Great ideas, it is said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations a faint flutter of wings; the gentle stirring of life and hope.
— Albert Camus
While I’m getting my edit suite set up, and data moved around & backed up ready for a six-week edit session, Jesse‘s been playing a bit with some of the footage from Rwanda. This one’s just too cool not to post. Click the image to see a 1K cloud timelapse (down-res’ed from 2K, processed in RedCine and After Effects).
There’s also a few RED frame grabs from our shoot in Rwanda posted here if you’re interested.
Bulembu went from a sleepy hollow of Swazi homesteads to a major mining operation – producing one-third of Swaziland’s GDP – to a near-ghost town in the space of several decades. Now it’s in the midst of another transformation. To tell the story, I’ve put together a photo essay from my recent assignment: “The Bulembu Story” (There are a few dozen photos, so it may take a minute or two to load).
My recent assignment in Swaziland was a 2009 calendar on Bulembu. The concept was to photograph people involved in transformation, telling their story in a single frame. I approached this primarily through wide-angle portraits of the characters in context, attempting to include hints of past, present, and future as much as possible. I made extensive use of my new lighting rig to control tone and contrast.
Click the image to view a few selects from my portraits in Bulembu.
N.B. I’ll be posting a photo essay about the town after I get back from some R&R on the mountain this weekend.
Edison Chirwa emigrated from Malawi looking for work in 1949. He started working for the mine a few days later. He’s lived here with Leah ever since…
The last few days have been fun shooting days, mostly with with my 5D, a 24-70 f/2.8L and a wireless flash. This gallery is in two parts: yesterday, driving outside of town to a limestone quarry and a farm; and today, walking down some of Kigali’s dusty roads with Jeff-u (Jeffrey’s Rwandan name), my custom flash contraption in-hand. Click the pic to take a look. (Check out the Post Index if you’d like to see more galleries.)
Click the photo to see a new gallery of images from our trip. (Here’s the first gallery if you missed it)
Click here to see a gallery of our trip so far.
I’ve been digging through my photo library, cleaning and organizing for my assignments in Rwanda and Swaziland. In the process this photo appeared. It’s a bit of an enigma – though it was taken last March, I’m not sure the story, or where it was taken. Somewhere along the way I simply stopped to snap these five birds standing in the cold, still water.
I’ve created it as a wallpaper for you to enjoy. Right-click the link and save-as to download: Wallpaper – Birds in the Water.
Check out a few other wallpapers here.
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
— Pablo Picasso