Kota Kinabalu, BORNEO
This classic out take comes from a recon trip to Borneo with one of my best friends on the planet, the one and only Vittorio Alessandro Di Suvero... better known as Alex Di Suvero in his by-lines in the New York Times and the illustrious pages of National Geographic's Adventure magazine.
We met at an outback bar in the middle of Australia when we were both on assignment at the Eco-Challenge adventure race. I remember the barkeep wore a wife-beater t-shirt and running shorts barely covering the stump of one leg that was clearly taken by the local legend of a crocodile - the widow maker!
Here we were two Italian-American photojournalists on assignment at the Eco-Challenge Adventure race a good 8000 miles from home. At the time Alex was working out of Hong Kong where he lived abroad for eight years. I felt an instant brotherhood through our shared passion for adventure and respect for photography as an art form. Alex is one embodies all the best qualities of my ideal of an artist. Cosmopolitan, erudite, multi-lingual, ambitious and driven by an intellectual curiosity that is second to none... our friendship started right there and then.
Some years down the road Alex was selected to head the international team of shooters for the MSOQ (mild seven outdoor quest) and thank goodness he asked me to be a part of the team! The next three years Borneo became a big part of my continuing education in the best of action and adventure photography. In this respect, I owe Alex a debt of gratitude as a shooter and a friend.
In Malaysia the highest mountain in the territory is the 13,000 foot granite monolith, Kota Kinabalu. Alex and I climbed this beautiful sea-to-summit massive six times over the three years we shot this race. One of my favorite stories of this wild and exotic part of the world is climbing this bloody mountain with Alex.
As you may know - Borneo is a land of extremes. Extreme scorching equatorial temperature, torrential rains, rotten jungles and gigantic natural phenomenon, (i.e., the worlds biggest flower). At one point on our slog up the trail to the top Alex was buzzed by a creature that was so large he gave me a heads up to 'look out'!
Being a clever boy... I said - 'that thing is so big it should have a set of license plates!'
This buzzing hybrid part C130 troop transport and part giant wasp like the size of a sparrow stopped flying past us - did a complete 180 U-turn and zoomed right to the back of my hand and bit the hell out of it! ... the hand swelled up like a balloon and I was sick as a dog for days!
Always the astute observer, Alex pointed out that at the very moment I had disrespected the nature - the huge bug took offense and changed directions to pay me back. It was a perfect example of what being a smart-ass will do for your karma... he was of course, quite right.
It was a lesson that still reminds me of what my Grandma Di Zinno used to admonish us boys with ... "if you got nothing nice to say - don't say anything at all!"
Merci beaucoupes mon frere Alex!
