Steve McCurry

One photographer I deeply admire is Steve McCurry, a photojournalist mostly known for his National Geographic photographs. And one of my favorite photography book is his Portraits, a small (5x7) book of about a hundred unforgettable and beautiful street portraits of people all over the world.  The book hardly contains any words, just remarkable photos worth a thousand words that I look at over and over again.  To put it simply, he and this book inspire me.

I know that chances are, I will not be famous photojournalist like Steve. But I do enjoy photography as a creative outlet. A wish for myself is that once in awhile, I take a photo that speak to people, similar to Steve's body of work.

One of my favorite portraits that I have taken so far (my friend's adorable son):

New Mexico

Inspiring desert vistas. Delicious Southwestern cuisine. Spectacular Pueblo architecture. Fascinating history. Rich culture. There is much to love about this great state. I visited about a year and a half ago, and to this day, I often think about how blessed I felt while there. It was my first trip anywhere after recovering from an auto accident, so the dork in me feels quite sentimental about this special place.

Anyway, via one of my favorite blogs, I learned about this darling book, New Mexico: A Guide for the Eyes. In my opinion, it is not just a travel guide, but a coffee table book as well as it offers plenty of amazing photography. The author and photographer, Elisa Parhad, is a cultural anthropologist. So as you would expect, the book is quite informative and interesting. I enjoyed reading about a place I loved so much. I did not have this book during my first visit, but I am planning to go back as soon as possible. This book will surely make my second experience that much richer.

Some of my favorite photos I took from our visit:

Lonely Planet's The Travel Book

This book was a recent impulse buy, and I have no regrets. It is a travel guide on steroids covering every country in the world from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The photos are inspiring and beautiful.  The better part: it lists entertaining and valuable facts about each country. Did you know Hong Kong consumes more oranges than anywhere else on earth? And that in Japan, it is polite to slurp loudly when eating soup or noodles? And that Honduras is experiencing the most rapid urbanization in Central America?