Proactive Procrastination

First person narration by Jeff McAllister.

[jeffmcallister]

“Soon the mountains stir, then shift and vibrate—how vital these rocks seem, against blue sky! If only they would fly apart, consume us in a fire of white light. But I am not ready, and resist, in fear of losing my death grip on the world, on all that provides the illusion of security. The same fear—of loss of control, of “insanity”, far worse than the fear of death—can occur with the hallucinogenic drugs: familiar things, losing the form assigned to them, begin to spin, and the centre does not hold, because we search for it outside instead of in.”

- Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard.

[jeffmcallister]

“Yes, bad things were lurking out there, but I would have to have been damned lucky to find them. The numbers on disaster simply don’t support paranoia, especially when compared to the exhilaration of exploration." - Chuck Thompson

[jeffmcallister]

Caleb Kramer for Four Horsemen Shop. (Complete editorial linked)

[jeffmcallister]

About this time last year I completed a story on climate change induced landlessness in Bangladesh. I also wrote a piece on the unique challenges of freelance reporting from South Asia, drawing from that experience as well as what I encountered in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Thailand. That particular story just went live on Maptia. What's In a Name: Faking it, Making it, and Freelance Reporting in Bangladesh.

[fourhorsemenshop-blog]

[jeffmcallister]

Wearing linen and shooting Fuji. Who knew happiness could be so simple. fourhorsemenshop:

A preview of our 4Horsemen Supplies Organic Linen T-shirt.  Also available in Black and Charcoal in store and online soon.

[jeffmcallister]

The sea of forms in front of me currently contains: A 10-year passport application for my home country. A work visa application for a second country. A student visa application for a third.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Global Citizen Trifecta (PS: How the Hell do some people do paper-work for a living?)

[fourhorsemenshop-blog]

Here’s a sneak peek at our Linen Long Coat, one of a few new 4 Horsemen Supplies pieces coming later this month.

[nothanks-justbrowsing]

Catch me in long coats in front of big words.

[jeffmcallister]

From my first editorial shot with the new Fuji X-T1. I climbed a chain-link fence to shoot this. I think I'm going to like this brave, mirrorless new world.

[jeffmcallister]

GPOY.  Once upon a time in Dhaka City.

[jeffmcallister]

Four Horsemen Shop SS14 Lookbook. It's live homies.

[fourhorsemenshop-blog]

Ryan wearing our Long Triple Needle Embroidered Short Sleeve Oxford in White.

[jeffmcallister]

Portraits for work. Portraits for play.

[jeffmcallister]

GPOY courtesy of Sara Hembree. She recently interviewed me for her rad site, The Grit of It. If you're interested in hearing about my constant struggle not to blow it, this is something you should read.

[jeffmcallister]

There are few things in life that stress me out more than the final few hours of Nation Geographic Traveler's annual Photo Contest. 

[newyorker]

[jeffmcallister]

Man, this was good. edmundteh:

Murakami’s short story in the Summer Fiction Issue of The New Yorker.

— Haruki Murakami, Yesterday

[jeffmcallister]

Any Vancouverite's willing to loan me a 54 / 56 cm road bike this Friday?  I'll take excellent of her, treat her to some stunning views as I take on Cyprus, Grouse, and Seymour, and even have her home to you by the end of your work day. Alternatives. Come take on the triple crown with me this Friday.

[jeffmcallister]

"When you prop open your windows to let in the sunshine, you're bound to catch the occasional drop of rain. Force yourself into enough people's stories and you'll eventually get tangled up in a tragedy." One of the most amazing perks of what I do is that I'm able to meet so many incredible people. I do my absolute best to form significant lasting relationships everywhere I go. And although I wouldn't change this for the world it can be tough some times. The more people you meet, the more you realize happy endings aren't as common as you were told. While on assignment in Peru last month I learned about the passing of my friend Jamie. This is one of the only images I have of him. It's still strange to see this now no longer living human staring back at me from inside my screen. Moments like this are loaded with conflicting emotions. On one hand I feel empty having lost a friend. On the other I feel full, being reminded of yet another life I was lucky enough to be a part of, due to little more than sheer chance. I did my best to sum up these emotions up in a recent blog post. But really all I want to say is we'll miss you man. And you made one hell of a play with the cards you were dealt.

[jeffmcallister]

I have a plan, and I'm trying to follow it. But it's hard. It's a hard plan to follow. I'm trying to get in shape. And I'm trying to live like a primitive man. Sometimes, I feel like I'm not succeeding at either one. I've read a lot about primitive cultures. And I use that term, "primitive," in the sense that it means original or primary. For maybe 99% of human history, a few million years, humans were hunters. They didn't get up and go to work each morning. That started with civilization. And civilization is nothing but a heartbeat of recent time, 10,000 years at the most. And to hell with that. I want to wake up naked and alone in the desert. I want to eat sand and drink piss and pass out screaming from sunburn and spider bites. But I know it won't work, and I know it won't happen, either because I'm a coward, or unable, or it's just not possible at all for anyone. Even if I were to wake up naked and alone in the wilderness, I'd still wake up thinking and making sense of myself and the world around me in modern English. And there's no way I can get around that. So I'm stuck with choosing not to participate, to live apart in any way I can think of. My wife used to like it. I think maybe that's why she wanted to marry me. But now we have kids, and she sort of changed her mind.

-Scott Carrier. This American Life Episode 80: Running After Antelope.

[jeffmcallister]

Another edit from my Portraits of Peru series. To the left is Jorge, my Couchsurfing host in Lima who's currently reporting from E3 Los Angeles -- a trip he financed via crowd-funding. To the right is Randy who runs Humans of Peru and has introduced me to dozens of other Humans of ... ambassadors around the world. The internet is f*cking awesome you guys. That's it for today.