Prayers and Photos for Indonesia

These are just three images that came to my mind when I read the news that two earthquakes struck off the coast of Indonesia (specifically the island of Sumatra). Almost three years ago I was in Indonesia and found such beauty in the parts of the country that most people barely see. Tourists typically enjoy traveling to Bali and the beaches of surprisingly vast archipelago nation but places like Jakarta and Sumatra are rarely visited.
These three photos I took on the train from Jakarta down the island of Java. Earthquakes in the Indonesia region are incredibly common, the most famous being the one off the coast of Sumatra which caused the 2004 tsunami that struck also Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and Thailand.
First photo is of this stunningly statuesque, young Indonesia girl riding the train in front of me. She remained apathetic to much that was happening around her. None of it bothered her; the 100+ degrees Fahrenheit temperature inside the train, the flies swirling around her face, the smoke coming in from the trains engine mixed with the tobacco being smoked in front of her, the glaring sun in her eyes. None of it seemed to annoy or distract her from sitting calmly in her seat looking out the window. Not even my camera lens. I tried to play with her, smiling and making jokes but she didn't flinch. She was one of the most impressively stable things I saw in that country. And I am so fortunate to have captured her elegance in this photo.

This photo made me realize what other parts of the country had to offer. Yes there are the craggy mountaintops and volcanoes and thousands of islands throughout Indonesia. But the vast openness is something I never envisioned before traveling to the country. But with a 14 hour train ride during midday, I was able to enjoy the naturally quieter landscapes like this one.

Lastly, when I think of the people of mainland Indonesia (not Bali, as I already hold an incredibly close place in my heart for that area specifically), I think of the poverty and overpopulation. It holds a nice contrast to this photo above as completely barren lands are only a few hours away from where this photo below was taken, at the train station in Bandung a few hours southeast of Jakarta. Several photos of mine show hundreds upon hundreds of people loading up on the sides and roof of the trains as they were either stealing a train ride or the cars were too full.

Do what you can for those in need in Japan

In conjunction to my previous post on work within New Orleans and natural disaster's effect on a society, I ask everyone to help support Japan in their time of need after the horrific earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. The Red Cross as made it as easy as possible by simply texting "REDCROSS" to 90999 to directly donate $10 to Japan disaster relief or simply going to www.redcross.org and making a donation there. Anything you can give is important.

Other sites to visit in an effort to help are:
To contribute to the medical relief or text MED to 80888 from any mobile phone to give $10

The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund at GlobalGiving.org works to provide donations to various relief organizations that promise to be working on immediate relief with the entire country.

Also visit, SaveTheChildren.org with their Children's Emergency Fund for disaster relief for the young people struggling.

Be sure to remember the animals as well at International Fund for Animal Welfare

More Sites: OperationUSA , MercyCorps , Doctors Without Borders , and Salvation Army

~~~At the very least, be sure to keep all of those effected by the earthquake and tsunami in your prayers and thoughts.

Emotion is the masterpiece of an artist's tools

This weekend the idea of extracting emotion from someone with writing or a photograph came into my head many times. Whether it was a photograph that I gifted someone and combined it with my writing or reading reports on the terrible wreckage of the tsunami in Japan and seeing the devastation it caused, the ability to make an effect on someone’s emotions is a powerful thing.

My goal as a writer and photographer (or “artist” if you consider it that) has always been to create an emotion out of my audience. Whether it is a smile, a surprise, a frown, or a tear, I take every emotion as a specific critique just as if a chef served their first dish of the evening and watched the customer’s reaction to the dish. Is it too spicy? Too sweet? Not enough flavor or a little more? All of these questions are how I improve my craft as anyone in a similar field would. And as they say, only a writer improves by reading other writers’ work and this also applies for artists. The more work you see, the more creative you can expand (or restrict) your work.