All projects might start out innocently enough. I thought I'd bring 20 cameras with me to the Borneo forests. By giving them to forest communities I thought I'd help give people a voice, I thought I'd learn about a new way of seeing.

You might say it was like this. I learned to throw a fishing net, and to crawl on my hands and knees looking for forest fruits. And I'm learning what plants and leaves I can forage and collect, stuff in my backpack and bring back to communities where I work.

This knowledge I've collected isn't my own.  It's from the forest experts and the kids who showed me the important village trails.  It's from the kids who who let me throw them freely in rivers and friends who would understand my need to see and explore, often in odd ways such as free floating down rivers when there was a perfectly good boat to borrow, or walking long sections of logging road.

I photograph and write to help show others what we feel we know. This is a mixture of hunches, interviews, knowledge of forest ecology, and a wonder for the natural world.  It's about listening, the willingness to be a student and to share knowledge and vision.

This is my first book, and appropriately a collaborative one at that.  The images are made by members of the forest community within the heart of Borneo, in central Sabah. 

This work will be for sale in the coming weeks. Proceeds will be used to print copies for the local forest community.  Details with the publsiher are still being worked out but copies will be approximately $20USD (65RM).  For a small additional cost, you can order a 8x10 print of any image in the book. This is the first such project of many.

Explore An Adventure with Forest Friends....