Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

Taking the Plunge, Green River

OK, we all know what this is like if not actually then at least figuratively. How many people out there have been on the edge of something scary and realized that the most logical choice was to throw themselves over and hope for the best? To take the plunge? Certainly I am not the only one.

I feel like the whole country is in that place right now poised at the edge of drop off staring at the churning water below and waiting for the courage to take the plunge and see what happens.

1.3 Trillion dollars disappeared out of the economy yesterday, just evaporated. What could be scarier than that? Here is what I think, those with the courage to jump -or paddle- over the edge and figure out a new way to do things will be fine, even prosperous. The people who wait at the brink won't even have water to land in when they have to take the plunge...

-Stephen Alvarez

Orphan Works!

The Orphan Works act passed the Senate. The previous link has a pretty good explanation of the bill. Please get in touch with your house representative and tell them not to support the bill (here).

-Stephen Alvarez

End of Summer, Tennessee

Ok, so summer ended at the first of the week, but here in Tennessee it still felt like it was going on. Today though fall is in the air. It was 47° this this morning.

I shot an aerial earlier today and could see mountains that are 90 miles away. I welcome the change in season but will miss the heat so I put this picture up because it sums up so much of what I love about living in the rural south in the summer. Lazy days exploring the creek trying to stay out of the heat.

-Stephen Alvarez

Music Video

Ok this is in essence and Obama advertisement. I've put it up this morning for 3 reasons.

1 Dave Stewart has always been one of the most interesting musicians around. In this video he put together has a big use of still images and even the moving images have a still photo quality.

2 I am an Obama supporter, though I suppose if there was in interesting McCain video I'd put it up.

3 Anything that features Forest Whitaker has to be good.

-Stephen Alvarez

Google 10^100

Google announced project (contest?) for people to submit ideas that will change the world. 10 million dollars will be split between the winning projects. Got an idea? Send it in lets change the world.

The application is here

Stephen Alvarez

Mediation: Northern Uganda

Last month in Northern Uganda I sat in on a land dispute mediated by a group of tribal religious and political leaders. It went on for hours as these gentlemen listened to all sides of the dispute and tried to bring the sides just a little closer together.

It is a serious conflict between 2 villages. People have died over the disputed land and both sides seemed to be intractable.

Reconciliation between the groups will be a years long process. The leaders commitment to bringing people together, to healing rifts and wounds in the community is deeply impressive. Particularly so considering this time in the United States election cycle where so many of our religious and political leaders seem hell bent on widening the gaps and deepening the rifts between us all. There is much to be learned from Africa, from the "third world" and we would do well to listen.

-Stephen Alvarez

New Canon Camera

Canon has introduced the EOS 5D mark II. Besides having the same 21 megapixel sensor as my 1Ds Mark III it also shoot true High Definition video.

Check out this film by Vincent Laforet shot with the camera.

Frustration: Australia

Last year I was assigned a very challenging story on astroid impact. Challenging because any event that I would shoot took place tens of thousands if not millions of years ago. Undeterred, I took the story and came up with an ambitious coverage plan. One of the images I wanted to make was of a full moon rise over a significant crater somewhere in the world. The moon of course is the result of a huge astroid impact early in the Earth's existence and that picture should drive the point home.

I chose to shoot Gosses Bluff in Western Australia. It is a 5 km wide rebound structure from a 140 million year old astroid impact. Northern Territory, AUstralia. Australia I thought, the weather won't be a factor...

To be on the safe side I arrived before the full moon and shot the crater from the air. It was beautiful, all I needed was a full rising moon and the photo would be perfect!

Of course the days of the full moon rise unprecedented clouds and haze from forest fires move in. I am up in a helicopter for moonrise and all I can see is haze! I am reminded of this now because I am trying to shoot an aerial of the Cumberland Plateau in Alabama and am having a similar experience. Every time we go up in the plane, nothing but haze...

So I am sitting here in waiting for the weather to change. I hope it does before winter time.

-Stephen Alvarez

dangerous crossing, New Britian

There is lots to be scared of underground, deep pits, snakes, floods, insects, rockfall, all pervasive darkness. The very scariest thing for me is moving water. Maybe it is because I have come close to drowning several times on expeditions, but swiftly moving water scares me the most. There is so much unstoppable force behind moving water...

On the Ora expedition in 2006 I knew we would have to deal with fast moving underground rivers. Overcoming rapids underground would be a big part of the expedition and a big part of my photography. I also knew that the only way to deal with my fear was to get right in the water and photograph what terrifies me. Like so many big, scary challenges in life the best thing for me to do was plunge right in and face my fears.

This photo of James Alker crossing the Ora river underground comes pretty close to expressing the feelings that I had every time I crossed that river. What Alker is scared of in this photo is that he'll be swept away from his safety rope and over the falls downstream behind him.

Luckily for James and us all he wasn't swept away to his untimely demise. We all lived to die another day.

Have a great weekend.

Stephen Alvarez

Think Fixed Tech: Shameless, Shameless Plug

Over the past 18 months, we at Think Fixed have been honing a new service that today we are announcing as an offering to anyone and everyone.  Our philosophy for Mac support is and has always been one of proactive maintenance.  But it is always hard to get businesses to go along with the hassle and cost of a regularly scheduled visit onsite to do all the housekeeping that keeps problems at bay.  What we are offering is a managed care plan (3 plans actually) that addresses both the issue of hassle and the one of cost. 

What we do under these plans is implement proactive maintenance on a Mac network, invisibly and securely, to do all those housekeeping chores automatically and constantly.  And we can do that at a cost that is a fraction of an in house tech, or a consultant.

We then allow you to work problem free and use whatever budget was set aside for tech to go to new projects that make you stronger (read: make more money) instead of waiting for disaster.

Please email me if you want more information, or go to one of these 2 pages (FAQ and Rate Plans) for more information.  And please forward the information to anyone you think may be interested.  We have on site services in NYC, DFW and the Sacramento area BUT can implement the management anywhere in the world.

Thanks for your time.

Geof Bowie
geof@thinkfixed.com