Thursday, January 31, 2013
Talk about full circle. My early days of breaking into the stock photography resulted in my getting a contract with Tony Stone Images (now Getty Images) in Los Angeles. After a few years and not enough production on my part, Getty let me go. I returned to my studio work and raising children. With the studios in my past, children now producing offspring of their own, and almost 10 years of international travel under my belt, I signed on with Lonely Planet Images to represent my travel images. Then, Lonely Planet decided to get out of the stock image market and sold out to, guess who, Getty Images. Back to where I started. The contract was signed a few months ago and already my first cheque just arrived. I am committed to making the relationship work better this time.
Hope to continue the project this year, stay tuned for more.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Fletcherfoto Studio and Gallery gone but not forgotten
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Travels summer 2012
Madrid train station |
Laundry day in Gozo |
Contemplating the future- Goz0 |
Carraeg Cennen Castle, South Wales |
Always the destination |
Food market, Marrakech |
Marrakech side street |
Monday, June 11, 2012
Next Up for summer
Next up on the gallery walls is Jeff Birkin's unique i CANDY show, a collection of IPad images that he has been making for the last few years. Jeffrey is one of my favourite artists and was the first artist to ever show at Fletcherfoto when he brought back his Mexico show from when he last showed it at my long-ago VisionQuest Gallery. Welcome back Jeffrey! Jeffrey will also keep the gallery open for summer hours till my return in Late July.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Mexico 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Long Beach Photography Workshop
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Photosensitive Contributions
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Welcome back Paul
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Happy December
Sunday, November 14, 2010
November Rains
Also check out my new image galleries by clicking image galleries in the nav bar on my website.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Colour and Culture of Mazatlan Phototour March 14-21
Please find details below re my first Phototour of Mazatlan. Please contact me if you require additional information
THE COLOUR AND CULTURE OF
MAZATLAN
7 hot days
LIVING, LEARNING and BREATHING PHOTOGRAPHY
as we explore, and photograph
the rich and vibrant
culture, customs, colour
and landscapes of Mazatlan
Package & Price includes:
B&B accommodation in old town Mazatlan
Full chef-made breakfast everyday
Three guided country tours
Lunch and drinks on country tours
City walking tours
Evening critique sessions
Wrap up Fiesta night
Airport pickup and drop-off
La Playa beach afternoon
Price $1,250 USD per person
Double occupancy
Paul guarantees that you will return from this tour
with a much better understanding of your camera’s potential, a much improved eye for images, some great new friends and a lot of superb photos!
More info paul@fletcherfoto.ca, 250 732-0462
Monday, August 23, 2010
September events
Chipewyan first nations artist Robert Burke exhibits his series “raven dream state”at fletcherfoto gallery 109 Ingram street downtown Duncan B.C. from August 21st through September 18th 2010. Robert's vivid and colourfull contemporary aboriginal paintings are fuelled by imagery inspired by his bi-racial cultural heritage; Burke's father being an African American soldier and his mother a Chipewyan from Fort Smith N.W.T. Burke's exhibition histiory includes shows at The Victoria College of Art, Grunt Gallery in Vancouver, Maltwood Gallery Uvic, Nanaimo Public Art Gallery, museums in
Yellowknife and Fort Smith and future exhibits at Victoria's Winchester gallery this fall and next year at the Helsinki cultural centre in Finland. Robert's hallucinatory style seems eerily familiar his iconography being loaded with
archetypal images yet the work is not derivative of any other contemporary aboriginal artist and forges its own territory in the genre. This exhibition is guest curated by Jeffrey Birkin.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Website Up!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
May 11, 2010
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Robbery!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Fishin with the boys
Sunday, March 30, 2008
El Paradisio
Friday, March 28, 2008
Punta Mayalas
The beauty of the place cannot be described. In the distance, no less than 3 volcanos can be seen, one of them active on the Island of Ometebe. The only livelihood in the village is fishing and one of the reasons we were here was to eat fish. Apparently people come from miles around to eat here despite the kidney jarring trip to get here.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Visiting Mariela, my sponsored child
The trip to Juigalpa took over 3 hours through very dry cattle country. It is summer here (the dry season). Winter (the wet season) is the other season and it starts in May. The trip to San Pedro took another hour travelling on a gravel road. Along the way we had to dodge car sized potholes, roaming cattle, numerous cowboys on horses and many smoke belching buses. We arrived in San Pedro and pulled up in front of Mariella´s house where the family was waiting along with some of the community volunteers. Both Mariela, who is 10 years old, and her sister, Martha, who is 11 years old, are beautiful children who did not speak a word out of shyness. Josepha, their mother is only 26 years old and single, as it is very common to have children at a very young age in Nicaragua and very common for the menfolk to walk away once the children are born. They live in a shack with a dirt floor which is swept clean daily. The front wall is cinder block and both sides of the shack are planks with gaps in them. There are 2 separate partitions for the bedrooms and a kitchen in the back has a 3 burner propane hot plate. An open area out back is home to a cinder block shower stall and a wash tank for laundry. The tiny property behind the house is occupied by a couple of plants and a latrine in the back corner. Josepha has bricks and cinder blocks to do some improvements once the father of the children has time, or the inclination, to do the work
On my arrival I was served a drink of corn, cinnamon and cacoa which was quite delicious but somewhat granular. I also had some hard bisquits also made of corn. A little later we were served pasteles (cake) and coke. On the wall in the front room were cut out letters saying Beinvenidos Paul and a cut out drawing of what they thought I looked like. I had a hat on and was round. I was very touched by this act. I handed out gifts including some hand made bracelets from the Duncan Downtown market, some totem pins, and an English/Spanish dictionary to help Mariela when she was writing letters to me. They were gratefully received but still the girls did not talk. My spanish is getting quite good and I was able to have a conversation with Josepha while only needing help from the interpreter a few times. I was especially pleased that I could do this.
After the goodies we went for a tour of the town. First the baseball stadium, then the bullring where the men ride the bulls, and then off to Mariela and Martha´s school for a presentation. Arriving at the school we were met by a group of grade 4´s who officially welcomed me and led the way into Mariella´s classroom where she was supposed to introduce me. She was still tongue tied so we went ahead with a question and answer period with me answering most questions in spanish with a little help from Ellen, the Plan interpretor. Mariella has 45 classmates, a typical size class in Nicaraguan terms the principal explained to me. The school is in desperate need of most supplies, especially pencils and exercise books, since the government does not give much money to the school system. The school did not even have a single computer. After the presentations we all filed outside for a group photo and then repeated the process with Martha´s class.
Next stop the San Pedro church, built in 1952 and a very important part of the family´s life. The church is being renovated because, after 56 years, like myself, things are falling apart and need work. Old churches in Central America, like this one, are very fascinating with all their collected icons and memorabilia and the community is very proud of it. I was then shown the basketball court and told out that the youth had no basketballs to play with. Crossing the street we went to meet the Mayor as I was apparently a very important visitor, but he was busy so I met the assistant Mayor instead and he told me about all the great work Plan is doing in the community.
Last stop was the Rio Mico where I watched people wash their cars, do laundry on the rocks and swim. Ellen acknowledged the issue of pollution from these activities but said that the local municipal government was not concerned and did not see this as a problem. I didn´t say much because I am not there to judge but to witness. With all the other issues and challenges the community faces I can understand why the river pollution is pretty low on the radar.
It was time to say goodbye. This was really tough and emotional since I had been corresponding for over 2 years with Mariela and a couple of hours of visiting seemed so short especially since the children had hardly spoken. They did, however ask me when I was coming back. I told them as soon as I am able. Hugs all around and we parted ways, none of us looking back. One of the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to experience.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Granada, Nicaragua
After a long and tiring bus ride, and a very drawn out immigration affair at the border where I was left sitting for 2 hours,- thanks for the heads-up John M, you were right, I arrived in Granada, one of the oldest cities in Nicaragua. The history of this city is intense and includes a major burning of the city by an American who once took over the country. He eventually was hanged when he was stupid enough to come back and try it all over again. The violence continued over the years and right up to the early 80´s giving the world a sense that this is still a dangerous country. This is far from the truth. I have discovered some of the most wonderful people and some of the greatest natural country that I have seen in all my travels. I am staying at the Hotel Corona right on the Parque Central, (every city in the Spanish world seems to have a Parque Central. Horse and carts fight for street rights with Hummers and bicycles. The people are extremely poor and begging by all ages, especially children, is prevalent. I have made some good friends here already including John Oliver, a black Nicaraguan street artist from the east (English, Rastafarian and Carribean) coast. In many ways this is a country divided by it's inhospitable and difficult to access centre.
Good Friday, Liberia
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Los Chiles, the end of the earth
I am staying at the Rancho Tulipan Hotel, built by a dutch company who are involved in reforestation projects in the area planting and harvesting fast growing Teak and Acacia trees for export to China and India and other countries. They also employ a large percentage of the community for which the community seems quite thankful for. I learned all this by hanging out with Max and Paul, two dutch foresters who work on the plantations. We shared a lot of beer since tomorrow the Easter holiday starts and no more alcohol is allowed to be served until after the holiday. We talked about trees, environment and world affairs late into the night (10pm is late in Costa Rica and the bugs were out in force). We didn´t solve any of the worlds problems but we made good friends. I love these friendships made over beer.
I took the riverboat tour at 6 am the next morning (with a headache from the beer last night) and had the 30 passenger boat all to myself and my guide/driver and headed down river for a 3 hour excursion. The wildlife, especially the birdlife, is prolific and that is only what I can see. Numerous species are nocturnal or are hidden by the jungle vegetation. The skies are full of birds flitting and flying here and there, lizards crawl the banks and run across the water (the Jesus Christ lizard) and Caymans, small alligators, lurk lazily in the narrows and beneath tree trunks waiting for prey. The rain, which fell all night, continued unabated throughout the entire journey, sometimes drizzling and sometimes just dumping on us. Thank goodness the boat has
Coming around one bend in the river there was a large white thing in the mud on the river bank. I asked what it was- Cow the guide said. I thought that this was some kind of spanish word for a wild animal. It wasn´t. It was a cow and it was up to it´s neck in the soft riverbank mud. All that was showing was the top of it´s back and it´s head. It was in dire straits. A cow here is very valuable to the poor people so we had to get it out. My guide lassoed the horns and then tried to drag it out of the ooze with the boat. Fifteen minutes later and a lot of tugging it came free. I was sure we had killed it because the dragging would pull it´s head under the mud for long periods. We then dragged it alongside the boat (doing our best to drown it) to find a place for it to climb ashore. Our first effort resulted in it getting stuck again because it stopped to eat half way up the bank. Finally we found a place to land the dumb brute and after a lot of ass-smacking it made it to high ground. My reward for this rescue was a Fire Ant bite and a lot of mud all over me.
All good things have to come to an end and my guide soon announced that it was time to return to Los Chiles. Arriving back at the hotel I had a hotel breakfast $2 and some more really bad coffee. Then I headed back to Liberia. I took a back road through the Cano Negro Refuge. This was a dirt road, or what we would call a gravel road except that in Costa Rica they use boulders as gravel and the potholes would better be described as craters. Had fun though blasting along the road making big splashes ( it´s a guy thing). I must admit that after 2 hours of this I was dreaming of tarmac. Finally reached the end of the road and headed south on a real road. Got a little lost and, when asking for directions, was told to go back the way I came. I was sure it was staright ahead across the mountains so I went for it. As luck would have it I was right but it was another Costa Rican dirt road but I made it to Arenal and the highway home in good spirits.