Several years ago I was making photos for a company that made school pictures. This company's specialty was making photos of preschool age children. As a result, I was in preschools all over Charlotte every morning chasing 3 and 4 year olds with my camera. The upshot: it was great exercise.

One of those fine mornings I was in the lobby of a church preschool in downtown Charlotte, done with the shoot and wrapping up from the chase. I looked up and saw this woman walking past me, sliding her feet forward more than walking, dressed in her Sunday best even though it was a Tuesday, and an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips.

How could I pass up this serendipitous photo opportunity?

I pulled my camera out, walked up to her, and asked if I could make a quick portrait of her. She stopped shuffling, didn't say a word, and just slightly nodded her head up and down. It was just the two of us for 20 or 30 seconds; woman, camera, man.

After I snapped the shutter I smiled and thanked her. She made no gestures, just turned away and continued to shuffle forward.

Where was she going? What was her story? I don't know and I didn't ask. I had my own story of her in a portrait.

It wasn't until later that day, while looking at the image on the computer, that the true magnificence of this image appeared to me. The hat, the blouse, the "I love Jesus" strap, the look on her face, the miles on her skin, the unlit cigarette -- wow.

I visited Chad Cartwright, aka CHD:WCK!, in his studio recently to check out his work, make some photos, shoot the shit, and listen to the new Erykah Badu record.

Check out Chad's work: CHD:WCK!.

(And, by the way, the new Badu record is pretty damn good.)

My photos of my kids are better than your photos of your kids.

I took this collage I recently created and made two black and white copies of it. I gave a copy to each of my kids and asked them to take the images further, however they wanted. I provided colored pencils, markers, stickers, pastels, and other random tools and they went at it.

This is Sophia's (she's 4):

This is Nick's (he's 7):

The advantages of lighting equipment, a home studio/office, and a willing subject.

PHOTOGRAPHER (to subject): Bend forward, let your hair fall in front of you covering your face, kick your heels out. Now hold that. Perfect.

A couple of months ago -- after having read Patti Smith's Just Kids, her book about her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe -- I was approached by a friend on Twitter about producing an homage to the highly influential Robert Mapplethorpe. Always up for an excuse to make beautiful photographs, I said yes.

While I don't really shoot in the style that Mapplethorpe is most renowned for, his imagery has had an influence over me for as long as I can remember. It's iconic and poignant. There's no escaping his influence if you're photographing the human body. It was an honor to let his work inspire me.

I'll spare you the details of the actual production and post-production that went into these shots. One thing I do want to mention is that all of the people in these images agreed to do it via Twitter. That's a pretty damn cool use of social media.

Personally, these images fill me with intense awe and infinite sadness. A lot like Mapplethorpe's images do. These are some of the most beautiful images I have ever made. They also stirred up lots of personal crap. Either way, I'm extremely proud of the photographs and am very happy to be on this side of them now, personally and creatively.

Here's the gallery. Not safe for work (NSFW), natch.

PROJECT: MAPPLETHORPE HOMAGE

You came along with a raft and a song and I'm so glad you could make it
With you by my side I'm might get back alive from my next vacation

I didn't see you were right next to me but I'm so glad you could make it
With you by my side I'm might get back alive from my next vacation

From "Vacation" by Widespread Panic
For CBD

I wandered into a bar in the Malasaña neighborhood one raucous Friday night the last time I was in Madrid.

As I sat at the bar and enjoyed my beer I couldn't help but notice a very loud crowd of 20-something Madrileños at the back of the bar singing along to music videos and classic commercials playing on a giant flat screen television. Only I couldn't recall any of the songs, didn't recognize any of the singers, and couldn't sing along to the jingles of any of the commercials -- unlike that young crew in the back of the bar.

The longer I watched them carry on -- and they were very entertaining to watch -- I started to realize that they have a whole different history, a whole different set of memories, that I or most of the people I know do. The music, the jingles, the commercials, the camaraderie, the cultural history -- it belonged to them, los españoles, and not the American at the bar.

From my Madrid journal:

Whole different lives are lived here. Different histories, different memories, different ways of being and living. It amazes me. We're so self-centered as Americans, thinking our experiences define how the world should be. It isn't until you go somewhere else that you realize that it ain't all about us.

I see Madrileños and the way they are, see the things they do and how they do them. I'll pick one, my tender here at Café Oliver for instance, and think about where she's been and how she got here. What her history is, what her memories are. Who loves her, who she loves. What does she do when she gets off work? Does she have a live-in, is she married, or alone? How does she fight with her lover? What does she look like when she cries? What does she look like when she has sex? How does her body move when she's with her lover, that person bringing her to ecstasy? How does she laugh? What makes her smile?

All of this and more comes to mind from a simple "hola" and the pour of a beer.

The more I travel and meet people who aren't like me, the bigger and richer it makes my world. I want to know all about how other people (non-Americans) live their lives and see the world. I want to know what their histories are, what matters to them, and how they find and pursue their passions.

Twitter and Facebook have made this pursuit much easier. I have several followers and "friends" on these social networks that are from Spain, Mexico, and other places where our only connection is that we share a similar language and, maybe, a cultural interest. That's the starting point, though, and there has to be a starting point.

I can't wait to see where my travels, both virtual and physical, take me and what they'll continue to reveal and teach me -- hell, all of us -- about the world beyond our borders. Hell, I might even learn a few new tunes and jingles.

As soon as I saw this image I thought, "Stephen Shore."

El barrio Chueca en Madrid, cuatro de la mañana, Mayo 2009.