EVENT:
An Evening with Mike Yamashita:
The Silk Road and Great Wall
DATE:
Friday, July 11, 2008
TIME:
7:30pm Presentation
7:00-7:30pm Reception and book signing
RESERVATIONS/ADMISSION:
$20 [Purchase Now]
This event is limited to 80 attendees.
Modern adventurer and photographer Michael Yamashita steps into history to explore the travels of 13th-century explorer Marco Polo, Chinese Admiral Zheng He's 15th-century voyages and the Great Wall of China. The subject of Yamashita's talk, "The Silk Road and Great Wall" is a melting pot of modern and ancient worlds captured in vibrant color images from China, Venice, Iran, Iraq, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
About Mike Yamashita
Mike Yamashita has combined his dual passions of photography and travel for over 25 years as a shooter for The National Geographic and more recently, with his film production company, Saga Pictures. Specializing in Asia, he has covered Vietnam and the Mekong River, Marco Polo's journey to China, the Great Wall, the DMZ between North and South Korea, as well as almost every aspect of Japanese culture from samurai to fish markets. His most recent story, on Zheng He, the legendary Ming Dynasty admiral and explorer, first appeared in the July 2005 issue of The National Geographic, and was released as a documentary feature film in 2006. The film, The Ghost Fleet, won Best Historical Documentary at the 2006 New York International Film Festival. Yamashita's book on the subject, Zheng He, was published by White Star in September 2006. His most recent book, The Great Wall; From Beginning to End was just released in November 2007 by Sterling.
Yamashita's prior book, Marco Polo: A Photographer's Journey, sold over 200,000 copies worldwide in its initial printing and was re-released by Rizzoli in the fall of 2004. Marco Polo is also the subject of his award-winning National Geographic Channel documentary, Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed, in which Yamashita retraces the 13th-century Venetian's epic excursion to China. His other books include In the Japanese Garden, Mekong: Mother of Waters, and New York: Flying High, an aerial portrait of Manhattan.
A frequent lecturer and teacher at workshops around the world, Yamashita has received numerous industry awards, including those from the National Press Photographers Association Pictures of the Year, the New York Art Directors Club, and the Asian-American Journalists Association. Major exhibits of his work have opened throughout Asia, in Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, as well as in Rome, Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. His images of Korea's DMZ were featured in an exhibit at the Visa Pour L'Images photojournalism festival at Perpignan, France.
When not traveling, Michael Yamashita lives with his family in rural NJ, where he maintains a studio and an extensive stock library, and is an active volunteer fireman.