Here are a few selects from my long-term project supporting the Community Coalition for Haiti as a volunteer photographer and board member. I started going to Haiti in 1999 and decided during my last visit in August of 2011 that it was time to move on from CCH.

Here are a few selects from a PDF brochure that was edited by Mike Davis and designed by Lisa Lytton.

If you would like a copy, please send me an email and I will send you a link to download a version.

For some crazy reason, most likely out of boredom, I started shooting flash pictures of animals and people as we crept through the night. Not the smartest idea in the world but most people laughed and thought it was fun.

Here are a few frames from that journey. I am constantly surprised at how good the Nikons are at figuring out exposure and focus in extreme low light.

I found this image yesterday afternoon while I processing files from my August 2011 shoot at Crudem Hospital in Northern Haiti. I watched the Gecko walk across the window glass and decided to shoot a few frames before it wandered off in search of ants.

I have a B&W series from this flight that I will share within a day or so.

Since 1999 I have made 16 trips to Haiti to support the Community Coalition for Haiti. First as a volunteer than as a board member.

On October 14th I will have a one-night only retrospective show of my Haiti NGO work at ICON Gallery in Alexandria. The show will be a fundraiser for CCH and the goal is for people to take their prints with them that evening and for the walls to be empty.

CCH has many new projects in Central and Southern Haiti. Raising funds is critical for the continued success of the current projects.

I am closing this chapter in my life. Time to move onto several new long-term personal projects that are environmentally oriented and will be books within two years.

11:00 – second shower after time on the street and in the OR.

4:00 – when the heat builds up to its max.

8:00 – the last one of the day before sleep

High humidity, high heat, little wind. Fans in guest quarters help a bit.

Spent the day with an amazing little girl and her family yesterday. Killer two hour truck ride and a nice little wade across the River Nord and up to her family plot. She returns to the hospital today and her operation is tomorrow.

Can not post pics because of a slow net connection. Will do this weekend when we reposition to another medical center.

Walked the Citadel road this morning for some exercise. 1000 meter high fortress overlooking Cape Haitian and the Caribbean Sea. I’ve been there before and it is always impressive.

Award from Graphis for my aerial of The Destruction of Port au Prince, Haiti after the January 2011 earthquake.

See the series here.

The first part of my trip to Haiti was spent photographing CCH projects in Jacmel and the surrounding area of the Southeastern catchment.  After two days, our Executive Director Karen Carr, Agronomist Rubinste St. Louis, Julia and Katherin Ligget and myself flew to Pignon in the central plateau.

CCH has a long history in Pignon.  The core nurses and doctors visited Pignon in 1987 and have continued to support the hospital there for most of the intervening years.  My first visit to Pignon was in 1999.  This trip to Haiti was my 14th since then.

In Pignon, CCH has an innovative school garden program where children in grades 3 to 6 learn how to grow vegetables as part of their lunch program.  Lumeres Altidor is a student of the Meredith School in Pignon and taught his father, Lumeus how to grow vegetables.  Mr. Altidor dug this small well next to his house in order to water the vegetables he started growing last year.

Mr. Alitdor lives outside of Pignon on a small plot of land with his wife and children. He has started to sell hot peppers and used part of his earnings to purchase shoes for his children. Our team were bouncing along in the back of a pick-up truck on the way to Bayi to visit a community garden project when Rubinste, the staff agronomist for CCH spotted Mr. Altidor in his back yard. We piled out, an invading force of sorts and spent some time visiting his family and learning how well his garden was growing.

To my eye at least fifty percent of his small plot was covered in vegetables. Rows and rows of carrots, peppers, tomatoes, bok choy and cucumbers were planted between his home and the ever present Haitian Cactus fence that surrounds most homes.

The seeds were given to Mr. Altidor as part of CCH’s programs to teach Haitians how to become self-sufficient. If you are interested in CCH’s Rural Renewal and agricultural programs, please follow this link.

In the northern plateau, CCH has several goat and pig projects plus a strong interest in helping communities develop their own agricultural projects. We also sent medical teams to a small hospital in Pignon.Most of the shoots happen pretty fast. We are traveling by truck on difficult roads and our time in each community is limited to a couple of hours. The goal on this trip was to shoot several projects in the north in two days. Besides shooting the projects, I try to capture moments that convey our work and the spirit of the Haitian people.

(Young girl who attends the school we build near Pignon. The school features a community garden where the children learn to grow vegetables.)

(Elder near Pignon)

(Near Pignon)

Many children ask to have their photograph taken. They tend to grab the camera as soon as you shoot and laugh at their image son the LCD screen. It always throws them for a lop when I shoot with my film Leicas. They are confused and feel cheated. Most of them have only known digital cameras and it is a big surprise when their is no image to see.

My goal when shooting portraits in Haiti is not direct the people but to feel and photograph an honest exchange between myself and the subject.

(Young girl at the Campbell orphanage)

(Woman who is participating in a micro-finance project near Bayi)

(This young man attends a school where CCH intends to place a well that is funded by an American teenager who was part of this trip.)

Sometimes you just can not resist. Great hair!