I found out some months ago that my work was selected to be shown at the 2008 Angkor Wat Photography Festival. So now I'm on my way to to Siem Reap, Cambodia once again to meet people and hopefully make some connections in this difficult industry. The body of work they will be showing will be my coverage of Post-Leprosy treatment in Vietnam.

I have to say that i'm quite honored that my work was chosen by both the curators Sujong Song and Christian Caujolle. The other photojournlists chosen to show their work are needless to say amazing. Most of them are quite famous in the photography world and come from prestigious agencies like, Getty, VII and Magnum.

After deciding that i was going to pursue a career in photography and film some two years ago i feel that now more than ever i'm on the right track.

I hope that with more exposure of Post-Leprosy treatment in Vietnam that the kind people that opened their lives up to me for this project will get the recognition, help and resources they need. This is my main love of photography. It has the power to help people and to bridge connections and connect people that would normally have never been known.

After months of meeting different organizations, officials and documenting my 2 stories about leprosy in Vietnam, my work is done. You can see my finished work at http://www.ehrinmacksey.com/Multimedia.html

I have asked a couple of people who are considered experts in the industry to review my work and i happy to receive that they thought very highly of my work.

When you spend so much time both emotionally and physically on a project like this you hope that it truly touches people and makes them want to help or understand more.

Here are some of my reviews below and thanks again to everyone for their support:

Multimedia Shooter

Duck Rabbit - where photography, art, audio and journalism collide

Multimedia Muse

Slug & Lede - Review 1 / Review 2

28mm

Visual Journalist

So tomorrow I'm back to work on my project. Above you can see where I eat lunch and dinner everyday when I'm there. Like I posted before it is .... rural. I'm really excited to go back since now i feel very confident with my new video equipment and I got some addons to my video equipment from my friend Justin. God Bless his little heart as getting electronics and video equipment in Vietnam is quite difficult, at least good equipment.

So I'm out in the sticks again to work more on my epic Multimedia/film. Next week i have to conduct a couple of interviews so I hope I will be able to post more about my trip to Sapa, Vietnam.

I truely can't wait to go back and start working on my video ideas for this project.

Wish me luck.

So it has been awhile since a made a post and it hasn't been for a lack of activity in life. Quite the opposite in fact.

I have been working on my previously posted project like a mad man. Making this storie is requiring quite a lot. I love doing this stuff especially because it is for all the right reasons.

It is funny people ask me how do I get paid for working on personal projects? I said I don't at least not how they think. The payment is the awareness about the people in the project and hopefully the people who view it decide to help in one way or another. That is the only payment needed for all the hours of shooting, editing and interviewing.

Last week I was out in the countryside working the story. I stayed at the Center as it is 40 min away from the closest town. The Center is really in the boondocks of Vietnam. My room was about as simple as it gets. A metal bed with wood on top but no mattress and a pillow. I did have a ceiling fan thank god because it was hotter than the devils toes out there. So here I am in the middle of nowhere and I turn on my blackberry just to see what kind of signal I will get. Surprisingly it shows me that I have EDGE service. Laying in my metal bed I hit my gmail icon to see if it would connect. To my surprise it did. I was surfing the web, chatting and doing email in the middle of nowhere Vietnam all on my phone. This is in fact how I'm writting this post now. Technology just blows my mind sometimes.

At the end of my trip I was waiting at a Bus Station to catch a bus back to Hanoi. Since they don't get many foreigners out in these parts. I was the show for the day. In little less than 5 mins there where grown men, women and children tugging and pulling at me and asking me all kinds of typical vietnamese questions. I had a guy talking to me on my left and he was also touching the hair on my arms with amazement. I had a woman on my right pinching my skin as if it was paint and I was really a vietnamese in disguise. It was all quite comical and I'm sure if some other foreigner was there they would have busted out laughing. None of the vietnamese ment any harm, they were all quite friendly. In their culture, touching and lack of personal space is perfectly acceptable.

Well as I'm back on the bus back to the countryside. Maybe I will catch you online with my blackberry. See you in the digital universe.

Well, I have been working like crazy to get my new websites up. I'm designing one for photography and another one for web design.

On top of that I have finished a new website for a group of talented journalists who I have joined in our quest for freelance multimedia. The website is http://www.ontheroadmedia.com

I very happy with the work I did on this website, it looks simple but is advanced in the navigation and operation.

Besides that I got some crazy skin things happening to me lately. I got smacked in the face with something while driving on the road (motorbike). Then I got some strange rash under my arm. Well things like this are kind of normal when your living in a developing country and should go away soon, I hope.

I attached a photo of my apartment. Nothing crazy or anything just so you can see that I'm not living in a hole.

I'm going to go out for more shooting next week so I will hopefully post some new stuff soon.