NASA's image of the plume of ash and steam rising from the Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcano reached five to six kilometers (17,000 to 20,000 feet)

So tomorrow myself and my videographing partner Ismael will be headed on our trip to Leicester, England to shoot a wedding in the lovely English country side. Along the way, we will be stopping for a few days in both New York City and Reykjavik, Iceland for some time off (at least out of the office) and time to explore some interesting people and landscapes.

Of course we will be carrying along all of our equipment for some Icelandic volcano footage as well as some NYC broll shots for a project we’re currently working on. This reminds me of the very best broll commercial of all time – from a company called We Got That BRoll. I just hope that saying doesn’t become the theme of the trip!

So hopefully we can get out and meet some cool people and see some great sights – and our flights dont get disrupted by

@theashcloud haha! Check back soon for updates, photos, and hopefully some totally rad broll!

Lone Man and the Tower

So I was a little nervous to be honest. This thing is huge – and its reputation precedes itself (to pretty much every living human on earth) So naturally I wanted to go LARGE. *notice the elevator about half way up*

Eiffel Tower en Large

In the last hours of the night just before the tower’s lights turn off – they dance! Every 15 min. it erupts with light resembling a giant metal christmas tree that can be seen all over the city. We went up to the second level to take in the night views of the city and witnessed this phenom while on it….it was crazy! To look up the side all the way to the top while thousands of lights sparkling in the night sky was pretty sweet (I mean totally rad!)

Tower Lit UP

In the end I guess it was a success. This wasn’t for a magazine or client – only for me – and now that I can share these images and share a gimps of what my perspective of the Eiffel Tower is like (at this point in my photography infancy) I just wish I could PAINT it! haha

Eiffel At The End Of The Night

I am super excited that I got the phone call to return back to Manchester, TN in the sweltering heat, dust, chaos of 80,000 ‘people’ that is Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival!

Bonnaroo is one of the premier musical events of the summer and consistently draws in the large crowds, it’s one of the most popular too.

Last year I was lucky enough to meet the producers of the event from Third Wave Productions at a restaurant in Chicago a week before I left for London…and as fate would have it, getting kicked out of the UK (because of visa ‘issues’) was a BIG blessing in disguise. I returned with a gig as an assistant for the festival and eventually  got the chance to shoot the bands live on stage for Third Wave. It was an amazing experience and I’m stoked I get the opportunity to shoot there again! (check out my Metalica shot on their homepage as well as the crowd shot in the FUSE.tv at Bonnaroo link- www.thirwaveproductions.com)

Almost every band in the line-up I havent seen live yet so I’m envisioning a very good time.

Also check out my portfolio from Bonnaroo ‘08! www.mikenyff.com/photo/assignment/bonnaroo08/

I’m excited to announce that I will be joining GlobalFingerprints and the EFCA for a two week trip to the Democratic Republic of  Congo this July to help promote their Touchglobal Organization. GlobalFingerprints is the EFCA’s (EFree Churches of America) child sponsorship program for orphans of HIV/AIDS and other tragic circumstances. This trip is what is called a ‘vision trip’ and is basically a recon mission into the many different needs the area has and what the EFCA can put thier resources into use (not only working with orphans, but widows, building adequate housing and schools,  and fresh water drilling.)

All the info I know at the moment is that the trip is tentavely scheduled for the 27th of July – the 7th of August. We will be in the northern territory of Congo near the Congo River. Make sure to check back in the upcoming weeks as I’ll post more info as I get it!

In the meantime, check out this video from GlobalFingerprints….

Then they were off to Tasmania for another fun in the sun week with Rob and Rita Gunn (more penguins to be seen and wine to be tasted). I shot back up to Wellington for a day to attend Sarah’s wedding. And yes, this IS the same Sarah that came over with me a short year ago! So a long story short she met Devin in February, they started dating immediately, and were inseparable and rarely left each others’ side. Then the came engagement in September, and marriage on the 25th of November. Bing, Bang, Boom. It goes to show that you will never know what is in store for you until you show up and take the chance. Sarah and Devin are perfect for each other and I’m happy that they found each other. Good on ‘em.

As for me, I wasn’t too excited to start all over again and to fight for work and a place to live. I was excited to start a new journey in a completely different environment, plus I had the plane tickets already so why not! I was however in a funk in Wellington and needed a change that would put me in new surroundings with different challenges. After some sad goodbyes in New Zealand and a day layover in a great city called Melbourne, I finally caught up with mom and dad and the Gunns in Hobart on the 27th. The highlights of those few days were a tour of Port Arthur, Australia’s largest convict colonies built in the late 1700’s and seeing, hearing and touching Tasmanian Devils, which contrary to popular belief, are more short sighted than ferocious, and with only 50,000 left in the wild are extremely rare. I’m glad for the chance to have seen both.

So now its a new journey. Beginning in Sydney and however far beyond with enough money to last me only a few weeks and no working visa we will only see what will happen when I show up and take a chance.
Cheers.
Mike

Back in Welly for the moment and moving on soon.
Wow it has been a long, long time since I have actually wrote anything up on this. It makes me feel so lazy when I look at this page…well calling it lazy is a bit harsh because I do sometimes update the header picture or very occasionally update with a video, but alas, I have realized I am just not a writer. I have tried to keep a daily journal where I would jot the tid bits down at the end of the day but it turns out to be a bit of jotting once every other month. And I’m always loosing the damn thing.

This sort of reminds me of when two old friends reunite after a long absence and begin to delve into each others lives once again…you and I are, at this moment, doing the same. It is just completely one sided and when everyone (if anyone) will read it, it will be not until the next day or week or month. But in a way, we are now being connected once again.

If you are not my parents or my brother or sister…you may not know a whole lot of what I have been up to this past year. Like I before mentioned, I am not a writer so it is hard for me to write what its like living in another country for a year of my life. Its hard to put down with clarity the strangeness, excitement, beauty, and unfamiliarity’s of this place. There will most likely never be a book published about my travels, only a hand full of pictures and a few tapes worth of video clips that express some of the places and people along the way, but in no way, shape or form will it capture the emotions, thoughts, and even growth of a person. I do feel that New Zealand has changed me. I don’t know if it would have been any different if I would have ventured to another place but I don’t care, I like what has happened here.

- Sublime landscapes do not introduce us to our inadequacy; rather, to touch on a the crux of their appeal, they allow us to conceive of a familiar inadequacy in a new and more helpful way. Sublime places repeat in grand terms a lesson that ordinary life typically introduces viciously: that the universe is mightier than we are, that we are frail and temporary and have no alternative but to accept limitations on our will; that we must bow to necessities greater than ourselves.    – Allan de Botton The Art of Travel

I will first start with the good news because everyone likes good news. I finally got a job! I work for Maui Rental at the Queenstow

n airport detailing cars, making them nice and clean and smelling great! Its a pretty posh job because I get to drive all the nice cars into town to get petrol and for repairs. That means lots of time to check out the local radio stations for some good kiwi music My first paycheck is this Wednesday and it couldn’t have come soon enough!

The bad news is that I had lost my plane tickets somewhere in the process of moving and after a frantic search, I had to fork out the remainder of my bank account to cover the reprints before my flight became invalid. Then a bad week got worse as  I let a friend borrow my car for the day which he was quite nice and put petrol in it but decided to parked it illegally. The next morning (June 30th) it was towed, parked outside of town, and was quickly robbed of all my valuables inside. Anything and everything that could have any value was taken, including things that didn’t have any value to anyone else but me (like my journals, letters, and postcards)  BUT THANKFULLY all the really expensive things (my computer, camera etc.) were locked safely in my room!

Well I hope everyone is having a safe and fun summer! I am now in the process of getting a working visa for Australia…and if anyone would like to join me in the OZ tour, no worries mate, there’s always plenty of room!
peace.