cam(h)era

We are not all the same

2010-08-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

This was forwarded to me from my friend Deron Triff at Changents, and sets a challenge in a very conscious way.

It seems that the world in general, and the US specifically are out of balance; that powerful interests are gobbling up a wildly disproportionate share of the Earth’s resources without regard to the immediate and long‐term environmental impact of their actions, that the middle class is evaporating and more people are slipping into poverty while a very few grow hideously rich, that we are growing more sedentary, obese and unhealthy as a nation, that we are becoming less creative just when creativity is becoming a real competitive advantage globally, and that in seeking someone to blame for our declining fortunes we have become less tolerant of immigrants, minorities, gays and lesbians. Not exactly the “American Way” I grew up believing in, but what can be done? We can quietly accept this reality, we can attempt to flee it, or we can ALTER IT. I choose the latter.

As I leave soon to go and check out life and the water crisis in Haiti, I am glad that I have chosen a path that allows me to work in a way that expands my humanity and meaning of life. It's weird though, did I choose it, or did it choose me?

Bloggin it Up!

2010-08-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Today at BlogHer 2010 in NYC, just did my first presentation in the P&G Living Room, wow, it is so busy here! I also met an amazing woman named Alie Eleveld from Kenya that runs SWAP, a safe water & aids project. It is totally abuzz here, women are connecting everywhere, I feel aloft with the energy.

bloggety blog

2010-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

ok, so I am packing for a week in NYC to present at BlogHer 2010 about my work around access to clean water last summer in Africa and India. Then I will be going straight on to Haiti to document what is happening there with the world water crisis, access to clean water and the state of people's lives in accordance with these issues.

After the photo exhibit from last summer's work titled "Waves of Change" rolled out in June, I was contacted and then contracted by Changents and P&G to present in NYC, blog about my experience as a frontline worker in this field, and then go to Kenya to document the work that CDSW's Dr Greg Algood is doing with partners like the Agha Khan Foundation and others in Kenya.

I am excited to be working in ways that I only dreamed about a few years ago, and that I am able to work in a meaningful way. Meeting many of the people that I have and will be working with is such an amazing experience.

I will also be writing for "Water Dispatches" at the Calgary Herald, and when I can squeezing in a blog entry or two here.

Vancouver Sun Article on Waves of Change

2010-06-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

The exhibit Waves of Change launched yesterday. It was a stellar event, a wonderful turnout and show of support with lots of great media attention including Global TV, CTV, Avenue Magazine, and more. The reaction was exactly what Melanie and I would have wished for, people visibly moved by the imagery and stories, lots of wonderful feedback, soo happy! Trent Edwards, a journalist from the Calgary Herald ran an article today in that was also picked up by the Vancouver Sun. So happy that this photo documentary work is getting some attention for a great cause. Please visit the new website, freshly unveiled at www.makewavesofchange.org I welcome peoples comments! here is a link to the piece in the Herald and the Sun http://tiny.cc/w3poh

The Constant Gardener - Water Photo a Day 10

2010-06-09T21:10:00.001-07:00

DSRP Mandia, Zambia 2009

The Waves of Change Exhibit debuts tomorrow and so this is the last "water photo a day" leading up to that event. The exhibit is a photo documentary and narrative of the journey Melanie Jones and I took last summer through Africa and India. It was a journey to document the lives of some of the worlds poorest people in relation to water. It also became on some levels our journey as "field virgins", going through various stages of processing about poverty, and development. So it is fitting that the last image prior to the exhibit strikes the chord relating to the question often asked in these realms, does development work? We asked that question often in the first few weeks after time and time again hearing and seeing the overwhelming problems, challenges and difficulties so many are facing. We wondered very much in the beginning what were we really doing there. We came away, and in many ways are still continuing to process the experience. We looked at it from our western eyes with the only experience we had. Now I see with a different eye, the beauty that is so apparent in so many different ways, I feel lucky to see that. The children in this garden are happy, and their community is a direct result of the positive effects of development relating to access to safe clean water. This has in turn had a positive economic effect for their community and families. They have hope for better lives, but, they also have wonderful lives now.

African Latrine - Water and Sanitation

2010-06-08T21:19:00.001-07:00

African Outhouse - Mapalo, Zambia 2009
At any one time, more than half of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation and water supply according to the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). 2008. Although many families set up a latrine, it is often difficult to get young and old alike to use it. Cross contamination of food and water from human excrement is a major problem in many of the areas we visited in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern India, highlighting the need for education.

Little by Little, Day by Day - Water Photo a Day 8

2010-06-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

A stall is set up in front of a mud hut to sell small amounts of oil and coal. Mapalo, Zambia 2009
When Melanie and I returned from our field work last year, part of our learning curve was enhanced with something that Camille Dow Baker, founder and CEO of CAWST said to us; "Development is evolutionary, not revolutionary". It brought home the fact that it really is a step by step process, sometimes very baby steps, but always with the idea of moving forward. It aids in the realization that we cannot necessarily make huge alterations overnight, but, that we can little by little bring about change. This is not very different from how the people we met go about survival, it is on a day to day basis. Here in front of a small mud hut in Mapalo, a table is set up with wares to sell, just enough oil and coal to cook one meal, just enough as this is all most of the inhabitants of Mapalo can afford on a daily basis, until they somehow get enough money the next day to do it all over again. Having clean, safe water can make all the difference when survival hangs in the balance and is hinged upon stability of health. Losing work days due to water-borne iillness such as diarrhoea or cholera can vastly upset the delicate nature of survival.

# 7 - Water Photo a Day - Danger

2010-06-06T21:09:00.001-07:00

Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. However, sometimes the water source is also a place of physical danger. Traditionally known as "the river of life" to many of the tribes that live along it's banks, the Zambezi River is the 4th largest river in Africa. These women and children are collecting water and washing dishes at the edge of the Zambezi River in Southern Zambia upstream from Victoria Falls. Although the water is fresh running water, it is also contaminated, however, water borne disease is not the only thing the inhabitants of this area need to worry about. Only a few months previous at this very spot, during the rainy season, a crocodile claimed a strong community member, wife and Grandmother. In this area along the Zambezi approximately 6 - 10 people lose their lives to crocodiles annually as they collect water. Mandia, Zambia 2009

Happiness!

2010-06-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

2 independent films I worked on last year have just won a total of 5 Leo awards this past week! Big congrats to Bruce Sweeney on EXCITED which won for Best Direction in a feature length Drama, Best Feature Length Drama, Best Female Lead - Laara Sadiq, and Best Female Supporting Performance - Gabrielle Rose! Kelly Ruth Mercier won for Best Screenwriting on a short drama! So happy I was able to work on these productions, not a bad way to begin my still's career!

Laara Sadiq - 2010 Leo Best Female Lead in a Feature Length Drama "Excited"

Water Photo a Day # 6 - "Quality vs Supply"

2010-06-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

It is "T" minus 5 days until the debut of "Waves of Change" the photo-documentary project intended to create awareness of the world water situation and to demonstrate the impact of improved water education on quality of life. In light of of this I am presenting a photo a day until the launch. The key message today is that access to water is not always enough. That water needs to be clean and safe to keep people healthy. The image in this post showcases that fact. Here a group of people gather beside a pipe from the Madurai City Corporation in the urban slum known as Sellur in Southern India. Every other day during a window of time they can collect water from the city. Unfortunately this is not safe, clean water and the chance for even further contamination is evident as it is only inches away from the sludge in the other water source, the Pandalgudi Canal. Madurai 2009

Number 5

2010-06-04T20:33:00.001-07:00

Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne illness...Every year, about 110000 children under the age of five die of water borne diseases in Bangladesh due to lack of sanitation...One in six African children dies before the age of five..."Water-borne diseases are claiming one child every three seconds"

Ennedy, a school teacher in a small community along the Zambezi river in Africa, tells us how her 18 month old daughter died from diarrhoea prior to using the bio-sand filter. Mandia, Zambia 2009

Water Photo A Day 4 - Women and Water

2010-06-03T17:23:00.001-07:00

Women in the village of Karaikudi, the Chettinad region of Southern India, walk together early on a Sunday morning, to a water source where they will both collect water and have an early morning wash. There are 900 Million people in the world who have to walk more than 1 KM to get water. Often that water is not good quality. Karaikudi India 2009

CAWST presents "Waves of Change" a photo-documentary exhibit - June 10th Calgary City Hall 4 - 6 pm with guest host Mark Tewksbury

2010-06-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

A young girl from the illegal settlement of George near Ndola, Zambia fills a small pail with water from the borehole well to make one of many trips into her hut to fill the bio-sand filter

Ndola 2009

Waves of Change - Photo a Day

2010-06-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

9 more days! This photo is a part of the story of Jayalakshmi, an amazing soul from the heart of Sellur, an urban slum in Madurai, India.

Jayalakshmi, a Kalanjiam member through DHAN foundation, shows us how the nutrition is not lost when she drinks the water that the rice has been washed in, but only once that water has been cycled through the bio-sand filter. Prior to using the in home water filter, the rice water not only tasted sour, but would often result in some water bourne illness such as diarrhoea for someone in the family, that in turn would cause loss of critical work days and income.

water photo of the day

2010-05-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

As today is a monumental day in terms of our working project "Waves of Change" I am planning to spotlight a new image every day up until the official launch of the "Waves of Change" exhibit next Thursday June 10th. Today was a dry run as 1/3 of the exhibit was installed at Nexen for Environmental Week. It is pretty amazing to see it all come to life after the work and planning and gave me the idea to countdown with a photo a day. The first image is one of women laboring in the tsu nami effected region of Nagapattinum near the Bay of Bengal in Southern India. Every year the Indian government promises to pay workers a minimum wage for a certain number of days for community work of this nature. Many of the women looked far beyond their years to be doing this type of work, but not that it is much different in comparison to seeing women working as flag holders in construction zones here at home, except for the hard physical work part! It was around 41 degrees in the middle of the day when I caught this image of the women in their saris carrying heavy containers to revitalize and clean out their community oorani (water storage tank).

Water Everywhere

2010-05-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

As I sit here writing, Vancouver is being deluged with a major downpour, from a satelite photograph, it looked as though we were in the eye of a hurricane. It is lovely, lush and green, and from where I sit it is difficult to comprehend a life without the luxury of clean water from the tap, and hard to believe in this day and age in a world where continents are surrounded by water, and it seems to be everywhere, that there are so many people that don't live with this. But the reality of many around the world in regards to access to safe water is not much different now than when I began this H20 journey a last year. From the beginning, knowing what I was going to experience through documenting photographically these many lives, and then discovering the reality was an awakening itself. Now I will have the opportunity to expand on it even more, through "Waves of Change" the exhibit that is the culmination of last years work with Melanie, and our upcoming visit to Haiti. While continuing to revisit the imagery in editing and printing, I had an almost strange vantage point of continually living in my Zambia and India worlds. Both places had a way ofpulling me in and allowing me to connect with them, now I will look forward to the next chapter. Ohh, how I love a storm.

Vintage with Leah Gibson

2010-03-17T20:15:00.001-07:00

Got together with Actress Leah Gibson (she of Twilight fame, and more!) Working with hair and makeup artist Leanne Chapman, and stylist Valeria we had a great time with fab results!

JUST CONFIRMED - Haiti in August

2010-02-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Just recieved an email, will be going to Haiti during the month of August to document people's lives in conjunction with clean water! This is to collect more imagery for CAWST and the Waves of Change project and we will be partnering with PAIDEH, an NGO operating in Haiti. Can't wait! Melanie and I will be working with Olivier Mills the CAWST technical adviser for Haiti. I am so excited and will start doing more research right away!

DHAN KARUNAI ILLAM

2010-02-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

I have added a new gallery to the website, please check it out, portraits from the Karunai ILlam in Nilakottai, Tamil Nadu India. I had a magical few days spending time with 23 girls that amazed me. While working for CAWST in India through their partner The DHAN Foundation, I was introduced to Jean Watson, and 85 year old New Zealander that formed the orphanage in 1987. What the Illam provides goes much further than housing, clothing, educating and feeding nearly 50 children and their caretakers, it fosters a sense of belonging, and graciousness. I fell in love with all of them. Please check it out, under galleries > DHAN KARUNAI ILLAM on my website at www.catecameron.com

!! Make Waves of Change !!

2010-02-23T17:07:00.000-08:00

After months of planning and work, Water Stories has officially been titled "Make Waves of Change". We even have an official website www.makewavesofchange.org This is primarily a sneak peak at what is to come, anyone can register to receive updates and keep abreast of where the exhibit will be after the debut June 8th at Calgary City Hall.

The Situation

2010-02-23T16:56:00.001-08:00

It has been a wonderful beginning to 2010. Contacted by directer Terry Miles in early January to do still photography for his wonderful feature titled "A Night for Dying Tigers". The ensemble cast was amazing to work with and included Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows, John Pyper-Ferguson, Lauren Lee-Smith, Kathleen Robertson, Tygh Runyan, Leah Gibson, and Sarah Lind and even more! Shooting wrapped Feb 5th.

Since then the Olympics have taken over! Currently working on booking headshots and pre-production on the upcoming "Make Waves of Change" exhibit, website and exhibit debut in Calgary on the 8th of June. For more info check out www.makewavesofchange.org

Also in the planning stage for Haiti in August. Originally planning to go in May, it has been pre-empted until August. This trip will be to collect more imagery for the Waves of Change Water Project in conjunction with CAWST.

Water Stories Update

2009-11-11T16:03:00.001-08:00

Currently Melanie Jones and myself are in pre-production mode for the upcoming exhibits in Calgary beginning this June. After returning from India in early September I had over 13,000 images to post edit. We have had 2 production meetings with CAWST, STRUT and all those on the exhibit committee and will be meeting again end November. I am now in the midst of choosing the images and coming up with an exhibit blueprint that we will use for the exhibits in Calgary, the online website and galleries, as well as an eventual packaged traveling exhibit in slideshow format. We are lucky to be working with Strut creative in Calgary and with their support and that of the Exhibit Committee I am really excited about the project.

Coupled with that we are planning our field visit to Haiti in early 2010 to do some more documenting. This is all funded by CAWST, The Rotary Club, and CIDA...Stay tuned!

why do you want to...

2009-10-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

The question comes up all the time. Why would you want to take pictures of the suffering, the impoverished, the dying, the poorest of the poor? Why do we do anything that we are not forced to do? We do it because we want to of course, and why do we want to? I can only speak for myself, but it is a compulsion. It is a feeling so strong that I wanted to follow it, that I knew I would be doing what I was here to do. A picture shows us many things, but in the context of what I have been doing, it shows us how someone lives, and no matter how difficult it may be to take the photo, to show it is important, and equally for others to observe it, because it is a truth. We only really know ourselves, both personally and as a race if we truly face ourselves and each other. So it is not because I am a voyeur, or that I want to make a living off of others' suffering, as I have been accused of, it is because I want to be aware of myself and my humanity; but really it's me, it's my life and it's my subjects' life.

"If you get in the Saddle, be ready for the ride"

2009-07-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

Please follow me on my blog at the Calgary Herald - "Water Dispatches"

http://communities.canada.com/calgaryherald/blogs/waterdispatches/default.aspx

you can click on The Calgary Herald icon to the right...thanks!!!

Go with the FLOW

2009-06-25T17:11:00.001-07:00

In preparation for my job/journey I have been watching a few related documentaries. The other night Kim and I watched "FLOW" which was amazing as it highlighted not only the crucial circumstances leading to the world water shortage, but also the World Bank's involvement and their F*#%ed up way in controlling and robbing the poorest of the poor, both as countries and individuals. It also shon a spotlight on how much time people are forced to waste in order to get mediocre water in certain locations in Africa, India, and I am sure in many other places too. Can you imagine walking for 2 or 3 hours to a tap coming up out of the ground only to have to wait for many hours for it to work? Even then, this water probably needs to be filtered before it is safe. There are often cards they have to pay for to use to turn the taps on. Megga corporations that sell bottled water to the world, part of the water cartel, that also happen to be the same individuals in many cases that are the "world bank" say that the infrastructure to deliver the water costs money, and so they have to charge. No shit Sherlock, these are poor people that probably make as much in a year as you do in 5 minutes, guess what, if they had the money they would pay for the infrastructure, but they don't because they are "poor", and now you want to charge them what is a meagre amount to us, but what is 6 months of food for their family. It is actually quite sickening and stomach turning to see these guys trying to substantiate this robbery. I am looking forward to seeing for myself the actuallity of life in these areas, and to begin the documentation.

Next up to watch..."Blue Gold"

Oh, now I get it, or...why did the chicken cross the road?

2009-06-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

No one ever promised this would be easy. So, I have at this point been to the Indian Consulate so many times that I think I may have personally funded a small village somewhere if I could have given them the funds it cost me for parking! So, I decided to bike it instead. I biked with Kim from East Van to the Consulate on Cordova and Howe to hit the changover from intake to pickup after the lunch break at !pm, to find out that only the phone line is closed for 1 hour, pickup isn't until 3pm! Rule number 1, check things over in greater detail. So a quick bike to English Bay along the newly primed seawall for a schwarma, and then back by 3pm. As I patiently await my turn I am refreshed by the fact that things are actually moving quite quickly given the number of people in the room with twisted little pieces of paper in their sweaty hands with their numbers on them.

Finally my number is up and I quickly assume my rightful position at window number 6 with paper chit in hand. Suddenly, a middle aged caucasian business man appears to be busting in line ahead of me - he wants to ask a question about his "business visa" he has just picked up! I stay calm by telling myself he must have waited months to get this, thats what they told me it would take. He asks the clerk about renewal protocol and then off he goes. After a couple of minutes I am handed my passport with its newly added Indian Tourist Visa. When I leave we meet each other on the elevator and I pose the question as to how long he had to wait to get his visa. My mind does a mental flip flop when he replies - "oh, only a day". Why, oh why could I not get mine??? What kind of strange conspiracy is this? Business Man offers to look at my documents and in about 5 seconds flat finds the problem. One letter from India is asking for a 6yr Visa, and the other is asking for a 6 month visa. I knew that was there but "assumed" (note the brazen italics) this would not make a difference.

"Anything over 5 years requires AIDs testing, and many other hoops to jump through, always best to have it all matching!" retorts Business Man, "I get these all the time, it only takes a day!"..... can you feel the seething glare from my eyes?

Now that I am over the relief of actually having some kind of paper work to enter into India, I wear the kind of grimace on my face that reeks of half baked rotten fish when I think of this. Why did they not tell me at the consulate the exact problem, they only kept saying "it is something in what you have written", and "we cannot approve these " types of visas" All along when they said "types" what they really meant was 6 yr business visa, opposed to 6 month business visa, not just business visa. It was a simply rectified issue that I could have changed, re-submitted and had the "business visa". Rule number 1, check things over in greater detail, and, remember that things are always "different" when you least expect it. I have a feeling I may run into more of this somewhere along the way in the next 2 months.

VISA SCHMISA

2009-06-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

I guess it is a good thing to be thrown unexpectedly into left field. Just when I thought everything was going smoothly my business visa is denied at the Indian Consulate. I thought I was really on top of things by waiting until Melanie had sent hers in, to have it sent back because she needed more info. She sent the second lot in and hey-presto-VISA! Great, I simply toodle off to the Vancouver Indian High Commission, give them my life and it will be that simple only quicker because I can pick mine up the next day! Then I get the expected phone call but only to let me know that I have been....denied! The guy on the other end did not know why, only that it might take months!!!! He suggested I forget about the business visa, and come in and ask for a much cheaper tourist visa. It looks like it just depends on the day, the time of day, and who is looking at things, what they had for breakfast, and whether or not they simply feel like putting the stamp on it that day or not. To be continued....

Toscana!

2009-06-16T11:07:00.001-07:00

I think it is important to appreciate the simple beauty in life, so when working in Montepulciano Italy, that is a very easy thing to do. How lucky can one get to assist the still photographer on set of "New Moon" in one of the most beautiful spots in the world? It was so much about the people, the cast and crew from Vancouver and the Italian crew, who, were so wonderful, generous and such beautiful people in so many ways, we loved you all! Thankyou so much Kimberley, Jason, Alex, Aluna, Antonio, Claudia, Christina, Kristen, Dave, David, Rob, John, Marco, the drivers and everyone that made it so wonderful!

FIELD VIRGINS!?

2009-06-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

Less than 1 month until Melanie Jones and myself leave for Zambia and India. There seems to be always more to grapple with, as soon as I finish one list, there is another, not unlike kicking open an ant-hill! The Camera Store have agreed to help with many of the last minute details in terms of equipment which is a godsend. We are also going to blog online for the Calgary Herald. It is all taking form. Most of the minor details have been planned and finalized now. Just found out today that we need to take water filters and purification tablets with us! My yellow fever jab has been booked too, and my wardrobe nearly completely decided - this is more important than you realize, as I need to travel smart and light - and look good too. Just when I was feeling bloody pleased about having handled this whole thing I recieve and email titled "FIELD VIRGINS".... no kidding, a 5 page excell document full of 5 pages of things to do, think about, and buy. If I could have a soundtrack for this post, it would actually be the sound effect played on Saturday Night Live for "Debbie Downer" Waa-Waaaaa.

visas + jabs + etc = loadsastufftodo!

2009-06-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

How do I handle the organizing of everythingyoucouldeverthinkofbeforeIleavefor8weeks, as well as keep things running smoothly here in Vancouver? I'll tell you, with alot of wringing of my hands and just flying by the seat of my pants and hoping I'm doing it all right. As I was trying to book my stay at Jollyboys hostel in Livingston, Zambia the rooms were booking up before my eyes. I tried by Visa, then by Paypal, and by the time I had tried those two routes the rooms were magically half gone...this is slightly un-nerving to say the least. At the same time I am sending off various emails to people in Italy, England, India, Zambia, Calgary and Vancouver, no wonder my dreams are international! My soul energy is skipping all over the world, and I have to admit I love it.

May and June have been amazing, with travelling to Italy to assist Kim on the last 5 days shooting of "New Moon" with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the beautiful Tuscany scenery, the even more beautiful Italian crew, then back to Vancouver and in the blink of an eye, flying to Calgary for Kim's show "Surface Revisited" at Axis Art, meetings with CanWest for the Calgary Herald blog in July and August and meetings with Avenue, it has been a bit of a blur. Yeah, then its back home to vacum the loft, water the garden and walk the dog! Who says I'm not grounded?

Post Elation Blues

2009-05-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was stellar in terms of gains for the Water Stories project. Sometimes you can ride a wave of energy that is even further fueled by more success, and you shoot off and ride that wave even further than you expected. The level of creativity and possibilities was prolific. This week has been difficult in terms of energy, the lack of it to be precise. I feel like I could sleep for a few days, and yet all of the busy-ness of the business of organizing for the journey continues to buzz around in my mind, keeping me awake, not letting me rest and culling even more of my energy.... sleeplessness, busy mind, chuntering away, feeling fractured. Thinking about my health, my level of natural strength, what I will need to do in order to do the job well in physical terms is also part of the balanced organization of this journey as a photogrpaher. The only thing to do is feel it, realize I need to rest, and ...rest. Talk soon.

don't bring me down man

2009-05-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

I am refusing to let the "Ecomic Crisis" and "Swine Flu" bring me down. Nearly everyone I speak to is effected in one way or another. For the most part it is people effected directly by the media, and allowing it to cause distress to them, fear and distress.
I even had someone very close to me suggest that this trip I was about to undertake was irresponsible given the fact that I will be visiting very dangerous parts of the world for an extended period of time! I was taken aback! They could not allow themselves to see that perhaps there was a bigger story here, it is about OTHERS! They were not basking in my current emotional sun, I was on some sunny beach glorifying in the warmth that this project is hot, hot, hot. They were full of fear, concern, and worry. The kind of thing that keep people where they are, the kind of of fear that paralyzes others into a dull thud of a life, that will not allow them to even look at anything else except with judgment. I better not go any further or I will sound bitter.

I really don't want to be in that climate, so I choose not to watch the news, read too much, listen to the radio. Instead I am living my life. I am revelling in the fact that I have been on a peronal mission to create and sustain the energy to carry this through. I am going to do what I have been aching to do for many years which is work in a meaningful way with my photography, travel, have amazing experiences and bring forward a beautiful body of work for exhibit so others can experience it too. Water Stories will be transformational on many levels, both personally, professionaly and I believe in many other subtle ways, not just for myself but for the many that are involved. This is good. This is my work, so... don't bring me down!

Holy Cow, India!

2009-04-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am waiting now for the ticket booking and a letter of invitation from DHAN Foundation so I can go ahead and apply for a Visa for India in August. I also have to ensure that I get my Yellow Fever Jab, or else I will apparently have to have some kind of special insect hose-down or 7 day isolation upon arrival in Chenai. Since neither sounds desirable, I guess I will get the jab, since Melanie and I are arriving directly from Zambia, a yellow fever hotspot, this is the protocol.

I am also awaiting news of additional sponsorship or partnering. So far I have not yet been shown the door from the following good people: The Calgary Herald, The Camera Store, and Elements The Patagonia Store. I will be happy with any level of participation from any of the afor-mentioned! Basically I will need to travel light and effectively with my clothing and equipment, this will be a challenge for me, I normally take as much as possible so I have choice, choice, choice! Couple that with a serious dose of indecisiveness and it makes for one heavy bag. So I am wardrobe challenged, I am sure there is some kind of group or program for that isn't there?

Zambia in July!

2009-04-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Melanie Jones and myself have been putting alot of energy into the organisation, itinerery and storylines for the first portion of our travel for the Water Stories project. We are about to book our flights for early July to Ndola, Zambia where we will visit many of the communities that have utilized the bio-san filters in their homes. We will be exploring the families and stories in that region as well as visiting a rural project in Livingston on the Zambezi River where the largest obstacle to collecting fresh water is the large population of crocodiles! I am looking forward to posting pictures and videos from these areas.

quote of the day

2009-04-16T08:35:00.001-07:00

“Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.”

Lao Tzu

Water Stories

2009-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

The project is really starting to roll in terms of itinerery and implementation. I have now made contact with DHAN - Development of Humane Action (DHAN) Foundation who do a great deal of work in India. They will host Melanie and myself and tour us around to the different communities to meet families and individuals. I have also been coordinating with Tal Woolsey, the technical advisor for CAWST in Zambia and other areas in southern Africa. Tal has spent a great deal of time working internationally both in Africa and previeously in Haiti. He has been a wonderful resourse for helping with the logistics of life in Zambia, and has told me about a wonderful project we will visit in Livingston on the Zambezi River, a very rural area near the Victoria Falls. More to follow...

2009-04-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

WaterStories

2009-04-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

I will be travelling to Africa and India this summer to document the lives of people's lives in these areas that have been impacted by clean water. The work is for Calgary based NGO CAWST (www.cawst.org) and is part of a CIDA funded grant. My travelling colleague will be writer Melanie Jones (mizjones.blogspot.com) and we will be working with other international agencies on behalf of CAWST. This is the dream job that has been in the works for nearly 3 years, but we are on our way the beginning of July, so stay tuned for more info about this, posts from the field etc!

spring update

2009-04-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

March was an exciting month. After a bit of a whirlwind trip to Calgary for meetings with CAWST I returned to Vancouver and immediately began to get some bookings. One of them was to work for Karen Tyrell, head of communications for CTV while she was in Vancouver for the 2009 Junos! I worked the Red Carpet and then the E Talk Lounge. It was fast, furious and alot of fun. My work for Modern Dog Magazine Spring issue came out complete with a great little blurb at the front about my contribution and my overseas project with CAWST beginning in July. I also did some more work for Mark Tewksbury and his partner Debbie Muir as they needed some fresh imagery for the release of their new book "The Great Traits of Champions", check it out at www.greattraits.com

I am busy doing more headshots/portraits which I love, and putting alot of time into planning and execution for my trip which will take me to Zambia in July, and then on to India in August to photograph the lives of people in developing areas who have been impacted by having clean safe water. Watch for more info coming on this.

2005-11-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

2005-09-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

2005-09-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

2005-09-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

2005-09-06T14:22:00.000-07:00