Hi everyone,

I finally finished my first travel film 'Odyssey'.  It will take you on a dream journey across South America and the South Seas to destinations like Machu Picchu, Patagonia, the South Pacific and Iguazu Falls.  Enjoy the escape!

Here's the [link] to my travel journal and the video.

Cheers,

Michael Anderson

The search for the world's most spectacular hidden beach leads to an island of secrets, where legends and ghosts add dimension to Paradise.  It's The Final Chapter in a IV Part series.

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An Exciting Journey to the World's Best Secret Beach.

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My photos and personal stories from the Samoa Tsunami of 2009:  [link]

We were suddenly shaken out of bed at 7am by an 8.3 earthquake, only to realize that some of the loud rumbling we heard outside was actually the sound of massive rocks crashing down the cliff directly above the small lodge we were sleeping in. I grabbed my shoes and ran outside, looking back to see car size boulders crashing down the cliff toward us! I also noticed Cheri wasn't right next to me. I yelled at the top of my voice 'Cheri, RUN! RUN!!!!!! She was uncertain and didn't realize the rumbling was from the cliff, but was immediately aware of the Tsunami threat and was wondering why we were running TOWARD the beach. She quickly figured it out and ran out to join us, but I was terrified she was going to get crushed. The lush jungle covering the cliff slowed the momentum of the rockfall, and the trees were all shaking violently like a T-REX was running through there. After a minute, the ground stopped moving and the rockfall finally subsided.
We were all immediately concerned about a possible Tsunami. Ben and Deb run the Vaoto Lodge and they said it must have been a huge earthquake, because they had a 7.2 earthquake last year that didn't cause any rockfall or ground shaking like this one did. I agreed, having lived in California most of my life, and this was much bigger than the biggest earthquakes I experienced there. Cheri and I decided it was safe to run back into the lodge to get our passports, cash, water, camera, rain gear, and first aid kit and then Ben, Deb, their daughter Rain, Cheri and I jumped in the back of their pickup with their 5 dogs and 1 cat and raced on the island's one dirt road up to a low pass between the island's two peaks. This was about 150 feet above sea level so we felt pretty safe there. Then we waited and turned on the transistor radio.
No mention yet of the earthquake. Then, about 10 minutes after we got to the highpoint, we could see the ocean was beginning to act strangely. It seemed like the entire ocean was turning into a fast moving river, rushing and swelling up around the island and the gigantic peak of Olesega Island looked like a small rock in a big river. The ocean near the shoreline was sucked out into a giant eddy, then like a slow motion movie, came rushing back in. I couldn't really believe this was really happening. 'There it is! Tsunami!!' We were high on the cliff and couldn't see the beach through the trees very well, but we could see the rush of water heading into the beach and then the sound of palm trees being crushed. The water drew back into another whirlpool but this time the turquise blue water was brown and full of debris. The water sloshed around another 15 minutes and then it was over.
5 people who live down near the coast came running up the hill, their clothes soaked to their chests. They were caught off guard by the Tsunami and ran up the slope but couldn't get up quickly enough. They all grabbed onto palm trees and were buffeted by the wave and debris. When the water receded they ran up to the pass. From the pass we could only see the north side of the island and feared the worst for our place on the south side. We drove down and saw where the wave had washed over the road, but by a stroke of good fortune, the gentle hand of God or dumb luck, the Tsunami was only 10 feet high in front of Vaoto Lodge and it didn't cross over the tall sand/grass barrier between the lodge and the sea.
The power went out and we have been cut off from communication about the Tsunami except for first hand accounts from Debs relatives in Pago Pago. It sounds like the Tsunami destroyed two of the places we stayed at this week before we got here to the remote and beautiful Ofu Island. This is our first chance at internet access since the Tsunami and we are anxious and concerned to see the extent of the damage we have been hearing about.
We plan to stay here 3 more days before moving on to Apia and Independent Samoa, but we are not sure what we will find when we get back there. Standing on the Vaoto Beach today, you would never know we had a Tsunami here and it is a bright and sunny paradise. But tension certainly hangs in the air. Why we were spared from the full force of this Tsunami (which came from the south and should have decimated this south facing beach) is beyond us. We are only 50 miles across the ocean from Pago Pago harbor where the massive devastation occurred. We feel lucky but uneasy here in paradise.
Thanks for all of your concerns about us and for keeping us in your thoughts. We plan to write back from Apia, Western Samoa in a few days. We are steeling ourselves for what we will find when we get there. We have already offered medical services to the villages of Ofu and Olosega here, but none is needed. We also offered to help out in Pago Pago, but transportation back there is not possible right now. It sounds like we will be able to leave on Sunday Oct 4th and then we will see how big the bullet we dodged really was and see if we can offer any help there. We'll update when we get to a better (faster) internet connection. -Mike and Cheri  10/3/09

"Bringing the Wonders of the World Home to Colorado"

I will be displaying 30 of my favorite images from the last 5 years of travel in large gallery prints.  Come escape for an hour and dream about travel while enjoying some of the greatest scenery on the planet!

The official show opening is Friday July 17th from 6-10pm at the John Fielder/Reed Photo Arts Gallery. Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be available. Come early to get the really good wine

The show runs daily July 17th to Sept 17th and I will be there the first and third Fridays of every month.

I'd love to see you there!

John Fielder/Reed Photo Arts Gallery
833 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204
(303)744-7979

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I was interviewed by Kah Kit Yoong, a very successful Landscape Photographer for the 'Mountain Light' group on Flickr.com

Here is the text of the interview:

You have one of the most amazing portfolios around in terms of sheer quality. Of course composition, great light and technical expertise are a given at this level. However one aspect that sets your work apart is the sense of adventure in each image. How do you capture this unique quality so consistently?

I've had some great opportunities to travel these last few years and I've made it a goal to see the places I always dreamed about growing up. Places like Tibet, Patagonia and the South Pacific. These spectacular locations conjure up images of adventure in most people's minds purely by their history. So I am riding a bit on that history. And believe me, these areas have earned their legendary standing in the collective imagination. I can't tell you how overwhelmed I was by the scale and beauty of these areas when I first arrived. I mean seriously overwhelmed. Like, 'how can I possibly do this place the justice it deserves through a two dimensional photograph' overwhelmed. Patagonia in the autumn is a prime example. Two of the most legendary mountains in the world, Fitzroy and Cerro Torre were glistening with fresh snow and ice and the twisted and weathered Lenga trees were glowing in autumn's red splendor. Blue icebergs drifted on most of the lakes. The place exuded all of the classic qualities of wilderness. Where do you position yourself for sunrise or sunset when every scene is a killer photograph? So I would close my eyes and try and decide what my inner child imagined the place to be like. I spent days hiking every trail looking for just the right combination of elements that would capture the feeling of being there but also be true to my imagination of what I expected to feel there. 'Autumn in Patagonia' brought those elements together for me. The towering spires piercing the clouds covered in fresh ice and gleaming with blue glaciers , the famous wind whipping the surface of the lake, the twisted trees glowing with red leaves, and the unique sepia tonality of that sunset giving it a sense of timelessness and legend. That's Patagonia to me. I love the idea that I can share those rare enriching moments from the far edges of the earth with people who may never see them but may feel comforted just knowing they are there. Or better yet, inspire people to live the dream and go there. Life is short and as an ER doctor, I see that it is sometimes shorter than people imagined it to be. I don't want people to have regrets in life. Ultimately I think I want my images to inspire people to realize their dream trips as much as I want them to be successful as art.

Your new website is pretty special and seems to really synergize with your photographic style. Can you share the ideas behind the development of www.michaelandersongallery.com ?

I wanted my website to feel like it was a special book handed down to you by your great grandfather with images of wild places full of adventure waiting to be discovered by anyone with the will and desire to experience them. A book of secrets with just enough information to get you started but enough left unsaid to preserve the adventure and sense of discovery. Sometimes we get the feeling that world has been thoroughly explored and all of the great photos have been taken. I'm here to tell you that there are icons all over the world on the scale of Yosemite's famous Valley View waiting to be discovered by any photographer that has the imagination and drive to get off the beaten track. I wanted to show people images from places that they have never seen or heard of before in the context of adventure travel. I spent several months developing my concept for the site and purchased a few stock images like the lantern and the map. I wanted the feel of 'exploration' to come through on all of the pages. An old world map partially hidden under the sand under the light of a lantern seemed to best capture that feeling. I wanted to make sure there were large blank sections on the map to remind people the world is a big place to explore. Then I contacted Jesse Spear from WideRange Galleries to put it all together into a cohesive graphic. We scanned copies of immigration stamps from my passport into the background to emphasize the 'travel' part. Then I wanted the individual image pages to appear like they were being dimly lit in a dark gallery. Jesse took all of these ideas and created the special 'glow' over the old world almanac you see as the background on the image pages. Then Jesse's partner Jack Brauer wrote the code and optimized it for web searching. Working with Jack and Jesse was wonderful and I would highly recommend them for anyone contemplating a website overhaul.

Congratulations on your win in Outdoor Photographer's Iconic Photo Locations. Can you tell us about what we are seeing in this image and how you set it up?

Thanks! That was quite a thrill for me. When I first saw a photograph of the karst peaks of Guilin thirty years ago, I couldn't believe a landscape like that really existed. The area remained at the top of my 'life list' of places to see since then. When I finally found the opportunity to visit, I wandered alone on the riverbanks and met a cormorant fisherman who showed me his traditional methods. They fish at night and the lantern attracts fish toward the raft so the cormorant can dive in and catch them. The fishermen tie a loose string around the cormorant's neck so they can't swallow it completely, and the men pull out the fish and store them in a basket. This method of fishing has existed for over a thousand years here. I decided to call the image 'Timeless' in honor of the men and their tradition. I met the fisherman during the day when he was cleaning his raft on the banks of the river. Using a Mandarin phrasebook I carried in my pocket, I asked him if he would be out fishing that evening. He said yes, and I asked if I could watch him from the shore and photograph him. He agreed and seemed genuinely interested in my camera. He understood what I wanted to do and stayed fairly still on the raft as the best sunset of my trip unfolded around us. I used a fill flash to keep the wing detail in the black Cormorant. Suddenly it spread it's wing wide open. And then the most amazing part happened. It held it's wings open and remained still like that for about 2 seconds. It was getting pretty dark and my shutter speed was slow at 1/30 second. That single moment, where the cormorant held it's wings perfectly still was the key to the entire image. The cormorant was tack sharp in the dim twilight during the best sunset of my entire trip.

I'm always interested in how Galen Rowell influenced other photographers. I believe you met him on a workshop. Could tell us about your time with him - what was he like and how did he influence you?

I think Galen Rowell single handedly inspired an entire generation of photographers. I feel extremely fortunate to have met him in person, not just for a few minutes, but an entire week in the backcountry on one of his first workshops. Workshops weren't common back then and he was a pioneer in blending backcountry adventure with photo teaching. We stayed at the isolated and rustic Rock Creek Lodge (In the Eastern Sierra) in the middle of winter and cross country skied to all of our photo locations. We reviewed and critiqued each days images in the afternoon next to a fireplace. He had set up an express E-6 processing deal in Bishop so we could get daily feedback. He gave very insightful critiques on the mechanics of photography, but he was also a very philosphical man. In the evenings he told great stories and spoke a lot about his views on wilderness and the politics in Tibet and how photography is intimately tied to our experience. He did not believe we could photograph in a vacuum. Photographs influence the world they are taken in. And the world is experienced in a more intimate manner when you are photographing it. I seem to remember him saying that it was 'The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of Photography' a reference to a law in physics stating that you cannot simultaneously measure something without changing it. From the perspective of history it's clear he was right. His photography ended up changing the world he was photographing. He left a lasting legacy by inspiring millions of other photographers including me. He helped preserve the wilderness, created a fund for the people of Tibet, and donated his time and images to many charities around the world. He was much more than a photographer. I hope I can follow his lead in some measure. To show people a world beyond their imagination, inspire them and at the same time protect some of the things that matter most to me.

You say that you want to protect some of the things that matter most to you. Can you elaborate? What's the next step for Michael Anderson?

Great question. A lot depends on my success as a photographer. I can eventually see myself giving my photography more time than I give it now. If all goes well, I would like to add a journalistic component to round things out and meet some of my other life goals. I'm very interested in the idea of preserving the identity of cultures that are intimately connected to the land. I feel we have much to learn from people that still follow ancient traditions rooted in an appreciation and reverence for their environment. I'll give you an example. Yading National Park in Sichuan China is the most magnificent mountain sanctuary I've ever seen. It is an area unknown to most westerners and only opened to foreign travellers in the 1990's. Joseph Rock explored the area before the cultural revolution and many feel that his descriptions of the area were the inspiration for 'Shangri La' in the famous book Lost Horizon. Having been there and read the book, I agree completely. This is the real Shangri La. Towering over a verdant valley of golden larch and clear running streams stand three 6,000 meter peaks that are sacred to Tibetan Buddhists. Each peak represents a bodhisatva or physical incarnation of a buddhist principle sort of like a deity. The three peaks represent Wisdom, Compassion and Power. Tibetans have made pilgrimages to the area for centuries to walk a 'kora' around the mountains and gain enlightenment. They are extremely respectful of the area and until recently maintained it in a pristine condition. The Chinese government 'discovered' the beauty of the area and now plans to develop it for tourism and created the national park. They plan to build large hotels and a tramway to make it more accessible to tourism. Since I was there in 2006, the Tibetans have been forced out in an armed conflict where unsubstantiated reports indicate hundreds died defending their cultural heritage. I tried to go back and learn more about the developments in 2007 but was refused entry. I would like to go back in 2008 as both a photographer and as a freelance writer and bring the events there to world attention with an article in an adventure magazine. I hope my photographs give me the edge I need to get that story published. Yading, like many others, is a place where the culture of the people who live there help create the identity of the place. A place that is much more than pretty meadows and soaring Himalayan peaks. It is an archetype of the human experience. As a collective people, we can't afford to let places like Shangri La, Machu Picchu or Patagonia slip from their story book status as places of ultimate refuge in the imaginations of so many people who need them, even if they are only visited in their minds at night.

Thanks Kah Kit for this wonderful opportunity to discuss my photography.
-Mike

Sorry to be absent from DA since my return from Nepal.  I stacked a lot of work up to take the time off and now it's payback time!  I should be catching up at the end of the month so I can post here again.  In the meantime, here is a teaser for the photos to come...

Kathmandu is quite simply a magical place. Today I wandered the backstreets to Durbar square.  It's the old part of town with narrow alleyways, cobblestones and a big open square surrounded by massive 800 year old wooden temples. It feels absolutely medeival except for the occasional motorcycle rickshaws. I feel like I'm one of only a handful of foreign tourists here right now. It's clearly the off season. I feel like I'm seriously on a different planet or in a different era. The 'living goddess' of Nepal was out for a few hours and I saw her from a distance. She's about 7 years old now and is believed to be the incarnation of a Hindu goddess that protected the Royal family. Since the royals have been deposed by the maoists, she is less important politically, but still a big part of the history of Durbar Square and the Hindu religion. I got some cool photos of women at a water well, a few street kids and some of the Sadhus (holy men). I talked for quite awhile to 2 Sadhus visiting from Varanasi, India. Later on, I kept running into them again while walking around town. It was almost comical. They come back into the story later on.

Yesterday, I got up at sunrise and went to Buddhanath, the largest stupa in the world in the Tibetan part of town. I met a monk named Dorje who was from Lhasa originally but escaped to Nepal over the mountains twenty years ago. We talked for awhile about Lhasa as we walked among the throngs of pilgrims spinning prayer wheels on the kora around the stupa. It felt like I had been transported to the Barkhor in Lhasa. Incense, drums, shafts of light, the spinning wheels, the hushed prayers of the pilgrims, it was all there. Then suddenly he decided to invite me into the monastery. The public does not go inside, so I could tell this was an honor. He took me to the roof where you could look down over the the people walking the kora and then inside a special room where he placed a kata over my neck, lit some candles, and sprinkled some yak butter on my head. He gave a blessing to me and my family. Other monks walking by lowered their heads and gave me approving nods. I have no idea why he picked me to go up there, so I asked him and said some things that I didn't understand in his broken English and something about karma. We then walked around the giant stupa again and talked about Lhasa some more and we talked about his family. Then we sat down, said a prayer together and then he left. Suddenly I was standing alone again amid a sea of walking pilgrims wondering what all of this was supposed to mean.

Then I decided to walk to Pashputinath, a sacred Hindu site and like Varanasi, there are cremation ghats on the river there. A cremation was occuring when I arrrived and it was quite a moving scene. Unfortunately I was being constantly pestered by people asking to be my guide and they would not take no for an answer. I was the only westerner there and they seened to be fighting for my business, even though I constantly told them 'NO' I don't want a guide. These guys were incredibly persistent. I would walk away and then they would demand money for their 'guiding explanations' even though I was photographing and ignoring them the whole time. I walked away with an entourage of four guys yelling to give them money when around the corner appeared the two Sadhus I had met in Durbar square the day before. They smiled, shook my hand and said something in Hindi that made my 'entourage' go away. Our frequent random meetings the previous day had become comical and it almost seemed like fate that I would run into them again here, especially at a Hindu holy site. We walked around and they introduced me to the other elder Sadhus at the site and they all posed for some fantastic portrait photographs. These are the famous guys that wear only a loincloth, have 4 foot long dreadlocks and very stoic faces that are painted white, orange or red. When you walk up to them they raise their right hand to you in a blessing. One of the temples has a 'hall of mirrors' that is actually 11 doorways lined up perfectly giving the illusion that you are looking through an infinite number of doors receding away from you. The Sadhus would quickly lean in and out of the different doorways while I photographed and it was all pretty hilarious. These very serious looking guys actually have a great sense of humor.

The two Sadhus that had become my friends said they wanted to visit Budhanath, the buddhist stupa I had visited earlier in the day. They told me that I went with them, they were less likely not get hassled at the entrance gate. I guess there is a little animosity between some of the monks and the sadhus. So we walked across town back to the stupa. They taught me some key phrases in hindi that seem to keep the touts from hassling me, since I appear to be one of the 10 western customers in Kathmandu right now. We walked the kora around the stupa and they showed me many of the similarities between the Hindu Gods and the Buddhist Gods and I asked them a lot of questions about what it's like to be a Sadhu. How strange it to walk among the red robed monks and be given a tour of a Tibetan Buddhist temple by two painted sadhus in flowing orange robes! We walked right past the same spot the elder monk had said a prayer for me earlier that morning. This was turning out to be one of the strangest, most memorable days I've ever had traveling.

We still had almost two hours of sunlight left, and they wanted to see the famous Monkey Temple that overlooks Kathmandu. It's a buddhist temple as well and it seems they wanted to use the advantage of walking with a westerner again to see it too. They said they knew the way. We walked for an hour along the river through a slum that rivaled the one in 'Sludog Millionaire'. Trash was everywhere, the people lived in shacks made of tarps and currogated roofing, and women dressed in beautiful orange and green saris were washing clothes in the stagnant river. Everyone smiled when we walked by. Kids came up to us and said 'hello' but it was quickly apparent it was the only English word they knew. The sadhus spoke to them in hindi and they laughed a lot. We took turns kicking an old soccer ball around with the kids. I felt very out of place, but also very comfortable. The sadhus were introducing me to a world I would not have seen on my own.

It was getting late and we decided to hop on a local micro so we could get to the temple before dark. The three of us squeezed in with three other people on a three seat bench in the back of the micro. Then a professional looking older man in a suit got in and seemed very amused by the fact that I was squished in between two sadhus on a local micro. When I actually introduced the sadhus to him, he was even more surprised. He was a bit stiff, spoke like a professor, and I was detecting a big ego. He told me a little about himself, and that he said he was forced into early retirement by the banking crisis and scolded me a bit saying that it all started in my country. I was polite and acknowledged that. Then he asked what I was doing with these guys. I told him that I was learning about Hinduism and Nepali culture and gave him a few examples. He scoffed a bit and said, 'next thing you know you'll be just like them'. I was a bit shocked by the comment so I asked if he could think of a better way to learn about Hindu and Nepali culture than riding a local micro with two sadhu friends that were actually taking me to the the most famous Buddhist temple in Kathmandu. 'I'll grant you that' he said. The other people on the micro were listening and gave me quick smiles. Then before we could say anything else, the micro stopped and we all got out. He was walking the other way so I told him it was nice to meet him and I was sorry we didn't have time to talk more. He smiled, turned away and then the sadhus and I walked up to the Monkey temple. The moon came up at sunset, but I never got my camera out. I just didn't want to break the momentum as a very memorable day was coming to an end. The sadhus and I said goodbye, joked that we would probably see each other again, and they headed back to Pashputinath temple. I walked down the hill alone back through the crazy narrow streets back to the tourist ghetto in Thamel. Suddenly there were a few westerners around again and then came the souvineer shops, internet cafes and restaurants. I sat down in my favorite Italian restaurant in the tourist district to have an Everest beer and contemplate the meaning of the extaordinary day. I was remembering the remarkable conversations I had with the monk, the sadhus, the people in the slum and man on the micro and for some strange reason, as I sat there in the beautiful ambience of the restaurant, I actually a felt a strange sense of guilt, and a little out of place.

This morning I went back to the Buddhanath temple again and got some amazing shots of a long line of young monks in golden robes accepting some sort of blessing from the older monks in red robes. The sun was coming up and the two giant eyes at the top of stupa were glowing. I think these will be some of my best shots of the trip so far. Now I'm back in Thamel and I'm going to see about getting a bus or flight to Pokara tomorrow. I'll update again after my trek in the Annapurna area.

I'm off to the greatest mountains on Earth again, but this time it's a whole new ballgame. I'll be there in the heart of WINTER and am hoping to get some truly unique images and have some incredible adventures. Departing February 1st, 2009! Happy New Year to everyone and may it be an adventurous and rewarding year for all!

-Mike