In May of 2011 I travelled to Turkey on a tour. I took a small tripod with me (called a Gorillapod - sometimes you can get away with this guy where a regular one isn’t allowed, plus it’s small to carry) and a backpack that with a clip to hold it on the outside. I was all set for some great HDR images in some historic places – or so I thought! One of the first locations we visited was the Topkapi Palace in Instanbul. As I passed through the entry gate, security confiscated my tripod and told me I could retrieve it upon exiting the palace grounds. So, on to plan B – shooting hand-held. I was a bit disappointed, it was also a major pain in the butt getting my tripod back and I almost lost my tour group as I had to go back around to the entry gate, while we were all meeting at the exit.

Inside Topkapi Palace - Istanbul

Fast forward to Hagia Sofia mosque, I thought I’d try again to get the tripod inside. Ha! Sometimes I feel like somebody’s got it out for us photographers, you know? Can you cut us a break please!? Needless to say, they took it again and I had a repeat performance of running out the exit, squishing out past everyone else – running around back to the front, pushing my way through what seemed like a thousand people in line, to the entrance security booth only to discover that there, they move them to the exit for you. You’ve got to be kidding me! Argh! By the time I convinced the security guy at the exit to let me back in that way, and got my tripod I really had to hoof it back to my group. Sweaty again. Time for a new plan.

What follows are some of the steps and settings I use to get the best results when I have to shoot without my tripod, which as you can see, happens quite often.

Inside Hagia Sofia Mosque - Istanbul

There are several reasons why you might have to use these tips, and shoot hand held.

• tripod use is often restricted or forbidden in some museums, churches and other venues
• you simply don’t have one with you
• you’re in a busy location and setting up a tripod in a crowded place isn’t an option

If any of the above are the case, follow the tips below and try shooting your HDR images hand held. I do it quite often, with a high level of success, because I follow these guidelines.

1. Set your camera on Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) to shoot variable exposures automatically. Different camera models have different settings for AEB. I use a Canon 5D Classic, and this and most other Canon models allow for a maximum of 3 bracketed shots. For most scenes that is sufficient IF you shoot those images at 2 stops apart. So you will end up shooting exposures at -2, 0 and +2.  If you can set what order the camera shoots them in, choose to shoot the +2 one first (you’ll see why later).If you shoot Nikon you may find that you can only bracket in one stop increments, so if that is the case shoot 5 images:  +2, +1, 0, -1, -2 and just delete the +1 and -1 images, you really don’t need them.  Some Nikons give you the option of shooting 7 or even 9 bracketed shots, but I’d also shoot no more than a maximum of 5 images (that you will keep) total.  So you could shoot, for example:  +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3 – but dump the +2, 0 and -2 images and keep the other 5.  Using more than 5 makes it tougher to get the images aligned in the processing stage because there’s more chance of you moving between the exposures, and can result in a final image that’s not very sharp or has edge alignment issues.  So I recommend using 5 exposures maximum to create your HDR image.
   

   3 shots using AEB - Shot at 32mm, f5.0, ISO 250, and shutter speeds of 1/4000, 1/1000 and 1/250.

2. Set your camera on Aperture priority mode.  This will ensure that when it takes the bracketed exposures it will only change the shutter speed, not the aperture.  Changing the aperture from one shot to the next will cause changes in focus in the images from one to the next and will create major alignment problems, sharpness issues and could cause really odd halos around things.  For that reason, you always want to change the shutter speed only when doing HDR, this is no different.  So setting to Aperture priority mode you will make sure the aperture doesn’t change from one shot to the next.Now, having said that you also need to keep an eye on your shutter speed and see what the camera ends up shooting at, especially for the +2 or +3 shots.  That’s why I mentioned setting the camera to take the most over exposed shot first, so that you can see what shutter speed it will use to take the longest exposure – and if you will end up with a shutter speed that’s too slow to keep the image sharp.
   

   39mm focal length, f5.6, ISO 200, shutter speeds 1/2000, 1/500, 1/125th

   What shutter speed is too slow?  How do you know when you’ve gone too far with your shutter speed?  What we want to avoid is what’s commonly called “camera shake”.   This is literally the camera movement caused by your hands holding it.  You can’t hold the camera steady for long exposures, even if you stand really still.  We have a limit, that’s why tripods were invented.  But if you follow this rule of thumb it will give you an idea of how slow is too slow (as a starting point, you may be super steady or super shaky, to try with your own equipment to find your limits with your camera and lens combination) and make sure your shutter speed stays above that setting to avoid camera shake.   Ready for it?  - Keep your shutter speed faster than 1 over the focal length of your lens!  Huh?!  Okay, what that means is if you are using a zoom lens at the 200mm setting, you need to shoot at 1/200th of a second or faster to keep things sharp at that focal length (200mm).   If you’re at 50mm than 1/50th will do it.  The longer the lens the more amplified camera shake is, so you need a faster shutter speed to keep it sharp.So what happens then if you set up your bracketed shots and your longest one is too long?  Keep reading, we’ll put it all together shortly!

3. Keep your ISO set as low as possible.  The HDR process of tone mapping and combining exposures tends to add noise into images, especially in the dark or shadow areas.  So to minimize that, you want to keep your ISO as low as possible – ideally 100 or 200.  However, in some situations you may not have an option but to bump it up a bit.  Using the tip above, if your shutter speed on the longest exposure is falling in the 1/15th range and you simply need to get more to avoid camera shake, you have two options.  Option #1 – open the aperture on your lens to the widest or wider one (f2.8 for example).  But you may not want to do that because that will sacrifice depth of field, OR you simply may not have that option with the lens you have if its maximum aperture is say f5.6 and you’re already there.  So then there’s option #2 – increase the ISO just enough to get the desired shutter speed.  Keep in mind that if you do this your final image may require some noise reduction prior to the tone mapping process, and some more noise reduction afterwards.  If it’s a case of getting the image or getting nothing though – I’d probably bump my ISO and get a noisy image as my preference over none at all.
   

   I had to bump the ISO to 800 to get this shot and keep my shutter speed to 1/20th for the longest exposure. I shot with a 17mm lens at f3.2 (its max) so my only choice was to use a higher ISO. The final tone mapped HDR image had odd colour shifts I couldn't remove (possibly from the noise and high ISO setting used) so this ended up b/w but I think it's still successful.

4. Set up focusing.  The issue with focus is that as you fire off your 3-5 bracketed exposures, you do not want your camera trying to refocus between each shot.  It may miss or change slightly and you’ll end up with big problems.  If your camera has an AF/AE-Lock button (most Nikons have one to the right of the viewfinder or eye piece), set it up to lock both the focus AND the exposure.  Then press it down to lock both, hold it in and then press the shutter button to take your bracketed shots.  For most Canons, they have some version of this option in custom settings (check your manual), where you can set it up to use the “* “button on the back of the camera, to lock the focus independent of the shutter release button.  So you focus using your thumb on the “*” (you don’t have to hold it once it locks) and take the exposures with our index finger.  If your camera doesn’t have such a thing, you can also focus using your lens’ autofocus, then turn it off to manual.  This is a bit clunkier though and you can end up moving while you’re doing that.  Another thing you want to make sure of is that your camera’s focus (AF) setting is on “single” for Nikon, and “one shot” for Canon, that ensures that camera isn’t trying to continually focus.  Lastly make sure your camera is set to single point focusing, meaning you choose which point the camera focuses on.  You do NOT want it choosing where to focus!
   

   28mm lens, f5.6, ISO 250, shutter speeds of: 1/640-1/160-1/40 - I could get away with 1/40th only because I used a 28mm lens. Had I been using a 200mm lens I'd likely have gotten a blurry image due to camera shake. I wanted to use f5.6 to get a bit of depth to my focus and get the rock walls sharp all over.

5. Next, brace yourself and get a reference for your image framing.   What I mean by that is, as you look through the viewfinder (if you shoot using the Live View mode and look at the screen instead of through the eyepiece – get used to shooting the other way and turn off live view unless you’re doing video, it’s MUCH harder to hold the camera steady shooting in Live View mode)make a mental note of how the image is framed.  What’s in each corner, is there something dead smack in the centre you can concentrate on keeping in the centre?   Basically you want to make sure you move as little as possible from one frame to the next to make for better, more accurate alignment later.  If your camera has a option for turing on a grid inside the view finder, use it to keep the image aligned.  Brace yourself the best you can, keeping your elbows in tight to your body, and your left hand under the lens, not on top of it.  Breath out and hold it, or just hold your breath.  Lean on something solid like a table or wall if you have the option.  Just get as solid as possible and don’t move!
   

   If you take a real close look at this image, especially around the window and the pillow in the lower right corner of the frame, you can see that it's not perfectly aligned and there's a greenish color fringe on the edge of the pillow. This is likely caused from my longest exposure not being 100% sharp (at 1/15th) or perhaps I swayed or twisted the camera angle slightly between shots enough to make it an issue. I still think it's a good shot, but I may reprocess it and see if I can get it aligned better. This is why you want to be still!

6. Set your camera on high speed shooting mode, or motor drive, to shoot the frames as fast as possible one after the other.  If your camera shoots 3 frames per second that’s good, if it shoots 10/second that’s even better.  The idea is you just want to press the shutter once, let the camera rapidly fire off all 3 or 5 you’re bracketing, then release your finger.  This will  help minimize camera movement between frames as well.
   
7. Use your exposure compensation to adjust all the exposures if you need them a bit brighter or darker.  Your histogram will tell you if you have enough information in the shadow areas of the darkest image – ideally you want a gap in the histogram on the left hand side.  Likewise on the highlight side (bright areas) you want a gap there on your darkest exposure and no “flashing” highlights that are blown out.  If you shoot your 3 bracketed exposures and take a look at the graphs but that’s not happening, let’s say your darkest one is still too bright.  You can shift all 3 of the bracketed exposures down by using the Exposure Compensation setting.  Dial in -1 or -2 and the whole set will move down the scale accordingly.  Shoot again and see if that set is any better.   If in doubt, do a couple options and see which process better later in computer.
8. Shoot it, then shoot it again!   Because what we’re trying to do here is quite challenging the results can sometimes be disappointing later when you try and process the images, shoot a back up.  So, just like you are bracketing the exposures, bracket the whole set by doing it twice.  Usually one of them will come out better, sharper, easier to align – often the second set.
9. Review your set or sets of images and flipping through them see how well you did holding still.  If you scroll through them and you see drastic jumps from one image to the next in the series, you may want to shoot it again before moving one.  Then zoom in on your camera to see them closer up.  Check for focus and sharpness and if there isn’t any you may need to shoot again and review your settings, particularly shutter speed. Once you leave the location you can’t fix it later, so make sure you’ve got what you want and it’s sharp before you move on.
10. Lastly, a computer step, as I mentioned earlier you may need to do some noise reduction on your set of images prior to using Photoshop or Photomatix to do the HDR tone mapping process.  This will reduce the amount of noise going in, if you’ve used a higher ISO. My HDR software of choice is Photomatix but sometimes for hand held images that are tougher to align, I will use Photoshop CS5 instead which does a better job on challenging situations.  Try both and if you’re not getting a good result on one, try the other.  Sometimes I’ll even do the alignment process in PS CS5, save the HDR image, then open it and tone map it in Photomatix, which I find does a better job of that part.  It’s all about the workflow you develop and what works for you, this seems to work for me.  IF you don’t already have Photomatix, you can download a trial of it  and use the code “HERVIEWPHOTO” to get a 15% discount when you purchase Photomatix.  This software is on my list of things I recommend.

All the images you see in this article were taken in Turkey using these techniques and tips. If you want to see more images from Turkey (including non-HDR ones) to to my travel portfolio.  Here’s a couple more HDR’s done hand held.

Okay now it’s your turn.  I challenge you to go out today and start shooting some HDR hand held.  Try these tips and let me know how you make out.  Share a link to your photos so we can all see them too and tell me about any problems you encountered so I can help you troubleshoot it and find a solution.

Challenge part two:  if you think of anything else that should be on this list please tell me but adding it to the comments section below.  I want to make this site a resource for answering questions and solving problems by not just me telling you how to do it, but helping each other.

Click to start slide show

New larger format, and more pages!

I’m going to be doing a larger format one this year 9.5×13 (or so) so the images will be bigger which is great for those of you that like to cut the photos out after the calendar is done.

It will also be a 16 or 17 month calendar so you can enjoy almost 50% more images and have it hanging that much longer.

Order now to get pre-print pricing, save $5.00 each!

I need to get an idea of how many to order so here’s the deal.   Order now and pay $25 each, which will save you $5 off the regular price which will be $30.  If you want to order more than 5 I’ll give you an even better price – please contact me and tell me how many you want, and I’ll give you a quote.

This price does NOT include shipping.  If you require your calendar(s) to be shipped I will need to get prices from the post office based on the size and weight once they are here, and invoice you separately for the freight costs (I charge you what they charge me, no mark up on shipping).   Last year for one within Canada it was about $4, and to the US was $7 – so expect it to be slightly higher than that because of the larger size, but not much likely.

Calendars make great gifts!

Buy one for yourself and a few for gifts.   Remember they will last well into 2013 so it’ll be great for those forgetful people that never get around to getting a new calendar.  By they I should have a new one for 2013, perhaps Hawaii?

Get yours now

Please click on the Paypal button below to purchase your 2012 Turkey calendar(s) now.  If you want more than one, just change it on the next screen to reflect the quantity you want, or contact me for 5 or more.
UPDATE: This offer has been removed and is no longer available. Sorry about that.

When traveling overseas with your beloved camera equipment, it is best to take some preventative steps and precautions to ensure the safety of both your equipment and yourself, while traveling. Here are a few things to think about, and some items you may want to consider purchasing before you head out on your next big trip.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

• Choose a camera bag that is comfortable, and keep it on your body at all times. Do not sling backpacks over one arm, or sit them on the chair next to you (unless you padlock it to the chair, I’m not kidding!). You may also want to choose one that has less zippers or that zips against your back like the one I use, the Lowe Pro Flipside 300 (which also come in bigger and smaller models 200 and 400).
• Make sure you have adequate insurance and that if you opt for a rider on your home policy that your insurance company has the brand, model numbers and serial numbers of each piece of equipment you own.  Some camera bodies are considered “pro equipment” by insurance companies and if they deem it to be such and you haven’t discussed it with them prior to a claim – they may decide not to cover you.  Inusurance companies are funny that way. If they can find a loophole they will! Best thing to do is to ask them before you leave, just to be sure. You may have to pay a little extra for it, but make sure you also get “replacement value” not market value coverage. Your two year old DSLR might only be worth a couple hundred bucks on the market to sell it now, but to replace it with a newer one will cost more.  Make sure they cover the latter.
• Register your camera equipment with Canada Customs (or the customs agency wherever you live) before you leave the country – especially if your camera equipment is new or looks new. You don’t need any proof of purchases, just show them your gear and they take inventory of it and give you a little registration card (also handy for insurance claims if need be!).  When you return home it will save a LOT of hassle at customs if the agents think you have purchased your gear on your trip.   Unless you can produce a proof of purchase at that time you could be dinged with a hefty customs and duty fee on your already bought and paid for camera.  If the customs desk is not opened prior to your flight you may have to make a special trip to do this – otherwise if you have a midday flight just go a bit earlier and do that at the customs office in the airport before you check in for your flight. Once you’ve done this you only need to take the card next time, or update it if you buy more gear.
• This may be obvious but I’ll say it anyway – bring at least two camera batteries and your battery charger, along with any necessary plug-in adapters if you are going overseas.  You don’t want to be caught with drained batteries at a place you may never visit again.  Be prepared with a second one, or even a third one. You can even get some chargers that have their own battery so you can charge them up and then they will handle several charges of your battery before it needs to be plugged in again.  That’s what I did and it gets charged in my hotel room at night, then in my camera bag by day my batteries get charged.  Also handy if you’re backpacking or somewhere there’s no power. 

ON YOUR TRIP

• If you carry a DSLR you become an instant target for thieves in many places.  Keep in mind that even an entry level DSLR camera with a value of around $1000 is more than whole families make in an entire year in some countries.  A higher end model like a Canon 5D Mark II or a Nikon D3X can really stand out. It makes you look like a professional photographer, whether you are or not, so you may find yourself being watched or scoped by some less than trustworthy looking characters.  The biggest pieces of advice I have on this are: always put your camera strap diagonal across your body, not over one shoulder or no strap at all (way too easy to grab and run);  and be aware of your surroundings and who is in your “space” at all times.

• get a small travel lock something like the one above left, and use it for securing your bag to your chair or table in busy restaurants, or even to the plumbing in the bathroom at the hotel so your bag itself doesn’t walk off while you’re out having dinner.  Remember to get one that will go through all the zipper pulls and isn’t easily cut or broken. Another option is a Pac Safe bag protector (above right) which is a wire mess that goes over your whole bag and locks to something solid.
• one other lesson I learned the hard way is to bring lots of memory cards but perhaps the largest size aren’t always the best option.   I opted for two 16gb CF memory cards for my Canon 5D on a recent trip to Turkey.  One of them failed upon download back home and I wasn’t able to recover the over 1000 images on it.   Stick to slightly smaller cards, 8gb maximum and just buy lots of them or get a storage device like an Epson Picture Pad P-5000.
• Try to keep your full memory cards on your person, or leave them in the hotel safe.  That way if your bag or your camera is stolen you won’t lose all of your images.
• Two things to keep in mind if you are a victim of a robbery.    First – they probably need the money more than you do and may be willing to fight for it.  Secondly, while you may lose some images if they take your whole bag or camera – you still have you memories and your life – fight for your camera gear isn’t worth losing that, let them have it willingly.

Now having said all that it seems like I might be a bit on the paranoid or overly pre-cautious side.  One might think so – BUT I have NEVER had an issue (other than lost images due to card failure which was my own fault) while traveling.  So I like to think that my safety measures and precautions have paid off.  If you follow these tips, hopefully you’ll have nothing but happy, safe journeys too!

Travel safe, have fun, and look for my follow up post soon on “What to do when you arrive at your destination”

After playing phone tag for a while, we finally talked to her last week, and it was both a pleasure and an honor.  She asked about our journey, and our thoughts on the Dwight area – but you can go read the article for yourself to find out exactly what we talked about.

The Dawg House Diner image that started it all.

Read the Article Featuring Our Roadtrip 2011 Calendar Photographs

You can read the full article here in the online version of the paper.  We are on page ONE, and continued on page 18.

She also mentioned my 2011 Road Trip Calendars which are still available in limited quantities.  If you want one – get it now before they’re all gone!

Thanks Meta for a fabulous article!

I’ve recently been reading and connecting with Sean’s other site Location 180, about living location independent and being able to work and live anywhere you want!  I was actually lucky enough to enter a contest he ran and won a copy of the “War of Art“ which is next up for reading right after Chris Guillebeau’s book, the “Art of Non-Conformity“.

I stumbled upon Chris’ blog of the same name, accidentally one day.  It is about “unconventional strategies for work, life and travel” and what he and Sean write really resonates with me right now.

Chris also offers packages to help you learn how to be a Travel Ninja and Frequent Flyer Master – I’m also in the process of reading those.  Wanna travel more but it’s too expensive?   Want free travel?  But his guides!

If you’ve ever wondered “Is this all there is?”   If you’ve ever wanted more out of life but maybe you don’t even know what that is?  Sign up for both Chris and Sean’s blogs and see if you aren’t as inspired as I was and am!

Keep up the good work guys, and thanks again Sean!

Dots Diner is also on the cover of my Road Trip 2011 calendar, featuring HDR images and others from our 17,000 mile RV trip around North America and Canada in 2010.

A couple years ago I did a calendar of some of my favorite images of Peru.   I got to thinking, since I took over 17,000 images on our six month RV trip south – I should do the same this year!    So here is the official launch of Road Trip 2011.  It includes 13 fabulous images from our 26,000 km (over 16,000 miles for my American friends) in full color glossy pages in 8.5×11.

The calendars will retail for $20 plus GST, shipping is extra if needed – I just charge you what it costs me.  Shipping will be added to your total if you order online here.  If you pick up your calendar I’ll give you a cash refund for the shipping cost.

CALENDARS MAKE GREAT GIFTS – ORDER A FEW!

Calendars are great gifts for xmas, staff or co-workers and those hard to buy for people.   The best part is even those tough to buy for guys on your list will like it because there’s cars in it!   I went with a theme this year of Road Trip as that’s exactly what our journey was – one big one at that!  So the images are things along the Roadside, or things that were once on the road.  We even hit Route 66 a couple times so look for some cool diners and gas stations.

Here are the images that appear in the calendar.  It’s a slide show, so just click the picture to start it.  Of course they are much more impressive in print but this is a good teaser.

Click to play slide show

Odell Station on Route 66

This photograph of the Odell Station on Route 66 in Illinois is one of Rob’s (my husband) favorite images. He says he has a lot of good energy around it.  We were running out of light and I wanted to make it to this town to photograph this station. We got there and it was all but dark and no lights on the building. So we started photographing with our car headlights on it for any light at all. We tried using a flashlight on it and as we started running around lighting bits of the station up – the motion sensors came on and we had an “aha!” moment. So we used the lights to our advantage – each one set off in a different exposure, some of them at long at 8 minutes. Then I worked some magic in Photoshop to combine about 9 different shots into the final image you see here. Is that cool or what?

I just remember having to go to the bathroom the entire time and when you’re doing the Pee Dance 8 minutes for each exposure is a loooooong time!

What you don’t see in the image is Rob running around setting off the motion sensors and then hiding behind the posts or around back of the station while the exposure finishes.  Trust me, he’s in the picture a lot, but he’s always hiding out of sight.

I asked him why he likes it so much and he told me that after a great day exploring Route 66 with me, we got to this spot as the sun was just setting.  It was quiet and peaceful with virtually no other cars around to interrupt us.  The stars had come out, the sky was clear and the air was so very fresh.  His helping me set up the shot and running around the building setting off the light sensors just allowed him to fully appreciate the place and be fully present during the making of the shot.  He says he was in pure joy for a good hour.

Calendar Images Featured Elsewhere

Reporters from Dwight Illinois (on Route 66) found out about a few of my images from their neighborhood and interviewed us. The Dawg Diner HDR image and a few others were featured in their small newspaper and we were quite pleased with how it all turned out.

As well, my cover shot for the calendar, the HDR image of Dots Diner in Bisbee Arizona was featured on Sean Ogle’s Daily HDR website.

Back to the Road Trip 2011 Calendar. To order one please click on the Add to Cart button below to make your payment by Paypal.  If you’re in Edmonton I’ll be keeping a list and you can come pick your order up from me directly once I get the calendars.  If you require shipping and billing to the US, please use the button below for US Orders.

Canadian orders here!

USA orders here! Quantity/price One calendar $20.00 Two for $40.00 Three $60.00

For orders of more than three calendars please email me with a quantity as I’ll have to get a quote on shipping. Then if you want to proceed I’ll send you a custom invoice including the freight.

If you like what you see here – please consider buying the book to help me support the children of Peru. To read more about the book please go to the “Visions of Peru” Book page.

Click on the image about to purchase the book.

This is Washington – affectionately, Washi

He was our guide on the trip but he is so much more than that. We all grew to love him, and to admire his tenacity and passion in helping his people, whom we also came to love. With money we raised prior to leaving for Peru, and his help – we were able to directly affect the people most in need, sometimes in remote areas. I saw first hand the poverty and suffering this people live with, yet they smile and offer us food when we enter their home. You can read and see his story and theirs in “Visions of Peru”.

I met Mama Sentuza, 84, who can barely see and who lives in the dirt and rock house she’s lived in her whole life. She has no running water except the stream beside her home, no electricity, no health care, and no help – except for Washi! You will meet her and see inside her home in “Visions of Peru”.

We met two children that tagged along with us during an afternoon visit to some Inca ruins. We learned how their story so very closely mirrored Washi’s own story, and how his has turned out with a happy ending thanks to the generosity of a lady name Mama Sharon and how hopefully with Washi’s help and guidance theirs will too. Without help, their story is sad and bleak. Four children being supported by their mother. The dad is gone and they live in a small one room house with only the clothes on their backs, no beds to sleep in, no money for school supplies, no money for food. This is the story of literally 100s of children and women in small towns everywhere in Peru. They are forced to beg for food, or sing for tourists – as they did for us, as Washi did some 20 years ago – just to survive.

We took 500 pairs of shoes to a mountain village and put them on the children’s feet ourselves. I saw first hand how bad the need is, and for such little money (to us) we can do so much good. For $1 a pair, they simply cannot afford the luxury of new shoes when they’ve outgrown them. The support and sharing I witnessed amount those children was awe inspiring. The older ones cared for their younger siblings and did without if there was none for them. I watched them help each other find a new pair to fit and give their old pair to a younger child that didn’t get any. Much can be learned from these people!

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Traditional publishing is very expensive and you have to make 100′s or 1000′s of copies and deal with sales, distribution, delivery and shipping. So I was not able to go that route at this time, but Blurb.com has provided me a means to make this dream a reality. It comes with a higher price tag, but I can assure you that 100% of the profit I make from all sales of this book will go directly to Washington to help the children.

Think of your book purchase in this way. You get:

• A gorgeous coffee table book full of over 200 of images the scenes and people of Peru, taken by an award winning photographer
• To feel good about helping the very people you see on its pages
• A tool for gratitude to remind yourself daily, how much you have when so many in the world have so little – and yet they are happy
• To make my dream come true, and help Washi with his dream of a better Peru for his people. One at a time!

How can you NOT fall in love with these faces?! I did

You CAN make a difference – please help! Buy one or more copies of the book. Give it as a gift for that hard to buy for friend who also likes helping people. Give it as corporate gifts or rewards for staff or clients. Buy it for anyone you know that’s ever been to Peru and has been touched by it as I have. Buy as many as you can – and then spread the word to others please.

If you cannot get a book, you can also help by passing along this story and link to this page. Put it on your Facebook wall. Twitter about it. Email it to all your friends and colleagues. In order to make this happen we need to reach as many people as possible. I can only do that with your help.

Thanks for listening.

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Visions of Peru

By Darlene Hildebrandt

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Enjoy and thanks again.

In your thin scruffiness,
black and white against
sand and stone, I think
of your well-groomed, fattened
relatives guarding luxury
in North America, as you
guard for the hand in the south,
that feeds you, no matter
how sparse, the dry bone.

- Sandra Mooney-Ellerbeck

Old Woman

old woman
on your face lies a gift of fields
stories unfold in the pleated furrows and long tales spill
across the white fence of your smile
phrases slip easy through narrow gaps
where pickets have fallen away
and I lean into the clear space of your calm contentment

I roam free in the gift of your eyes
ponder dimensions of the dusk you now inhabit
while the ripened sun spins out of your path

I am drawn by the gifts you carry in your hands
parrafin tapers antiqued and bent
and the bronzed shelf of your arm
warm against my back

Primed for your last hour
you are comfortable
in the history of your bones

- Barbara Mitchell