This is how you celebrate a Birthday!
This little guy, Owen, wise beyond his years, turned one recently and I couldn’t help admiring his cake eating method at his birthday party. Brilliant–I think we all should eat cake like this on our birthdays! |
June 30, 2008
June 25, 2008
Honey Bees, Up close
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In late May I visited Farmer Todd’s 3 generation cherry farm as the Honey Bees were busy pollinating the orchards. Honey bees are rented out by cherry farmers in the spring to insure pollination. The bees are delivered for a 1 to 2 week period when the bees cover up to a mile in radius visiting blooming cherry trees. I caught them at the end of the pollination period, but was nonetheless was easily mesmerized by the bees work, structure and soothing sounds.
Images by Gary L Howe. For more Honey Bee Images: Honey Bees |
June 6, 2008
Skill Swapping in East Jordan
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I participated in ISLAND’s 2nd annual Skill swap at the Wagbo Peace Center in East Jordan earlier in the spring. I went to learn about garden irrigation, seed transplanting, fire starting with friction and, gulp, chicken processing. The Radio Anyway piece I produced is at the link above (archive May 24th show). ISLAND also has a ncie online resource for skill swapping. Images below Seed Transplanting and Chicken processing.
Check out this resource: TheCityChicken.com. It’s a web site to encourage city folks to take the plunge into poultry! Missed the swap, check out How to Butcher a Chicken. If you’re really interested in the state of chicken processing, there have been several recent articles written in the national press.
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April 17, 2008
A Test for Seeing
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It is also reflective of photography as a practice of seeing the complete picture. Seeing the unexpected. Seeing the subtle. Seeing, and capturing, what otherwise would be missed. It is a practice. Just like driving. |
Take this test. It is short. It has everything to do with seeing. Used here to promote driver awareness of bicyclists. March 31, 2008
A Cheesy Day in Michigan
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The Leelanau Cheese Company is located in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The owners, John and Anne Hoyt make their artisan raclette in large batches that are aged around 8 months. The Free Press’s Sylvia Rector did a nice job describing the process, but also captured the uniqueness of the Hoyt’s mission–fine cheese, made right, from the cow to the plate. See more pictures, and read her article online at: It’s the best cheese in America Below, John Hoyt squeezes excess whey and water out of a fresh wheel of cheese. The cheese will sit with weights on top of it for another 12 hours before being placed in a cellar for 8-10 months.
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March 28, 2008
Coming out of Winter
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Although i haven’t been posting to the BLOG of late, I have been shooting more than usual for this time of year. Some of the jobs I’ve are below. The New York Times covered a Home Repo Tour that I covered, the Detroit Free Press ran a snowmobile article on the front page and a new magazine, Edible Grande Traverse, launched and can be picked up around the region. My first of hopefully many assignments with them was a profile of Grand Traverse Resort Chef, Ted Cizma. In addition, there is a stock image in the March issue of Traverse Magazine (try to find it) and Dome Magazine ran a cover portrait of a Traverse City mover-and-shaker. Now, it’s time to get out there and shoot. Do you have any ideas? |
I can see the light! Yesterday the winter tires came off and spring is here! Right? …..February 7, 2008
鼠 Happy New Year! 鼠
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恭喜發財, KungHeiFatChoi, is a Cantonese New Year greeting for “Congratulations and be prosperous”. We can only hope! This is the year of the Rat, and it stands to be a year of change for us rats, culminating in a gloomy and pessimistic December. Yikes! The cure, according to one reading of the Chinese zodiac– Rats should travel abroad and learn something new. In particular, if you were born in the fall, head south. That’s convenient, as my recent trip to Colombia left me wanting more (images soon). To celebrate here are some New Year inspired images from my 2005 trip to China.
It is always a good time to eat Chinese sausages, shown here hanging on a telephone line on a sunny day in December in the then frigid city of Nanchang.
The Chinese New Year time is also called the Spring Festival and it is the time of the year when almost everyone takes a vacation and heads home for a week or two. The parks are full and the restaurants are packed
This year is particular special for China as Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics from August 8 to August 24. This Olympic logo was hung on a construction site in the southern city of Nanjing. The promotional blitz for the Olympics has countrywide and extensive ever since the announcement in 2001.
In the end, it is all about family. Here, an elder couple walk home from a Nanjing market.
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January 25, 2008
Colombia, for the dogs
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El perroito, Guardia, inspects the arrival of a group of strange visitors to the Cafinorte coffee warehouse in the Colombian city of Santander on January 16, 2008. The warehouse is a collection point for the indigenous coffee producer cooperative, Fondo Paez. I spent over a week touring coffee growing regions in Colombia with Jody and Chris Treter of Higher Grounds Trading Co . I’m just getting back into the swing of things, the frigid weather hasn’t helped, but I’ll have more images, as well as audio soon. * Note: If you’re a bicycle promoter, you must check out when they are doing in Bogotá. Watch this video and tell me you don’t want something like this in your town: Ciclovia: Bogotá
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October 17, 2007
U.P. in October
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I spent the weekend in the U.P. shooting a wedding, camping with my beagle, and getting a tour of the area around the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout River where a proposed sulfide mine is meeting stern resistance. I’ll have more of the wedding and the river story soon, but wanted to share a few images on my birthday.
Lima waiting patiently as I take far too long shooting a scene.
Images by me, Gary L Howe |
September 23, 2007
The Neahtawanta Center Turns 20
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Erlewine’s latest solo album, Mother Moon features images in the insert that were taken by me during the recording in Big Rapids in December 2006. You can listen to and purchase a DVD at her Web site.
Image by Gary L Howe |
The August 6, 2007
Last Thoughts: 2007 Film Festival
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The 2007 Traverse City Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday and now we enter the quiet days of summer. I didn’t shoot too much on the last day of the festival, but I did have the honor of placing the letters on the marquee for the 4PM show at the State Theater–”Please Vote For Me“. Cool. I always wanted to do that. The exciting news from the festival, for locals, is that the State Theatre will be an operational community theatre once again on November 17. I can’t wait. I didn’t realize what Traverse City had lost when it closed in 1991, but I’m thrilled that we will get it back. The documentary “Please Vote For Me” made me cry because it was so funny, honest, and revealing of some very universal traits. It also depicted a classroom of Chinese students who I felt like I knew. I have taught in China, and the children in this movie brought it all back. Rent this film if you get a chance. My favorite film from the 2007 TC Film Festival was War Dance. War Dance told the story of three Uganda refugee students who strive to re-invent their identity from a war torn past. The children, at 12 years old, showed more perspective, insight and maturity than I see in most adults.
This is the view from the marquee. The Traverse City Film Festival Photo BLOG will be getting updates in the coming weeks. There were about 16 festival photographers who were set loose on the streets of Traverse City. Check out what we came with: Traverse City Film Festival Photography |
August 2, 2007
Extraterrestrials, Governors & Nimrods
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* The TCFF now has a daily photo BLOG that I contribute to, check it out: TC Film festival. The overworked photogs at the Record Eagle also have a daily update. The second day of the Traverse City Film Festival needed extra security as governor Granholm made an appearance at the screening of Nimrod Nation at the Old Town Playhouse. Also on stage at the screening were representatives of the fighting Nimrods from Watersmeet, Michigan. The isolated community, and its love for the high school basketball team is the subject featured in the new documentary series by director Brett Morgen, who was also on hand to field a Q and A session. If you’ve ever spent time in the upper peninsula, or grew up in a small community, there is a lot to remind you of home in this TV series. Later, the festival’s first free movie at the Traverse City Open Space kicked off with a screening of E.T. You know what? I’ve never saw this movie until tonight.
I also watched Tuya’s Marriage which is a Chinese story of Mongolian life in Inner Mongolia where water is scarce and life is harsh. |
June 25, 2007
Tango on Lincoln
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We threw a party to break in the new house on Lincoln St. complete with the emerging band, Barefoot Tango, that is bringing a bit of world culture to Traverse City with their brand of neuvo tango. Below is just a quick glimpse into the scene that had the street lined with cars, and the front yard stacked with bicycles. As the host, I wasn’t able to shoot more. And, don’t forget that Barefoot Tango will be playing again Friday June 29th at the Inside Out Gallery.
From the back of the stage to the front; Keith, Chad, Morgan and Lou on the bandelion.
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May 9, 2007
Howe Family- Images
Gary Lee Howe Sr. 1942-2007
I knew my father best in his retired years when the pace of his life was a little slower than his earlier years. He did everything very deliberately, and, he did try to do everything. He just never could shake the call to be a leader. He would help anyone, anywhere if they asked, and he might help them even if they didn’t. Cancer took his life at a full 65 years of age on April 26, 2007. One gift that my father’s death offered was the opportunity for family to take time out of their busy, separated lives. We sat around telling old stories and memories, and also looking at old photographs. I wanted to show some of them here in honor of my father, family and stories. I particularly like the image above. It is of my father while at the Howe cottage on Lake George. It reminds me of his reflective, spiritual side, although I know he probably was just playing around. Images speak to us in many different ways. Many of the images we looked through were images that I had never seen. I keep coming back to the image below, of my grandfather Kenneth Howe, because it is like looking into a picture of myself. This image ends the debate of where I get my good looks and the shiny top. Compare…
The image of my great-grandparents below shows the humor that runs through the family. I’m not sure of the date that this photo was taken, but there was a series of these images taken with the same backdrop of flat, agricultural land of lower Michigan. I just think this is a hilarious image.
And below, my father’s legacy. From tallest to shortest, Sister Maria, Brother Ricky, Matt and Julie and finally, myself, Gary Jr. This might be the only photo in the family with all five of the siblings together. I wish I had still had that suit!
Thanks dad. The following is a lot of what I felt at the funeral.
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April 20, 2007
Rwandan Bike Project
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I wish I would have met someone from this project while I was in Rwanda. I saw so many bicycles that I would often dream about training a championship Mt. Bike team and looking through the Project Rwanda Web site I saw that there indeed is one! Also, Check out the Wooden Bike Classic. All over the place, people were impressively using bicycles to travel and to transport goods despite the hilly terrain. I didn’t see any of the wooden bikes, but I did see a lot of Shanghai made Phoenix, which are a sturdy Chinese bike. I was impressed with the loads people were carrying on these bikes. The task portrayed below isn’t as easy as it looks. If you get a chance, visit their Web site to learn more, and if so inclined, make a donation. |
April 7, 2007
Country Music in Rwanda
“You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em…” in Rwanda and beyond.
I was only in Rwanda for two weeks, so I’ll forgive myself for not seeing the broader context, but myself, and my travel companions from Cooperative Coffees and SERRV International, did notice a particular fondness by our Rwandan drivers for American Country Music–namely the “Gambler” by Kenny Rogers. In fact, as we pulled into the Kigali Airport for our departure, our driver was delighted to hear that we were jamming, literally, to that old standby.
On April 7th, NPR’s Gwen Thompkins, explored this phenomenon.
Her piece on country music in Africa is titled, 
“Country Music in a Far Country” and gets to the heart of the story that alluded me.
(Above) A man shows off his shiny new boots at a public bus stop in Kigali, Rwanda.
A group of teenagers listen to music while they take a morning swim in Lake Kivu in Rwanda’s Western District. These inexpensive radios are seen all over Rwanda.
“Country Music in a Far Country“
Also, one of my traveling partners BLOGed about the same story, read it at Lucia Has Something To Say
March 18, 2007
Issue: Smokefree Ordiances Commentary
Listen to the commentary: CHOKE-FREE TC?
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I produced an audio commentary for Radio Anyway this weekend. The subject, Smokefree Ordinances, and their place in bars and restaurants. You may have 
recently heard that the Grand Traverse County Commission voted down a proposal which would have banned smoking in area workplaces—for the time being bars and restaurants are exempt from local smoking bans under state law. But the Traverse City Commission has moved forward and is urging the state to allow local governments to include bars and restaurants. (Click here to read a draft of the TC Letter to area State Senators PDF)
There has been a debate playing out in the local editorial papers, and amongst many on the street. The idea seems repulsive to some, and to others, well, it just makes sense. Smokefree ordinances in Traverse City may be a long ways away, but other cities, states and, in some cases, entire nations like Ireland, France and the SAR Hong Kong, all smoking meccas, are enacting them.
Click here for a list of restaurants that have already gone Smokefree in Michigan.
NOTE: Producing this piece was difficult. There was a lot I could have added, and somethings I wish I would have stated a little differently, but the commentary was a result of several conversations and interviews, and a lot of reading up on the subject of secondhand smoke and, as you will hear, a little philosophy.
February 26, 2007
Chinese in Rwanda
There are many Chinese people living and working in Rwanda. Many of them I spoke with are operating small wholesale businesses or selling $1 store merchandise. This is what Mr. Liang (below) and his younger counterpart, nicknamed “Xiaomenr“, Little Fella (”That’s what everyone calls me, that’s my name,” he insisted when asked his name), have been doing for the last 10 year and 4 years respectively.
They are what is apparently a large and growing interest of migrating Chinese searching for opportunity across Africa. Mr. Liang credited the easy pace of life and how less competitive and hectic it is living in Rwanda than in his home city of Dalian in Northeast China. While speaking with them in the $1 store, the majority of Rwandan customers I saw were young Rwandans looking for a few small items that they could buy cheap, and then sell for a larger price on the street. The items often don’t have anything in common, so you might see someone selling a nail-clipper set, a pair of shoe laces and compact disc.
In rural Rwanda, Chinese made bikes, Shanghai made phoenix, are all over the place. They are sturdy, rugged and a smooth ride when the road is paved. View a well-used example below. I also met a pair of Chinese engineers building a bridge, a group of Chinese diplomats and consultants, and a Rwandan who works in a Chinese owned quarry operation. I found it strange that during my first week in Rwanda, which I spent by myself, my longest conversations were in Chinese.
I’m still looking for some data, or other online information that might show the actually Chinese presence in Rwanda and the rest of Africa.
February 24, 2007
A few points of observation: Rwanda
(edited/updated: 2/25)
- Lack of Rubbish: The country, urban and rural, is amazingly clean of rubbish like plastic bags and excessive packaging. Apparently, the government has banned plastic bags, and that might explain why I kept seeing people carrying little paper bags that I mistook for a national program to “Pack your own Lunch to Work”. The ban, like many of the government’s blanket laws, has its drawbacks.
- Hand-shakes and Greetings: I lost count at 10. I’m not sure if there are certain social rules, or if it is all just at the whim of the individual. I did notice that when I met a stranger they typically lightly shook hands with the right while using their left hand to touch their own forearm. I also saw lots of hugging and cheek kissing. And of course, the ever popular fist-to-fist, and pumping of the chest once to show heart.
- Small Country: Everyone knows everyone! Or, so it seems to the outsider. Just watching on a street corner one sees people bumping into old friends at a consistent rate. When I mentioned who I met in this meeting or that to someone, they often would know the person. The rule that we are 6 removed from knowing everyone is more like 2 removed in Rwanda. Rwanda is 26,340 KM2 with a population of 8.2 million. The most densely populated country in Africa at 320 people per km².
- Right and Left Sided Automobiles: Rwandans drive on the right side of the road, but have a mix-match of vehicles with steering wheels on either the right or the left. It is a point of concern when imagine a car with right sided steering wheel trying to pass a dowry along a twisting mountain road. The visibility, already a concern, is amplified. An interesting history can be found in Denis Seguin’s article, “The right side of the road.” Also,related, Rwandans actually have and follow a front seat seatbelt law!
- Mzungu (white man): The call is loud and proud. I could be flying by at 60mph and undoubtedly someone would catch a glimpse of me and call out, “Mzungu!”. I don’t believe any offense is intended, but it does sound strange when someone wanting to practice English comes up from behind and calls out, “white man!”
- Pace of Life: Things move slow in Rwanda. If the majority of people made a sustainable living, I might call it a Take Back Your Time dream state. I’ve been in other countries that move at a slower pace, and in those places it is typically associated with a certain lack of initiative. In Rwanda, I felt that people just weren’t in a rush. It is best not to rely to heavily on the timescales if a local was setting up the schedule. One of the first English phrase people learn is, ” no problem”, which works nice for a commonly used word meaning the same thing, ntakibazo.
- No Dogs: There is little sign of the four legged creatures. I heard a few bark behind walls, but the only dogs on the street that I saw were roadkill.
February 23, 2007
Last Morning in Kigali
It’s my last morning in Kigali. Life is good. I’m healthy, strong and the top of my head isn’t too sun burnt.
Yesterday morning I was being toured around a cooperative’s region via a boat on Lake Kivu. This is in Rwanda’s volcanic region in the west. The soil there is amazing. You just want to roll around in it! It also just happens to the home to the country’s best coffee.
We visited five cooperatives in the last few days. I was with the producer realtions manager of Cooperative Coffees, Monika Firl, as she has been trying to increase her understanding of where the different cooperatives are, and where they are heading, in terms of the parameters that cooperative coffees supports. The first priority is that they be a producer cooperative, and not a private plantation. The other conditions they look for before commiting to a relationship are: is the producer cooperative taking steps to improve the quality of their coffee; are they organic, or transitioning to organic; and, are they a Fair Trade certified producer.
It is a huge understatement to say that the coffee industry in general, and the Fair Trade industry specifically, is a complex system. As Rwanda is just re-emerging into the specialty coffee market the farmers, the cooperatives and the bureaucracy in Kigali are all showing signs of growing pains as they try to navigate this head-spinning global market. Some of these pains are unavoidable, and some of them are unique to the economic and political culture of Rwanda. There is a tendency here for top down control, and many times a wrong decision, or the lack of one, in the ministry of agriculture can really hurt the development in the coffee sector.
I’ll write more about this in detail on another day. I’ll also be posting images and more reflection on the country in general. For the most part, Rwanda is a beautiful place with friendly people. There is a lot of work to be done to rebuild the country, but there is a strong sense of trust that the country as a whole is on the right path.
February 17, 2007
What is Genocide?
(edited/updated:2/18)
Before coming to Rwanda, students in my world regional geography class were introduced to Rwanda, and breifly on the impact of Genocide. The brave ones asked, “What is genocide?” What to say…
The obvious answer is the UN definition of genocide, but I struggle, as well as I should, what genocide really is. As part of that struggle, I’ve read several books on the subject concerning Cambodia and Rwanda. But, as I’m discovering, one of the values of visiting a place where genocide has occurred so recently is the daily reminder, either through impersonal billboards (Work together so Genocide never happens again), or the more personal conversations when someone is in the process of introducing themselves and they must include the impact of the genocide on themselves. A simple question about a person’s family and their parents carries a lot of weight. Rwandans were not aware of the word genocide prior to 1994, but now it brings out a nod of recognition even amongst those who don’t speak English.
Besides the personal contacts and daily reminders, I’ve also tried to search out the meaning and impact of genocide by visiting significant sites and organizations. I mentioned earlier the visit to Speak I’m Listening (MbwiraNumva). Yesterday, I visited a Church in Kibuye where 11,400 people were slaughtered on a single day on April 17, 1994. The day before, I had visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial that was built on the mass grave of over 250,000. These daily experiences have stuck in my mind and it has been difficult for me to view the scenes of Rwanda, or the people I meet, in any other light. I’m always thinking about where they were in 1994 and how they were impacted.
At the end of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, a quote by Stephen Smith of Aegis Trust. (The Aegis Trust was established to combat genocide) has stuck with me as a reminder of how to grasp the question of what genocide is.
“If you must remember, remember this: The Nazi’s did not kill 6 million Jews, nor the Interahamwe kill a million Tutsis. in the genocide they killed one, then another and then another. Genocide is not a single act of murder. It is a million acts of murder.”
It is a human responsibility to be aware of what human beings are capable of doing to one another. What makes Rwanda’s war so difficult is that the murders were conducted by the victims’ neighbors. People that had shared dinners, watched each others’ children and worked on one another’s fields; and then all of a sudden they did not recognize one another. Today, many of them still live side by side. Many are able to forgive, and many others say it is not they who can forgive-only God. To visit Rwanda today, is to undoubtedly reflect on the past evil, but to also see those who remain and are rebuilding a fractured society struggling to maintain a unified identity.
February 15, 2007
In Kigali- Updated
Landed in Kigali yesterday and have only wondered around town a few times, which is an accomplishment considering the topography of the place-you really have to commit to going down a road because you will have to come back up!
The evidence that Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Sub-Saharan Africa is apparent in a most pedestrian way. Not tremendous amount of traffic, but a lot of people. Some of them with somewhere to go, and a lot of them with no apparent place to go. I’ve seen a lot of people bump into someone they know and either touch cheeks three times, shake hands or hold hands while they exchange greetings. I’ve also been offered the closed fist knuckle-to-knuckle exchange followed up by, “what’s up braw.” That was as far as his English went.
I’m visited the office of “Speak I’m Listening“. They began in 1996 when they realized that female victims of the genocide weren’t getting any counseling. They brought in trauma counselors and social workers to help the victims realize that life must go on and that they weren’t alone. The work eventually evolved into providing training making crafts and baked goods, as well as to provide micro-loans to help participants establish themselves.They also provide dance and singing classes. They still see the over 1000 initial women once a month, but have also now expanded into providing service for orphaned children and HIV/AIDS infected women.
I later toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial, but will have to write about that at anther time.