Homeless in Asheville

blog bonanza

10/18/07

Nickoli




10/16/07

Trouble Sleeping Again II

I have joy,

toil much more,

forsee the light,

depress no more.


I have joy,

deploy in haste,

waste away,

not today.


I do love,

to rise above,

equality you see,

is a truth to me.


10/15/07

Move to Jackson Building




10/13/07

MAP Experimental Sewing Social




10/11/07

Asheville Art Museum Panel Discussion

connect(ions)

Today I met with Kathy Chu, co-founder of the Vietnam Relief Effort, at the public atrium of the Sony Music building in Manhattan. We discussed a trip I will be taking to Vietnam early in the New Year and how I could help in donating my time and photographic services to their cause while I am there. They are involved in many projects throughout southern and central Vietnam including building schools (as well as fostering programs to keep the kids in school), medical services (from check-ups to cleft-lip surgeries), and disaster relief of all sorts. We talked mostly about photographing the schools where VRE would have the doctors come and give check-ups on site, combining their efforts in one location. Upon returning, I will donate these photographs to VRE for all of their in-house marketing and publications for royalty-free use. I look forward to contributing to their work towards bringing balance to a country that I have become very fond of since visiting in March 2005.

(After photographing the schools, I will be pursuing personal work, photographing the growing tourism industry in Vietnam and its effects on the country. With plans including: traveling the Mekong River from Ho Chi Minh City to Phom Penh, Cambodia; trekking in Sapa, Northern Vietnam to visit the many hilltribes there; sea kayaking in Halong Bay, just northeast of Hanoi; and biking in Nga Trang, on the central coast.)

Following the meeting with Kathy, I went to the office of National Geographic Adventurer where I met with Kezi Barry, the assistant photo editor of the magazine. There I showed her my work from "connect" (book did not arrive on time, resorted to digital presentation, just as well) and she really liked several of the images, leaving us both pleased. Before today, they did not have any photographers based in North Carolina and obviously, with their publication right up my alley, I enjoy the prospect of working with them more in the future (MTP contributed image in May 2007 issue: Wild Roads).

Underworld

Site Update!

Today, I updated all the images on the Monty Tran Photography website with travel photographs taken from "connect", the photo book that I produced last weekend to act as my portfolio ("connect" states the intention of the book, to reach out and "connect" with clients and colleagues in collaboration of creating fresh work [alliteration rocks {by the way}, using "c" in this case, exemplifying the "one"{one love, one people, one life force, ect.}]....also a statement on how I feel about travel itself, to "connect" with foreign peoples and their cultures [on their turf], to understand them, therefore ourselves, more deeply"). The photographs span the four years that I have been shooting digital, and many have never been released for the public eye, heck, some I have not really seen before.....was really a pleasure surfing through the archives, revisiting places that have influenced my life tremendously, for better or worse....ever-encouraging me to repeat the process over and over again, till my eyes are so satisfied that they've seen it all (and we all know that we will never see it all, and that's ok).

connect

Yesterday, after four days of hard work and major editing I completed my updated photography portfolio entitled "Connect". It will be printed by Blurb.com as a classic hardcover, 40 page book, complete with a dust jacket.
The photo book includes a collection of travel images that were taken within the last four years or so, locations including: Vietnam, Scotland, Australia, Canada, and the United States.