Guide selection is critical for the work I do. To me it is more important that the guide posseses good people skills than good English. I try to take a day trip with the prospective guide to see how he/she interacts with people before I commit to a full trip. In Irian Jaya my first prospective guide had a problem relating with his fellow Dani tribes people. I think he felt he was superior because he had managed to learn some English and German. My second choice , Onis, a 32 year old Dani man, was great. He was totally dedicated to the welfare of his people. Once I hired him he put together a team of porters and we headed into the jungle for four weeks.

After three days of strenuous 10 hour/day hiking over slippery up and down trails one of the porters realized that he had forgotten his favorite pocket knife. As we set camp that evening he took off to go back alone in the dark. Early the next morning he showed up back in camp with the knife. I was amazed that he had covered twice the distance that had taken us three days--and all in the dark!

Kids are always wonderful. They delighted in making me hats and necklaces from plants. I almost always start by making portraits of the kids and giving them poloroids of themselves. They then take me to their hut and introduce me to their family. The camera is my magic show, my ice breaker.

At times I carry two packs of camera gear. For the square format shots I use a Hasselblad 503cw and for the panoramic shots I use a modified 5x7 view camera called a V-Pan. The V-Pan is fitted with a 6x17 roll film back which allows me to shoot 120 roll film. I light many of my portraits and for this I use a 400ws Lumedyne pack. For this trip I took one regular and two super batteries for the Lumedyne. They lasted the entire four weeks.