The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

At exactly 9:01 this morning the movers arrived in their little truck.  We're moving to Scotland!

The packers got right to work.  They seemed to know what they were doing . . . imagine doing this every day.

Everything, big and small, was wrapped in paper . . .

. . . and then in bubble-wrap.

Sometimes the wrappage seemed excessive.  I would have thrown these in a box and forgot about them . . .

Lots of keepsakes and mementos of Thailand nicely packed and awaiting their trip to Aberdeen, Scotland.

As the morning wore on, the boxes started to accumulate.

We do have some warm weather clothes to pack from our "winter" vacations out of Bangkok . . . but not too much.

We have had to pare down our home altar.  We are only allowed to export five Buddha images from Thailand.  We have competed all the applications and submitted the paperwork for legal exportation of Buddha items and old Thai artifacts.  All travellers out of Thailand are required to do this.  It is a good thing.  We will have  new home altar in Aberdeen.

This is our shipment ready to go.

And away it goes!

The truck is loaded.

Loading our possessions . . .

. . . see you in six weeks.

Our Transpo/Asian Tigers packing crew.

And off it all goes, June 10, 2013.

I was back down at the Saxophone Pub on Victory Monument Circle in Bangkok last Sunday night for a big blues show featuring my old friend, Khun Chai, perhaps one of the greatest blues guitar players on earth . . . and I do not exaggerate.  I sat in front with my good camera and f1.4 lens.  Magic.

I took 563 photos that night.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Khun Chai has a great blues singer in his band . . . I cannot remember hearing a better version of "Wang Dang Doodle."

Chai's band is great in it's own right, but an incredible 15 year old sax player sat in . . . WOW! . . . this kid is FANTASTIC!

Khun Chai in action.

If you have never heard Khun Chai play the blues you are REALLY missing something special.

Saxophone has the perfect environment for listening to the blues . . .

Khun Chai singin' dem blues.

I hope I make friends in Scotland as cool as Khun Chai . . . but I don't think that is possible.

Until we meet again . . .

Play on, Khun Chai . . .  play on.

So, I added a couple of extension tubes to my Canon 5D Mark II and put on my favorite macro lens, the Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG, and headed to the back yard.

We are just now at the beginning of the "damn hot and damn wet" season, so there were new buds coming out all over.

Depth of field is an issue with macro photography.  I decided not to use a tri-pod, as there seemed to be a lot of light.  Of course, I needed f16 for some of these shots . . . but couldn't because of camera shake.  Still, I used the lack of depth to my advantage . . . I think.

These tiny red blooms coming up out of the green mist is a nice effect.

Some flowers I only see once a year, like these arbor blooms.

These pink wax flowers seem more animal than plant when the come out . . .

. . . they eventually produce these thick, waxy pedals . . .

. . . and look like this when they have been through their cycle.  Always beautiful.

We have orchids all year round.

My super macro study (with the extension tubes) did not really work out all that well.  I will need a completely calm afternoon with lots of bright sunlight and a tripod to do this right.  More to come.

In April 1998 I went to Luong Prabang, Laos.  It was a wonderful experience:  at that time Luong Prapang was just named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and wasn't too crowded with tourists. It seemed like half the population were Buddhist monks.  A serenity pervaded the small city up the Mae Kong River.  Every morning hundreds and hundreds of monks take to the streets to gather alms.  I visited many Buddhist temples ("Wat") and spoke to monks, many of whom spoke good English.  This monk asked me if he should quit the monkhood and go to the city and learn computers.  I told him he was already engaged in the most worthwhile path anyone could follow.  He thanked me and I asked if I could take his photo . . . he said yes, and that is the photo the young monk is holding in his outstretched hand. Several years later a friend happened to mention he would be traveling to Luong Prabang.  I asked him to bring the photo of the young monk to him, it would make a great adventure to find him and give him the photo . . . as well as take a photo of him with the photo.  My friend did just that, and that photo is the one the young monk is holding on his lap.  Several years later, you guessed it, another friend of mine was heading to Laos, and Luang Prabang, so I asked him if he was up to an adventure . . . he was and took this, final, photo of the now not-so-young monk with the two pevious photos.  I never went back to Laos, nor have any of my freinds gone there, so I have not delivered THIS photo to the young monk . . . and taken his photo with it. 

While cleaning up around my office in preparation for moving to Scotland, I found an old "back-up" storage media card from my trip to Indonesia in December 2011 that I had not uploaded.  There were some nice images on it.  This image seems strangely appropriate to me:  "Time To Go."

Yep, some pretty interesting images were to be found . . .

. . . and beautiful images not previously posted.

One day, outside of Yogjakarta, we were struck by a huge tropical thunder storm . . . these Indonesian boys were caught in the downpour.

Old weathered wall.  Old lamp.

That crooked table . . .