Phoenix Arizona Travel Photogapher
Looking for absent royalty in Gila Bend
In late September an assignment for People Magazine took me to the small town of Gila Bend, Arizona. The premise was to photograph where Prince Harry would be staying during his visit for military training in October. Gila Bend is a small town in the desert off Highway 8 between Tucson and San Diego. It is home to a United States Air Force Base and is a regular training place for Allied Foreign troops.
Other than the Air Force Base there just isn’t a whole lot there. The town only has three restaurants, one bar and doesn’t even have a grocery store. It has several hotels including the somewhat well known Space Age Inn that carries a UFO theme throughout.
Most of my editorial work involves photographing people and places but rarely empty spaces. This project was about showing how different the area is than where Prince Harry comes from in England and capturing the personality of the town.
We spent the day on base and around town gathering photographs and some on camera interviews with the local people. Many of whom were very friendly but seemed unconcerned with a visiting celebrity who would be third in line as the king of England.
Dr. Andrew Weil for The New York Times
At the end of September I traveled to Tucson, Arizona to spend a day photographing Dr. Andrew Weil at his ranch just south of town for The New York Times. The lengthy feature ran in the print version as well as online.
Images are available for editorial licensing in the online archive: Dr. Andrew Weil
