Contrary to what it may look like, I do still exist and have not abandoned this blog. I have, however, let it slide a bit as I have been extremely busy planning and launching a couple of side projects. I have a number of entries waiting to be posted and I promise they will be up soon. In the meantime, learn more about my new projects after the jump.

This morning we visited the landfills of Trujillo, home and workplace for a number of Peruvians. It was heartbreaking to see families, including children, living and working in the midst of so much trash. This young boy spends his days sifting through and organizing trash piles such as this one.

This morning we traveled about an hour east of Trujillo to the Andean city of Otuzco, home of the Virgen de la Puerta (Virgin of the Door). Our purpose was not to visit the Virgin, but rather to visit the poor living on the outskirts of the city.

We have completed day three in Trujillo, Peru, having traveled to a number of impoverished communities in order to tell the stories of the people who live there. While the people live in difficult circumstances, I've been so impacted by their kindness, generosity, and beauty that shines so brightly in their bleak environment.

It has been over two weeks since I returned from Haiti, and with a long recovery from the sickness that I developed while in Haiti, along with moving to our new home, and in the past few days preparing for a trip to Peru, only recently have I had the time and energy to sit down and reflect on my trip.

I am honored to be a guest blogger on my husband's blog as I share what it looks like from my view to have Shun-Luoi begin to travel more extensively to pursue cultural and humanitarian photography.

This past weekend my brother flew in from Iowa to join me and our brother-in-law on a hiking trip that we hoped would see us to the top of five Colorado 14ers. Mt. Democrat, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross, a close triangle of peaks in the Mosquito Range, were our goals on Friday. Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia, two peaks in the Sawatch Range, were our destinations on Saturday. An ambitious two-day hiking trip to be sure, but my brother competes in triathalons, so I didn’t think his lack of acclimatization to the altitude would be an issue. My brother-in-law is a regular runner and biker, and he lives at higher altitude, so I knew he would have no problems. And despite my athletic background, I figured somebody had to be the weak link, so I rounded out the trio of climbers set to tackle the 14ers.

"...there's an irony here, that at a time when business is tougher than ever for photographers, they are expected to work even harder to produce projects on their own dime. But we all want to work with people who are passionate about what they do.

When I began the redesign process for my new website I wrestled with the idea of reincorporating a blog as a core part of my web presence. In a past life of my website I had started a blog and I thought it was pretty good. I would post photos from personal projects I was doing (I didn’t have any paying clients at the time) and write down a few thoughts to complement the photos. I would post regularly, sometimes even daily. And I would rejoice whenever someone left a comment, even if that someone was my wife cheering me on. Everything was going well.

It is with great excitement, and perhaps a little trepidation, that I present to you the redesigned and relaunched shunluoifong.com.