Matthew Botos

Asia is a land of beauty and contrasts; ancient temples stand side by side with modern skyscrapers while motorbikes zip past bicyclists wearing conical straw hats. Join me at Earth Mart on August 7 for a look at southeast Asia through stunning images from Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam!

Earth Mart features environmentally-friendly, energy-saving, recycled, sustainable, and fair trade products. Earth Mart is located in historic Phoenixville, Pennsylvania at 235 Bridge Street.

The show will open August 7 at 7pm and be on display through September 3, with a variety of framed and matted prints available for purchase. Hope to see you there!

Update: For a copy of all the photos featured in the show plus extended selections from the trip, you can purchase this 8.5 x 11″ full-color, hardcover photo book for just $49.99 (USD)!

My first photo show opened at Earth Mart in Phoenixville Friday night to a great crowd - thanks everyone for coming out! It was a blast talking to everyone who stopped by, and store owner Lisa came up with some great arrangements for the photos. My dad was there early to help setup, and he and Denis Brenan provided many photos of the opening.

You can see the show at Earth Mart through March 31, or preview and order from the collection here.

500 contest winners get mortgage relief, including me! Thanks to the power of the Internet, the Associated Press picked up my blog entry about ING’s mortgage contest. The actually did email me for additional comments, but I was out snowboarding and didn’t have a chance to respond. In any case, they found a compelling main story and quoted me later in the article:

Another winner, Matthew Botos, wrote on his blog that he was a winner of ING Direct’s “own little bailout contest.”

“I figured they’d get plenty of sob stories and I’m already paying $700 billion to bail out irresponsible borrowers and lenders, so my essay implored them to take a contrarian view and reward a responsible citizen,” he wrote.

He posted his winning contest entry, in which he states: “I personally have lived within my financial means, made savings a priority and accepted the necessary sacrifices. My mortgage is still small; my car is old but paid off, and I’ve eBayed old electronics to fund new toys without ever carrying a credit card balance.”

Here’s my full essay. Google shows the article is running in a number of papers; if anyone has a chance to grab a hard copy, I’d appreciate it.!