Posted By craig on July 12, 2010
Last weekend the missus and I went up to Vermont with a bunch of interesting people from here in Red Hook Brooklyn. We spent the day on Saturday helping out a bit to build a huge float for the local 4th of July parade. I got the opportunity to take a few portraits of the people there between assembling a 100 foot whale and swimming in a pond. Here are a few of the shots I wanted to share….
Posted By craig on June 24, 2010
Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I WILL continue soon with the 2nd half of the Sri Lanka diaries. If you have been wondering where I have been, it’s actually been quite the exciting and hectic time over the past few weeks while I finished a complete update and re-edit of my site. Take for a drive, kick the tires, tell me what you think! There is a whole load of new stuff there with more on the way in the upcoming months too. I’m really happy with the way things are going with it. I have really heavily concentrating on my portrait work in the past year and it really made me discover who I am at this point in my creative path…
Love and Kisses,
Craig
Posted By craig on May 25, 2010
day 4,
So after my afternoon of recovery we gathered for a roti dinner in the common room of the guest house in Jaffna. We had a chat with the owner of the house, Roy. He told us about some of the things that he had to do during the war. He is Tamil, and has two sons. For several years during the high points of the war he did all he could to make sure that his boys were safe. He said one year he spent over 10 laks (about $10,000 dollars) to keep his sons in Malaysia to avoid them getting “recruited” by one side, or harassed by the other. During the last few decades it was not uncommon for people to go “missing” and he wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to his family. Keep in mind that the average income in Sri Lanka is around $1,600 a year. I don’t know how much he made, but I’m sure a guest house keeper doesn’t do so much business in the middle of a city torn apart by power struggles and cut off from trade for a majority of the time.
The next day we bid our farewells to Jaffna and started our way back south and then east to the beautiful area of Trincomalee harbor. I have to say that it is geographically one of the more stunning inlets I’ve ever seen in my life. It is one of the best natural harbors in South-East Asia, and was one of the focal points of control struggles of the LTTE and Sri Lankan Army.
We checked into a small hotel on the outskirts of town. Shami and I were treated to one of the only rooms with air conditioning (a much appreciated luxury for a guy who grew up with the idea that summer is a 3 month part of the year with the average temperature being around 68-73 degrees fahrenheit, not the year long 90 degrees with super high humidity). As we lounged in the common area of the hotel we opened a couple of beers, but were asked to take them to our room seeing as it was still the Sinhalese/Tamil new year and the sale of alcohol is controlled. It wouldn’t be such a big deal normally, but the only a few months ago the owner of the hotel had been shot dead by some drunken local fishermen for not selling them alcohol during the full moon (another time each month when alcohol is not sold). So, I completely understood the workers concern that we not be seen by the locals consuming a cold one at their hotel.
During our stay we got to go swimming in the ocean at Nilaveli Beach. This was a big thing for us, as Shami had been there one time before she left Sri Lanka in 2002. She had evaded the military’s strict control of travel to the north in order to go there and had always told me it was the most beautiful beach in the world to her. I have to admit that it did not disappoint, and I understand the sentiment as I hold some of the beaches of my dear southern Lake Superior shoreline with as much adoration. On our drive between Trincomalee and Nilaveli, we saw several signs announcing the coming of luxury hotels to the shoreline. As much as I can appreciate local culture and quaintness, I can also understand the significance of this. The government is really trying to stimulate development of the area as any tourist money can do so much to help this long closed off region.
Boys celebrating the Sinhalese/Tamil New Year, Trincomalee
Posted By craig on May 19, 2010
Day 3,
We got going early and got lost often on this shortened day. A lot of the streets/roads around Jaffna are not tagged. The interesting way I found that a lot of people in Sri Lanka ask for directions is not to ask about how to get to where you are going, but to ask how to get to somewhere you think might be near where you are going. This makes some sense, but is frustrating. Maybe the person you are asking actually knows how to get where you want to go and the place you think is near where you want to go is nowhere close… just sayin. Anyway….
We made our way to Point Pedro, the most northern Town in Sri Lanka. There is a fair bit of agriculture around Point Pedro, but we were in search of fishermen and the beach culture, since it not only a coastal town, but one that hasn’t seen much in the way of tourists in the past few decades. I was hoping to get an opportunity to shoot some interesting people.
It was only a short drive down the road from there to Valvettithurai, the boyhood home town of the late leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Just as we pulled into town a Hindu ceremony was getting under way. As far as I understood, it had to do with the Sinha/Tamil new year, which was being celebrated while we were on the island. They were just starting a parade of sorts which involved about 30 men rolling in the hot sand of the main street. I don’t know much about Hinduism, so I don’t want to try to explain what it was they were doing, because I don’t know the significance. The people were very open to us observing. They just seemed happy. It was beautiful. I would have loved to stay longer, but…
I had, unknowingly, broken one of the cardinal rules of travelers: don’t drink the water. We had started this trip in Ja-Ela with several big bottles of well water that was boiled. It’s water that I had no problems with in any of my visits before. Along the way, our van driver had started refilling our bottles with tap water wherever we were. Shami and I both thought it was still water from Ja-Ela. It wasn’t, I got sick, it wasn’t fun, use your imagination, or better yet don’t. When it first hit I thought I was having an appendix attack. I was more than a little worried. Luckily, the driver put two and two together and got some medication from the pharmacy. I spent the rest of the day in our guest house so I didn’t get to do half of the exploring I had hoped to do. Lesson learned.
Men Rolling in Sand, Valvettithurai
Posted By craig on May 17, 2010
We left Mannar in the morning set off for Jaffna. We entered a security checkpoint at Omanthai. It was here that the rest of our adventure was put into jeopardy as I was a foreign citizen without a Ministry of Defense pass.
It is common in Sri Lanka for cars to get stopped at random as there are checkpoints all over. In Colombo, we had been stopped at least 4-5 times in the prior week as we made our way about in a borrowed car. Shami was driving as she still has her Sri Lankan drivers license. As cars pass by checkpoints they are flagged aside at random and their paperwork is checked. She was only asked for paperwork once as most of the time whenever I wound down the window on the left (passenger) side of the car, the police would see me and wave us on. She said it was because I am white. I’ve been in situations where I’ve witnessed racism and I’ve been in situations where I’ve been treated with racism. This still felt odd, although it became a joke to her, what else are you gonna do at that point?
This checkpoint was different. It was the main entry point into the former LTTE stronghold area and every car, bus, and truck is stopped and passengers checked out. I didn’t realize, at that point, that a military pass was required by all foreigners to go beyond this checkpoint. I handed my passport over with no second thoughts. At this point I had become quite comfortable hiding my cameras and lighting gear and wasn’t even worried. Then I was called out of the car and told I couldn’t go with them. We had to convince the officers that I was traveling with family who were all citizens and wasn’t a “tourist” or media per se (as far as the Sri Lankan military is concerned, if anyone asks, I’m a graphic designer, LOL). What saved us at this point was that Shami had her New York drivers license in her bag. It has her married name on it, matching mine. She had specifically kept all her local identification and her passport with her Sri Lankan name to make things easier as far as conducting any business (she owns some land) while being there. There are a lot of taxes and double standards directed towards foreigners who are perceived to have more money to spend, with prices on services sometimes being over 600-900% what a local would pay.
After passing through the checkpoint and wiping my brow I got an opportunity to really look around where we were traveling through. The following 120 kilometers to Jaffna were a sobering bunch, especially passing through Kilinochchi, the former center of LTTE operations. A vast majority of the buildings and homes were abandoned and broken, riddled with bullet holes and blast marks. The signs of a three decade war cannot be erased from sight in 9 months, and I’m sure from the hearts and minds of it’s victims for generations. Again on this day, the the day past, we passed armed military personnel every kilometer or so. There are warning markers everywhere making sure on knows not to stray off the general path as to avoid latent mines.
After arriving at a small convent in Jaffna, we were directed to our guest quarters for the next few nights. We had a tea and then headed along in our van along a series of causeways to arrive at a decrepit ferry that was to take us along with a good hundred others to the island of Nainativu. We were only allowed about 40 minutes as the next ferry was the last one back for the evening.
The ferry was not terribly unlike a lot of the Native American fishing boats of the Great Lakes. Most people are squeezed down under the deck with only a small laddered exit per starboard and port, with one extra small escape on the stern, where the big and battered wooden rudder was. The ferry is powered by a hand cranked diesel engine that operates at a deafening level.
As the seas got only slightly rough on our starlit crawl back (there are no lights either inside or outside), I found it scarily easy to comprehend how so many can perish in the tragic ferry incidents one hears about in southeast Asia from time to time…
Ferry Landing at Nainativu
Posted By craig on May 10, 2010
For my next few posts, I plan on deciphering some of my handwritten notes on my recent expeditions on the Isle of Serendib. I’ve never really kept a “diary” so this is a new exercise for me. This trip was one that a friend of Shami’s family, Father Felician, helped to organize and facilitate. We went into the north of Sri Lanka into a few places that have been restricted because of the recent war. We traveled in a van with a hired driver, hiding my camera gear along the way because of the military checkpoints and heavy control of all things media related.
Day 1:
We left by van at 5:30 am, traveling through Kurunegala towards Madu. Along the way the van started to overheat. Our driver was worried, but I was able to teach him a couple of tricks I learned based on prior experience. We made it into Galewela and got the fan motor replaced at a small and unassuming roadside shop.
After a quick snack in Dambulla we continued north and into a small outpost of Cheddikulam for some beer and roti. We then made it to Madu church, one of the points of interest for Shami’s family.
After leaving Madu we entered Sector 6 and passed a huge displacement camp where many of the homeless victims of the recent war are housed and await answers about their future. I can’t begin to explain the heavy heart I felt when I saw the thousands upon thousands of people that were living in these camps. We were in no real position to stop here because of the military control, and me being an American citizen made things trickier as far as being there. From what I understand, most of these people are free to leave the camps now. Sadly though, they have nowhere to really go. Their homes have been destroyed and the infrastructure needed to feasibly make any sort of living is still nowhere near being in place. These people are basically homeless in their own home.
We ended our days travel at the Bishops residence/compound in Mannar Fort. We took a small excursion past Pesalai and on to Talaimannar Pier where we met some of the locals on the beach near a bombed out lighthouse. A few kilometers away were the beaches on Palk strait. This is the closest point to India at about 18 kilometers across the water.
It was here at sunset where we met some “fishermen” who ran their fishing boat back and forth to India. I wasn’t able to follow the conversation very well as it was in Sinhala. It was explained to me later that the few nets and fish they had in the boat were just cover and they were smugglers basically full time. They gave us some fish though!
Fishermen/Smugglers
Posted By craig on May 5, 2010
I told you I’d be updating you on my recent expeditions and I’m here to prove I wasn’t lying. A lot of the time I try to work with a pre-visualized idea about what I want to shoot. For the most part I’ve been able to get very close to what I had imagined. Sometimes, though, it’s good though to just shoot now and ask questions later. Some of those questions are more important than you might think. You may be able to reach regions of your creativity that you could have been blocking out while over-thinking everything. I can’t say that I’m not guilty of that. So it’s a real treat to me to just let go and see what comes. I guess it’s akin to holding a photographic jam session between me and the world around me. Here is something that I shot while trying to just let go. I’m happy with it…
Road to Nainativu Ferry
Posted By craig on April 29, 2010
So, I realize it’s been a few too many hours since my last post. But I’ve had one heckuva last few months. I’ve spent the last month in Sri Lanka and most of the time we had no access to ice or proper plumbing let alone an internet connection. I’ll be filling you all in on the details in the coming days for sure. Expect a whole slew of new stuff over on the main site as well. I know I’ve threatened that before, but I’ve been spending the last 10 weeks shooting and planning and editing and shooting and flying and shooting and stepping back and really analyzing the bigger picture and shooting. This has left the main site quite lonely, it even told me it thought I didn’t love it anymore. But, I really do. So, it’s gonna be getting a new pair of boots in the near future to go with the fresh cut and clearer vision. It’s finally gonna be wearing it’s own specs and with that, a first new look at the world with clear vision.
Love ya all…
Posted By craig on February 17, 2010
I came across this short film via Agency Scoop. Although I work as a freelancer, I’ve recently gone through some major changes in my clientele. The biggest one was one I saw coming down the tracks. Although it really has changed how I’m working, it’s definitely forced me to do a few positive things that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. I’m fortunate enough to have a very supportive group of people around me and I am actually quite excitedly looking to the future of my creativity. I want to share the message of this film with all of you. It falls right in line with how we try to think here at headquarters!
lemonade short film
Posted By craig on February 16, 2010
I entered the PDN Photo Annual contest this year. I just made it before the SECOND extended deadline. It was hard to choose exactly what to put in as I’ve shot a few things lately that I’m really keen about. Also, the cost of submitting work adds up fast, and we are very budget conscience here at calindustries headquarters. The final deciding factor laid in the fine print. Some of the current stuff just missed the cut off for eligibility by a couple of days. The good thing for those images is that they are good for next years entry (but I’m hoping to keep shooting stuff that I’m proud of between then and now 
. I don’t love the images I entered any less, but there is something to be said about recent stuff that gets your juices flowing. Seeing current work means that you are still doing what you love. Let’s hope people notice!
banner from PND photo annual web site
BTW, if you are curious check out the recent entries here to see who entered what. It’s not the smoothest system, but you get to see some great work by a lot of talented people. Also see who are playing the hands of gods (sic).
