8.24.2008

Photographer Biographies











































Paulina Carlos, Student. Monterrey, Mexico. I wake up everyday, right foot first. I hate cold weather. I believe in destiny. Thirteen is my lucky number. I love vanilla. I can eat a spoon full of mustard. I never get mosquito bites. I always forget to turn lights off after leaving a room. I arrange my CDs in alphabetical order. I like sleeping on grass. My room is never as organized as I want it to be. I use very little makeup. I can be quiet for a long time. Dragonflies are my favorite insects. I never wear earrings. I ate a fly once.


Peter Cuthbert, Teacher. Singapore. Direct, efficient routes are often prized, regarded as the products of forthright planning and thoughtful preparation; but you know what is said of best laid plans. Most often, that which is not premeditated, or deliberate, brings out the visceral beauty, the ingenuous moment and the belly laughs. The journey that Peter currently finds himself enjoying is as circuitous as it is fortunate. From kilted knees, to hockey skates, and from banderas of tequila to Hainanese chicken rice, it has not been scripted, or predictable. It continues to be, however, one fantastic journey that he does not take for granted. Peter is hopeful that his photos share razor-thin slices of moments from his journey that evoke visceral beauty, the ingenuous moment and maybe even a belly laugh. Peter and his wife Alison are currently teaching in Singapore and venture back to Bayfield, Ontario each summer to be with friends and family on Lake Huron.


Annie Dow, Student. New York City, USA. Annie is a storyteller by birthright, preferring the theatre as her medium. Under pressure, she is a decent writer. She listens to hair metal and bubblegum pop, likes to experiment with food and fashion, and vows to single-handedly destroy tourism and infomercials. In her spare time, Annie attempts to organize her iTunes library; she refuses to try organizing anything else. She adores horror movies, especially zombie and slasher films. Annie insists she is a terrible photographer who happens to stumble upon excellent subjects. As a photographer, Annie likes light, close-ups, movement, and textures. As an artist, Annie likes sarcasm, contradiction, and anything epic or mythical. Her signature drink is the mojito, her favorite composer is Stephen Sondhiem, and she’ll read anything by Chuck Klostermann. Annie is a Wii fiend, and no matter what she says she’s always playing to win. Her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate, but she’ll have any desert if she has someone to split it with.


Heather Dowd, Teacher. Rock Falls, Illinois, USA.. Heather started taking pictures of sunsets and cats with a snapshot camera at a young age. Later, she discovered traveling and her dad’s manual 35mm camera and two loves were born. She thinks teaching is the best job in the world and is grateful it has allowed her to continue traveling and photographing the world. Her favorite things about teaching are students, learning, the chance to make a difference, and watching the light bulbs of understanding glow. In her spare time, Heather is a runner, student, piano player, book reader, science lover, tech geek, wine drinker, and lifelong learner. She dreams of winning a magazine photography contest even though she never enters. Sunsets and her cat are still two of her favorite subjects to photograph.


Jhan Graether, Teacher. Santiago, Chile. Growing up on the lakes of Wisconsin’s Northwoods, Jhan was a reckless youth interested in the outdoors and anything that inspired his curiosity or daring. Everything was done in the name of fun, from watching tadpoles turn into frogs to breaking skis for the opportunity to fly. Twenty years later, only the details have changed. He is now a 7th grade science teacher in Santiago, Chile feeding his loves for teaching, skiing, traveling and exploring new places and cultures. Married to a like-minded free spirit and teacher, they travel and play together on most weekends and vacations.
He met photography as a five year old when he was given a point and shoot camera. He bought a Nikon N70 before his first big adventure. Jhan’s study of photography started with Galen Rowell’s Mountain Light as an instruction manual and the faces and landscapes of Nepal and Alaska as his subject matter. He has moved on to a D80, but his love is still for the color vibrancy of good slide film. His photos are a tribute to the agelessness of daring and curiosity.


Stacey Lindbloom, Student. Syracuse, New York, USA. Stacey will spend hours drawing swirls. There's something about their curvilinear and on going form that simply mesmerizes her. She's creative and loves color - often adding a bit of it here and there in other people's lives. She's funky- you'll hear her say that often, the word I mean. But be careful if you say funky cindy you might not get her to stop laughing. After spending a couple of days with her you'll also come to notice a slight addiction to chocolate. So if you ever visit her, you know just the trick to delight her. Lastly, Stacey enjoys observing things; perhaps this gives way to her interest in photography - variations and perspectives from the observer's view lens... it's endless and memorable. That's why she likes it.


Monna McDiarmid, Teacher. Barcelona, Spain. Things that make me happy: cafĂ© con leche, Italian renaissance art, slam poetry, black turtleneck sweaters and jeans, Oaxaca, going to the cinema in Europe, learning new things, Paris, Christmas carols, the novels of Ann Patchett and Carol Shields, sleeping in late, good milk chocolate, Rick Steves’ Travel Guides, beaches without tourists, the Backyardigans, Florence, blogging at Teacher Meets World, silver jewelry, becoming a better photographer, understanding culture through travel, and helping kids solve their problems and go to university.


Lucia Mijares, Student. New Haven, Connecticut USA. Lucia loves taking pictures underwater. She remembers the first time she saw the disposable waterproof Kodak cameras at an H-E-B in South Padre Island. She spent her 12-year-old fortune on 4 waterproof cameras for her trip. She had a blast but, sadly, she's lost all of the pictures those cameras took and doesn't take pictures underwater anymore. Lucia loves anything that's waterproof. She's stalked the Internet for hours looking for waterproof iPod cases. They do exist. But, unlike with the waterproof cameras, she has not spent her fortune on the iPod case. She has, however, spent it on waterproof sharpies and oil-based sharpies (that are even more waterproof than regular sharpies). She gets them on eBay. She doesn't really use them and so they just sit beside her bed at nights…. Maybe, she will draw a waterproof picture with sharpies, buy a waterproof iPod case, buy a waterproof Kodak camera, take all of these into the water and send in the results to 14 lenses. Hmm…


Sofia Millares, Student. New York City, USA.


Analucia Padilla, Student. Monterrey, Mexico. Analucia lives for music (classic rock, metal and classical music), film (especially old movies) and photography (Diane Arbus is one of her heroes). When she was a baby, she used to wake up singing and she's been doing it ever since. Her mind is rarely in her head and she loves the smell of rain. She likes to see beauty in everything and question everything. Cats are her source of comfort and she loves to stargaze. She is currently studying communications in Monterrey and wants specialize in Film/Photography.


Damien Pitter, Teacher. Barcelona, Spain. At an unusually young age, Damien was called to the life of a contemporary dancer. However, being boxed about the ears in a particularly brutal pillow fight, he did not hear it. Rather, he was raised as a science student, befuzzled as an astrophysicist, trained as a filmmaker, awakened as a poet, humbled as a fiction writer, and wonderstruck as a photographer, only to realize in the end, that he had been a teacher all along. Teaching internationally has given him the opportunity to meet, and sometimes the privilege of teaching, some of the most amazing people. Over the years, he has taught a smattering of English, Leadership, Drama and Photography to students in middle and high schools in Colombia and Mexico, and is currently teaching in Spain. He may yet become a folk singer. Or a carpenter.


Jay Priebe, Teacher. Bangkok, Thailand. Although I don't consider my photography to be anything other than average, I do manage some better than average photos by getting myself into situations and/or locations that photograph well. I am able to do this due to a lifestyle of travel and adventure (slightly more than your average bear but still not as much as I would like to travel – i.e. full time). Enjoy browsing the photos and feel free to comment.


Santiago Rivera, Student. New York City, USA. When I was about five years old, I wanted to be a farmer – that was my childhood dream. And to make it more exciting, I wanted to have a small plane to fly my farm pigs around. However, fifteen years later I am living in New York City, studying architecture at Pratt Institute. I spend most of my time in studio doing work, but when I get a chance to get away, I like to go to museums, Broadway, movies, cooking and going to the beach. For the first time I traveled by myself this summer. I backpacked through France for a month, couch-surfing my way: one of the best experiences of my life. I live life to the fullest and I hope to make a change in the world, as cheesy as that might sound.


Jocelyn Wiley, Teacher. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I didn’t want to be a teacher. My father had been a teacher, and I felt duty-bound to resist the suggestion that I should follow in his footsteps, much like I felt it necessary to resist learning how to make pie crust from my mother. But the Fates cannot be resisted forever. It feels like fate that I have become a teacher; it feels somehow inevitable and right. This is not to say that I have banished the leftover bits from when I was a reporter, a publicist, an editor, a layout artist, a book reviewer, an assistant to the maitre d’, a front-desk clerk, a diner waitress, a grad student, a lifeguard, a traveler. Actually, I’m still a bit of a wanderer, but at least I don’t walk in my sleep. I talk in my sleep, though. I’m probably teaching.