Africa Day 6: The Faces

I had been to the Maternity Ward's site many times now and I was starting to get accustomed to the workers and it seems as though they were getting used to seeing me also. Now the camera was something normal to them and they were not paying as much attention to it than when they first met me. A photographer wrote that "...if you point a camera at somebody long enough, they forget about it and become themselves again".

So on that day felt comfortable asking for a favor. I went to see the foreman Waweru and asked him if I could photograph each worker separately. He was actually pleased that I asked and offered to assist me to mark down their names as well.

Here is a little Soundslides presentation of the workers and volunteers who made ROTH's Maternity Ward's project possible.



After taking pictures of the workers, I felt different, I felt like they were looking at me as a friend. Where I was once puzzled as to whether they liked having their picture taken or not, I was now convinced of the pride they were taking in being part of my images.

I told Waweru that I was going to send all the pictures of the workers for him to distribute to them. It's not often these people have a chance to hang their picture on the wall, something we do here without even thinking about it...

PhiL

Spooky...not really !

I kind of invited myself at my friend's house the other day and it turned out to be a great night. I thought we were just gonna have a few drinks and maybe order some food but I was in for a surprise. Well I was right about the drinks but add some appetizers to that and for the piece de résistance, my friend Nicolas and his new found passion, the BBQ, cooked some chicken and shrimps with baked potatoes. I ate more than I could and should, as usual!


I had my camera with me in the car and thought it would be nice to take a portrait of Nicolas in the cemetery in the back of his house. So Nico, Sandra (his girlfriend and my assistant for the night) and I walked over to the cemetery as we were entertained by some quite decent fireworks from the street next to us. It was part of the city's celebration for some sort of carnival. Would I have known in advance I would have planned the shot to include the fireworks but I didn't want to push my luck too far!


I had this shot planned even though I had never been to this cemetery or any other cemetery for that matter before. Yet I had an idea in mind of him leaning against a gravestone. I wasn't expecting anything but just thought I could experiment a bit with the light.

Here is the set-up:

The process I went through to get the shot and the lighting is the following. I wanted an even background so we headed for a section where the tombstones were all alike. I shot the portrait facing backwards to the stones so we wouldn't see any names, after all, I still have a bit of respect left!

So I had my location and now I wanted the lighting to be right. I started with an SB-28 to the far left to light the stones from far away, casting a small shadow and highlighting the silhouettes of the stones. 1/250th, ISO 400 , f4,5 and fired a test shot at 1/8th power. Bang on, got lucky. From there I placed a snooted SB-28 on the grave next to Nico to give some highlights to the left of his face, played with the power a bit to get it right. Then I wanted some fill for his body so I placed an umbrella with a 580EX at very low power just in front of him. The key light in this case was a snooted 580EX aimed at Nico's face. It took a bit of fine tunning to get the power and placement right but I managed to get pretty close to what I had in mind.

I shot about 70 frames of Nicolas with Sandra assisting me with a flashlight to light Nico's face so I could achieve focus. Honestly I could have stayed there all night shooting in different places but I figured that Nico and Sandra were kind enough to feed me, assist me and model for me so I had to call it quits!

Thank you guys for lending yourselves to my twisted photo experiment and I owe you a great dinner! Oh and by the way, no shadows or ghosts showed on any of the frames... sorry!

Cheers...
PhiL

Been Busy !

Sorry for those of you who are expecting more from Africa, as you should be, but I have been a very busy man. My full time job sometimes calls on me to take pictures at night or during the evening which is great but also results in a distorted schedule not allowing me too much spare time.

So here's what I have been up too! I shot many cars as I do every week but this past week was different in the way that I took to heart a couple of those cars and as it turned out, made decent pictures of them.


This 2007 Ford Mustang GT image was taken at a great location near my apartment. It was completely dark yet some workers were still doing their thing which yield a great background of dusty and broken glass pains.


My ligh set-up for the shot was two flash (Nikon SB-28) on either end of the car to highlight the front and rear as well as two other flash (Canon 580 EX) shot at the side of the car at an angle to prevent to many reflections from showing up on the frame. Here a little effort at drawing a set-up shot...please bare with me here!

(click on images for larger pictures)

Here is another shot done very recently but this time very straight forward for most of the time I am very restricted in time and need to find and shoot a car within a very, very short time frame.


Olivier and I passed in front of this road circus kinda thing setting up in a parking lot and he thought it would be a good idea. I was at a loss as to where to shoot a 100k car in less than an hour but as it turned out it wasn't so bad at all.

Thanks to Olivier who always seem to find time to give me a much needed helping hand on these shoots.

So that's what I've been up to lately, well my full time job really! I should be able to get up to speed with my Africa trip this week-end... I think...I hope !!!

Cheers !
PhiL

Piave, Africa Day 5: Natu Primary School

I was really excited for this day since Gibson told us he was going to take us to the school he taught at for 33 years. At this point you are probably wondering who is Gibson?!

Gibson is a retired teacher who is still very active in his community. He contributed to the realization of the Piave Dispensary which gives medical assistance and consultation to the ones in need. He was at the site every day and was making sure everything was going according to plan. Gibson is one of many unspoken local heroes who touches you by the generosity and respect he has towards others.

I figured I would let the images and Gibson himself do the talking this time, so I put together a Soundslides presentation.



After the visit to the school, Gibson really wanted us to see his house. These people have so few yet they are so proud to show us what they have. Gibson's yard is a very decent one according to the Piave standards. His son and daughter also live on his land which is comprised of three little huts.

He invited us into his living room where we sat and had a soda and some cookies. To see a man with such generosity makes you realize how we so often are egocentric and self-centered. This man was giving us food for which he had work so hard to get and yet was so happy to give it to us.

This visit to the Natu Primary School and the encounter with Gibson touched me and made me think twice about how to act with others. Before parting from Gibson's quarters, with tremendous effort to contain my tears, I said: "Gibson, a man like you is nothing but a true gentleman for whom we have no other choice but to have profound respect and gratitude. I'm privileged to have met you and will remember this day for the rest of my life..."

Related Links
Nakuru, Kenya
Getting Ready for Kenya Part 1
Getting Ready for Kenya Part Deux
Africa Trip Day 1: Friday the 13th...!
Kenya, East Africa Day 2: By way of Air
Nakuru, Kenya Day3: Finally Got There!
Piave, Africa Day 3: Cookie Run
Nakuru, Kenya Day 4: Piave Maternity Ward

Nakuru, Kenya Day 4: Piave Maternity Ward

Even though my body had not slept for a long time it seemed as though I was not tired and last night was a good night of sleep regardless of the many times I woke up thinking it was morning. You can't blame my organism for wondering what went wrong with my internal clock... AA batteries needed maybe?

Breakfast like we know it, peanut butter on toasts and a banana which is twice the size of the ones I knew by the way! Getting outside the hut in the morning was an unbelievable experience for the view was breathtaking. Mountains on the horizon, a small peak at Lake Nakuru and the Rift Valley at it's best with clouds dancing sometimes letting sun rays through.

Time to all get in Roth's blue van. The volunteers named it Betsy for a reason unknown to me. If Betsy was a real person she'd be around 85 years old with a worn-down body yet a big smile on her face, capable of accomplishing what you think was impossible. She would smell a bit and not clean too often but with the help she'd give you, you'd forget all about it and still be thankful to have met her. Betsy!

To get to the Piave Maternity Ward construction site, Betsy and her driver Paul needed about 15 minutes negotiating a compact dirt road with severe craters in it. Along the road the scenery was a mix of local people happy to wave at us, young abandoned infant sleeping on the side of the road as well as a majestic landscape of valleys and fields.

Once arrived at the site, I saw what had been accomplished so far. The outside structure of the Ward was completely done along with the roof and the inside divisions. The volunteers got to work where they left the week before building the walls of the septic tank while the other 40 workers on site were busy with interior wall finishing and erecting a small building for the kitchen. Although I had been on many construction sites in my diversified career, never did I see one without electricity or any kind of machinery. A construction site where the only sounds were tools digging in the dirt, shovels mixing mortar and axes banging on rocks. I couldn't believe the pace at which these local workers were going, they make the hardest of tasks look effortless. I take it they were one of the main reason why this project was on schedule from the get go.

Lunch time well deserved for the crew and the volunteers. While local workers were fed on-site, the volunteers made their way to the Piave city center to a small cafe where the menu consits of beans and rice or eggs and bread, pick your winner! The cafe is a very small place with very few people in it. The walls were of a dust out white paint with clouds and at the end of the room was a small counter behind which the owner stood. "If you want something, you tell him otherwise he won't bother" Paul told me in his Irish accent. While some went for the eggs, I chose the most popular beans and rice which I have to admit was quite good. On the outside a crowd of young kids gathered as it is the custom when they know Mzungus are in town.

Lunch filled us up but it was harder for the volunteers to get to work after such a meal. Still they managed to pick up where they left and finish the day while I took some 1500 pictures of the site in all angles possible. At one point one of my two cameras started going a-wire, the shutter wouldn't stop regardless of if the camera was on and off or further more if I had my finger on he shutter release or not. I took the batteries out and figured she didn't want to be part of the trip anymore or my life if that's the case. I looked at the sky even though I'm not a believer and asked the clouds to make my second camera strong enough to last my through this trip so I can at least do what I came here to do. I promised a bunny-shaped cloud that I would pay it back for this favor.

Betsy rode us back and after a good shower, some picture downloading and some good food I went to bed trying desperately to hang my mosquito net from under Francis' bunk but I had to give up what I thought to be a very good plan to skip to plan B which was to just make it hold for the night.

It had yet to sink in just where I was and what I was doing there but I knew the next two weeks were going to bring me to places I've always wanted to visit and I was going to make the most of it.

Photo Gallery Here, more pics to be added soon

Related Links
Nakuru, Kenya
Getting Ready for Kenya Part 1
Getting Ready for Kenya Part Deux
Africa Trip Day 1: Friday the 13th...!
Kenya, East Africa Day 2: By way of Air
Nakuru, Kenya Day3: Finally Got There!
Piave, Africa Day 3: Cookie Run

Piave, Africa Day 3: Cookie Run

I know there can't be two Day 3 but let's just say that in the hope of keeping you reading I sort of kind of split it in half!!!

So with all this travel it was about 1pm already on the Sunday and I had just met with the volunteers. don't know if you can also call it good timing but I found myself in Nakuru at a time during which a bunch of Quebec Volunteers were part of the experience, since I'm from the same place I thought we'd get along just fine.

Francis was the one who came to me first, maybe it had something to do wit the fact that I was allocated the bunk bed just underneath him?! He was ind enough to answer pretty much all my questions and to show me around. After familiarizing myself with the environment he took me to the orphanage to introduce me to Ivan, the founder. An inspiring meeting to say the least.

Ivan was a plummer back in Australia when he visited Nakuru for the first time. He wanted to make a difference and three years later, his orphanage was built and he moved to Nakuru with Mary and their two daughters. Soon they adopted 27 orphans and are now parents for all of them.

I didn't get a chance to come back from all the emotions I had just witnessed in the orphanage when I saw that a couple of the girls were walking with Ivan to his jeep. They asked me If I wanted to join them for a Cookie Run. I had no idea what it was but I figured I should take my camera and just go, which I did.

I certainly wasn't prepared for what was to come. Ivan drove Tracy, Emilie, Emmanuelle and I through the streets of the Piave community. The girls were sitting in the back seat giving away cookies. The streets were of hard red dirt with quite the swamps in them but nothing the Mitsubishi 4x4 couldn't go through. The panorama was beautiful with valleys and mountains but this was only to offset the poor conditions in which the locals lived. Their shelters were mostly made of mud and animals excrements while some had a sheet of iron to provide a roof. The children we were giving cookies to were poorly clothed and dirty. Some shirts could barely hold together and don't even think of matching colors.

Nonetheless most of the children had honest smiles on their faces. Was it the fact that they knew we were to give them a cookie or just that innocent young smile kids have even in the worst of situations?

We got back to the orphanage when we ran out of cookies and we had supper after which we went to the orphanage to watch a movie. The movie that was playing was Crash and I couldn't help but find a relation to my day... a crash!

See Photo Gallery of the Cookie Run Here

Related Links
Nakuru, Kenya
Getting Ready for Kenya Part 1
Getting Ready for Kenya Part Deux
Africa Trip Day 1: Friday the 13th...!
Kenya, East Africa Day 2: By way of Air
Nakuru, Kenya Day3: Finally Got There!

Nakuru, Kenya Day 3: Finally Got There!

After a decent night of sleep helped much by ear plugs to muffle the sound of the karaoke bar/restaurant from across the street, I woke up sometimes in the morning. I got ready because I knew Abdul was to pick me up sometimes before lunch.

The phone rang half an hour after I got out of bed and it was Abdul telling me he was waiting for me downstairs. Timing could not have been better and I was ready for...well what was coming I guess even though I didn't know what was around the corner.

Abdul drove me about 2 minutes from to Hotel to the Mololine Company where I was to buy my ticket for my Matatu trip to Nakuru. after following Abdul's advice I put my camera away in it's bag and headed for the ticket counter where I paid my 300 Kenyan Shillings for the ride (5$ CAD).

I cramped my big backpack in the back of the Matatu and barely made it in with my photo bag on my lap. A Matatu, for those of you who are wondering, is a small van...no really smaller than that! It has three rows of three seats and two in the front. If ever this thing was to be involved in an accident I would be stuck inside it because it's so small. The Matatu made it's way through the streets of Nairobi only to come to a stop after 5 minutes of driving. I didn't know what was going on and we had to get out of the vehicle. There, a tall man was looking at me with his hand forward...so I shook it. The man was a police officer and although he probably found me very courteous, he still looked into my bag and into the whole van to make sure we were not carrying weapons. This practice is standard for all Matatus before they go on their scheduled trips only I was not aware of that!!! Now we left for good!

The ride was a bit bumpy but not too bad. The scenery was a mix of hills and valleys with some amazing views of what looked to me like the Rio slums I had seen in a movie. The road side was full of vendors and little villages in which money had no place. The further we got from Nairobi, the less crowded the roadsides were which yield it's panorama to zebras, baboons, donkeys, cows and sheep.

Kenya was colonized by the British hence the driver on the right side of the car on the left side of the road. This combined with the fact that no apparent laws govern the streets and that driving is pretty reckless, makes you reconsider your 5$ ride. Maybe there was a cheaper and safer way to get to destination I thought?!

About two-thirds into the three-hour ride to Nakuru I was starting to get uncomfortable and quite annoyed with that van, what I didn't know was that the worse was yet to come. We took a turn into a village and after passing through it the road got bumpier...and bumpier...and bumpier until I could really say that this van was now off-raoding it's way to Nakuru. I was convinced the suspension would give way or the direction shaft would split in half not to mention my stomach which was upside down by now, good thing I didn't have anything to eat that morning. That last hour seemed like forever and when we finally reached our destination I was just relieved...!

This is the person that was there to greet me after this horrible ride. Although I had only met Alannah, one of Roth's co-founder, once at the fund raiser in Montreal, I was really happy to see her. She immediately made me feel at ease with her easy-going attitude like she was just walking through her own backyard.

She had arranged for a taxi to pick us up which was on time again. I started to feel my luck was good on this trip and everything was going smoothly.

After 10 minutes of driving, I finally reached my destination; The Mission In Action's Nakuru Baby Orphanage. Surrounded by a wooden fence like a fortress, the orphanage is quite a building, with beautiful glass work and floors with the MIA logo in it.

The huts where we stayed were besides maybe 150 meters away from the building and were round with hay roofs. Inside were bunk beds, bathrooms with shower and kitchen. A really decent place. That's when I met the other volunteers Emmanuelle, Emilie, Francis, Koby, Paul, Frederique, Tracy...

I was finally there and a warm feeling rushed through my body as if I had accomplished something already or maybe it was just the first time I felt that I was safe and sound. I was now surrounded with people who seemed so nice and so relaxed that I couldn't help feeling the same way. I was there, half way across the world...I was there and all the tight space in the planes, the logn hours of flight and the more-than-bumpy ride were all forgotten and seemed so cheap a price to pay to be in such a paradise. I was there and I was going to make the mos out of it!!!

Related Links
Nakuru, Kenya
Getting Ready for Kenya Part 1
Getting Ready for Kenya Part Deux
Africa Trip Day 1: Friday the 13th...!
Kenya, East Africa Day 2: By way of Air