Explore where you live.
A man steps out of sunlight,
sunlight that streams like grace,
still gaping at blue sky
staked across the emptiness of space,
into a history where shadows
assume a human face.
A man slips into silence
that began as a cry,
still trailing music
although reduced to the sigh
of an accordion
as it folds into its case.
-By Stuart Dybek
On a Saturday morning a few months ago, I woke to find a missed alert on my phone from a friend and fellow photographer Laurie.
I dialed my voice mail expecting to hear a message continuing some portion of the conversation we’d had at dinner the night before. To my surprise, the call was regarding something altogether different.
“Hey Maggie, it’s Laurie. I talked to Johnny tonight and he said you could come to Panama with us. We’re thinking about going in the next month or so and we’d really like you to join us!”
I thought about it for about 30 seconds before calling her back to tell her I was on board.
Johnny, Laurie’s husband, was the point person for our travels. We laid down a few specified a few spots of interest (the canal, countryside, and Caribbean) and he did the rest. A week before our departure he even showed me the excel spreadsheet coordinating our days’ activities in clear color-coated blocks of time. His enthusiasm for Panama was contagious, especially with the constant promise of hammock time on the beach.
I could only spare 5 days for the trip with my schedule, but I feel like I got a real taste of the country. The people were warm and laughed easy. Johnny’s family was wonderful. His mom made a number of tasty meals for us, delighting my palette with tamales, a sweet yogurt drink, fresh fruit, and other treats I snarfed down. To our delight, Marco, Johnny’s cousin spent three days with us. Marco knows a lot about Panama and was really patient with my constant queries about “that over there,” or “the history of this spot.”
The photos below chronicle a lot of our adventures, from our morning hike at the Smithsonian owned island, Barro Colorado, to our day at the Caribbean.
With Laurie, Johnny, and his family as my guide, I was able to see SO much of Panama… I had such a great time, and am already looking forward to the next visit.
Passenger’s reflection on the boat ride to Barro Colorado Island. 
The canal
A shared laugh.
The Jungle
Bus Station.
Fisherman. 
Our boat driver to the island.
El Cristo Negro
The little Chinese owned Panamanian spot. Delicious.
I recently revisited the incredible project documenting TB across the World by renowned photographer James Natchwey. I first saw images from this work while while doing some maintenance on the archive while interning at VII photo agency.
When I came across these images, I couldn’t help by sit wide eyed for a while, shell-shocked by the faces distorted in pain. One image showed the emaciated back of a man washing himself. You could count each vertebrae of the spine and every single rib jotting through his thin skin. I was just blown away.
A few months later I was able to attend the opening of the project at the United Nations in New York and here Natchwey talk. Seeing all the prints as a whole was a remarkable experience.
It would not suffice to say that Natchwey is a rarity. He establishes trust and intimacy with his subjects quickly, as though he were family, a lover, a friend. His level of commitment is inspiring. I asked him once if he ever thought about retiring (not that I thought he should). He seemed to be surprised by this question, “retire? Oh no, I’ll keep doing this till I can’t walk anymore. I still have a lot to photograph.”
Whether I’m shooting weddings, boudoir, or daily life, I often think about his work; my subject matter may be very different, but I feel respect and intimacy are just as essential.
If you have three minutes, watch his slideshow. It’s well worth it. I encourage you to pass on the slideshow.
Seat 15F Flight from Panama to Atlanta
We begin our descent, 60 miles from Atlanta. I sit up in my seat, turn my ipod to Phoenix and pull the shade on the window. The sun is low and the light graces the clouds beneath us; a gentle touch of soft golden light caressing the billowing cover. It looks like an ocean of delicate down, collecting below me in a current of rising peaks, churning out as far as I can see.
In an instant we are enveloped. It moves me. My breath catches involuntarily, and I am silently awed by the white light that cocoons the plane. Too soon it is over, and what was a beautiful bright scene is now a gray, dark wall overhead, reminding me that everything is a matter of perspective.
There is no sensation like waking up in one country and going to sleep in another. The experience is still magical to me. I imagine no matter how many flights I take or how much distance I cover I will still be humbled by this achievement. This morning I woke in a condo beside the Atlantic ocean. Tonight I return to Chicago, the smell of salt water and distant memory of Spanish chatter lulling me to sleep.
Linda and Steve are a radiant couple. They’re a pair everyone wants for best friends. With their easy smiles and joyful, generous spirits, it’s no wonder person after person sang their praises.
Thanks to Laurie Peacock for bringing me on as her second. As always, we had a blast while shooting. It was the first of the season for us together, but many more to come!
I’m blown away when I pause and consider the privilege I’m given each wedding I document. I fell in love with photojournalism while flipping through pages of National Geographic. Amongst articles featuring Inuits in Canada, or barracudas in the deep blue, famous photographers like Steve McCurry and Joel Satore presented pieces from across the World documenting special rights ceremonies. No matter what you call them, how they’re officiated, or what hemisphere they’re held, marriages are universal ceremonies between two people–a pinnacle point in their lifelong story, which I’m grateful to witness and document.
Phil and Jamie were quiet when I first met them. They were reserved, composed, and polite. During their wedding they were moving.
Emotion filled the air; tissues touched corner’s of eyes and sniffles were muffled behind cupped hands. From the people in the back row to the photographer crouching in the corner (me), I wager not a single person was left unmoved.
Thanks to Steve Koo for bringing me along as a second, and to Jame and Phil.What a beautiful ceremony. Did I mention we had a blast at the reception?
