Mayer Hawethorne at Grand Central in Miami, May 8th 2012.

Naranjal, Ecuador

Just got back from another South American excursion. 

Thousands of photos to edit. Here's two portraits to start out. 

Nevermind the full frame camera I just bought...I discovered Instagram!

Coffee-shop-camera-phone photos are my new obsession.

Got my Rolleiflex film developed from Ecuador...I unloaded it incorrectly and got a huge light leak, but c'est la vie. This one turned out alright. I like the colors in it anyhow. 

Volcanic ash, not snow.

Thank you for swimming by, random naked dude. 

¡Qué rico!

Love the colors and geometry in Quito!

Homemade empanadas and juice of some sort.

Dessert at Hotel Quito :)

Breakfast on the side of the mountain was nice

...until the llamas came.

Hotel Quito. First night in Ecuador. 

Rolleiflex Portraits

Improvisors MJ Marsh and Matt Pitner after a show at Huge Theater. Taken with Portra on the Rolleiflex.

Huge Improv Theater

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If you're looking for some good, clean fun in Minneapolis, I would suggest dropping by the Huge Improv Theater off of Lake and Lyndale. Last Saturday I snuck my camera in to photograph two of my favorite groups: The Bearded Men and the Bennets. They'll be performing every Saturday night until further notice.

http://hugetheater.com/

http://www.beardedmenimprov.com/

New Camera :)

Recently upgraded from an Olympus E-500 (a.k.a. my sh!t-lympus) to a beautiful Nikon d700. Just for fun, I did an ISO comparison. Both these images are cropped to 100% at ISO 1600. They were both taken under theatre lighting during a live improv performance. While Tyler Mills on the right definitely looks more charming than Tyler Michaels on the left, I'd still prefer the image on the left.

...I was always rather fond of that blue line that appeared in all my images anytime I tried to boost the ISO higher than 800 with the Olympus.

El Refugio

For some reason, after climbing several hours up a volcano, I expected the emergency shelter to be a little more cozy and welcoming. The place was literally falling in pieces, which Pato discovered for us the hard way after taking a peek at the upstairs. The roof was already gone and the floor was apparently on it's way out too. Jack, a few Argentines and I were chit-chatting below when Pato casually fell through the ceiling and interrupted our conversation. We ended up opting out of spending the night there.

Somewhere near Puyo...

I'm not usually into pictures of monkeys, but this little guy won my heart.

Jack & Pato

My faithful travel companions, Jack and Pato (Patricio). They definitely kept me on my toes. I think just about every day of the trip there'd be a moment where I'd stop and ask myself, "How the hell did I end up here? And how did I meet these people?"

We made a nice little trio, the three of us. A scrawny Romanian, a rash Ecuadorian and a little gringuita. An unlikely yet entertaining combination.

Our first real adventure together was to the edge of the jungle. Jack wanted to test his new camera on spiders and other creepy crawly things that lurk in such places. Of course before any man starts out on an adventure, it is important that he is well fed. So we ended pulling over at the first place where we thought there might be food and Pato asked for a plate of whatever they had available for all us to share. I'm not so sure it was a restaurant as much as it was a confused local wondering why people were asking him for food. However, despite my doubts, he came through and we were graciously provided a large plate of yuca and fried armadillo.

Pato dived right in without even a moment's hesitation. Nevermind, the crispy foot clawing up at us. Jack was a little wary about it all, but eventually gave in and had a few bites. Pedro, our dainty chauffeur and a fellow aspiring young photographer, downright refused. I, like Jack, was a little reluctant but eventually succumbed to my curiosity and gave it a try. Afterall, it did smell pretty good and I didn't know the next opportunity I'd get to try armadillo.

Baños, Ecuador

A few shots from Ecuador. Just got back to this bitter cold nation a week ago and have been editing away. These first two shots are from the basilica in Baños, a city of about 12,000 that's tucked away in the mountains on the base of the volcano Tungurahua (toong-oo-raw-wah, more or less). I spent the earlier part of my trip here until we got booted from the hostel and fled to the beach.