Kenro Izu Angkor Hospital for Children Siem Reap Cambodia

I had the pleasure of working with and photographing Kenro Izu an internationally acclaimed Japanese photographer & humanitarian known best for his photographs of sacred places. Ten years ago, during a series of trips to photograph the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, Kenro was moved by his encounters with children disfigured by landmines and in need of medical care. As a way of returning something to Cambodia, he founded a nonprofit organization, Friends Without A Border, and built the Angkor Hospital for Children in 1999. Since that time, the hospital has treated over 560,000 children.

Kenro and I spent a few days together, and visited several of his favorite temples, so that I could photograph him for an article in the June 2009 issue of Town and Country Magazine. It was a typical, hot day in Siem Reap, so Kenro and I took a short break and enjoyed a cold Angkor beer.

For a look at the published article click here

Fun in Myanmar (Burma)

Last year (2008) during my Myanmar photo tour, I was sitting in the shade at the foot of Mingun Pagoda enjoying a Coke when a Buddhist monk drove up in a home made truck with a load of Burmese folks in the back. Being one of the few foreigners around (tourism was way down due to political unrest and cyclone Nargis), he and I started chatting. I commented on his truck and he immediately said "let's go for a ride", so I said sure and walked over to the passenger side of the truck to get in. Before I could get in and sit down he said, no you drive!
The full story and more photos here:
http://www.karlgrobl.com/BurmaTruckDriver/index.htm

The joy of sharing photos

This image shot by Judit Fabian. Judit was one of the tour guests on my May, 2008 Peru tour. She captured me handing out pictures to a group of children in a remote, andean, indigenous weaving community. One of the great joys of photography is sharing pictures. Since I have the opportunity to revisit places where I have made photographs, I try to bring back a few snap shots every year. No matter where I travel, people always appreciate getting pictures of themselves. I thank Judit for sharing this image with me. See some more of Judit's images at her website (http://www.redrockphotoadventures.com/).

Salvation Mountain, Leonard Knight

I went out to meet Leonard Knight at Salvation Mountain near the Salton Sea yesterday...He's quite a character.Leonard Knight painted a mountain, yes that's right he painted a mountain. It's called Salvation Mountain, it's located in Imperial County just east of the Salton Sea about a hour and a half from Palm Springs. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." Salvation Mountain must be seen to be fully appreciated.Its 50 foot height and 150 foot breadth is made totally of local adobe clay and donated paint and is truly unique in the United States and probably the world. From its Sea of Galilee at the bottom, to the big red heart in the middle, to the cross at the very top, the reoccurring theme of "Love" is everywhere at Salvation Mountain I made a short slideshow here

this Vietnamese girl lost her leg to a snake bite, she was being fitted for a new prosthesis

 

This little Cambodian girl's expression haunts me to this day....

 

 

 

I got thrown out of Cuba in June...they don't like journalists

 

 

USAID

Photographed a Cambodian girl...it ended up on the USAID Jobs for the 21st Century Cambodia Assessment

Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, called "the blue city".....I was walking in with my photo tour group and ran into Steve McCurry, he was with his
National Geographic group ....we took a few snaps together, then moved on

Here's aphoto of me and Steve

Guatemala, what an amazing place for photos...haven't been there for almost 6 years...I gotta get back!

Oct 7 2002

Hi,We are safely in Danang, Vietnam. It's a bit coolerthan Cambodia but just as interesting as Cambodia. ourhotel is right across the street from the beach/ocean.whatever body of water it is ...... one of you willknow but i can't remember - the Lonely Planet guidesays it is the real 'china beach'. been cloudy andraining here but we rented a motorbike yesterday androde around anyway - cameras covered - not in town buton the outskirts. was really fun. karl is at thephys.therapy clinic finishing up his photos and thenwe go on an adventure tomorrow to the mountains. somequaint/historical place built by the french.it truly is a different world out here therefore weare thoroughly enjoying it !!!! we are both healthyand meeting some of the kindest people. they all haveRAVED about karl's photos. it's such a good thing thatwe got the laptop for him to work from whiletraveling. he is saving so much time because he isdownloading, editing and handing over the CD'simmediately. now he will have more time upon returninghome.we are off weds.evening to ho-chi-min for a few daysand finally to hanoi for the final HVO assignment. we send our love to all of you and sincerely hope youare all in good health ....until we email again ....Carrie & Karl

October 3 2002

Hi Kate,
Things are going great here in Phnom Penh, George arrived yesterday and I have been shooting like crazy.
Next update from Vietnam.

Oct 3 2002

All is well in Phnom Penh, just about done photographing the site !
we are off to Vietnam tomorrow

sept 30 2002

Hi Kate and Amy,
Just to let you know...our Silk Air ticket is invalid for domestic travel in Cambodia.
This morning at 9:30 we were told that we could not board the airplane or travel on silk air. Silk air has öwn stopover rights"on the Siem Reap -Phnom Penh sector, in other words they are only able to carry passengers from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh if the passenger arrived into Cambodia via Silk Air's flight from Singapore.
We were told that we had to purchase a one way ticket on Siem Reap air...the flight today leaves at 4:30...so we have essentially lost a day waiting at the airport.
I informed Suzanne Gumbly by phone to let her know of our late arrival.
Meanwhile the folks at Silk Air helped us exchange tickets.
If Amy could please re-check all of our future flights it would be a great help...as you know...getting anything done here takes longer and is more difficult to accomplish than with fast internet connections, fast computers and 800 numbers.
We are looking forward to getting to Phnom Penh.
Best regards,
Karl

Sept 30 2002

Hi everybody, It's Monday night in Siem Reap. We are finished with the temples and the HVO work. tomorrow we head to phom pen in the morning. Our visit here has been great ! Angkor is amazing and everyone is so friendly.Yes,it has been extremely hot but thank goodness for the AC here at the Angkor Saphir hotel.We will see what the Email situation is in Phnom Pen and try to email you in a few days.best regards,Karl and Carrie

June 6 2002

Chichi still has character despite the pavement, but i keep remembering the guat that you and i visited the first time...so exotic, so strange, so much fun to share with you...not it's a bit different but it still is awesome. Yes we are coming back to see Odilia soon !
We are in Antigua now, at a place under the archway and across from where rockwell and i stayed last time. it is nice and only $40. The place we stayed last night in Santiago atitlan was very nice...new, clean, great landscaping and volcanoe views...and only $40 too ! Unfortunately, santiago has changed and is not as good as when we came. I did however, meet and photograph the Santiago atitlan woman who is pictured on the 25 cent coin...if memoory serves me right i have a photo of her from a few years back too !...she may even be the one we bought the hat from !!!!!!! I gotta check when i get back.
Tonight we are going for a pizza and a gallo beer at the little place we discovered together...you remember...across from the jade place where steve bought the expensive mask.
Damn, I really miss having you here to share all

june 4 2002

we are in panajachel at the dos mundos hotel and today we are going to the village of santa catarina palopo...tomorrow we go to santiago atitlan by boat and overnight at the hotel Bambu...eco bambu is there website i think or type in bambu atitlan into google. then off to antigua on thursday and friday....fly home saturday

June 4 2002

morning in panajachel...carlo is sleeping and i have been out shooting. it is cloudy today but still nice.
thanks for the update on the rangers....excellent ! too bad ryan is pissing people off.
yep, i couldn´t believe that chichi was without internet, but it is the same only the market keeps getting bigger, and the road there is now totally paved and nice..not like our first time where it was washed out !
yesterday here in panajache i was walking down the street with carlo and this lady walked by...I said hi, arent you Mactalena Tasz...she was freaked and said yes...i took her picture when we were here the first time and it is in the gallery upstairs above the desk ! wow what a small world !

May 31, 2002

i have been shooting in the hospital in honduras for 2 days now, it is a lot better here than in africa.
bizzarre thing...while in the operating room someone noticed me...with my mask on !!!!, it was an associate of Antonio Miguel, a mexican orthopedist who is a friend of mine !!!! Dr Miguel is here doing surgeries...what a reception, he gave me...big hug in the OR...we are going to dinner tonight.Talk about a small world !

May 22 2002 Peru

at machu picchu actually aguas calientes..justdown the hill. we are at the presidente hotel 45 pernight very nice place. we went to the ruins today fromabout 1pm to 5pm and as i walked around i rememberedwhen we came. the hotel on top is all redone and ihear that it is 300 per night. I'm so proud of youwhen i look up at inca gate and especiall huyanapicchu and know that you made it all the way to thetop....that was really an accomplishment.....you'resuch a trooper. i know you can make the ms walk too!!!Yesterday we went to willoq and talked to the pricipalabout doing school pictures....he agreed and we shotevery kid in the entire school...165 of them. I foundmy favorite little girl Estephania again and took morephotos of her and gaver her the copy of last time'sphoto. She still is the most mysterious of all thekids and i really like her eyes and her manner. luckily when we were staying in ollantaytambo therewas a fiesta of the patron saint of the town...a 4 dayparty 24 hrs a day...not too good for sleeping butgreat for photos. i met a photographer in the lobby ofour hotel and he asked if i had any photos on theweb...and we exchanged websites...when i handed him mycard he immediately recognized my name and said thathe had written me for advice and i had emailed himback about a year ago...he said he really loved mywork .....bizzare how small the world is