Stairway through the night..

I don't think I have ever published this image for the public but the sight really amazed me. While I was in Baghdad one of the Japanese me attracted my attention. He was wearing a hat with a very broad brim like the ones Steve Fennimore wore and was obviously an artist of some sort. I couldn't speak Japanese and he spoke no english so we just nodded when we saw each other. Walking through the lobby of the Palestine Hotel, that I realized later was used by all of the traveling Diplomats and visiting dignitaries, which since has been turned into rubble, I saw a group of people gather around someone on the floor. I went over and it was the man I described looming over a large piece of rice paper. He had inkwells out and a bunch of brushes and was creating something on the rice paper.

As he progressed the image came into being of a Japanese woman with a large umbrella as a background looking back at us. It was a fantastic drawing/painting/creation. The ink dried almost immediately as it was hot and he brought out some string and bamboo and started working with the painting. When he was finished I saw one of the most amazing Kites I had ever seen. THIS GUY WAS A KITE MAN - LIKE ME !!!!

I have always loved kites and have had some great times just watching them in the air. With Spring around the corner I'll get some out that fly in ways you have probably never seen. One of the ways is as a "train" That is a multitude or just several kites on one line streaking to the sky. This is the first one I had ever seen and it was flown outside of the soccer stadium in Baghdad. This is one of those images I feel very lucky to have captured because of the place, the people, and circumstance. As we were going home through Tokyo, he came up to me and gave me the kite he made on the floor of the Hotel. I have it framed and will try to have a picture of it in my blog soon.

There were over 500 kites on that one line and he made them all....

I love my job.....