Traditionally the New Year is celebrated with blessings that involve wiping powder on peoples faces and water fights while the hard working farmers take a moment to enjoy the fruits of their harvest and relax before the rainy season begins. Now as you can imagine, the celebrations are quite a bit different here in the States and abroad than they are in Cambodia but the partying is still there nonetheless. Here in Long Beach, the celebrations started with the 6th Annual Cambodian New Year Parade which took place on April 4th followed by the annual New Year Celebration at El Dorado Park on the 10th. Now normally I would have been out there documenting the celebrations with my camera, but this year I told myself to just simply enjoy the party instead of taking photos of everyone else enjoying it. But with that said, I couldn’t stop myself from snapping a few photos so here are some shots from the New Years Parade and a few more from KAA’s performance at El Dorado Park. Enjoy!

And as always, you can find the rest of the photos from KAA’s performance at SOJOURN FOTO’s Online Gallery.

“Expulsion”, a new work from Heidi Duckler and Collage Dance Theatre will activate a vacant lot in Cambodia Town. Based on the themes of immigration and displacement, this cross-disciplinary site performance will explore the temporary, often fragile nature of “home.”

So I don’t want to spoil it for you but it’s definitely going to be something new and different if you’re expecting a traditional performance from KAA. Part of the collaboration between the Collage Dance Theatre and KAA was meant to push both groups to their creative boundaries as both groups had to be able to adapt to and create a new performance to fit not only fit the theme of Expulsion, but location and setting as well. So while you’ll probably recognize a lot of what’s taken from traditional Classical Cambodian Dance, this performance features new choreography that was created exclusively for Expulsion. I should also say that the new dance combined with the acrobatic performance of the Collage Dance Theatre should definitely keep you entertained. But that’s enough for me, on to the photos!

Anyways I hope you enjoyed that little sneak peak. If you want to see the rest of the performance in full you’ll have to show up to that nondescript vacant dirt lot on either March 19th or March 20th at 6 pm. For more information about Expulsion or the Collage Dance Theatre you can visit their site here or just take a look below.

Date: March 19th and 20th, 2011.
Time: 6:00 pm.
Location: 1546 E. Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90813. At the intersection of Anaheim and Walnut across from Mark Twain Library.

Anyways, I’ve got more photos from some events coming up including some from Khmer Arts Academy’s opening act for Dengue Fever just the other day. I’m just short on time when it comes to working on the photos since I’ve got to squeeze them in that little bit of free time that I have between my actual career and just life in general. In the mean time, enjoy this random mix of photos from a lovely fall afternoon in Southern California.

Anyways moving on, part two of my D.C. trip picks up where I left off. After spending about two and a half hours in Arlington National Cemetery I decided that I really had to get a move on if I was going to make it to the National Mall and eventually the White House before having to head back to Bethesda to cover Sophiline and Khmer Arts’ first official practice session. The next portion of my self guided tour started with what turned out to be a longer than expected walk across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Now the one thing that I have to mention about D.C. is that everything seems like it’s within a short walking distance when you first look at things. That turns out to be an illusion; however, because once you start walking you then realize that you’re in for a lot longer walk than you ever expected.

My first stop along the National Mall was the Lincoln Memorial. It’s pretty much what you expect to see and after hearing about how big Lincoln’s statue is supposed to be, there’s no surprise in how small you really feel while standing below it. And as expected, there were plenty of tourists around but it actually wasn’t as crowded as I had thought it would be. Though I would have to guess that assumption would be true if I had been there on a weekend instead of a weekday.

My second stop along the National Mall was the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial where I met a homeless Vietnam Vet with cancer whom I really felt for. Yes I know, while there are plenty of those who take advantage of things by pretending to be a homeless Vietnam Vet who has been forgotten by his country just to get a free handout, I honestly believe that he was the real deal. You’re probably wondering how do I know if he’s a phony or for real and honestly I can’t prove that he was a 100%, genuine, real Vietnam Vet. But I can say that he answered enough of the right questions to convince me that he’s the real thing. As a history and military buff, I’ve been an avid reader of the Vietnam War since I was in high school. It started when I picked up a book by Gary R. Smith, author of “Death in the Jungle: Diary of a Navy SEAL”. Gary R. Smith’s account of his first tour in Vietnam grabbed my attention so much that it became the beginning of one of probably 50 or more books that I’ve read about the Vietnam War authored by those who fought in it. So over the years I’ve read up on a thing or two about what units served where, what battles were fought, who did what and so on.

When I first met the gentleman (he’s in the 7th picture down), he was giving an oral history of the Wall to a group of tourists. As I walked closer towards him, I started to listen more in on his words towards the tourists since I figured he must have been a tour guide or something simply by the way he held their attention. After he gave the crowd a quick oral history of the Wall, the War and how to find names everyone quickly dispersed. That’s when I realized that he was not a tour guide at all but rather just someone who was helping the tourists out. I figured he might be a real Vet based on all the knowledge he had of the wall and because that’s what his had said so I decided to approach him and ask how he was doing. He told me he wasn’t feeling so well and had better days before having cancer but was glad that the weather was fairly nice. He then told me a bit about the Wall and asked if I was in the service. I told him no, I had been turned down because of my asthma although I do have plenty of close friends and family in the service including my best friend. We got into talking a bit and I asked him if he was a Vietnam Vet to which he confirmed he was. I then asked him what unit he was with and how many tours he did and was told that he served with the 101st Airborne in the Ashau Valley then had a second tour with the 5th Special Forces. At that point my nationality came up and when he found out I was from Cambodian and born in a refugee camp he told me that the last 18 names on the Wall were from those who were killed in Cambodia during the Mayaguez incident and that he had also spent some time at a small firebase near the Cambodian border with his Special Forces A Team.

During a lull in our conversation he saw a WWII Vet with an 82nd Airborne hat on and gave him a bit of grief for being from that “other Airborne unit”. They joked around a bit and when the WWII Vet asked him how was doing today, he told him not so great because of his cancer. The WWII Vet asked him if it was from exposure to agent orange to which he confirmed it was. He also added that he had been fighting with the government for the last 6 years over his VA benefits and it had been a long and bitter fight. What really got me then was how you could see the pain in his eyes when he talked about his cancer and the government the second time. And I mean that literally, you could see pain, as in the pain that he was hurting from and the pain from the being denied his VA benefits by the government he served for at that very moment. There was a quiet moment at that point before the WWII Vet asked him if he needed any help. He told him that yes, he could use a bit of help because he was now homeless after losing his job months ago and was living in a homeless shelter a couple miles down. The WWII Vet asked if he would take any money to which he responded yes, if the WWII Vet really wanted to donate some he would take it because food was hard for him to come by these days. After the WWII Vet handed him some cash, the Vietnam Vet then turned to help some other visitors try and scratch a name off of the wall when they tore a hole through their paper. He handed them a pencil and another spare sheet of paper that he had in his backpack before turning back to me to resume our conversation. At that point, I really felt bad for the gentleman and really wanted to do something for him. I figured I could make him the offer that if he would be willing to tell me a few of his stories I would buy him lunch in exchange. I looked around for a place that I could take him to but there was nothing to be found anywhere nearby other than one food stand selling overpriced junk food. I thought to myself that he could eat from there any other day and I didn’t want to take him to just any fast food joint, but a nice sit down restaurant. In the end there wasn’t anything near by and I didn’t want to take up anymore of his time from anyone else so I reached into my pocket and pulled out something for him when he wasn’t looking. I told him thanks for all that he’s done and that his sacrifice, as well as the rest of those on the wall, allowed me to be here standing before him today. With that said, I shook his hand with my donation for him in my hand and walked away to continue the rest of my tour to the Washington Monument and finally the White House.

Fast forward to the summer of 99 when I was helping a good friend of mine move his family from Ft. Bragg, NC to Springfield, MA before he was to attend the US Army’s Officer Candidate School in Ft. Benning, GA. We made the long 12 hour drive without stopping aside for the mandatory gas, food and bathroom breaks.  That was when I got my first glimpse of our Nation’s Capital, through the windows of a 1990ish Toyota Camry while stuck in traffic along the Capital Beltway. It was not a fun experience by any stretch of the imagination and our bladders can attest to that as we were stuck in some horrendous traffic between D.C. and Baltimore where we couldn’t even find a place to stop for a bathroom break.

So ironically, even with my great travel benefits I still somehow managed not to make it to D.C. until this last September, when I traveled to D.C. to cover Sophiline Cheam Shapiro and Khmer Arts’ performance at NEA’s National Heritage Fellowship Concert. During that time, I was lucky enough to have some free time to site see during the day while Sophiline and Khmer Arts were busy practicing for the concert. I should also note that I was lucky enough to be staying at a hotel that was within easy walking distance from the Bethesda Metro Station: my affordable and easy to use link from Bethesda to pretty much anywhere I wanted to go in D.C.

Anyways, Part One of this entry starts with Arlington National Cemetery. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t know what to really expect when I first stepped off the escalator from the Metro’s Arlington Station. All I knew was that I wanted to visit Arlington to pay my respects to all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our nation’s freedom. My original plan was just to make a quick walk through of whatever parts of the cemetery that I could; however, after arriving at the visitor’s center to pick up a copy of a map of Arlington, I pretty much figured that the “quick” part of my plan wasn’t going to happen. Because of my time constraints, 5 hours before returning to cover Sophiline and Khmer Arts’ official practice at the Strathmore, I decided to purchase a ticket on one of Arlington’s tour mobiles. The tour mobile was supposed to give you a one and a half hour tour of the Kennedy Grave sites, Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and the Arlington house if you were to make a stop at each site, but I found that to be grossly incorrect unless you only spent 15 minutes or less at each site. Unfortunately for me I ended up missing several buses and my hour and a half tour turned into a two and a half hour adventure before I finally gave up and just walked from site to site as it was quicker in the end. Anyways, I’ll stop here with the long entry and let you get onto the pictures. If you would like more information about any of the sites pictured below just run your cursor over the photos for the captions then visit the Arlington National Cemetery website here. Enjoy!

Now, Sophiline also happens to be Julie’s dance instructor and when she found out that they were asked to perform at the Fellowship Concert, I instantly knew that I wanted to be there to cover it. Fortunately I was given the okay to do so by John Shapiro, Sophiline’s husband, and before I knew it September 24th rolled around and I was winging my way east to Washington, DC for this special occasion. I can honestly say that it was an honor to see Sophiline Cheam Shapiro perform in person at such a special event and I will be forever grateful to have seen it.

Anyways, on to the photos. As you’ll see, I’m only posting the photos from Sophiline and Khmer Arts’ performance of “Shadow” during the concert here on my blog. The rest of the photos from the entire concert will be available at my online at my client print gallery here at the NEA Heritage Fellowships Concert Gallery. And as always, enjoy!

Event: National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships Concert
Date: September 24, 2009
Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore
Location: North Bethesda, Maryland

So here it is, the final version of “A California Sunset”. Enjoy!

The difference in colors that you see between the two photos is because of the setting sun and this time frame difference. This gave photo # 2 a more saturated and vivid look with it’s colors whereas photo # 1 has a more pastel/water color look to it. I should also mention that the foreground in photo # 2 is brighter and has more detail compared to photo # 1 because someone had setup an automatic flood light in their back yard that acted as a really good fill light for the foreground in photo # 2. You might also notice that the framing is slightly different as I had zoomed in a bit more in photo # 2 while I was trying different compositions.

Personally I like them both equally; however I can only pick one for my upcoming press photo book and will most likely only pick one out of the two to frame and place on the market for sale. So which do you prefer?

]]> http://www.sojournfoto.com/2009/09/a-california-sunset/feed/ 4 http://www.sojournfoto.com/2009/08/this-ones-for-sabrina/ http://www.sojournfoto.com/2009/08/this-ones-for-sabrina/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:47:01 +0000 Kimsua http://www.sojournfoto.com/?p=56 No I am not a Hello Kitty fan, my friend Sabrina is. I was out with Julie enjoying the evening at The Surf City Nights Street Fair in downtown Huntington Beach a few weeks ago when Julie spotted this Hello Kitty bike and we both immediately thought of Sabrina. Honestly if Sabrina lived in California instead of Boston, this would be the bike that I would imagine her to be on while cruising down the beach on a hot sunny day. All kidding aside, it wasn’t just the theme of the bike that caught our attention, it was the level of “Hello Kittyness” that was found in the details of this bike that amazed us the most. So much detail in fact that even the tread on the tires themselves were made out of imprints of Hello Kitty’s face! Talk about some amazing creativity and some great craftsmanship!

Anyways, because of the craftsmanship of the bike and because Sabrina is such a big fan of Hello Kitty I took a quick photo of the bike with the sole intention of posting this on my blog so that Sabrina could see it. I hope you enjoy this one Sabrina!

Anyways during our 4 day stay, the company usually puts us up at the Historic Plains Hotel right near the middle of downtown Cheyenne. The Plains Hotel was built in 1911 and has a very storied past. For those of you who are fans of the supernatural, the Plains is one of Cheyenne’s more ghostly places as it’s well known as a place that houses several spirits including the spirit of one named Rosie.

A few years ago while staying at the Plains, I had the pleasure of talking to the then Historian of the Plains Hotel who told me the story of Rosie. Apparently Rosie and her husband were newlyweds who had checked into the hotel while on their honeymoon shortly after their wedding. One evening Rosie’s husband decided to head downstairs to have a drink in the lounge and after a prolonged absence she went in search of him. Upon arriving downstairs Rosie saw that her husband was busy chatting up a “lady of the night” at the bar and went into a jealous fit of rage. Rosie quickly returned to her room where she found her husband’s sidearm and returned to the bar where she promptly shot the two before returning to her own honeymoon suite to turn the gun on herself. Neither of the 3 survived and story has it that all three spirits still roam the hotel today.

Now I won’t get into the whole discussion of whether or not one should believe in ghosts and if the supernatural really does exist, but I can tell you that I have seen some rather strange things with some of my co-workers and have heard some crazy stories from some of the hotel workers during my stay. All I can say in the end is if you’re looking for a quick adventure in an old Western town in an old Western hotel, the Plains Hotel is the place for you. Check it out sometime if you’re in Cheyenne and ask the workers about the story of Rosie. Also, if you happen to see a coffee table book about antique furniture lying around the hotel lobby, pick it up and flip towards the first 3rd of the book and look for a photo of the old bar that is now the ballroom in the Plains. I think you’ll be quite shocked at what you see and you can be the judge of all the stories yourself!

Oh and before I go, here’s a quick photo out the window of my room during my recent stay.