Back in May, I posted how I really enjoyed attending the Italy Within the Frame workshop with David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman. One of the benefits of the workshop for me was my introduction to a group of seven other talented photographers I was privileged to spend that time with. Since the workshop, several of us have kept in touch, and you've learned about my adventures with them in Chicago, San Francisco, and Yosemite National Park here on the blog and in my images I've posted to Flickr.
Eli Reinholdtsen is one of those friends. As you may know, she self-published a book of her photographs on Blurb, called "Folk." It caught David duChemin's eye when we were in Italy and led to Eli's terrific Craft & Vision ebook, "Chasing Reflections." She didn't stop there. In December 2010, Eli was awarded Photographer of the Year by the Scandinaian Photography Magazine Fotografi.
In September of 2010, I was gearing up for another Within the Frame workshop with Jeffrey and David, this time in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, circumstances changed and I had to cancel my participation. I reached out to my friends to see if anyone was interested in taking my place, but I was not hopeful that it would happen given such short notice. A few days after I had canceled, I mentioned it to Eli in a conversation on Twitter and long story short, she was able to take my place. Boy, am I glad she did!
You see, Eli is in the process of producing a new book, this time with her images from her time in Kathmandu. She surprised me with an advance copy that arrived in the mail yesterday, and she's kindly allowed me to tell you about it. Again, it's still in production, so you can't order it yet, but Eli says you will be able to soon. She will announce the details when it's available and from where.
It's an amazing book, filled with some incredible images of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Bandipur in Nepal. Eli has always had an eye for the "decisive moment" and, in my opinion, several of these photographs are worthy of comparison to the best street photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson. Of course, there are also a few of Eli's famous "reflections" in here, too, particularly from a barber shop that was full of mirrors! I think she was in reflective nirvana for a little while.
I love that Eli is pushing herself forward on her photographic journey and putting her work out there for everyone to enjoy. Other folks from that Italy Within the Frame group are doing the same. Jeff Fielding has started a pet photography business and is furthering his photographic skills every day. Marco Ryan… well, Marco is a whirlwind of activity in the photographic community, co-founding and working with Focus for Humanity, working with Matt Brandon and Gavin Gough on photographic workshops, and still shooting and blogging about his own photography. These friends—and others like Sabrina Henry, Mark Olwick, Ray Ketcham, John Batdorff and more—inspire me every day to get better at this crazy thing called photography, and to keep moving forward on my own path. My sincere thanks to all of them for their inspiration and friendship.
So be on the lookout later this year for this terrific new book from Eli. I know I'll be thumbing through my copy for a long time to come.