the earth ink

I am sitting at London Heathrow International Airport, fervently folding paper stars and occasionally giving one away. A six hour layover, with a travel assignment, nearly complete that should have been done two days ago - and all I am doing is making paper stars. Once an origami pattern is learned, it is rather easy to recreate the same folds rather mindlessly. After several months of work deadlines and a social itinerary that increased as the weather cooled off in Abu Dhabi, I need the mindlessness. On this occasion, it gives me time to contemplate. I'm contemplating why I'm making paper stars. Usually, when I fly over the Christmas holiday, I have a quiver of candy canes delicately tucked in my carry on. I ask check-in agents, security, and flight attendants if I can give them a candy cane and it never fails to put a smile on every face. The small gesture seems to relieve that hectic holiday stress of navigating an airport and security in crowded queues and amongst wea...

I never expected to witness a woman desperately throwing her hand into a fresh, mushy pile of gorilla poo. She unceremoniously grabbed into the brown sludge to balance herself while ascending a hill of leafy green foliage while attempting to keep up with a family of gorillas and make the most of our allotted one hour with them in their natural environment. As Bwindi Impenetrable National Park's name suggests, the tangled thicket of trees, bushes, and green ground coverings on the steep, damp, fertilised hills of the Forest remain impenetrable in places. Our merciful porters assisted our group of eight through the Forest—carrying our bags, holding our hands, and occasionally lifting members of our group across slippery spots, while AK-47 armed military and police guides tramped ahead and behind to guard us all against a highly unusual, but not impossible forest elephant encounter. Diverting off the main trail, our gorilla trekking guide bushwhacked the mass of vines and branches...

I normally do not post so many photos in a blog, but this story, this location, and this event seems particularly unusual. This happened several weeks ago on the Big Island of Hawaii. ----- He told me I was going to have a dinner that I might not be able to indulge in two weeks from that day. Already slightly blurred by an early morning drive from the Kohala Coast to Hilo—and picking up a dormant friendship after a year, I suspected a seasonal crustacean or rare crop of taro would be on the menu. Whatever was in store for me, I assumed it would be memorable. Though aware of a lava flow, the size of a 20-lane highway, baring down on the town of Pāhoa, it had not occurred to me that he would tour us on a potentially last visit to a potentially non-existent town. Only a few moments after turning off Highway 130 our conversations quickly changed—from catching up with each other to the tangible sights of a town nearing its end. Questions mounted audibly between us while many remaine...

© 2014 Andrea Rip | The Earth Ink Have you ever visited a place where you wander through streets and alleyways that block your view from your surrounds? Perhaps you're in the middle of Hong Kong and only see skyscrapers rather than the water or the dramatic hills surrounding the City—or maybe you have been hidden in the trees of Mount Rainier National Park and unable to see the majestic mountain towering above you. Rather than remembering the scope of your surrounds, we often focus on finding one little shop on an unnamed side street and forget that through the urban jungle or fir forest lies a magnificent mountain. Enjoying the details of a place has a great amount of value. We learn about communities and culture. We seek out nooks and crannies and get to observe what a place is made of. But sometimes, we need to get up above the streets and through the trees to gain perspective on where we are—both literally, in geographical place and figuratively, in a mental space. W...

I tell people that when I take enough photos, one is bound to turn out well.  In this case, several hummingbird photos turned out with spectacular clarity and color—but this one, with perfectly aligned fluttering wings, caught in midair (not balanced on a bright red feeder), caught my eye. These delicate creatures prove remarkably resilient and rarely rest while flying, fluttering, and occasionally fighting (or flirting) between the trees. Though I am no birder, I believe this is a female black-chinned hummingbird  spotted in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. © 2014 Andrea Rip | The Earth Ink. All Rights Reserved. For press enquiries: theearthink@gmail.com

I love this photo: two (presumably Arab Christian) boys found a place to play in an alcove of the stone Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. I like it because it is symmetrical. I like it because two modern jeans-clad boys are making use of a historical place with familiarity that it indicates they have not known anything different than living in Jerusalem's Old City walls. And, I like the picture because I project my hopes for Israel and Palestine to live, play, and share borders and historic land peacefully onto this image. In reality, the old city of Jerusalem is divided in to four distinct quarters where tourists cross through invisible boundaries, but locals rarely mingle. The Jaffa Gate is situated between the Armenian and Christian Quarters. The Jewish and Muslim Quarters balance out the remaining space between the city walls—less the site of Temple Mount that stands on its own right between the Jewish and Muslim quarters. Temple Mount continues to be a source of contention betw...

Drawn the Dale Chihuly's work on display (June-November 2014) at the Denver Botanic Gardens , my mom suggested that she would like to take my sister-in-law, nephews, and myself to the Gardens for a morning. I never know what to expect with Botanic Gardens. I have been to several where the flowers bloomed a month before I arrived—and all that amounted to the gardens were a couple pruned trees and grasses. Other gardens have impressed me and encourage me to return. The Denver Botanic Gardens fit soundly in the second category. Evenly sprinkled with art features and interesting foliage, a person could hardly take everything in during one trip. Strolling on the windy pathways, something interesting will undoubtably meet your eye. With a generous Modecai Children's Garden , kids are easily entertained looking for plants, learning about growing things, and playing in the babbling brook on the property. The Gardens play host to a number of activities and educational classes from ...