As long as I’m posting other people’s photographs today, I thought I’d include a Monk Shot! from a friend I’d lost touch with. He spent part of a year teaching English in Chiang Rai (where this shot is from), discovered he was gay, and fell in love with a Thai guy. I met the two of them back in the states where he was peddling his photography from SE Asia having decided to make a career out of the two things that got him hard: travel and photography. Well, and the Thai boyfriend.

His work proved he had a great eye, an aborted conversation about f-stops proved he hadn’t a clue about cameras. I though a little basic knowledge might be a good thing when you are planning on making your income off photography, but totally clueless he managed to have one of his shots included in National Geographic’s annual calendar three months later. You should never underestimate the power of one’s passion. We lost touch with each other soon after that. Which had nothing to do with jealousy. Really.

Fast forward a few years, I recently Googled him to see if he was still in the area. Turns out his photo journalism carer has taken off. And he’s produced some truly stunning and powerful images. The one of Rick Santorum I’m not holding against him. So I’m adding an additional Monk Shot! of his (though he calls these guys monklettes) along with another that fits the theme ‘cuz it’s nice to have a professional’s work displayed on my blog. Even if he doesn’t know what a f-stop is.

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