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Please sign up to my newsletter to get this months story. @derekjohnsonphoto ‪#‎paris‬ ‪#‎vogue‬ ‪#‎parisvogue‬ ‪#‎nyc‬ ‪#‎fashiondiva‬ ‪#‎fashionweek‬ ‪#‎cindyrockwell‬ #1990,s http://ow.ly/IbppN

Creative Friendships

When I moved to Seattle eight years ago, one of the first friends I made was Bonnie Robbins. At that time Bonnie was only 10 years old. Bonnie was not camera shy, and to this day she finds herself collaborating on projects that put her in front of the camera. Being that I am a photographer, this immediately captured my interest in her. I have had the privilege of spending time with Bonnie during her teenage years and photographing her from time to time.
Bonnie's generation has access to a vast amount of cultural influences, from countless outlets. When she began to access these channels in her teen years, she started creating a collection-- of objects. These objects--from absolute silliness to the most articulate, high-art embodiment of anything--required a polymorphic-like meditation of sorts to acquire.
Bonnie's personality exploded in her teens with her immersion in mass pop culture, and her gift of naturally embracing modern technologically aided in the development of her ability to multitask everything. After many years of effort, she has turned the physical spaces in her home (especially her bedroom) into reflections of what she has collected, and on who she has become. It's a photographer's play-land in there. Her bedroom is a montage of strange and wonderful knickknacks from her travels, accented with trend-ful accessories and original works of art, which thread the organized chaos into a single, fun environment. As Bonnie's collection of fashion, art, and wonderfully insane “objects of desire” grows, I’m sure we will continue to collaborate on future photo shoots and eclectic happenings.

Thinking Outside the Box

http://vimeo.com/derekjohnsonphoto/outsidethebox 
I am excited to share with you a film called "Outside the Box," the first of several short films I have produced recently.
This film was inspired by my first-ever self portrait, taken about 22 years ago. On occasion, for inspiration I like to return to my early
work and revisit ideas that have become timeless to me. In the coming months you can expect a few more of these films, and related still images, in your inbox. I know you'll enjoy them, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
In all conscience,
Derek.

The image below is my original self portrait, taken in the late 1900s.

Puer Tea with Machintosh tea master.

In this episode, Derek sits down with a tea master who has gone through great lengths to learn how to serve tea properly. This tea called Puer is a great mild flavor that seems to bring out the best in both our conversation and our selves.
Jeffrey McIntosh is a tea-master in the making, a bold entrepreneur, and a man whose love for life and steadfast focus have filled his days with extraordinary people, unforgettable experiences, and stories to tell. The rich tapestry of his life has developed within him a resolute determination to live each day fully—cultivating happiness, deep relationships, and personal morality—all with a cup of tea in hand. For Jeffrey, tea is not simply a hobby: it literally changed his life. Through apprenticeships under Lydia Lin of Seattle’s Best Tea and Luo Wan Yu of the Denong Tea Company in Kunming, China, Jeffrey experienced a new way of living, full of peace, serenity, and meaningful friendships. Jeffrey has devoted his entire life to mastering the art of tea and tea culture, and sharing it with everyone around him. His life can be summed up in one simplephrase: “Be happy. Drink good tea.” Passion for tea, love of culture, respect for tradition—Built upon this foundation, McIntosh Tea is dedicated to bringing the highest quality Puer teas to the American market and fostering lifestyles that exemplify the beauty of tea. It is our simple aim to connect people with teas they will truly enjoy, and help them lead a balanced life building strong relationships over many cups of tea.We love people and we love tea, and bringing these two together with a sense of reverence is our one goal. McIntosh Tea is pleased to offer you the finest Puer available and we look forward to a lifetime of sharing our best teas with you.





Listen to the interview:
 http://media.blubrry.com/timetoburn/p/www.timetoburn.org/mp3s/TTB-3-2-2-12.mp3

I will be offering some fo Jefferys tea's in my own store coming this fall.
Derek

Dalai Lama Land

Dharmasala Day 1

My first day in Dhasa as the locals call it here was truly a blessing in disguise. My

original plan was to see all my teachers/ gurus here in India, but I was not going to hold

too tight to that plan because many things happen on trips like this. I let go of the idea

of seeing Dalai because the public program was past by one day when I would arrive. And they

denied my request in the main office for a visit. So I went to Dhasa with the intention of

meeting Susie family and trying to capture a snapshot of life in Tibetan Refugee

grounds...Dharmasala. After a long 13 hour buss ride which was not too bad, except that I

didn't sleep all night I checked into my guest house and crashed for an hour. It was a

stroke of luck that I even made it to this place because last night I had exactly the

amount of R's to get on the buss, silly me thought they might take credit so i missed

going to the bank before the Main bus terminal. So I'm traveling all the way up into the

Himalayas again with like 2 R's and no dinner. I was OK with it though. I had my emergency

bars if i needed. At the dinner stop a Indian man sitting next to me would let me go with

out dinner so he bought me a ticket for the thali. I was grateful and thanked him 3 times

and he told me to stop HaaHaa! Anyhow, its a long ride and any food will help bear the
hours.

SO after my nap i decided to make a plan. What am i going to do here exactly. Well, I

called Sonam and meet with her first. She is the mother of Susie's family. Susie a friend

from Seattle tried to adopt her kids but it was not possible so she instead send support

and gifts when possible and I was the carrier this time. First we connect and give her some

cash...about 185 USD which is enough to pay her rent for about 1 year. We instantly became

friends. Now i am a little careful with her because its natural, but I feel and see she is

just a simple person with a big heart. She tells me Dalai is teaching and takes me to the

office to get my pass. At the office other westerners are turned away because this lesson

is only for high monks and not public. however, Sonam walks me thru the line and i get a

pass! YEAH! Dalai I'm here.
I spent the afternoon with Sonam and her family...brother and mother. The rest are in

school or abroad. i took them all out to dinner. I offered to take them to some place

really nice. They only knew one restaurant in their small town because they never go out to

eat. We forget how lucky we are in America. The meal was about ten usd for the 5 of us.

At this point in the trip I have been super charged by so many miracles. so seeing Dalai is

just adding to the pot of golden love that has surrounded this soul here and now. The 2nd

morning i went to the temple and sat in meditation with about 400 or so high level monks as

Dalai chanted the lessons to them about karma. The morning was from 9 to 1130 and afternoon

1 to 3. I didn't bring my Fm radio with me because I forgot to get one so I didn't

understand a word, but it was not necessary. the energy flowed thru me this morning as if I

was breathing from inside out. Quite peaceful and energizing. Maybe its the altitude or

exhaustion, but whatever it is its welcome here.

The next few days I will spend time doing a few sight seeing tasks, but mostly spending

time with Sonam and her family. I decided to document their story and create a slideshow

from the images and sound recording I will get from them. I'll not write about them now,

because when I return to the usa i will be doing an extensive script about them. be on the

look out for the work will be presented in a few months at a fundraiser for the Tibetan

cause.
The last day in Dhasa...I went to the Temple in the morning. There I sat in the middle of

about 150 refugees including Sonam's mom and received
blessings from the Dalai lama and 2

other highest Lama's. I was buzzing for like 2 days following. I never expected this and I

hope that i can blast anyone how comes across my path with this energy from now on is some

sort of manner.

Mumbai Wow its HUGE!M UMBIG!!!

I still can’t comprehend the massive scale of this city. I like it here though. People are friendly, its warm and massive! I took a cab into the main area of town called the gate of India. It took about 1.5 hours to get there in traffic. Didn’t seem too unusual. I felt a little indecisive about leaving the house because i really didn’t need to go. As i said the main purpose was to be near swamiji.
Well,  I’m glad I did go! The museum was awesome and i loved the paintings. Beautiful old Indian paintings! Just a treat to see, candy for my eyes for sure. I took the audio tour and felt i learned a little more about Indian history and culture, but I think I may have forgotten it already, like seconds after leaving the museum. I realized i checked my bag in with all the info on how to get back to the house and if i lost that back that would have been a BIG problem. Ahhh! a moment of panic and then ok… grace is here no problem, the bag was there. Who Grace have you met her?  I headed to the elephant caves from a boat to the island where they use to house and trade elephants, and built a Shiva temple. Actually it was a perfect thing to do, seeing I was a little tired. The boat ride was fun and the cave temples were really great. I spent a little time there and appreciated the huge caves someone built like 2000+ years ago for the act of worshiping Lord Shiva!! Rock On…Pun intended! I’m now going to try and get back to the house. but before i do one last boat ride to the main land. I was thinking that i would try to convince my roommate to build a Shiva temple in the back yard, well I already know the answer.
After a long day, I decided to head back home to sit with Guruji before bed. I called the taxi that drove me here and he said he was too far away to come get me. So I jumped in a non AC cab and headed towards the Condo. God I had no Idea how far the drive would take in what appeared to be rush hour in Mumbai. Lets try 3.25 hours. Jezzzz US I thought I would never get back. Even the cab dropped me off and I could see he was exhausted from the drive so I gave him a few extra R to thank him for getting me there safe.
So I went in the house and was immediately fed dinner. now normally there is nothing unusual about eating dinner, but in this case there were like 20 Indian disciples sitting around guruji and suddenly they were all watching me eat and laughing. Now I’ve been the butt of many jokes here in India, but this was just silly to me. although Guru JI Complimented me and said you have learned how to eat like an Indian. And they started calling me a senior disciple since I know guruji 17 years now. Was pretty flattered!
there is very little sleep going on for anyone in the presence of a master like Guru Ji. his energy just flows to deeply that sleep is forgotten and not needed. So we were up until like 12-1 and of course we get up at 4 for meditation. Amazing feeling. Amma has said that all you have to go is look at her and grace will be there. how beautiful. And this time with guruji I felt grace flowing and meditation was almost not necessary. Many of us sat for the 3 days mostly without speaking. After all Guruji doesn’t speak much anyhow. However, he did grant me an interview on the last day of the visit which I recorded. I will upload it as a youtube link…

Re-United with Swami Shiv Mangal Tirith ji

I was dropped at the airport on Wednesday the 24th. After taking
my seat I put on some Om namah Shivaya on my ipod and shut my eyes. Instantly tears burst into my lips with the image of swami ji in my consciousnesses. Just hours from now I will see him.
this is the part where many people who are not on a similar path will be able to really understanding my experience. What is a similar path anyhow? I need to warn you all that I am not part of a cult, nor am I doing anything religious. Swamiji performed an ancient blessing on me 17 years ago called shaktipat initiation. This is a scientifically studied as well as spirituality. It is also know as Kryia yoga, or kundalini yoga. What happens now. The chakra wheels after initiation spin quite a bit faster than then would without. Ther are only 2 ways to get your kundalini moving one is to seek out a guru who is qualified to do it or 2 do tons of hatha yoga and in about 12 years it will happen. Since my initiation 17 years ago life has taken quite a different path.
Now that I have experienced the worst of human nature on all levels, I have made a decision to live for love and not the other. Of course the other will happen, but now I am disconnected from it as well as the highs, bringing me into an appreciation fro the middle ground, this is the place where truth meets souls, light erases the dark and the infinite is present. This is a place that swami ji helped me to find within my self and there is only one suggestion from him. Keep meditating.
As i left the plane, I felt quite relaxed. Even though I had no idea where or how I would find him. i trusted that he said he would be there and he was. He first offered me his hand and shook it and touched his foot. I felt the energy STRONG! We went to another devotees house where we would stay the next few days.
Upon arriving, we would sit in the living room with Swami ji and other devotees. I immediately went into a grace filled trance. I was somewhere deep inside connected, burning, empty and full. I was sitting at the lotus feet of GuruJi! Guruji doesn’t say much. Many devotees come and ask questions and his answers are usually a nod or very short. I am too a center of attention since i am the only westerner in the house. Again I am trance back deep inside. Wow, I have a complete understanding of this path now and I am here to thank guru ji for it. We will sit at his feet for the next few hours and then to bed. I felt is was ot necessary for me to sight see, but since i have never been here and Mumbai is huge I asked what to do during the day. I told guruji its most important to spend time near him. He said please go to the museum, its your profession. So I decided the next day to go.

Safari Swamii Madness!

I can’t remember if I mentioned this before but one of my first nights in Rishikesh I went to the shivanada ashram to chant hari kristna. When I climbed the steps about 50 flights I was greeted by a swamii. He spent a little time with me to tell me about the hari Kristna chant and why it was created. He said in 1947 during WWII it was created for world peace.  The Swamii’s gave me the floor for a bit. And every hour a different swamii takes over and this has been nonstop since 1947 WOW!
Like everything in life things take time to develop. And my journey to this other ashram with Swammi B was supposed to take 3 hours, but instead it took about 5 or so. We took the safari road thru the jungle instead of the paved road which I think we did because Swami ji wanted me to see some elephants or something. This road was really rough and bumpy. We got out at one point to take a break and walked a few yards and saw some guys parked in the brush. So we ran out of there because swami ji thought they might be criminals. I could see where criminals would travel this route, hence there are no services, no houses, no police! We made it to the ashram just fine though. Although I was warned about waving to women by Swamiji. I guess its bad to do that especially being a foreigner.
Anyhow I got up the next morning to do power yoga with the guru of the Ashram. First impression about this place was that the energy was really flat, but peaceful. tucked just inside a valley next to some river. The guru we had met the night before seemed very nice, but not really a master like i know the definition of the word. I noticed he had somewhat of a weight problem so i thought it was unusual that he would be teaching power yoga.
I arrived about 10 minutes late for the class. just missed the Omm’s. There were about 35-45 Indians and 2 whiteys. I was cold and my nose was running not to mention the gas that had been brewing up since day one here. Well any how the guru was up there instructing a  standing what i call a non asana. I swear to you not it was truly a chicken dance with a strong exhale through the nose. Not like kapalabati, but some exhale. Well this was fine except i had the infinitely running nose and each time I tried my snott would fly toward something or someone. And then there was the forward bend blasting asana. God I  said this is truly a funny experiment your putting me through. We kept doing this chicken dance for like 25 minutes and I found myself filled with such laughter that I could hardly move in fear that i might bust out in laughter. And then we were instructed to do some laughing yoga. Jeez! I was truly laughing and when I looked around me I was highly amused and a bit weird ed  out by the forced laughing on the Indians faces at 530am. Anyhow we did a few seated real asanas and it was not a total loss. I do feel though that i was in a Bollywood video. So fun…
Later that afternoon I met a really dedicated asana yogi from Delhi. Yogi raj was so awesome! We looked at his picture album to see some of his poses and WOW! I have never seen anything like it. I was truly amazed at the lifetime of dedication he has proven. But he was not a asana freak which seems to happen to some. He was truly a good spirit following his dharma. After our talk we went on to the roof because he wanted to show me one good asana for a picture. He choose the Peacock. As he adjusted into the pose i could feel the energy radiating off him. He also realized that and started saying take Take asking me to shoot more images of this because spirit was working his way thru this moment. He told me after that normally he never does practice like this and felt that it was really a special moment. When he went to demonstrate to the crowd it was not the same as those few moments with me.

Swamiiji and i left that evening to go back to Rishikesh. I needed to get back because I was heading out Sunday afternoon. Our drive across the mountains was really insane. First of all Swamii ji didn't really know the way so it was a mystery how we were going to get there. I wasn’t too worried though, God was with us. As he has been the ultimate guide for me here. Well…about 2 hours into a 5 hours drive we got a flat tire. Now we had a spare, but the problem was that it was 1/2 flat. We decided to chance it and went onward. Not the road went from paved to an insane construction zone which was not meant for this little old truck to be driving down. I told swamii ji to drive really slow and we would be ok. SO after like 3 more hours at about 10 km per hour we ended up as some small village. Swamii ji stopped the car and turned down the Grateful dead soundtrack he had on and looked at the sign. Oh Shit he said. I know where we are now like 25km in the wrong direction from home. Well at this point the tire has totally torn up and we have like 2.5 more hours to get back. The road is getting worse. Somehow we made it back in like 8-9 hours of a 4-5 hour estimated journey. We crashed for the night and in the AM I hitchhiked back to my guest house. I wanted to the vastisha guha or vasistastna cave before getting my buss, but i felt there was not time.
I took the buss back to Delhi to spend a few days resting and coming down from the Mela high I have been on for days now. The buss ride was fun, except the seat was really hard and my tail bone was hurting the whole way and not to mention the huge buss zigzagging thru traffic as if it were a rickshaw or something. I have G force withdrawals from that ride. We stopped for a poddy break about 1/2 way. I was looking forward to eating the oranges I brought from rishikesh, so I took them out got off the buss and 3 monkeys fell from above and landed on top of me to grab the oranges. Damn! Oh well. There were 6 college age Indians that motioned me over to sit with them. So I did. they said they had been observing me for some time and wanted to chat. So I said ok. We talked about Yoga for a bit and then back to the buss. When I got out in Delhi i has surrounded by Shady looking people. We had parked in some dark alley away from main traffic. So I was trying to get  a prepay taxi, but there were none. Somehow i ended up in the back of some guys car. Oh shit I thought how did this happen. I could smell the liquor on his breath and we went to a gas station which i had to pay for gas. I almost got out went for a real cab. I asked the station attendant what he thought and he said ok with a little smirk. SO I started chanting om namah shivya out loud and offered an extra 100R to the driver to get me there safe. We were driving lilke 100mph through deli and shit that was scary. We did make it back safely though.
Rest, warmth, clean, home in Delhi. my friends there are exceptional. I have thought what is the importance of what I am doing here and what is yoga really. yoga for me now is what I do with every breath of every minute of every day. I will continue my asana’s, learning, and meditating. But thereis no special thing or place I need to do or go to follow my path. I have see the most gloroius truths of myself on this journey and I am in love with all of it.
The past two days in Delhi i have recuperated and now i a gong to meet my guru for the first time in about 7 years in Mumbai. I believe these next few days will be very trans-formative
. Again I am traveling on faith here. No address, one phone number and someone I don't know will pick me up at the airport.