July 4th

Happy Fourth of July! It's been a busy few weeks and I have actually been involved in a few music video shoots. I'm hoping to fill my Summer with more photo shoots along the way.  

Just wanted to share some photos from yesterday's holiday for my own enjoyment. I am still in awe of my d600 and the capabilities. I definitely chose the right camera. I'm super excited for my new iphone 5 and the camera on it as well. No judgement, a camera is only a tool and a photograph is only as good as the person behind the camera.

Jo's first sparklers.

Thanks for sticking by me, if you're reading this.

ps Working on a Liberia video as well, I know this has been dragging on and on, but it should be worth the wait. fingers crossed.

Westpoint

Day 5 It's 2013. This year has been intense. Today I finally got to experience Ethiopian food. We took a walk to Ken's favorite place and sat on the porch. He pretty much ordered for us since we had no idea what to get. We got some meat dish and a vegetable dish along with some ethiopian coffee. The coffee was different from the lebanese. Still good, but I think I loved the lebanese coffee the most.

Please enjoy this demonstration of how to eat Ethiopian food by Ken Harper:

It comes out on one plate and there are no utensils. You use Injera, a sponge like bread to grasp the different parts of the dish. We learned there's actually a lot of protein in Injera?

Step 1: Tear off a piece of the Injera

Step 2: Grasp the food. (Can't go wrong, it all tasted good)

Step 3: Make a small pouch of said food that is able to be eaten in a bite or two.

Step 4: Make this face as you enjoy the deliciousness. Welcome to Liberia's Ethiopian food.

It's distinct flavors and textures and overall it was an enjoyable experience.

After lunch, Jess, Jim, and I called David and asked him to take us to various points around the city to scope things out and to start gathering some b-roll. David picked us up and took us to the first place.

It was a little hike down a rocky passage and it looked right out onto the cliff. We enjoyed the view and actually started taking some photos of some people that lived there. We met a woman and her two children  and we were able to photograph them. It was really incredible. I feel like all we have to do is just treat these people like they are humans. Living, breathing, real people. That's all they are. Just like myself. Just like your enemy, your president, your dentist. We feel the same things and we love the same way. So I don't understand how people can't see that. I also realized that I adore kids. I mean, look at his little face.

So we piled into the car and drove to David's second place: Westpoint. Westpoint is the poorest place in Monrovia. People live on top of each other all jammed into a section that borders the Mesurado River. There is only one road to get through and there are only a few strategic places a car can turn around. His little franken-car did incredible well driving over rocks and ruts.

David took us through the road and we were stared at mostly. The three of us are amazing at keeping our smiles up, encouraging people to remember that we are people too. Mostly we can get the kids to smile. They are excited to see us. We got out of the cab then and walked through some narrow allies where people were making bread, hanging clothes, washing babies and playing soccer. It's an area filled with the energy of kids and resilient faces on the adults. We walked to the edge of the river and the kids looked on curiously at us, not sure what to think. David climbed onto the colorful canoe that was tied up, floating in the river. Jim and Jess were a little more hesitant to step up there, so I of course climb up and start walking down it carefully balancing so my photo equipment didn't fall into the water and sink to the depths. The other two followed suit. I'm not sure if Jim let go of the mast the whole time we were on the boat, but I think we all enjoyed it because it was the first time Liberians wanted their photo taken. Two bold boys, maybe seven or eight years old, swam in the river and called out "FLASH ME."

We photographed them and they climbed into the canoe and started doing tricks and jumping off. I looked down into the water and drifting beneath us was garbage floating in the river; old tires, plastic bags, containers, just drifting silently under us only to be disrupted by the kids jumping and splashing into the river.

We shook hands with older guys and chatted with them. I laughed at the kids jumping in and was open with the people we met. As we walked off the canoe the kids on the land had warmed up and they wanted to be photographed too. So we all took turns shooting with our different lenses the different people. It was a crazy place and the kids were essentially playing in garbage, with garbage. They didn't care though. Boys swam naked still at an age where they are unapologetic to who they are. They gathered around for group photos and then raced  to us to look at them.

We spent some time with young fishermen, one of which tried introducing me to his mother. She ran away when she saw my camera. they were goofy and posed on each other and with us. Everyone we met there made us smile.

I hope my pictures can give you some idea as to what it was like. But like I have mentioned before, there's nothing like the real experience. It's an assault on the senses, I couldn't open my eyes wide enough and take everything in.

Finally David took us to the beach. We wanted to record B-roll of the sun setting over the water. There were a ton a people around us and we tried our tactic of allowing them to press the buttons and take some photos of us before we made some photos of them. These kids were super excited to show off their talents to us and see the different photos of each other. We got mobbed by all kinds of young kids talking to us.

I walked to the edge of the water and I remember thinking it was the first day of the year 2013. I started thinking about the different things I've seen in the 23 years I've lived and the opportunities I've been presented with. It was an introspective moment for me and I was very optimistic for myself and for the project we had agreed to tackle in Liberia. It's only the beginning.

Visiting Front Page Africa

Day 3

It was a day of relaxation. (sort of) We woke up around 11 and got ready to go out. We walked to a hotel and had some food from there. I had a kebab and it was different from the kebabs in Germany and Austria. Jess had hummus and it might be the best hummus I've ever had. I also had mango juice and Ken and Jess had this Lebanese coffee or something like that. apparently it was really good.

This is our new kitten friend. we take turns tossing him french fries. So sweet!

We hung out there for about an hour and a half until we found out they don't have internet. So we walked over to Dona Maria's, the pizza and ice cream shop.

We did some research on the journalists and picked people we will be following around and getting more of their story. I have Mae who is incredibly famous in Liberia. She's had to go into hiding a few times because of the controversy of her stories. We had "ice cream" at Dona Marias, but it looked like gelato and it tasted like the most fake strawberry thing I've ever had. like a lip balm and ice cream mixed together.

At around 5 we left to go to Front Page Africa and meet people and take a look around.

We met Rodney Sieh and Wade Williams, another journalist. We got to see the printing presses and shake hands with a lot of people who work there. We got an idea of what their days are like by talking to Wade. She's an awesome and inspiring woman who raises two daughters and works 10-14 hours a day a few days a week. She likes to do stories on governmental issues. Rodney has gone to jail a few times for various stories as well. Both are really inspiring.

After we stood and talked to them for a few hours, we left and stopped at a place for some food. They got my order wrong, so I'm not sure what I ate but it was chicken and potatoes and garlic wrapped up. it was delicious. We ate with David, our driver. Dinner discussions ranged from religion to New Narratives. This is a really good, insightful group that I'm with. After we got back to the hotel we went through our audio gear and tried to figure things out and synchronize everything.

Fingers crossed I don't screw up the audio. I'm a year ahead of the other two in school despite me being younger, so I definitely feel like it's on my shoulders.

We have stereo mics, zoom h4ns, lav mics, and a shotgun mic. We have the stuff, we just have little to none training. So I guess we'll see how everything goes.

Mental Photographs

There are a few things I want to explain before I go on further. The next day or two there aren't any photos. This is because Liberians do no like their photo taken. They are a post-war country and they had so many things taken away from them that many only have control over their image. Some think if you take their photo, you're going to go home and become rich on their image while they don't necessarily have the basic necessities.  

Therefore we all decided to take a day or two of exploring Monrovia without our cameras, of getting a feel of the people and the place.

Day 2

Woke up pretty late in the day today. Either 11:30 or 12:30. I showered* and we paid for our rooms. Ken told us to kind of set aside some money we'd spend for the day and then layer it so we're not opening our purse or digging for the money.

[*showers are a little different here. They are only cold water, which doesn't really matter because it's 90 degree every day and humid. There's a four inch lip on the shower that you have to finish washing before it overflows. There are no long showers at this place. I started showering every night to at least be able to sleep clean and every night heat just poured out of my hair. It's definitely something you get used to quickly, the speedy showers, the cold water mixing with your body heat as they run down your back together]

We walked to lunch down the road at Dona Marie's, a place that makes pizzas and ice cream. Jess and I split a medium vegetable pizza. We sat in there trying to refuel a bit before our long walk we were about to take.

Then we just started walking. We walked down the main road which was busy with businesses and people. We traveled by the University of Liberia. We talked to a few students around there. Everyone dresses  up when they go to school. I originally thought we were passing a church when we saw all the people dressed up but then I realized it was for school.

We saw the river. We saw lizards. We walked and saw kids that chanted WHITE PEOPLE! as they danced up and down. We smelled various things that will never be able to capture the scene we were in.  sometimes we saw signs that said only dogs can peepee here. There are people selling all kind of things here. little girls carrying these giant buckets on their head that contain fruits or water or milk.

I'm telling you all of this because right now, I have not taken any photos of the culture. it's a delicate situation. Right now we are just adjusting to the culture, figuring things out, and seeing what comes of it.

Therefore, I'll have to describe walking down a road and having people stick out their hands and touch us, talk to us, or just stare at us.

As we started walking towards the Atlantic Ocean, we were sort of stopped by a group of drummers and dancers. It was this really cool african music. There was this guy all dressed up head to toe dancing and apparently warding off bad spirits. They were looking to be paid a couple of bucks so ken gave him a few and we tried to walk away but there was this guy who stood in front of us and started putting nails in his nose. Then he opened his mouth and showed us a razor blade and he quickly started hitting his tongue with it and then contracted the muscle in his tongue and it started bleeding. He was sort of playing with that blood and at this point I wanted to get away from him so Jim gave him a buck and we quickly walked out of there. That guy was a creep and he definitely left an impression on me.

At this point we had walked miles in the heat and I was paying for it. My stupid legs weren't used to working this hard in the winter and they had burned and swelled in the heat. I paid for that over the next few days.

We were growing tired so we walked to this ocean hotel to view the ocean and the sun and to eat sushi. The view was gorgeous and we talked about weird things and ate really good sushi.

These are nuts, but they call them dirt peas. One of my favorite names even if I didn't get to enjoy them!

We watched the sun set. Each night that we witnessed this event the sun disappeared before the horizon. Such a beautiful sight.

Day Catorce

Today was a busy day and I was actually able to eat a little. We jumped right into work, Sarah and Esme actually took some of the kids who always arrive early and reshot some scenes while Oscar and I waited for our whole team to arrive. The kids started doing makeup again and as soon as we could wrangle them all up we started shooting for the day.

Now, it was mentioned that the other team had most of the older kids in it. They were amazing at their jobs and worked really well with one another. One of the challenges we had was in storyboarding our piece. It was really well drawn but there seemed to be some parts missing. So Oscar and I had sat down the night before trying to fix some of the problems. It worked out in the end but it also gave us more work to do.

The scenes we were shooting today were some murders and the green screening of the ghost. For that we brought out a blue table clothe and we took it outside in the brightest light we could find. We got a few kids (and myself) holding it taut against the wall as the ghost was filmed doing all sorts of things. (Later on in post-produciton Oscar would drop him into a scene that was already filmed using aftereffects.) This inspired me to take an aftereffects class this fall!

So the point of today was to get as much filming done as possible. The day involved sewing a head back on, helping the kids remember different camera angles, scratching dogs' ears, and filming, Filming, FILMING galore. It was at the end of this day with that kids that I was starting to see everyones capabilities for this project. Sarah and Esme worked with their group efficiently and confidently. They communicated with the kids well considering their spanish wasn't perfect. Their kids are really starting to get into their roles and the director is realizing that her job is more than just saying cut and action.

As for our group, I am continually in awe of Oscar. He's incredible at giving direction. The way he communicates is amazing because he knows what he's talking about but it's the way he talks with the kids and laughs with them that inspires me. Sometimes I feel useless because I can't speak and I'm still so new to all of this video stuff; but then Oscar gives me the reins and I make a few decisions. His confidence in my abilities moves me to be confident in myself. We continue working with one another and learning from everyone. I am still amazed at this experience. I'm writing this now, and it's been a month since we've been home and I am still enthralled.

After the kids left, we all had work to do. Melissa continues to do the paperwork each night, writing down our successes and stories for the day. The rest of us had editing to do. However, today we were to take a day trip to San Miguel de Allende. We were also supposed to meet with a member of FAI to discuss our experience working with their members.

Note: FAI is an organization that promotes sustainable development of water and natural resources focused on the active participation of those children. FAI and Akosia worked together to make this project a success.

We had to leave early to meet with the people from FAI. We got into the city around 4 and looked for a parking space. Oscar drove separately because he was taking Mauricio's friend in with him and there wasn't enough space in our little car. We decided to meet him somewhere in the town. While looking for a parking space, we pulled over to ask someone where we could park. Sarah rolled down her window, spoke the best spanish she could muster, AND... was pleasantly ignored. While we were laughing, a woman came out of a shop and told us that she owns apartments down the road and that we could park there. She then ran back into the store, grabbed her bags and then hopped into our car so she could show us (and she wouldn't have to walk back in the drizzle). This kind of thing happened to us where ever we went. We always randomly met people who somehow were able to fill our needs.

We walked around the town and found ourselves in this square. The square was filled with people, things being sold, and an interesting twist to a well known snack. There was a snack stand that was selling a bag of doritos, opened, with mayo, butter, corn, hot sauce all mixed in; it is eaten with a spoon then. It was such an odd mixture we spent a lot of time marveling at this concoction. We met with Oscar then who was with the two woman from FAI. After a quick cup of coffee we walked to the FAI offices and they basically asked us about the people at Ceracaly and any suggestions for the future. We talked about how accommodating everyone is. There wasn't really anything we could complain about.

We didn't stay there long, and afterwards we needed to find a place with internet so that we could start editing our videos, which was going to take a lot of time. We found a place that had a restaurant on the roof. So we walked upstairs, turned a corner, and saw the most amazing view. It literally might be the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. The one wall most mostly just glass, it looked down some mountains and on them was the city of San Miguel. To the right was a giant golden church; and to make it even more beautiful a storm was rolling in on the left of the scene as the twilight sky changed colors. I stared at it in awe as massive lightning bolts struck and I watched the rain downpour across the valley while the sky stayed dry above us. Everyone else was checking facebook, emailing, and Sarah had even started editing, but I just couldn't take my eyes off that scene.

Eventually I did get to work. I watched, still in amazement, as Oscar zigzagged around in AfterEffects trying out different things and creating the "ghost" in our movie. It was really amazing watching it transform and I was thankful to be able to watch someone who confidently navigated that program.

Much later the woman who let us park in her apartment area came to the restaurant we were at and introduced us to her husband and chatted with us for a while. They asked if we were staying in the town and offered us a room with them. We told them we were driving back, (I was driving and had passed on a drink). It's sort of funny but they kept pushing us to stay, they didn't think it was safe to drive at night. Of course we were perfectly fine and we had to go back to Ceracaly to teach the ninos in the morning.

We thanked them for their generosity and then made our way back. Everyone here seems anxious to drive at night, but we don't understand why. When we got back Oscar and I planned what we needed to shoot the next day and then we all went to bed.

Day Trece

Today we were back with the kids. It was a day we had planned to be full of filming, and since we were behind schedule from Friday we decided there should be no english lesson. Once everyone came, we split into the two groups and instructed everyone to finish storyboards, handing out roles, sorting out props, and location scouting. Things got really chaotic with people running to the bathroom, girls changing their outfits for the films, kids running around looking for places to film. It was nuts.

Around 11 everyone was mostly ready to shoot, and all of us coaches were very eager to start shooting because we know how long it really takes. Esme and I talked about working with both groups and basically having Sarah and I switch back and forth with Oscar and Esme so we would always be with someone who spoke Spanish really well. In the end, Oscar and I went with the group doing the horror movie. Once we got working with this group however it was really hard to switch to the other groups. We knew what things needed to be shot and we knew the story really well. Therefore Oscar and I became the producers of the terror movie and Sarah and Esme worked with the kids on the drama movie.

It took a little bit of time to get started shooting because we were working with a much younger age group. They had shorter attention spans and a lot of the young girls wanted to draw on the white boards or wander off. Eventually we set up a policy that if they weren't directly active with the movie scene, they were to go help Melissa with the signs and CD cover drawings.

The first day we actually got a lot of shooting done, as in 9 scenes. It was amazing doing the very first scene though. With the silent films, they kids pretty much shot each scene once. However, with these films, we did the first scene once. Then we did it again at a different angle. If something was off, we did it again. It the acting wasn't perfect we shot it again. I think the kids appreciated the amount of work that goes into filming that first day.

We finished with the kids on time and sent them home. We went to eat and I believe I went to go take a nap. I hadn't slept the night before. Today was the day we were supposed to go horseback riding. Unfortunately I talked to Fernando at lunch and he told Oscar and I that the only horses available were race horses, therefore we wouldn't be able to ride them.

Which ended up being a good thing because I was still sick.

There were some things that we needed from town, so the girls went out. I stayed in. Esme and Sarah's group needed a time lapse of the sunset and there was no guarantee I'd make it back in time so I stayed, set my camera on a chair overlooking the countryside and did a time lapse. I'm actually mad that I didn't do this sooner, or for more days. By the time we thought of it, I really only had one night to do it and sometimes it can be hard to guess what area is going to have the best lighting, clouds, colors, etc. It was such a beautiful 'moment,' the sunset. I'm glad I captured a piece of that night.

(Photos with myself in them were taken by Sarah Wann © 2012)

Post Script, I'll post the time lapse when I get a computer that can edit video, which should be soon!

Day Doce

Today we woke up around noon again because of the late night the others had. The girls were CRAVING breakfast, so we tried to head out early enough to eat breakfast somewhere. Melissa kept calling restaurants asking them to just serve us breakfast because we're special. Basically it didn't work and we ended up in the village square sitting outside with a wonderful view for people watching. I ordered a sandwich and Oscar had ordered as well. For some reason, Esme, Melissa, and Sarah didn't order their food until our food came (probably because they were on the internet); but we spent a lot of time just sitting and relaxing at this restaurant. Now, if you've never traveled around, you might not know that in other cultures there is a variety of different people doing odd things to try and make money. Mexico was no different. It was filled with old and young people alike that were trying to sell things. Kids trying to sell little squares of gum, old men selling 'zarapes', and women selling baked goods. Now when I say kids, I don't necessarily mean teens. I mean small children ranging from ages 4 to 16. I witnessed a really heartwarming scene while we were having lunch. A handful of people had approached our table offering their items and one little boy said something quick to Oscar. Oscar quietly said something to him. About twenty seconds later Oscar grabbed a roll off our table and quickly handed it to the kid who ran off with it.

Here we are, blessed to have whatever we want in the restaurant while all around us people are struggling to survive. This isn't just about Mexico. People all over the world work so hard for such little rewards. I think sometimes people forget to be thankful for the small blessings like a full belly or the freedom of playing with your friends instead of having to work when you're just a kid. This was one of my favorite moments. I asked Oscar what he had said and he told me the boy had asked for a roll. Oscar replied it wasn't a good idea to do it right under the waiters' nose. So he waited for him to step into the restaurant and gave this kid food.  This moment absolutely made my day.

We sat there awhile looking over things to do, chatting with each other and relaxing. My stomach was still freaking out. I think I ate a fourth of a sandwich and was done. After lunch we walked around the city some more looking for more information on the film festival. Melissa was trying to get ahold of Sebastian to see if we could do something with him. In the end we walked around and went into a theatre that was showing some of the films. One was a really beautiful short with incredible lighting. The story was of a ballerina whose grandmother danced too. She talks about her passion for dancing and how her grandmother would have been proud of her. In the end, you find out that she is blind. Other films were great, if not for their content then for the fact that they encouraged me to start entering film festivals.

Unfortunately I had to leave one of the films because of being sick. I stood on the porch to this gorgeous theatre and looked around me. Mountains curled around the city and the sun was setting behind them. It was a beautiful moment locked in my memory.

We waited for everyone to finish the movie we were in and come outside. The girls picked up snacks and we went on our way back to Ceracaly.

We got back home just as it was dark. I made a bowl of pasta, which was pretty much all that I ate the whole day. Shortly after I came to the conclusion that I wasn't sick unless I ate. So I'm fine if I don't want to live...

We planned for the rest of the night.

Sunset photos taken by Oscar Campos © 2012

Day Diez

Friday! We had a lot to do today, but the reward is getting the weekend to ourselves and enjoying a small mexican road trip for the weekend. Today was the day where we actually split the group into two separate groups and they were to pick a story, storyboard, and maybe even start filming. A couple of the kids actually brought in stories they had written, and surprisingly they were incredible.

First we showed the kids their silent films from last night. We talked about the importance of storyboarding because if you don't then the editors don't know exactly what you want with your movie and it might come out completely different. Luckily, Oscar and I were pretty spot on with the stories.

new friend who wasn't sure what to think about 32 kids.

There was a lot of disorganization with the kids today and one girl ended up having a panic attack when she wasn't being heard in her group. Esme got her and Mauricio, and they sat her down and got her a cup of hot water and a warm taco to put on her chest. That's what she said her mom does for her because she's had heart problems before.

We ended up voting on the genre of movies and had one group consisting of mostly older kids who wanted to do a drama and a huge group of younger kids who wanted to do a horror movie. Then we made the groups get together and decide on a story. This took forever. Pretty much the rest of the day was filled with discussions on how to create a story (who was the main character? what was the problem they had to overcome? what was the resolution? and so on).

During all of this, Melissa came upstairs and told me that there had been a shooting in the US. She said it had been in the midnight premier of Batman but she couldn't remember which city or state it was in. Since my boyfriend was at the midnight premier, I was freaked out and I went to go check the news, email my family, and check in on everyone.

Thankfully, no one in my family was hurt, despite me having cousins in Colorado. Unfortunately, I was pretty distracted by the news.

So we ended the day with the group having a story and asking the kids to work on storyboards at home.

The five of us had lunch, packed, and then jumped into the car to drive to Guanajuato! Basically we had to drive up and down a mountain. It was narrow roads, sharp curves, crazy people passing us, and the most beautiful views.

We arrived in the city about 50 minutes later and drove through it. It's a gorgeous city built on and around a cluster of mountains. The city is famous but it's amazing because it doesn't look touristy at all. Theres a Starbucks and a dominoes pizza, but they are sort of hidden, there are no traffic lights, and no neon signs. It's gorgeous and colorful. We drove to Oscar's cousins house which houses travelers. It was small, but we didn't need anything extravagant.

We settled in and Esme and I explored a little with our cameras. Then we got all dressed up and went out for a night on the town. Melissa, Sarah, and Oscar discovered that the Guanajuato International Film Festival was this weekend which was pretty amazing, and also there was a tunnel party that we HAD to check out.

We went to a place that had loud music in a populated square and ordered some drinks and small things to share. I had a piña colada and a blue hawaiian. The drinks tasted okay, but the food was like ballpark nachos. It was really crappy. Later we learned that this place had awful food that was really cheap and it was the sort of place for extreme tourists.

It didn't matter, it was late when we finally left there, so we started towards the tunnel party. We met a ton of people that Oscar went to school with, and we left him to wait for more as we went into the party. It was a tunnel that went through the mountain and cars drive through, but a portion of it was closed down for this massive party. There were so many people in there and there were bars set up. It was an awesome party. There were flashing lights in all different colors, loud music, and a ton of people staring at us. We danced for a little while and then Esme decided to go back with Sarah to the house and sleep (they hadn't gotten much sleep and were exhausted). I wanted to stay a little more with Melissa.

We got some refreshments and kept our eyes open for Oscar or his friends. A couple of people stopped and talked to us. We also saw a really famous Mexican actor. We kept being approached by these photographers who kept taking our photos and talking to us a bit. They offered to get us into the VIP area. He gave Melissa a bracelet and then I just walked in. I was stopped, but I took some of my acting skills, made my eyes really big and acted like I had no idea why I couldn't be let in. Eventually they said "oh she doesn't speak spanish" "what harm could be done?" "She's fine" and I got in. Drinks were free here, the people were classy, and we were feeling good.

We danced and attracted the same photographers who were over eager to talk to us and lead us around. Finally we found Oscar and acted like we hadn't seen him in a while so we could go talk to him. It took about four attempts to get away from the photographers and hang out with Oscars friends and just dance alone. We stayed for a few hours and then left around 5 am. It was crazy and so much fun. I'm not really a party person at home, so I probably appreciate a night out more than the regular kid.

Both Melissa and i were given flowers on the walk home by boys and she even was given a pair of sunglasses and was told to drink a shot for this random dude and think of him. I can't emphasize how nice and accepting everyone here is. At no point do I feel like I'm in danger or scared. I feel safe with the group of girls and even more so with Oscar. Mexico keeps getting more and more beautiful and amazing.