with, if ya know what I mean.

The rest of the uniform is pretty much what I normally wear, as little as possible, unless I'm goin' to town, or it's real cold outside. Then, I wear socks with my flip flops and maybe a jacket, but no damn hat; 'specially one with flowers in it !

People don't realize what a cameraman goes through to get a story, sometimes. You can't just show-up with a fancy camera at someone's sacred rituals and start snapping-away thinking you'll give some magazine a Feature Article , you have to get permission, for a lot of events, especially if you plan on living long enough to tell your story.

This particular event, the Shinugu Matsuri , took months of planning in advance and I'm still tying up loose ends, months afterwards to keep good relations with all the folks who helped make my stories possible. Every now and then, I go back to the village of Ada and pay a visit , meet people who remember the bearded old guy with the cameras and spend some time socializing with them. The festival they hold only happens, the way I want to shoot it, once every two years. I figure if I keep going back and making friends, soon everybody up there will know me and we can chat, visit with each other and soon enough I'll know where everyone lives and I'll check their houses and make sure nobody bought any damn banjos before I go up the mountain again !

Oh, before I forget; my New Years Resolution hit Print , so, if you get a chance check it out and Stumble/Tweet it; it drives them Google folks wild !
To be continued.....