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que serac serac

an enormous serac seen hovering high over the ingraham ice fall on the descent from the summit of mt. rainier . the scale here is unfortunately lost, but this serac was approximately 30 feet high, 20 feet wide.

these are insanely beautiful things to behold so closely, but i was mindful that this very spot was the site of the worst north american mountaineering accident in history when 11 climbers were killed by a falling serac back in 1981.

needless to stay i didn't linger here long with the camera, but the sight of it stopped me in my tracks. just long enough to snap the photo and get the heck out of there. amazing stuff.

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Uploaded on Jul 25, 2008  |  Map

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held by her mother, living next door to a brothel in phnom penh, cambodia.


in cambodia, prostitution is essentially culturally acceptable. nearly 25% of all tourists to cambodia go there for sex. if a building has the words "massage parlor" on a sign in front of it, it's a brothel. and there are more massage parlors on the streets of the capital than i could count. every 3 feet, another one.

this photo was taken steps away from the "guesthouse" where i spent 2 nights in the capital. unknown to me at check-in time, i was staying at a brothel as well. exactly how i wound up there is too long a story to outline here, but i stayed the 2 nights in complete, fascinating safety.

i was alone, a normally less than ideal situation as a single woman in a foreign country where i did not speak the language. but here, it was my best circumstance. everyone, everyone immediately assumed i was a journalist and left me alone. had i been a single male, i would have been hounded to pay for prostitutes. had i been a single woman of asian descent, i would have been in a world of trouble, as i look a good bit younger than i am. but caucasian, western, alone, with a camera...it was always, 'what magazine do you work for?" end of story.

mind blowing, sensory numbing, unreal experience, those 48 hours. it helped to do portrait work in the streets. focus on eyes, faces, expressions, and leave the surrounding chaos out of the frame.

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Uploaded on Jul 23, 2008  |  Map

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yaHOO!!

my climbing team together at the summit of mt. rainier, 14,441 ft (4401 m).

kneeling (l to r): jen and i
strong-arming: boone :o)
back row (l to r): josh, sam, ron

i've wanted to climb rainier since i first saw it out of plane window flying into sea-tac airport 6 years ago. of course knew nothing of climbing, mountains, or how insane that notion was at the time =o)

we could not have asked for more perfect conditions to get up here. full moon shining on the night ascent, making for some spectacular glacier scenery to distract from the pain. not a cloud in the sky. winds were the calmest ever...narry a breeze on the summit, which is unheard of.

despite the smile, i was SO tired when this was taken. i actually fell asleep on my pack in the summit crater, just basking in the sun. i have had no less than 5 friends tell me they napped at the summit, and i could not understand how that was possible. um, i totally get it now guys!

all in all, an incredible time. this is the most physically exhausted i have ever been. had 3 distinct moments on the climb where i was scared out of my mind and doubted my own sanity for being in those situations, but it was cool to get past them and keep going. holy adrenaline rush. i am totally never doing this again, but am thrilled to have been able to try, even once.

**shout out to ron, our fearless team leader: 67 years old, and this was his 10th rainier summit! you rock, ron! i never would have made it up there without you!

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Uploaded on Jul 21, 2008  |  Map

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street kids, cambodia.

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Uploaded on Jul 17, 2008

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