Well... well... well..

So yeah, it's been almost 7 years.

Let's see if I can get this rollin' again... expect some layout changes as I try to pick up where I left off.  This page needs some fixin'.

See you soon.

MY NEW BLOG --> timvan.com/blog

I have been living & working in Shanghai, China for the past month now, where the government BLOCKS blogspot.
So I now began my new [official] blog at http://timvan.com/blog

All the rants and ravings (and dope photography) of an expat in China.

This blog however will now be put on hold indefinitely (but most likely, for ever).

Thanks for being a part of this with me, but I must move on to bigger, better (and working) things!

Cheers,

-Timothy Vanhonacker


TIMVAN.COM/BLOG

China, Facebook, & Gigapixels

So I realize I have been lacking in the posting department... I am currently working on my relocation to China... hence my lack of posts recently. So my time in NYC is over... will be excellent and extremely inspiring to have new streets/architecture to photograph, when the time comes they will be posted!

I also recently published a Facebook fan-page for Timothy Vanhonacker Photography, check it out, and become my fan! I have posted a couple of the images that made and didn't make the cut from my Dystopia show... check it!

In the meantime, I have to share this link with you.
Taken with a multi giga-pixel camera, this site and the photos therein are absolutely STUNNING.
(http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/yose_deepzoom/new/XRez%20Xtreme%20Pano/index.html)



Cheers,

T.

DYSTOPIA ¦ UTOPIA (my premiere solo show!)

TIMOTHY VANHONACKER : DYSTOPIA ¦ UTOPIA

Upcoming solo photography exhibition coming to midtown NYC!

Opening reception: June 18, 6-8pm

All the info is at: timvan.com/dystopia






















I apologize for my lack of posting these past couple months... its been rough... but my life seems to be somewhat on track once again... it's time for full throttle, dytopian style.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Holidays 2008

So I've been a little out of commission lately... been pondering the direction of my life... so I apologize for my absence.

I have been working on my show, which is coming along smoothly.

I will be shooting a lot in the coming month during my stay in Europe.
Until then, merry christmas, and have a blast in 2009... finally a president that talks like a educated human being.

T.

Belgium/Holland/Spain

So I had to make a last minute trip to Belgium. 2.5 weeks and I managed to hit up 3 countries... Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain. Obviously I took some photos, here is a little taste:

Rotterdam, NL


Rotterdam, NL

Antwerp, BE

Madrid, ES

My good friend Michael also had just gotten his new car... so being the good friend I am, I took some shots for him. Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works. Waterloo, Belgium.

More photos here:

MINI COOPER S ~ BELGIUM/HOLLAND ~ MADRID

Bali, Indonesia / Melbourne, Australia

Our hotel in Bali, Indonesia (Courtyard Hotel, Legian)

My girlfriend Melissa at the Melbourne aquarium.

Yarra River, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Although I have lots to say about our trip and especially Australia, but I'll try to keep it short.
Dec. 22-29 in Bali, and Dec. 29-Jan. 4 in Melbourne.
First was the flight. New York via Anchorage, Alaska via Taipei, Taiwan to Denpasar, Bali. 25 hours of fun! Our first flight with EVA was amazing -besides the fish porridge for breakfast- the plane was only something like a month old. The American airline companies could really learn a thing or fifty. Our flight back was with American Airlines (bah!) via LA, but operated by Quantas (woohoo!)... so once again we were quite lucky.
BALI~
Bali was great... it always is, cheap, laid back, and relaxing. Although the first couple days we were there it rained non-stop, and the streets flooded (make sure to check out the link at the bottom for ALL the pictures... including the flooding!).
When it storms of course all the crap from the ocean gets placed on the beach, so that was pretty much a bummer, but we still had an amazing time.
The last time I had been in Bali had been exactly a decade earlier, and you could really sense the change. There had been 2 separate bombings in between targeted completely at tourism, killing over 200 people. We visited the site, and had a beer at Paddy's II. It's sad because it really hurt tourism, the streets were alot emptier than 10 years earlier. Once again religion proves to be a destructive force. Bali is one of the only islands belonging to Indonesia which isn't muslim, and as you should know this country has the largest muslim population of any country in the world, hence their dislike for western lifestyle and influences due to Balinese tourism.
I really can't say any of that really matters to me, you can't live life in fear (although the Bush administration sees that a little differently, but f**k Bush, only 9 months left with that monkey).
AUSTRALIA~
First of all a place that calls itself a "drinking culture" should have bars that are open past midnight. We got kicked out of a bar at 1am because it was closing... I mention this because it was NEW YEARS EVE. A six-pack of beers in a supermarket should also not exceed $10. Which they did. Even Victoria Bitter (brewed and bottled in Australia) ran up to $14 (Aussie dollars). We also learned that "Fosters, Australian for beer" is a completely farce. The only Fosters I had was on the airplane leaving Australia. It's sad if I can get a Australian beer cheaper here in NYC than there. Really REALLY sad.
Bali, on the other hand, was the complete opposite, $1 bottles of beer at the bar (which are open 24/7). And they only sell Bintang beer, which means 'star' in Indonesian, and if you know your beers looks identical to the Heineken star on it's bottle. Quick history lesson: the Dutch colonized Indonesia back in the day, and they didn't leave on the greatest terms, so as not to correlate too much with Dutchness, they changed 'Heineken' to 'Bintang.'
The only problem Bali seemed to have was electricity. Couple times we had to relax by candle light as the entire town's electricity went out. We also rented a scooter for the day for US$3!

All our photo's can be found here:

BALI ~ MELBOURNE 1 ~ MELBOURNE 2

Check it out, because it's worth it! Photo's from inland Bali, the Royal Palace, massive spider, menstruation sign, wild koala bears, and my very own police mug shot! Enjoy.

Vote for Me!

*UPDATE*
I didn't win :-(

Some of my images are running in an online contest...
All you have to do is follow this link, scroll to the bottom and click "Click Here To Vote".
That's it!

Thanks in advance for helping me out!

www.behance.net/Contest/Be-Contest-Photography/31493/46872


~T!M~

a TIM-troduction

So I think it's a good idea to show some of my work here, considering many won't be familiar with it.
Remember to bookmark this page along with:

http://www.timvan.com/
&
www.flickr.com/photos/hotnacho

(or click an image below)

Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to stop by again soon, I am currently working on getting all my Peru/Bolivia stuff up, and then from there... everything else!

Enjoy.

Perú/Bolivia - Part XV (Cuzco - Inti Raymi)

Cuzco used to be the capital of the Inca Empire. It sits at an elevation of 3,300 m (10,800 ft), about twice as high up as Denver, CO. In 2006 it was found to be the spot on Earth with the highes tultraviolet light level... whatever that means.

At first sight I thought this was an remarkably progressive city, embracing the gay community like no other place I had seen before... that was until I realized this:

gay flag...

...Cuzco flag

I'm sorry, but I hardly doubt I'm the only person who thought that!

Anyway, the day started with a 2km trek from Cuzco city up the mountain to the site of Sacsayhuaman ruins (all the touristas seems to just call it "sexy woman"), as that's where the Inti Raymi show would take place for the day.

This is where I get critical... there were hundreds of thousands of visitors (90% local) who sat around the festival site on the hills around, who were playing ball, eating, and spending a festivous day with the family to mark this festival of the sun that marks winter solstice.
The only thing blocking the view was a horribly massive tribune in the shape on the L, where all the f$%*ing tourists sat. Now get this... the price to sit there was OVER $200!
Although us gringos help the Peruvian economy with tourism, this is just a complete outrage, especially if you consider 44.5% of Peruvians live under the poverty line.¹
Because of this atrocity, the police and even the military are in high numbers surrounding the site and city during the festivities, just in case some locals realize how unfair it is to take away a several century old celebration and milk the gringos with it.

View Larger Map

The dots on the map show the site of Sacsayhuaman, statue of Jesus (Cristo Blanco), and the Plaza de Armas (the main square, and back in Inca times; the absolute center of the empire) with to the south with the rest of the city.









Below, you can see somewhat of what I'm talking about... sectioning off the paying gringos from the locals, and with a good buffer too! The mountain (and crowds) rose up behind me, and wrapped all the way around to the left... this is hardly half the audience.
I apologize for the small size, but once again I have to tell you that I'm working on getting some gallery representation for all my panorama's taken on this trip.. this being one of them. They will look amazing large and in print.
We sat for hours and watched the show best we could, also managing to get sunburnt although the sun only popped out for about 20 minutes... must be something with that UV thing I mentioned... oops.

Anyone order a truck-load of cops?

The infamous 12-angled Inca stone.

The whole wall (make sure to view large).

Church of La Compañia, Plaza de Armas

La Catedral, Plaza de Armas

Perú/Bolivia - Part XIV (The Road to Cuzco)

Once again, we had to carry all our stuff across the border from our bus in Bolivia to our Bus in Peru... I forgot the exact reasons, but without all their emission laws, it seems strange to have some sort of registration issues... although it was something like that.
We filled out some paperwork, got some stamps in our passports and were herded back on to our new bus.
As we headed out of the Bolivian Andes and into the Peruvian Andes, this is where we witnessed the only rainfall of our entire trip, it lasted a wonderful 20 minutes, and that was that.

I honestly couldn't wait to reach Cuzco, as it was the only place we would stay a couple days... close to a week actually, finally, some downtime.
Plus it was the city where I heard many great things from my friend Evrim who had been there less than a year earlier. Not to mention it was THE Inca capital, and the closest city to the incredible site/sight of Machu Picchu.

When we arrived in the city, it was littered with people as the Inti Raymi festival (Festical of the Sun) was in full swing. It was going to be a special couple days.

We got in late, and I went straight to sleep as the next day would be a long one.

Perú/Bolivia - Part XIII (Cerro Rico)

Legend has it, that the Spanish took so much silver out of mountains like this one that they could have built a silver bridge back to Spain. You only have to step in one church or cathedral in Spain and see that there might be some truth to that.
We woke up that morning, and although earlier I had been excited, I felt really sick and unsure if they would have decent bathroom facilities inside the mountain.
I decided to tag along and see how I felt, as I could always abandon the mine shaft when I got there... my thoughts were simple: I feel like death, sick to my stomach, ready to puke, head throbbing, and at any minute I could get a bad case of... let's just call it mud butt. I don't mean to be crass, but I'm trying to put in perspective how shitty I felt (I apologize for the pun!).

Anyway, our guides were awesome, they were these 2 little Bolivian ladies that (although I didn't know this yet) were experts in the use of dynamite.

We were given our suits, and led over to a little street that was filled with stands like the one pictured... apparently it is customary to bare gifts to the miners while visiting their workspace.
Here is the best part, in this image you can see all the gifts they appreciate: crackers/cookies, water, soda, gloves, hand rolled cigarettes (sold in ripped paper and taped together - they are the pink/light blue right behind the guide), now comes the good stuff: pure alcohol (Ceibo), cocoa leaves, and... oh yeah DYNAMITE.
If the life expectancy for a Bolivian miner wasn't in the 30's, I would consider wasting my life away eating cookies and washing them down with grain alcohol, all the while smoking and blowing shit up.
And to think that you have to show ID here in the "land of the free" to buy anything from cigarettes to alcohol, to even getting into a place that sells these things... in Bolivia they sell TNT on the side of the street! Not to mention the alcohol was about $1 and the dynamite + accessories was about $2 (The dynamite is in the box the lady on the right just bent in front of... you can see the rolled up fuses as well as the "agitator" which armed the explosives).

So, you take out the dynamite stick, put it in a bag filled with little things... I think she referrred to it as an agitator, still a fuse in the there...

...and voila, you're ready to blow some shit up.

She then buried it and lit the fuse... boom.

At this point I decided that I would go into the mines... I figured even if I pooped myself, that I should suck up how horrible I felt, as whenever would I have the chance to get back into a Bolivian mine...?!
I left my camera in the bus, and we ventured into the darkness...

I must say, it was quite amazing... they had chapels inside the mountain, and tunnels leading everywhere... of course most were smaller than you average hallway, some the size of a manhole cover.

The thing was... that that stick of dynamite was on my mind... and for good reason. Because every 30 min or so an enormous explosion would rock the entire mountain around you...! Dust and debris would fall around you just as in the movies... and we would all look at each other. Stressful to say the least.

We then got on the bus and headed from Potosi back to the La Paz... thankfully it was [almost] all paved roads from here on out. Although there were gonna be some unforeseen deviations along the way...

This is how they demonstrate in Bolivia... we passed several of these "blockades." So we could drive right by... others took hour-long detours. Many used rocks and whatever they could find, while others blocked the roads with buses, trucks, and masses of people. Yeah, it was annoying.













When we got back to La Paz that night, I went out and did some last minute shopping, as I hadn't been able to check out the city due to the prior bike trip I took... I was amazed and some of the things that were for sale... and wondered what they would think about it at customs in Newark.

Now this is what I call a convenience store... anything from drinks and snacks to leopard skins and llama fetuses. And no, I am not joking.
The dried fetuses are used as offerings to mother earth ("pachamama") and are buried under every house for protection.
So now you know where to go if you need a dried frog (wealth), armadillo (Bolivian form of Brinks security, prevents thieves from entering -could also double a nice Halloween decoration), burnt llama fetus on a bed of herbs (good fortune with a new business), or a simple ceramic statue of a naked couple (improves sex life).

La Paz is a crazy city... the traffic lights work, but they seem to be optional, and as I mentioned before about the imported foreign trucks, there are no laws on emissions... so buses (like the one above) spew out the most intense blue smoke you've ever seen.
That night I stayed awake as long as possible, went to an internet cafe and webcam'd with my girl Melissa for a while, as the next day would be another grueling 12 hour bus ride back in Peru and on to the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco.

I also bought a portrait of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara from an artist on the street (which hangs right next to me as I type). Which seemed to be strangely fitting for Bolivia, considering it was where he was captured and ultimately executed (with the help of the always insightful CIA) in 1967. The airbushed image on fabric, which turned out to be one of the most expensive purchases on my trip (at $5) is also one of my favorite.


¡Hasta luego Bolivia!