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Now officially living in Haiti, it took me about three months to settle in and start the project. I am currently managing a project for L'Arche out here in the southern part of Haiti, funded by the European Union. I have to admit it hasn't let me much time to talk, work, or even think about photography... But now that the first boost has been given, making a schedule should be easier! A lot of features to work on in the next months, a lot of lost time to run after too!

I'll definitely be more and more present in here as I get more and more settled in the most amazing of countries, Ayiti Chéri!

And first, I'll be heading to the Gonaives to look at how the city has changed after the 2008 hurricanes.

I'll be heading off to Nicaragua for a little R&R over the next two weeks, but will be visiting every market I can find from Managua to Estelí. I hear it's hot, I don't do so well with hot, but I'll let you know what I come up with.

An image of mine was just featured on Verve Photo, a great site that features a new photographer every couple of weeks. There's some amazing work up there, and I'm definitely amongst very good company.

Check it out!

On Wednesday I will be heading to Cuba to work on projects related to markets and agriculture, and will be working there for approximately three weeks. I'm looking to focus my work on local markets within Havana, and then head out to Pinar del Rio to document the tobacco harvest, which will just be kicking into full swing.

Look for new images soon!

Back in May 2008, over a couple of beers, we started discussing our individual views on photography and realized that we had more than a few things in common. While we had only just met a few days before, it was clear we were going to start working together whether we liked it or not. It was shortly thereafter that Lucas started talking about this idea he had brewing to start a photo cooperative and the future became clear.

Jump ahead to December, and dozens and dozens of emails in between, and Jonathan was on a plane down to Guatemala, where Lucas had since relocated, to get the Ballad web site up and running and hammer out all the operational issues we'd need to actually begin calling ourselves a cooperative. As we're writing this it's the end of a long week spent staring into our computers and, while there's still plenty to do, we've set a date to go live: New Year's Eve. It's all very exciting and we're looking forward to good things in 2009.

And while we were stuck in the office for a good chunk of time, we did manage to get out and do some shooting. The above image is proof of that. We each shot the other while wandering around in a burning cane field. Jon on the left, Lucas on the right. Over the next year we hope to find other like-minded photographers and add others to the shot.