Videos on Vimeo

I shoot mostly still photos, not video.  But my Canon 5D Mark II camera can also shoot HD video, and I occasionally use that function (e.g., for motorcycle clips, a few crude underwater videos, etc.).  All my videos - including the photo montages I've created with Animoto - are on Vimeo.com, which is similar to YouTube, but without all the clutter and ads. You can find my Vimeo stuff HERE.

What a small world!

Yesterday, to help "promote" my photography to raise money for ICSF (see link in the right margin), I issued a little "press release" (using PR.com) about my appearance last week on Evening Magazine.  Less than an hour later, I got an email from a reporter in London, and a few hours later, one from an editor in the Maldives (Indian Ocean).  How amazing that two people on the other side of the world responded mere minutes after something was issued from Seattle!  That's the power of the internet!

Although I have concerns about internet security, the truth is that I've made some great friends by participating in forums for activities like photography, SCUBA diving, and motorcycles. Some of those people live across the country - or even in other countries - and when I've finally gotten to meet them in person, I feel like I already know them!

Speaking of friends, I was recently contacted by email by two old friends - Ron from college and Rick from childhood days.  These are friends with whom I've had no communication for over thirty years, and both of them just happened to come across my email while tinkering around on the internet!

Before email, my siblings and I sometimes went for years between contacts - all busy with our own lives, and seldom even talking on the phone.  But we now communicate by email almost every week, sometimes several times a day!  I feel like I'm always "in touch" and have grown closer to them as a result.

So...as much crap as there is on the internet, I see the positive side, too - it's a tool for establishing, re-establishing, maintaining and even improving relationships!

Photo Exhibit at Clyde Hill Tully's

I encourage any of you in the Seattle area to stop into Tully's at  8805 Points Dr. NE in Clyde Hill (just off Hwy 520 on the East side of Lake Washington).  They have a group of special prints of my photos by Prestige Graphics (the same firm that produces the prints for Smithsonian exhibits!). They're by far the best quality prints I've ever seen!  One of the cool things is a 5-foot high print of my grinning shark; it is an exact replica of the one that was in the Smithsonian Nature's Best Photography exhibit for 6 months last year. 

It has been really fun seeing/hearing how much people are enjoying this exhibit, and it was featured in the Evening Magazine segment referenced in my previous post below.

My TV Debut!

Here's a link to a TV segment about my underwater photography on Seattle's Evening Magazine last night: CLICK HERE (Click "Native" at top when frame opens. Segment starts after a 1-minute intro.) If that doesn't work, try the lo-res version on King TV's website HERE.

I was really self-conscious (being my first time on TV), but I think they did a nice job, and I was happy that they mentioned ICSF by name - hopefully that will garner some donations! Of course, they only used a few short "sound bites" out of the hour-long interview they did with me (I talked about Nature's Best Photography, the PKD Foundation, shark fin soup and shark conservation, and tons of other stuff), but I realize that in a few minute story, most of it had to be left out.

Just for the record, I did NOT suggest "staring down" sharks! I simply said that, with small sharks, often if you just looked straight at them, they will veer away because they seem able to recognize your eyes (I guess they felt a need to spice it up a little!). ;-)

Animoto videos (montages of photos)

I've been experimenting with a website called Animoto.com, which lets you easily construct videos and put generic music with them (30 second videos with up to 15 photos are free, whereas longer ones like the ones below have a cost). Here are four I made from my still photos.  They range from cute (our dogs and clownfish) to less cute (mantas and sharks). If you watch one, click the four-corner icon at the bottom right (for Full Screen)!
Four Great Dogs

Colorful Clownfish

Majestic Mantas

Spectacular Sharks

How I came to Support ICSF

A burn victim, before and after ICSF surgery.

It's interesting how a chance encounter can result in a lasting relationship.  Most of you know that I donate the profits from my photography to the International Children's Surgical Foundation.  What you don't know is how that came to be.

A few years ago, my oldest brother, Roger, was unconscious and literally on his death bed in his apartment in Boise, ID.  My sister Margo and I were able to go and sit with him that last week of his life.  During that time, a number of Roger's friends came by to pay their respects, bring us meals, and keep us company.  Two of them were Geoff Williams and his mother, Bev.

Both Bev and Geoff considered Roger a dear friend.  Bev was one of my mother's friends, and got to know Roger during those years, and stayed in touch with him after my mother's death.  That connection led to Roger and Geoff becoming friends as well.

Well, Bev and Geoff came and spent hours with Margo and me in Roger's apartment, and in the course of those conversations we discussed our lives...and theirs.  I discovered that Geoff graduated from high school the same year I did, and he and I played basketball against each other (I grew up in Boise) for our respective high schools.

At some point in our conversations, Margo and I learned that Geoff had given up his practice as a plastic surgeon, and spent most of his savings, to establish ICSF.  He did so after an experience in Viet Nam with hundreds of mothers and their children with facial deformities. It so touched him that he decided it was his life's calling to help children like that.  Through ICSF, he now leads teams of physicians and nurses to lesser-developed countries all over the world performing facial surgeries and teaching local physicians how to do the same.

Bev, meanwhile, who thought she had long since "retired," became the secretary and treasurer of ICSF, and "runs" the day to day operation of ICSF from a small room in her home (Geoff lives there when he's home in between missions).  Neither of them takes any salary, and they scrimp and save (Geoff drives a 20-year-old Toyota) so that every possible penny can go towards ICSF's work.

After Roger died, Margo and I suggested that people who wanted to donate money in his memory give to ICSF.  We did so not only because Bev and Geoff were such good friends to him, but because we were so touched by their selfless dedication to such a wonderful cause.

Later, as I was thinking of where I should donate money from my photography (I made the decision years ago that I would give any profits to charity), it occurred to me that I had traveled to and taken pictures in many countries like those ICSF served, and had seen the beautiful children in those places, and knew how impossible it would be for them to pay for surgery of the type provided by Geoff and his teams.  By performing those surgeries for free, ICSF literally gives those children a chance at a normal life.  I couldn't think of a more worthy endeavor to support.  So that's what I've done ever since.  As an example, I placed the ad below in an underwater photography magazine as "payment" for an article I wrote:

The ad I was able to get in Underwater Photography magazine in lieu of compensation for an article I wrote for them

I encourage you to visit the ICSF website.  I think you, too, will be touched by what they do.

Y3K (Yates' 3rd Kidney) - 6 month update

April 21, 2010 was Y3K's 6-month anniversary!  This should bring anyone interested up to speed on my kidney transplant.  (BTW, unless something unusual happens, the next update will likely be in October - around the 1-year mark.)

The short story is "Y3K is doing great!"  My wonderful doctor at UWMC (Dr. Kim Muczynski, who I now only have to go see about every 2 months) says everything is going perfectly - that I could be the poster child for what successful transplants look like!  In fact, some of my blood numbers are the best they've been in more than ten years!  So needless to say, I am feeling very lucky indeed!   Sherry R. (Y3K's previous "owner") is also doing great, and Cheri and I get to spend time with her and her husband Mel regularly.

6 months was a significant milestone, in part because I got to drop some more pills...thus far, I've been able to drop about 1/3 of the original pills I was taking (I'm down to "only" about 40 a day), and I am having far fewer side effects than before.  And, of course, the longer my body goes without rejecting the new kidney, the more likely it will continue to be a hospitable host!  

One of the good side effects of my medications is that--in conjunction with the fact that my old deadbeat (polycystic) kidneys keep growing and putting pressure on my stomach--I tend not to be as hungry.  So in the first 6 months after the transplant, I lost about 50 lbs!  If I lose another 10-15 lbs, I will hit my "ideal" weight, at which point I'll actually need to start forcing myself to eat more to maintain that level!  (For anyone who knows me well, the idea of me having to force myself to eat is slightly hilarious!) 

Anyway, I've been super busy at work (I've been working full time since about a month after surgery!), without much time for anything else.  However, I went on my first Y3K dive trip--on Grand Cayman (1 week of really easy diving)--with Rick and Traci in May.  All went well, and in November I head back to Socorro (for the 5th time) with a bunch of friends.  It is great to be getting back in the water after a year!

I'll be avoiding more exotic destinations (e.g., Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) for at least a few years because one thing that could trigger my body to reject Y3K is a serious infection, and countries like that have lots of diseases just waiting for visitors.  In fact, even though those are some of my favorite places, I may never get to go back for that reason, unless my doctor is totally comfortable that it's safe.  If not, I can live with that; it's a small price to pay...and there are plenty of other places to dive/visit.

Several people have asked me if I feel differently about diving, or riding my motorcycle, than before the transplant.  The answer is "yes."  It's not that I feel I should give up those activities, but I feel a need to be a bit more cautious in the WAY I do them.  I haven't exactly been a wild man in the past, but it's a little like when you're driving someone else's child around in your car - you might drive just a little more carefully because you're aware of being "responsible" for them, and taking good care of them.  I feel a little like that - like maybe I need to hang one of those little yellow diamond-shaped signs on the back of my motorcycle that says, "Kidney on Board!"  ;-) 

Well, that's enough rambling for now.  As I've said before, I truly appreciate all of the kind wishes, inquiries and thoughts everyone has sent me.

First Blog Post

Up to this point, I have assiduously avoided joining "social networking" sites (Facebook, etc.) because of privacy/security concerns. I suppose this blog could be viewed as opening the door to that realm, but I'm hoping it remains mostly a forum for communication with friends, family and like-minded strangers (sometimes strangers can end up becoming quite good friends!).

BTW, I created this blog using Google's free blog site: www.Blogger.com .