FIELD NOTES, Africa 2009-2012

Return from the Field

2012-01-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

My deep thanks and appreciation to my sponsors for this last Africa field trip. I was able to meet with the Koro men and complete the body of work I began with them last year. The young men were enthusiastic and fun to work with. We worked together for several days under morning light until the heat grew too intense and the light too harsh. I also visited the Mursi and Hamar tribes of the area.

Mursi tribesmen and me having a laugh.

Me with Karo Models

The Koro men were fascinated by the iPad and making movies of themselves they could play back. They had never heard their voices recorded or seen video of themselves and everyone wanted a turn. Here is a short clip of the video Muda made of himself singing.

My daughter Sahara with the Hamar girls

A pair of dig-digs

I am very grateful to the tribespeople I met in the Omo Valley for being such willing and interesting models. The grace and patience they display while being photographed suggests they've grown used to it. Perhaps because they receive a lot of visitors compared to years past. Despite this, they remain true to their culture though the pressure from the outside world to change them is leaking in at an unfathomable rate. Land grabs are going on all around them for oil and plantations. How aware they are of their vulnerability I can't say-- they must know something is going on.

The Mursi were recently pushed out of the lower camp areas along the river where they had ample access to water and relocated up onto the high plain by military force last year. There is little water bubbling up through the ground where they are now face huge challenges getting enough water for the cattle, let alone themselves. Many have to walk down the mountain for water and haul it back up-- an all day job. I saw some of the so called springs where the Mursi can find water in the new settlement and it was quite poor quality with minimal flow making it hard to do much with it, let alone water cattle or wash clothes.

The official reason is the Mursi can't live inside the boundaries of the national park is they cause too much deforestation and destruction of wildlife though I hear some Mursi are being recruited to work on a sugar plantations that occupy their traditional lands inside the park. The plantations stretch for hundreds of miles along the Omo River to the Kenyan boarder. Entrance to the far side of the high plain is blocked by armed soldiers protecting the sugar plantation -- from what I don't know. What is clear is that the plantations are changing the Mursi's way of life, where they live and what they can do.

As to wildlife, Ethiopia remains a popular destination for game hunters seeking all variety of species for their collections, though it should be noted, there doesn't seem to be much wildlife left. What remaining creatures they do have can be had for a price. I met a few hunters looking for antelope, jackals and even rare species. So what is the real truth? The tribal lands are certainly shrinking along with critical habitat and wildlife. Of the three tribes I visited, the Mursi looked to be ill, thin, depressed, drunk on grain alcohol and generally in more desperate condition than last year.

The new road under construction into the Omo Valley

The Koro village sits above the Omo River at the edge of a large hunting concession. Oil has recently been discovered nearby and the road being built is meant to be strong enough to carry tanker trucks and heavy equipment in and out of the region, right past the Hamar villages leading to the Koro.

Last year it was rumored the entire region was up for grabs potentially displacing the Omo Valley tribes permanently while their small farms of corn and sorghum would be converted to the industrial farming of other countries who are vying for a stake in their lands. A top ranking government official even visited them last year carrying a message of the need for them to modernize and abandon their backward way of life.

When you walk along the dry riverbeds away from the road you see neatly organized subsistence farms and a peaceful life. The settings are quite idyllic and the villages are clean and beautifully arranged. It's hard to imagine that their own country cares so little.

Links:

Hydroelectric dams pose threat to tribal peoples, report warns

Land Grabs
http://www.internationalrivers.org/africa/ethiopia/gibe-iii-dam-fueling-landgrabs-ethiopia

The people of the Omo Valley Sound SOS for help!
http://ecadforum.com/ethiopian-news/12278/

Ethiopia- government crackdown in Omo region intensifies
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7855

Half a Million Lives Threatened by Land Development for Sugar Plantations in Omo Valley
http://www.commercialpressuresonland.org/research-papers/land-deal-brief-half-million-lives-threatened-land-development-sugar-plantations

Huge irrigation scheme planned for the Lower Omo Valley
http://www.mursi.org/news-items/huge-irrigation-scheme-planned-for-the-lower-omo-valley
(in this article you see how embarrassed government officials are by indigenous people, as he makes reference to 'a case study of ancient living' and 'the friends of poverty and backwardness.')

Elisabeth Sunday

Ethiopia 2012

2011-12-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the support of collectors, I will be returning to Ethiopia next week to continue my work photographing in the Omo Valley. I am looking forward to meeting up again with people I had photographed last year to deepen the work.

Mursi Woman, "Camera-gha" and me after a shoot, 2011

Preparations, 2012

2011-10-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

FIELD TRIP 2012

Dreaming again, of being back under the dusty, golden-orange African sun. My mirrors are there, safely stored. One is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the other is in Cape Coast, Ghana. The muse is tuned and waiting for me to engage it and call out the images, bringing them forward into the world through the art of mirror photography.

Two, limited edition Sponsor's Portfolios of 25 gold toned silver prints on 24" x 20" paper, beautifully presented in hand made clamshell boxes are now available from the 2011 field trip. There were 5 total.

Please contact me for details.

Thank you,

Elisabeth Sunday

Next Stop

2011-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

NEW GALLERIES!

I am pleased to announce my exhibition SPIRITUS is traveling to Tregoning and Company Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio and opening September 16th, 2011 and I have a new gallery representing my work in California. Beginning in August my photographs will be available through Peter Fetterman Gallery in Bergamot Station in Los Angeles. My work is no longer available at Gallery 291.

More updates to follow!

Elisabeth Sunday

The New Work: 2011

2011-06-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

NEW WORK FROM GHANA
FIGURES OF MEN
http://africavii.blogspot.com

THE AFRICA VII PORTFOLIO, THE AKAN, GHANA

http://africavii.blogspot.com

Elisabeth Sunday

BLOGS

2011-05-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

BLOGS: updated

STUDIO NOTES

studio updates on exhibitions and current events

COLLECTOR'S CIRCLE

information for collectors on portfolios membership to my studio

ELISABETH SUNDAY PORTFOLIOS

an overview of early work to the most recent work-

to see the individual portfolios, click on 'link to portfolios on the sidebar

Annual Shot

2011-05-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

The four main men who I photographed over the last few years.

Ekow, Antubob, Egeson and Koffee

Antubob and Ekow

I worked principally with these 4 Akan fishermen after meeting them on the beach in 2009. From there, we began to continue to work together every year to continue where we'd left off the year before, expanding and deepening the work. Without their support and interest in expressing who they are through the photographs I made of them, the resulting portfolio wouldn't have been possible.

Thank you guys!

March Journal

Every year at the end of our days shooting on the beach, we take an annual shot to show off our muscles! (Mainly AKAN muscles!) The 'annual shot' pictures from 2009 and 2010 are deeper in this blog. All the guys, (especially Egeson who is the most muscular of the Akan fishermen here) think it's really funny I have arm muscles modestly worthy of showing off at all! Now, after the 3 years of making pictures together, and having a great laugh on the beach at the end of our days shooting, we have all become good friends. I think it reflects in the new work from this year.

Left to right around the back: Antubob, Baesi my assistant and body guard in red, Aron my mirror grip in my photo vest, Annon, Payne, Ekow, Koffee in red shorts, me, Egeson next to me in blue shorts, and two beach assistants in the middle.

Payne, me and Egeson showing off-

Natural Light

2011-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

March Journal, Ghana, 2011

The Cape Coast light is diffused from mist and fog. It is soft and arrives at an odd angle along the beach. Ghana sits below Ivory Coast and the beach faces south. I live in California where the sun is reliably thrown west across the ocean and the morning light squarely faces the shore, removing any hope of working with line and shadow. Here the light dangles unexpectedly just over the shore and shoulder of my subject.

I love this light: I love that the sun rises from a surprising location and requires me to see differently. It rolls over the sky from behind and next to my subjects, just catching the edges of their muscles, illuminating their frame with a fusion of strength, purpose and nature. Sometimes the light grows darker in late the late morning from coastal fog or clouds, and yet- there is a luminosity that is intoxicating here. There is nothing more beautiful than natural light, and the light along the Cape Coast region of northern Ghana is exquisite.

"Jewel," photograph of Ekow, 2010

Lifeline

2011-05-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

March Journal

Antubob and the mystery fish in the photograph I call, "Lifeline."

In 2009, my daughter and I drove all the way to the coast from Timbuktu in northern Mali where I had been photographing the Tuareg. Initially, I met 6 Akan fishermen and took several rolls of film along the beach to explore the potential of creating a body of work with them. Once I saw the film, I knew there was much more work to be done and immediately began plotting my return. In 2010 I met the same group and we met every day on the beach at 8:00am. Prior to that, I went to the port, where the Akan bring in their canoes and selected fish for the days shoot. The results were so exciting, I knew I had to plot yet another trip and I returned to the Akan, yet again on the heels of my first shoot in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia.

This year was different: we were so comfortable with each other- they participated even more fully with the work. They understood more fully how gesture translates into making the photographs and how facial expressions work together with the mood they are trying to project. They trusted my eye and relaxed into expressing their intense emotions over their relationship to their work, the ocean and the fish that support them. The mornings on the beach were our playground and having made so many images by now, they too, were looking for new ways to express themselves to avoid redundancy in their own experience. It was wonderful. The Akan men threw themselves into it- pitching themselves into an inner place, a creative place that allowed them to come up with their own ideas for the work. At the end of a session, seeing I thought the work was well done, they'd smile and laugh, feeling accomplished right along with me. The next guy who stood in front of the mirror would sometimes try to best his fellow fishermen by trying to outdo him by thinking of something new.

Antubob was quite shy last year and I don't have many photographs with him in the 2010 portfolio, but this year, he was brilliant. (Lifeline). He understood how to relate to the camera and how to access his passion through the slightest change in expression or shift in his posture. I thought he was pure genius as I looked through my lens at him. There are many, many new photographs of him in the 2011 Akan Portfolio.

I brought prints with me from the 2010 shoot to give to the fishermen this year. They were so happy with their photograph and told me they hoped I returned next year to continue the series. They are already thinking about what new element we can introduce to vary the body of work even further.

To express my gratitude to these fabulous Akan fishermen who worked so trustingly with me to develop this new body of work over the last couple of years, they receive a percentage from all sales from the Africa VII: Akan Fishermen, Ghana portfolio. See it here. http://africavii.blogspot.com The new work from 2011 is not yet posted.

Thank you Akan Fishermen,

Elisabeth Sunday

Back on the Beach

2011-05-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

March Journal: Ghana

The Akan men are at ease in their bodies. Their gestures grace them as naturally as sun spilling on the sea. They are without the inhibitions imposed by our western life, so saturated with media. I love photographing them. They are free- expressive- beautiful and willing. All they have to do is stand there and without thinking about it, something occurs in the hand, the arm, the way they turn their head or look away- and I have to take the shot, and then another.

Antubob

Koffee

Koffee with sand all over him- trying something new for the shots.

Elisabeth Sunday

Back at the Fish Market

2011-05-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

March Journal: El Mina Fish Market.

The previous work of the Akan fishermen are seen using various types of fish in the photograph. This year, I thought to try something different and make figurative photographs without the fish to give the series a different rhythm. First, I went to the fish market to glean inspiration and pick up where I had left off the previous year with my work.

Below is a big flatheaded sand shark I think. Its fins had already been removed when I saw it, but didn't think it would matter much if I didn't photograph the whole body. It appears in the photograph I call, "Bond" with Koffee holding it. The Akan fishermen are heartbroken over the ruination of their waters by big commercial fishing vessels- some of which use illegal techniques that poison the waters. This series on the Akan is about their close relationship to the natural world..

I had never seen this fish before and don't know what it is- It was about 4 feet long, very smooth, no scales and appears in the photograph with Antubob I titled, "Lifeline."

This is a sea bass- I had made a few photographs last year with them, but never saw one this big.

I don't know what these are, but enjoyed the colors and shapes.

Return to Ghana!

2011-05-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

March Journal:

The soft light and burnt sweet air of Ghana transported me away from Ethiopia. I was back to a familiar place with people I had been photographing since 2009. After a warm reunion with my assistant Baesi the 4 principal fishermen whom I have photographed over the years, we went to see the Chief of the AKAN Fisherman to inform him of my work and make a donation to the association. After a short discussion he blessed the work by pouring libations onto the beach from the meeting room.

Akan Fisherman Chief, Cape Coast

Back on the Road

2011-05-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

February Journal

Leaving the Koro Region

Heading back down the mountain and driving 3 days back to Addis.

Omo River

2011-05-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

February Journal:

The Omo River seen from the edge of the Koro Village

Koro men who modeled for me

Moonrise looking east from my camp at sunset near my camp in the Koro region.

Standing in the same place but facing west-

Koro

2011-05-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

February Journal;

The Koro men were fantastic. Painted, tall, lean, and a little scary with the AK-47's slung over their shoulders, barrels pointing forward. I asked the young men, if they would be so kind as to put the weapons away while I was photographing them. They smiled at me as if I was really crazy, but like gentlemen, they complied, eventually...

My assistants, (in western clothes) unpacking the mirror from the crate while the Koro men look on.

Photographing a Koro man for the ANIMUS series.

ANIMUS #4, 2011

Achival Pigment Print on Rag Paper

70" x 40"

Bi-Pedal Note

2011-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

February Journal: Ethiopia

So it is happening here too. Deals the government has made with big overseas agribusiness to take over the land and kick the indigenous people off of it. The Omo Valley is slated for an enormous agriculture project that involves flooding a portion of the valley and removing many of the people here, if not all, from their lands, including the Mursi and the Hamar in the next 5 years. Driving into the valley, I saw enormous road construction and housing projects underway.

The Prime Minister recently visited the Omo tribes and announced the Omo peoples deserved to become modern and live away from here. (code for, get used to the idea that you will be leaving soon.)

I will post more on this here later, once I find some links and articles on this subject.

Elisabeth Sunday

Mother

2011-05-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

February Journal

Oyta is 30 years old has two children, 3 and 4, and loves her husband who likes to laugh. I saw the scars on her back from beatings but decided not to ask her about it.

I had met her in this dry river bed collecting greens from a tree that can be eaten. She described to me a typical day in the life of a Hamar woman.

DAWN: Get up, fetch water- (30 minute walk down this dry river bed to the well with a big can), then grind meal to make breakfast. Take care of the children, take care of the animals, take an afternoon nap until it begins to get cool, get up to get more water at the well and maybe socialize if there are friends gathered there, go back to cut green branches that can be used for cooking and eating, make a fire, prepare more meal, get the kids organized, make dinner, clean up, put the kids to bed, go to bed.

I asked her about her relationship to her mother. "Mother is Mother," Oyta said, "Not a friend." Friends share a closeness that is not common between mother and daughter. There are taboos against being close with the mother.

Oyta

Another Hamar woman returning from the well.

The dry river bed was a wonderful place to shoot.

Bi-Pedal Note

2011-05-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

February Journal; Ethiopia

I am in amazement at silencing of the natural world here. If it moves, it is fair game. If it grows, it can be cut and burned. There isn't a single tree, bush or shrub that has not been hacked to the nub. Occasionally a small green shoot will optimistically push up from what appears to be a dead stump only to survive long enough to be chopped off again to either be eaten or burned for fuel.

Elisabeth Sunday

Hamar Interviews, Omo Valley

2011-05-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

From my February Journals;

Hamar Village in the Omo Valley at sunset from my camp.

The Hamar women are spirited and outgoing. They were not shy and very interested in talking with me about whatever I asked about. One thing that all the women were interested in sharing with me, (since I asked) was about the bloody beatings they received at the hands of their husbands and boyfriends. I told them it was illegal in Ethiopia for a man to hit his wife or girlfriend. All said, they didn't know that. It's not uncommon for such news to escape reaching remote areas. Communication is slow- there is no free radio or cell phone service there so really no way for people to get information. This Hamar woman named Keri allowed me to photograph the very large scars on her back she had received from her husband.

Interview with Keri explaining why she has such horrifying scars on her back.

This young man is translating since young men are more likely to attend school now. Her name is Keri Whoita and she is about 50 years old. She says community is important to her; the well-being of the people she lives with in her village, as well as the cattle. "It is important to me the village life is peaceful. I have 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls. The oldest is 19." She doesn't want her daughters to be beaten. And she doesn't want her sons to beat their wives.

"Prisoner"

Keri shows me the scars inflicted on her by her husband.

Interview with Bono

Bono sharing some of her story with me- nothing personal enough to get her into trouble. Her fiancé, with the gun, is translating. Her two friends, Alte and Damé listen in quietly. Privately, Bono expressed concerns that she would continue to be beaten by her boyfriend who sees beating her, even whipping her bloody, as his male right. In Hamar culture, this is how a man is expected to behave towards women. In-so-doing, he shows off that he is a man. Beating women is considered a right of passage and the first beating of a young, unmarried woman is performed publicly when a boy transitions into becoming a man.

Bono says she misses her mother and family; since her engagement, she has moved to her future husbands' village and is treated like an unwelcome guest in the home. She feels lucky to have at least these 2 good friends.

After my interviews, my driver and assistant became worried I had stirred things up among the men. They worried we could be attacked and beaten ourselves, or worse since all the men carried AK-47's. This was more a function of their xenophobia than anything else.

Elisabeth Sunday

Bono

2011-05-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

From my February Journal

Bono is 17. She loves the Hamar land and finds it beautiful. She is also happy about the income brought to her and her village by tourists who like to stop and take pictures. She says it gives her money to buy things likes beads and jewelery. She says she'd like you to know, her name is Bono.

Muse, Hamar Woman, Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2011
Gold Tone Silver Print
Printed on 40" x 30" paper.

Bi-Pedal Note

2011-05-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

From my February Journal, Ethiopia

When the age of oil is finally over, the remote people of this earth will hardly notice a change. They will glance around and continue to do what they have always done.

Elisabeth Sunday

Kah-ma-ra-gah

2011-05-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

From my February Journals-

A Mursi woman and me near her village. She enjoyed being photographed and told me her name was "Kah-ma-ra-gah," meaning Camera. She told me a little about herself, see below.

"I lost my husband many years ago to illness and I live with my children. I have five grandchildren. My mother was a very warm and welcoming person. Everyone loved her, and sadly I lost her when I was still a child. When my husband died, I inherited our cattle and had to take on all the responsibility of taking care of them. It was extremely hard, but with a large family, I was able to call upon my children to help tend the fields and help with the cattle. The cattle are our whole lives. We depend on them to live. When my son got married, I was able to give him enough cattle to help support him and his new wife. This made me very happy.

I wear these horn from a prized cow I loved as a sign of beauty and respect to the animal. They are so valuable to us, and we love them so much. When they die, we want to feel they are still with us. When I wear the horns, I feel my cow lives again. It is to honor her life.

This season has been very dry and we don't have a good yield on the crops. We appreciate tourists coming to visit us and generating some income for us. With more tourists coming and taking pictures we are able to buy grain and supplement the crops. he drought. Sure, some of the money is going to go to alcohol for the young men, but there is nothing anyone can do about that. Most important is that the village agrees to take care of the needs of the children and people first."

Kahmeragah was wonderful and very expressive. She delighted in sharing her story and answering some of my questions. Here is the photograph I took of her and paid her well for it.

Primal, Mursi Woman, Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2011
Gold Tone Silver Print
34" x 27"

Mursi Camp

2011-05-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

From my February Journals:

I camped in a small, Mursi village near a branch of the Omo River. Despite having been warned away from camping with them, (my driver and guide were afraid of them) the Mursi men and women were very welcoming and kind enough to give me a spot to set up my tent and kitchen. They have a fierce reputation for fighting and drinking, but at least at the moment I was there, I saw no evidence of this. The Mursi live in beautifully construction round huts made from heavy grasses.

Mursi Camp at sunrise. Our tents. My mirror crate leaning against the tree.

Sintayehu was a wonderful cook. The staple diet in the region is "sorgum" so it was important to bring in all my own food and a cook of course, to prepare it! This is the outdoor kitchen with wind screen to keep the dust out of the food.

This day, Sinta made crepes for breakfast!

on the road to the Omo Valley, Ethiopia

2011-05-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

From my journals, February 8th, 2011

The burning of Ethiopia, Rift Valley, Ethiopia

Haze from the burning-

Everything that grows is used for either food or fuel.

The forests are gone, and the wildlife with them.

Ethiopia is old, a tired great-grandmother who's cared too long for too many and been burdened with too many troubles. All has been tread upon, pushing back nature, relieving the land of the last cries from the wild place it once was. There is one place I was told, a sacred forest where no on is allowed to go except the elders who protect it. Having been chased from the fallen forests, the last of the forest spirits belonging to the ancestors live there. The people of the southern region, the Komso, believe that the older trees are the last link to the ancestors and they are afraid they will be cut down. It seems inevitable- massive deforestation has taken place and continues all over Ethiopia. It has become the 2nd most populous country in Africa after Nigeria.

Looking into the Rift Valley.

Every bit of arable land is worked to house and feed a surging population.

Ghana update

2011-02-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I am back in Cape Coast and have been shooting on the beach in the mornings with the AKAN fisherman. The men are the same guys I have been working with over 2 years, with makes the muse more finely tuned.

Hopefully I will be able to upload my journal entries and snaps soon. I am still without a computer and access is only occasional.

Elisabeth Sunday

Arrived in Ethiopia!

2011-02-06T04:36:00.000-08:00

After stopping off in Accra, Ghana to drop off one of my two mirror crates and meet with my assistant, I am finally here, across Africa to the other side. Tomorrow, I will be traveling to the south, into the Great Rift Valley to meet the colorful tribes that live there.

There will be no internet access, (or phone for that matter) so I will be keeping a journal and posting once I return to Addis and back to Ghana at the end of February.

Elisabeth Sunday

Field Trip: Africa 2011

2010-12-27T16:01:00.000-08:00

Sponsor's Edition Portfolios

Africa VIII : Ethiopia, 2011

Self-Portrait, Kenya 1988

Warm winter greetings: Each year about this time I return to the field in search of new images to lure onto silver emulsion and bring back to life in my darkroom. After 25 years of photographing in Africa and in other parts of the world, this will be the final body of work to be included in my upcoming book and retrospective exhibition project.

To fund the new work, I am offering 4 Sponsor's Edition Portfolios. Portfolios and the corresponding edition number for each are available on a first come, first serve basis. The edition numbers currently available for the Ethiopia: Africa VIII Portfolio are 3, 4 and 5.

Sponsor's Edition Portfolio details:
Each Sponsor's Edition Portfolio will consist of 25 photographs from Africa VIII: Ethiopia Portfolio. The portfolio is payable in advance by January 21st.

Each Sponsor's Edition Portfolio will contain 20 photographs made on 24" x 20" paper and 5 photographs made on 16" x 20" paper. All the prints will be black and white gold toned silver gelatin prints, made by me to museum standards. They will be titled, dated with the edition number and signed on the back in pencil. The individual prints from this portfolio will be limited to 15 examples.

For more information, please contact me at IturiSun@gmail.com

Thank you,

Elisabeth Sunday

Summer Offerings

2010-06-14T02:02:00.000-07:00

Two Special Edition Portfolios.

The “Nature Vivant” Botanica Portfolio.

This portfolio consists of 5 rediscovered and previously unpublished prints made on warm tone 8” x 10” paper here: http://botanicalportfolio.blogspot.com

The “Small Gems from Africa” portfolio.

This body of work consists of 10 photographs made on 11” x 14” paper are from the early Africa Portfolios I-IV, 1986-1990. You can find the portfolio on Studio Notes, here: http://elisabethsunday.blogspot.com

Elisabeth Sunday

New Work

2010-04-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

link to The AKAN Portfolio

Return

Akan Fisherman, Ghana

Next fall I will return to Ghana and continue to deepen the work with the fishermen. If things have settled down in the Sahara Desert, I may return there as well. The Field Notes blog will continue when I return to Africa. In the meantime, follow along at Studio Notes.

Elisabeth Sunday

Think Negative!

2010-01-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

BACK IN THE CHAMBRE NOIR

For every day in the light,

there are at least two in the dark.

Elisabeth Sunday

Follow along at Studio Notes.

The Emptying of Africa

2010-01-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

January 13th, Bamako

"Sub-Saharan Africa faces serious political, economic and social challenges. With an annual rate of growth of 2.2 per cent, its population is expected to increase from 906 million in 2005 to 1.1 billion in 2010." The UN Population Fund

African Future, from the Turkana Portfolio, 1988

I am in a taxi and survey the interior in quiet disbelief. It is hard to imagine that such a decrepit vehicle is capable of starting. I see some parts of the dashboard are missing and there are wires exposed. The steering column is coming apart and the plastic has been somewhat stitched together with wire giving it an eerie appearance. Putting the key into the ignition, the chauffeur is visibly tense. He can not afford for the car not to run; it supports him and his family. The engine fires and his face relaxes. He throws me a broad smile and asks me how I am. I tell him I'd like to go to the "Marche Artisanal" and reach for the useless seat belt. The thin car floor visibly undulates as the taxi rolls and climbs over the broken streets. Slamming into every pothole, I look for something to grab onto.

The soulful music of Mali carries onto the streets from the cramped, ramshackle shops and makes bearable the ever deteriorating conditions and squalor that have become Bamako. With open sewers, (some of which are burning), and sewage channels lacing the city, the air is heavy with exhaust and acrid organic odors that mix with smoke and ash. Stopped for a moment in traffic, the needy, the blind, the destitute that are both old and young crowd the narrow spaces between cars and rush towards my open window, chanting for help. Street sellers carrying everything from sachets of water to phone credit, clothing, bathroom supplies and oranges circle a small bus and reach up to its passengers.

We pass a steady stream of charcoal and firewood sellers. With so much need, and so many people, the emptying of Africa's natural resources is without end. The forests all over the continent are under heavy pressure to provide daily firewood and charcoal so people can eat. From Ghana through Burkina Faso and up through Mali, one could argue whole forests are neatly stacked in bags for sale along the roadsides. With no alternative fuel to cook with, and no delivery system for gas cooking, villagers and the majority of the population in a city like Bamako, are left no other option.

At the local bazaar, a man was selling dead animals and animal skins, bones and other parts. Aside from poaching, all variety of creatures, (endangered, wild and domestic), are being killed for traditional medicines and rituals of magic and influence. He told me this was their pharmacy and there were real cures to be had using animal parts. He held up a small vile of wild animal fat. Five years ago, monkeys could be seen on the road between Segou and Mopti. Now they are gone. He admitted that was true, but it was not his problem. He had a job and a family to look after.

Getting back into the waiting taxi, I wonder about the future of Africa. There are so many areas of urgency and so little jurisdiction to effectively preside over or resolve any one of them. According to the UN Population Fund, "annual population growth has outpaced economic gains," leaving sub-Saharan Africans 22% poorer than they were in the 1970's. Gazing from the window onto the street scenes rushing past, I think of the Kamono Girls, and all the people who reach around the world to help promote education in desperate and forgotten places. I hope, for the future of Africa and the world, there are enough of us to make a difference and change the future for the better.

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

Tips for Trips for Travelers

2010-01-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

: : : : : : :

E S S E N T I A L T R A V E L G E A R

For Overland Travelers

Good travel gear is worth its weight in gold. I'd rather be prepared and not need the desired item than kick myself for not having brought it. However the most important item is information about what you will need for the places you are going and for the conditions you will be living under. Always check embassy websites for travel restrictions and warnings. My objective was always to succeed with my project and the gear was there to support that effort. For extended overland travel, I try to think of everything, just in case. The gear I bring has varied a lot over the years, depending on where I was going and for how long. The most elaborate supplies I brought with me were for a trip to the Congo Basin in the Ituri Rain Forest in 1988 and 1989. I charted a small plane into the forest where I photographed the fabled Efe arch hunters (Pygmies) over a period of two years. The Congo Basin was the most remote location I had ever been to, right in the heart of Africa, in the middle of the magical primeval forests. For those journeys I had to be prepared and think of everything in advance. I got a number of vaccinations including one against rabies. I was 1000 miles from any major city and the rabies vaccine provides a 3 week window to get medical treatment instead of 3 days in case of infection. Rabies is endemic in much of Africa.

My jungle gear included a machete; a hunting knife, a stun gun, a small hand axe, a winch, (useful when your car lands on its side in a ditch- which mine did), a snake bite kit, iodine hand scrub, a Katadyn Water Filter, the book, Where There is No Doctor with first aid kit, and a hammock essential for avoiding the crawling things on the ground among other things. I also brought my 4 x 5 Linholf folding field camera and T-55 black and white Polaroid film (see photo) which I developed in the field. The one thing I should have had but didn't was a 2nd tent preferring instead to sleep in an Efe hut made from leaves. It was roomy and comfortable and allowed me to imagine myself living 25,000 years ago. The tent I brought was used to hang my negatives to dry in a dust free environment.

Getting sick ruins a good trip. Before heading out for long overland, trans Africa experiences, it's a good idea to brush up on your knowledge of first aide and even take a course through the Red Cross. You may need to be your own doctor/advocate or help someone with an intravenous drip because the local bush clinic isn't competent. You may need to know how to give an injection. (I speak from experience). In the 24 years of travel to remote parts of the world, have been fortunate never to have been seriously ill or very ill at all. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can still get sick. The invisible world of the microbe is omnipresent. There are a few basic things you can do to minimize your exposure during your travels These are the rules I follow.

* never touch your face
* have access to clean water and food

* protect yourself against malaria and other diseases
* wash your hands and use hand sanitizer constantly
* Never touch or pet any dogs, cats or other animals--period.
They are not vaccinated and could carry rabies.

Water: Before the wide distribution of bottled water, I boiled the available water in remote areas for 20 minutes. Anything less doesn't kill all the bacteria and there are also amoeba to consider. I also had iodine tablets which taste weird so I preferred using the Katadyn water purifier, the best in the world. I don't practice these methods anymore but I always bring the filter with me, just in case. I never risk drinking tap water and don't order ice. (It is also a good idea to avoid fresh milk products as well). It's important to remember that regardless of which hotel you stay in, one star or four, the municipal water supply will be the same. Systems in developing countries often break down and aren't promptly or properly repaired. Contaminated water is the rule, rather than the exception. Water can run clear in the morning and run yellow or brown in the evening. Never trust it.

Note: I met a fellow traveler recently who recommended the ultraviolet travel wands. See here http://www.steripen.com/

Food quality is harder to control in Africa. My first time in Timbuktu in 2005, I went to a popular eatery visited by westerners. I ordered chicken and fries for lunch and was mortified when I heard the squawks of the chicken right outside in the alley. I went around to look and saw fresh blood and feathers mixed with street dust and debris. We left. As a rule, I don't eat anything off the street.
       I recently discovered while traveling in Ghana, whole meals are prepared in restaurants in advance and placed into freezers, sometimes for months. When a dinner is ordered, it's dug out and microwaved. Power failures are common occurrences across Africa. I wonder how many thaws and freezes some of the meals have gone through and what kind of petri dish is being served. Knowing this, I chose meals that could be boiled immediately, like pasta or rice. I also found a place where the cook accepted requests for lunch or dinner if he was paid in advance to go out and buy the food. In Mali, I know good places that serve fresh meals. Note: Getting a peek at the kitchen is also not a bad idea if you can manage it. You can avoid eating in places that have dirty kitchens or lots of flies.
     In developing countries it's wise to avoid leafy foods (gardens are usually grown near open sewers) so no salads. If I am desperate for something fresh, I ask what type of antibiotic they use to disinfect their vegetables before ordering a tomato salad. If they can't answer, they don't use one and I don't order anything risky. Ghana uses vinegar to disinfect lettuce. It doesn't work. In Africa, everything should be cooked until well done, especially meats, as a general rule. If I am staying in the villages, I always prepare my own food. It's never a bad idea to carry some canned goods. I always travel with a supply of canned sardines and mackerel, both great sources of protein. Bananas are also a clean source of food and fresh coconut water is the best for re hydration and coconuts travel well. Hard boiled eggs are also very safe.Anything that can be peeled it safe.

Anti Malaria meds: In Africa, malaria is so ubiquitous that people treat it like we treat getting the common cold. The big difference of course is that 5 million people die of malaria ever year. Cerebral malaria is also prevalent now, (kills in a day) so it's best to take precautions and get anti malarial medication. I take doxycycline daily and make a big effort to practice not getting bitten by using repellents, wearing long sleeves at dusk, using mosquito coils under the table if I am eating outside and by sleeping under the more comfortable spider net or the practical sleep screen. Bring twist in type hooks to hang the spider net from.

Hand Sanitizer: Since the 2009 influenza outbreak of A/H1N1 hand sanitizing has become very trendy. A lot of bugs hitchhike onto hands and are transferred onto faces where they can gain access into your system. It is very important in Africa to protect your physiology and support your bodies efforts to maintain good health. Alcohol based hand sanitizers are a good choice, but for the deep field I prefer iodine based surgical scrub. It is also important to keep fingernails short and clean for obvious reasons. Most people in developing countries don't have access to clean water or soap. They don't wash their hands and always want to shake hands. Which is nice and friendly and you should do it. You just have to remember to use hand sanitizer and never to touch your face or food.

Vaccines and Medicines:. Here in the first world, we are blessed with access to medicines and vaccines. I get every vaccine my travel doctor recommends. I also check the CDC website for travelers. When going to remote areas, it is better to be vaccinated and travel with a well stocked medical kit with drugs purchased in the USA. Many travelers think they can just buy whatever they need on location for less. There is a huge problem in with Fake Medicines in West Africa. Something like 40% of all the pharmaceuticals are counterfeit. It isn't worth the risk just to save a few bucks.
It is a real privilege and accident of birth place, to have access to modern medicine and life saving drugs. I am thankful to have such choices despite all the problems with our health care system. In Africa, there is no choice, no working system and often no doctor, or a doctor who also believes in magic. Some of the doctors are good of course, but finding that one, on the day you need it will be a roll of the dice depending on where you are located.

My current Essential Gear List includes: photo vest, mini laptop, unlocked cell phone, blank journal, Peet's ground coffee and french press mug, personal water bottle with strap, electrolyte tablets, small and bright flashlight, candle lantern, twin sheets or a sleep sheet, lightweight down sleeping bag, personal pillow, tents, spider net, sleep screen, bug spray, long sleeved light weight white cotton shirt, travel pants that lace at the bottom, hat, medical kit, padlocks for pelican cases with chain. Other things like a stopper for the sink can be useful too, depending on whether or not you plan to do any light wash in the sink.

My gear bag is its own duffel bag without so much as a pair of jeans in it. Since I am on photographic field trips and sometimes camp out in the bush, I use all this stuff. However I find, even staying in hotels along the way, most everything I bring comes in handy, especially the sleep screen, candle lantern and sheets.

Other useful Tips for Trips for Travelers

*Never drive at night in Africa- the roads are lethal, dark, potholes and other road hazards abound and there are more drunk drivers at night. Don't do it.

Armed guide at Mole Nat'l Park in Ghana.
*Walking Safaris are fun, but dangerous. That is part of the thrill. Think of Walking Safaris like being at a zoo without cages. Wild animals are dangerous---they are wild. Have a car close by and keep a cell phone handy. Wear pants, hiking boots (for snakes) and carry water. Only hike with an armed guide, (don't go without one). Stay aware and quiet on a walking Safari. Being aware of your surroundings is a full time job for city dwellers who associate hiking with leisure. Elephants are big and if you surprise them, or if they have a calf, they will charge and trample you or ram your car. We were charged by this elephant on this trip, (it did not appear in the blog). It was an unforgettable and impressive experience. Luckily the elephant was bluffing, (we were told) and was only trying to scare us from getting any closer. It worked! Had we persisted maybe he would have stopped bluffing! Picture below.

This is a picture of our unarmed guide at Nazinga Ranch after he shouted at us to come back, claiming the danger had passed. I have a greater appreciation now for going on walking safaris with armed guides who take more precautions.. This was the largest bull elephant I had ever seen He charged, shaking the earth and making a terrible racket, lumbering towards us with great power for a solid 10 seconds before turning around. I snapped this as I continued to run away towards the waiting car. In some parks, the elephants are not used to people and are known to charge if you get too close or surprise them. In my opinion, some guides have grown too comfortable with being around wild animals and have become careless about the risks to tourists. When we got back into the Land cruiser, our guide told us a mother elephant had charged a vehicle the day before with his clients inside, screaming. The elephant was protecting her calf not far from where we were. Just recently in Kenya, a walking safari ended in tragedy. See Kenya elephant tramples U.S. mother and her baby

* Lock up your valuables. It can prove difficult for hotel staff earning 35 dollars a month to resist taking something valuable from your room if it's not locked away. I travel with padlocks on 3 secure Pelican cases, containing my photo, computer and video equipment. I chain them all together through the tripod and attach everything something immobile, like the bathroom sink pedistal. For the first time in 24 years, I got careless on this trip and neglected to lock up my cell phones inside the cases. I had stayed at the same hotel before and knew the people who worked there. My two cell phones were stolen from inside my suitcase by one of the hotel staff in Cape Coast, Ghana. Though I knew who the culprit was, he refused to return the pilfered items.

* If you are doing field work in a village, avoid paying money directly to individuals. It will not only taint your research, but you will risk starting a frenzy that could quickly get out of hand. Instead, ask for the chief's permission to conduct your work, and in return offer to help the school or provide medicines for the clinic once your work is finished. Reciprocity is one of the oldest forms of cooperation and community building in the world and is well understood and practiced in Africa.

*If you are hiring individuals, pay them a reasonable wage. This will encourage them and give both you and the workers an important measure of respectability. It will also insure good will between them and the next person who comes along and would like to hire them.

I hope you have found these Tips for Trips for Travelers useful,

If you have anything to add, please post in the comments.

Thank you!

Elisabeth Sunday

Out of the Bush

2010-01-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

After deciding against going to Timbuktu this year

due to all the threats against westerners, we've decided to head back to Bamako.

TRAVEL WARNING: Timbuktu

2010-01-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

CANCELING TIMBUKTU

"The U.S. Embassy in Bamako issued a warning urging Americans “in the very strongest terms” to avoid travel to the regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, and if present, to “leave immediately” because of the critical risk of kidnapping. The abduction of a long-term resident French citizen in November and the taking of three Spanish aid workers in neighboring Mauritania a few days later confirm the credibility of the threat."

JANUARY 4TH, 2010

My goal has always been to visit and photograph indigenous people who cling tenaciously to traditional ways of life. I am interested in those who still walk with nature and live in the wild places on earth where the ancestors can still be heard; places where the call to live in balance with all things is still strong. But the world I began photographing in 1986 was disappearing even then, and now struggles to survive like an ancient aquatic creature gasping for breath on land. Many places I have known in Africa have fallen. They have been taken by civil war mainly, or by the steady encroachment and enticement of the western world. But alas, the Tuareg I have been photographing since 2005 are falling to the influence of Islamic extremists no doubt preying on the young, disenfranchised youth who, without options to integrate into the modern world, see Al Qaeda as a viable alternative. No doubt there are other pressures as well, invisible to western eyes. (very interesting article linked below)

I have both read, (see links below) and heard from local people things in Mali are becoming increasingly unstable, particularly in the northern desert regions which are impossible to police. It may not lead to an immediate conflagration of dramatic events as these things usually build over time until one day, they tip and the region erupts into chaos. For now, it is clear the threats against westerners, particularly Americans has seen a definite uptick. I generally travel outside of Timbuktu to visit people in their villages and camp in the desert. I have always been one to stay safe and err on the side of caution, (particularly when I have my daughter with me) so I have canceled my trip to Timbuktu and my photographic shoot of the Tuareg.

I have had the privilege and pleasure of getting to know some wonderful Tuareg people and photographing them over the last several years.

You can see photographs from previous field trips here:

link to the Africa VI Portfolio; Tuareg

From my Journals

Elisabeth Sunday

Region of Timbuktu. Tire tracks from my last trip in Feb. '09

MALI

link to a brief history of the region

link:Travel Warning: Mali from the US State Dept

link: UK Foriegn and Commonwealth Office warning

"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Mali and continues to recommend against all travel to the north of the country due to kidnapping threats against Westerners. This replaces the Travel Warning for Mali dated August 31, 2009, to update security and threat information................."

Other news links to articles on Al Qaeda in the Timbuktu region:
CBC News CSM Article
BBC News
sahelblog

Elisabeth Sunday

Kamono and The KAMONO Girls

2010-01-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

Sahara (Kamono) interviewed the girls in High School individually to ask them how they were doing and what they hoped for the future.

January 2nd

Yadjangia was quieter than usual and there was no wind, so less dust in the air. A lot of people were away visiting in other villages for the holiday and just a few of the Kamono Girls were available to meet with Sahara, (aka Kamono). They met together in one of the classrooms and individually at the teacher's desk. Sahara asked them questions about school. They were full of spirit and candor when asked about their hopes and dreams for going on to higher education. If they did well enough to be accepted at the University (of Bamako) Sahara vowed to help them find support to pay for school. She encouraged them to keep working and avoid early marriage. On our side, we will continue to provide school supplies including text books through our sponsor's support of the Kamono Group. (see the link below)

Here are some of the faces of the girls.
Many of the girls have dreams of becoming

doctors, teachers, lawyers, judges and government officials.

How you can support the Kamono Group girls

Kamono with some of the Kamono Group Girls

See earlier posts from February 2009 on the Kamono Group here:
Link to earlier post 1
Link to earlier post 2

Elisabeth (Yatome)

and

Sahara (Kamono)

Leaving Burkina Faso

2010-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

January 1st, 2010

One could make an entire photographic series of all the various cargo transported in Ouagadougou by motorcycle and bicycle. The ways things are packed on are clever and efficient, with care given to wieght distrubution and volume. It is simply amazing. However, I would not like to be one of those poor chickens!

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

Sahara's Elephant pictures, Nazinga

2009-12-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

This elephant came crashing through the bush towards the stream to eat and drink while we were on the other side. Our guide asked us to be cautious, since they were known to charge and it wouldn't take long for her to get to the other side.

Sahara's pictures of an elephant from the other side of the stream.

Nazinga Wildlife Ranch

2009-12-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

MORNING IN THE WILD

Sunrise in Nazinga

December mornings are cool here and the earth keeps captive its marvelous odors overnight. With the first light comes a gentle warmth and with it, a rush of fragrances, rich and sweet that rise in the air. Every creature and plant, dead and alive, contribute to this fecund perfume that is the raw scent of life. With all the wildness here, the odors of the natural world are strong, almost pungent, and they are very alluring. I am inspired to breathe in long, deep, lingering breaths so that I might remember the exact composition of these saturated aromas. The deep, full smell of nature reminds me of something lost and I am drawn to it. I sniff at the air as if to remember and take in all that I can before I forget--again.

As the morning advances and the sun burns higher in the sky, the rich fragrances of nature are blunted and dimmed. They mix with dust and smoke and are wrung from the air with the heat of the day.

From my Journals

Elisabeth Sunday

Walking Safari:: Mole National Park

2009-12-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

SAHARA'S PICS

Antelope in the tall grass

A pair of elephants in the lagoon

Antelope and Green monkeys

Elephant hiding in the bush The baboon that stole our food

Mother Warthog with newborns

Dec. 24th and 25th: Our Walking Safari

On our walking Safari with an armed guide, Sahara surprised this elephant by taking pictures with her flash on. The elephant turned towards us and flapped is ears, clearly irritated.

I kept saying, "turn off the flash!"

Finally she did, and the elephant relaxed.

After a moment or two, the elephant walked off and we were relieved.

December 23rd

We are in Mole National Park for the holiday and this is also my gift to Sahara between the Ghana and Mali shoots as we travel overland. We have stopped for a few days for the Christmas holiday and to celebrate 3 things: Sahara's 18th birthday, her upcoming graduation from high school in June 2010 and her acceptance to Colgate University in New York. At the lodge inside the park, the staff called this our, "triangular celebration."

We are savoring and appreciating this moment and wonders around us.

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

It's a Wrap!

2009-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Finishing the shoot, Sahara and I visited the Cape Coast Castle, an old slave fort.

The Slave Fort from seen from the beach

The light blew hot and cold as it filtered unsteadily through a hurried sky. It seems like it is about to rain, but the clouds refuse to release any moisture giving no relief from the heat and oppressive dampness that hangs in the air. All the beautiful AKAN fishermen models were there for me these last few days showing up every morning at 8 :00 for the morning shoot. They started to come up with ideas of their own for some of the photographs. I have developed 15 of 100 rolls to check the progress of the work and I am happy. The Africa VII Akan Portfolio is done. My work is looking great and Sahara is here with me. There is a wonderful sense of accomplishment that I am allowing in now and I feel ready to move on to the next phase of the journey.
Tomorrow we make our way to Mole National Park, an elephant reserve for the holiday before heading to Burkina Faso and on to Mali.

From my Journal

Elisabeth Sunday

In the Field with Sahara

2009-12-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

Sahara and me at the fish market early in the morning.

When Sahara was three, I packed her up and took her on her first "adventure" to southeast Asia, then to Bali and Australia. I outfitted her in a photovest and called her my number one assistant. She handed me fresh rolls of film and kept track of the water. At nine I started bringing her to Africa and she's been on many field trips with me there since.

Now, at 18, it is wonderful to have a daughter so interested and supportive of my work. Sahara arrived in Ghana yesterday and was up early to go to meet the fishermen and help select fish for the days shoot. She held the mirror for a while, giving Nemory a break. The rest of the time, she laid on the beach, then built a sand castle with the beautiful AKAN fishermen.

It is lovely to have Sahara with me, sharing a new adventure.

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

The Beauty of Men

2009-12-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

My three favorite models, Cape Coast, Ghana

The AKAN men are beautiful, musclebound men whose bodies were given to them by the sea. When showing off their muscles to me they joked, "we don't do any macho lifting.We've worked at sea since we were boys." Indeed! (I said I do lifting and they just laughed).

After I told one of the guys the tuna were being over fished by large corporate fishing vessels, he held it like a baby, cradling it close. It was very touching to see such spontaneous and open responses while being photographed. The men projected their love for the sea onto the fish they held. Strong and tender, the AKAN fishermen are showing a side of masculine strength that is pure beauty.

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

Mirror! Mirror!

2009-12-17T13:04:00.001-08:00

The mirror has cracked and split in 2 places and is unusable. Luckily, I have a backup! (or 2)

       The sky is clear and the sun pierces it with ease. It is very hot and I am sticky. There is so much salt on my skin from perspiring that it stings. Nemory and I are both feeling the effects from the early mornings to the fish market, some 25 miles from Cape Coast, then back to the beach to meet the AKAN Fishermen where I will photograph them.

       Sometimes the fish take longer to unload from the canoes and the crowds can be thick with buyers. We are usually slightly pressed for time not wanting to lose the softer, morning light so I am often racing against the rising sun.

      Nemory and I have worked together on my projects for 10 years and we are a successful team because we have simple rules that we remember and respect. Rules if respected, prevent mistakes. With regard to the mirror; we are the only two who can touch it. But in the heat and fatigue induced delirium, Nemory passes Baesi a cloth to wipe some moisture from the mirror's surface. Baesi is a 6 foot something musclebound Akan man who, with the slightest touch of his massive hand, lays a small crack into the mirror at the joint. Over the next couple of days, the crack travels until, in an attempt to fine tune the curvature, it splits the mirror apart. Fortunately, I always have a backup or two.

From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

AKAN Fishermen

2009-12-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

Today: Under the sting of the African sun, I photographed a few Akan men holding the wild looking fish I had gotten earlier from the crowded and animated fish market in Elmina. The fishermen don't go to sea on Tuesdays, so I had to get some of the fish, the day before and put them on ice all night. All 5 men I had met during my scouting trip were present. Here is one of the fishermen holding the barracuda fish for my shot. Through the bend in my mirror, they look as one; locked in a dance with the sea crashing and rolling behind them in mysterious curved undulations created by the mirror.

As I shoot facing into the mirror, the Akan fisherman makes small changes in how he holds the fish. My assistant rocks the mirror until I tell him to stop, (my gesture here).

From my journals:
Elisabeth Sunday

Fish for Tomorrow's Shoot

2009-12-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Barracuda, Casava fish and more for tomorrow's shoot.

(Basin: about 30 inches wide)

The fish market in Elmina has some of the most amazing looking sea creatures I have ever seen; they are beautiful, ancient looking things and when paired with the musclebound fishermen, and seen through the bend in my mirror become something stunning to my eye. .

The Inspired

2009-12-13T07:01:00.000-08:00

My first rolls of developed Kodak Tri-X 320 film from yesterday's shoot.

After 30 years of shooting, I am still thrilled by the magic of photography and wet processing.

The air is over 90 degrees and the tap water runs at 85,

so I had to cool off my chemistry with blocks of ice.

This is so much more fun than downloading files onto a computer!

I always travel with 2 cameras and 2 specially designed shooting mirrors in case one breaks: one old and battered principal Mamiya RZ67 and a retired beaten backup RB67 that still functioned, or so I thought. When I was in Ghana scouting for this shoot last March, both cameras failed for different reasons; no doubt the decades of being dragged all across Africa in varying climates and conditions had something to do with it.. Having lost several days of shooting due to technical difficulties, I have returned this time with a new RZ67 body, 180mm/ 4.5 lens (as well as a 140mm) and 220 back. I also packed a developing tank and chemistry so like a digital photographer, (which I am not) I can see my film as I go and correct any problems that might arise. This is a new practice for me and one that I will probably continue.

Last time, after I got home and started to develop the film, I discovered my shutter failed and horribly overexposed much of my film from the first AKAN shoot before it stuck altogether. Some of it was also blank from a design flaw on RB67's. Luckily all of the '09 Tuareg work, shot on the RZ before it crashed, was fine. Still, this was the first time in my 30 year career that I either lost film or had such problems in the field, so I feel lucky and honored to be back and shoot this project in greater depth.

While it is frustrating and even painful to lose work, none of this has persuaded me to turn to digital. They, like writers, no doubt lose work too. Besides, I love the luscious quality of silver prints and the thrill of seeing newly developed film too much. There is nothing like being outside in the elements, working with people and feeling the moment with simpler, untethered technology.

I extend my deep thanks and appreciation to my project art patron and benefactor for the opportunity to remain a working and inspired artist: Linda and Ken, and Ginny and Phil. I would also like to thank my project sponsors John and Carola, Dennis, and Klaus, for making this journey possible and continuing to lend their support.

All the love,

Elisabeth Sunday

BACK TO THE GOLD COAST

2009-12-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

Elmina harbor at 7:00am when the fishermen come in from sea with their catch.

It is my first day back and the burnt, heavy air of Cape Coast, slows my steps. The humidity is oppressive, but I have already organized tomorrow's shoot with some of AKAN Fishermen at the beach and mixed chemistry to develop some of the film as I go. I am looking forward to playing with light!

Elisabeth Sunday

Preparation!

2009-09-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

AFRICA VII: 2010

The AKAN

The Akan fisherman of Ghana, are some of the most physically striking people I have ever seen. Their bodies are carved from their hard labors at sea, and from grace. They are beautiful. The Akan live in tandem with the rhythms of the sea. They roll over the Atlantic breakers under the cover of darkness in large canoes wrought by hand.

Last February I scouted a location on the coast of Ghana after my shoot with the Tuareg in Mali. I met the Akan fishermen and made some preliminary test shots, enough to convince me that I have to return in December. This new body of work will examine the relationship between the Akan fishermen, the fish they rely on, and the sea behind them. It will be my first series mostly about men. This body of work will be included in my African Portfolios exhibition and book project: Africa I-VII, 1986-2010.

You are invited to become a member of the Africa VII: Akan Portfolio Sponsor’s Circle. Your support will give me the opportunity to conclude this chapter of the African Portfolios.

The Africa VII: Akan, Sponsor’s Circle membership is open to only 5 collectors. You select 10 prints from the new Akan Portfolio at pre-publication prices.

All this work, as with the previous portfolio are shot on KODAK film. The prints are made by me in a wet darkroom. They will be gold toned silver prints made on 24” x 20” fiber paper to museum standards, signed and numbered on the back.

For more information, please contact me at IturiSun@gmail.com or Ed at Gallery 291.net.

Thank you,

Elisabeth Sunday

Gallery 291

2009-05-20T01:03:00.000-07:00

May 20th

The Africa VI: Tuareg Portfolio, 2005-2009 is finished. After 5 years of shooting in the desert, of getting to know the expressions and gestures of Tuareg and the desert light, I think my creative work there is done. Of course, I will be fighting a compulsion to go back and back and back... thinking (correctly) there is just one more thing I need to do... (and no doubt I will go back at some later date). I am absolutely captivated by something the Tuareg possess; a freedom, a wildness, a defiance. They are both sensitive and ruthless. They are as their name translates, "The Free People," of the desert.

The Studio News will carry this blog forward... Find me here:

http://elisabethsunday.blogspot.com/

Thank you,

Elisabeth Sunday

The New Muse

2009-05-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

May 20th

Test contact sheet from Akan shoot. The swirls behind the figure is the rolling sea. Literally.

The Africa VII Portfolio

The Akan Fishermen, Ghana, 2010.

This last scouting trip (recorded on this blog) proved to me the beautiful and well defined Akan Fishermen will be the Africa VII Portfolio. This winter I will return to Ghana for a month or more. I will take real film and developing tanks so I can see the work as I go. There is much to explore there and I have found a new muse.

State side postings will be here until I return to Africa later in the year.

http://elisabethsunday.blogspot.com/

Please follow me in the studio, so you will get updates when I post!

Thanks,

Elisabeth Sunday

My Box of Gold

2009-03-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

March 16th

Back home now in San Francisco; the morning fog is lifting and I am full of optimism. Once my film was shot, I kept it in a locked case and never let it out of my sight. It is my box of gold, my packs upon packs of Kodak 120 film.

The film exists only as quiet potential; silver emulsion strips of latent images whose power as a picture is still a secret. I am headed for my darkroom in the coming days to see what these rolls and rolls hold within.

In this next section of the blog, continued under "Studio Notes, 2009," I will write weekly about my life as an artist; the process of producing the new work and putting exhibitions together. Included will also be my new project plans, wish list and search for funding. I will show you new work as it emerges, especially photographs I am excited about seeing. I will also share with you how I select work and what is involved in producing the exhibitions and where my work is showing.

As readers, collectors, sponsors and supporters of my work, any questions you would like to ask me would be welcome. My goal is to bring you into a deeper understanding of an artist's life and process.

Thank you for continuing to follow along at Studio Notes located at http://elisabethsunday.blogspot.com/

Elisabeth Sunday

Journey’s End

2009-03-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

March 11th

Early evening: Re-entering Bamako, windows down, the hot scent of sweet, burnt air hung thick over the city and mixed with plumes of vehicle emissions. We crossed a narrow one lane bridge built by the French in the 1940's over an ancient lava bed where the Niger River cut its' path heading north. On either side of this lane there was no railing and it was scarcely wider than our car. Nemory tells me, this is the deepest part of the river; so deep, researchers have not yet found the bottom of it. Once across, there were the usual cars and trucks, but also bicycles and motorbikes, some of which carried whole families and enormous parcels carefully balanced behind them. Bamako is unique and has an essence that is animated and unforgettable.

This city of 2 million floats like an island in the bush and though still in Mali, I am a long way from Tuareg camp and the vast, quiet dunes of the Sahara. And further still from the historic coast of Ghana and the Akan Fisherman. I have just left the fields of giant Baobab only a few hours drive from the capital and already, I miss Africa.

This journey will stay with me long after I have reclaimed myself to California and forgotten the sting of the sun and the dry, smoke scented air. In the field, my eye saw things my mind is still unaware of; to reconcile this, my next task will be to perform a kind of alchemy under the amber lights of my darkroom back in west Oakland. First, I will develop the 300 rolls of Kodak black and white 120 film by hand. Then the contact sheets and test prints will emerge, and along with them-- my hunger to see ... Finally, I will select the prints that will be the "Africa 2009 Portfolio" and bring them to you.

Looking ahead, I have an exhibition opening of the Tuareg work, 2005-2009, May 7th through June 30th at Gallery 291 on Union Square in San Francisco. See www.gallery291.net. In July, I will bring the new work to Arles, the International Photographer’s Conference in the South of France, to network in Europe. Updates for exhibitions and gallery information will be on my website at www.elisabethsunday.com.

For now and the next few days, I will rest and prepare for the 22 hour journey home. I will savor being here; breathe in the heavy air, take in the eclectic sounds and colorful sights that make Bamako so special. I will enjoy a few more wonderful meals, conversations and walks around town.

Thank you again to all who supported this field trip and to those who have been following me along in Africa on this blog. I’ve enjoyed putting sections of my journals online and hope you have found them interesting.

Now I will turn to the making of the Africa 2009 Portfolio and continue the blog on that subject.

With Love,

Elisabeth Sunday

Baobab: Tree of Secrets

2009-03-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

March 9th

For the last few days I have been trying to contact an elder, willing to share the stories about the Baobab tree. This afternoon an elder man came to see me and I interviewed him. Nemory translated.

"The Baobab Tree is not like the other trees; it doesn't give wood and instead offers food and water, even medicine. It is a 'l'arbre fetish' and is magical. We (the Bambara) believe the *'Tree Devil' lives there, the Gina, (meaning gin or spirit in Arabic) Sadiali, (its' name). The Ginasadiali is soft of heart, listens and sympathizes with your troubles. Other Tree Devils are not so kind as the one who lives in the Baobab tree.

Everyone has their secrets and people go to the Ginasadiali to tell their secrets and ask for blessings. They will make an offering at the base of the tree to show gratitude for having listened. They will dance around the tree and chant when the blessings have come to them. There is a wide area at the base of the tree where nothing grows. We believe this is where the Tree Devil likes to sit and talk. Everyone knows the Ginasadiali is compassionate and excuses people's shortcomings easily."
Of course, I decided to tell the tree my secrets.

*A Tree Devil, like a Forest Devil or Bush Devil, is an animist deity that is both masculine and feminine; good and bad. It is the spirit held within that also contains its opposites.

Except from my Journal
Elisabeth Sunday

In the Seeing

2009-03-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

March 8th

Standing among the baobab trees again today; it was quite. Only the wind blew past my ears. Nemory is so attuned to my gestures, we don‘t need to speak at all while I am shooting. He observes me to position the mirror and either leans it forward or tilts it back or holds it in place.

When I am “out in the field,” I am not here-- but there… When I have tuned the mirror to the right bend and set the angle; when the subject, the mirror, and my eye are in perfect sync-- I am fully present. I explore light and the shapes that fall through it. There is an unfolding in front of me, and I know I am “there” in the seeing-- a place between the minutes where the images come from. No matter what I am photographing; Tuareg Women, Akan Fishermen or Baobab Trees, this is the place where I go to find my pictures. It’s like picking up shells along the beach, noticing one to be more beautiful than the last. Next thing I know, it's hours later.

Excerpt from my Journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Standing in the Presence of the Baobab Trees

2009-03-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

March 6/7th

I am in the region of Segou, back in Mali. This is where there are beautiful fields of the majestic baobab tree, the oldest trees in the world dating back many thousands of years. It is believed the oldest may have been alive 6,000 years! After spending the morning in the field photographing them, I met an elder Bambara man who said, “to see a baobab is to see an elephant.” And indeed, when you stand among the baobab there is a resonance; a certain presence that can not be ignored. That is what has drawn me back here to photograph them.

Each one has its own shape, arch in the branches and what can only be described as personality. They are ofter found together in clusters and change their shapes over time. The elder Bambara man continued and told me, "The Baobab tress blesses us with so many riches." He explained the fruit, called monkey bread, has multiple uses. It is loaded with vitamins and offers important nutrients; from the leaves to the fruit containing seeds to the pulp, even the skin. It also has recognized medicinal properties and is used to cure a variety of ailments.

Through the bend in my mirror these majestic trees look as though they are the respiration of the earth itself.

Excerpt from my Journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Appreciating Nemory

2009-03-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Nemory Keita in Burkina Faso

March 4th

There aren't many people living in the USA who, no matter their circumstance, have a story of overcoming adversity like that of Nemory Keita. He is the 8th child and 7th boy, of 9 children. When his father passed away he was just two years old and this left his family destitute. By the time Nemory was 6 years old, the family didn't have enough to eat and his mother faced a tough decision; send her 6 year old son to labor in the fields or take an older child out of school. She decided to send Nemory into the fields to protect her other children's future. She would send Nemory when she could. So, between the ages of 6 and 8 years of age, from sunup to sundown, Nemory harvested millet so the family could eat.

He earned 2 kilos of millet a day for his labor in a neighboring field 4 days a week. The family he worked for took pity on him though complained his labor didn't amount to the food they provided. The other days he worked in his own family fields. Finally, his oldest brother won a scholarship to attend school. Instead of using all the funds for food and housing, he lodged with relatives and sent the money home so his young brother Nemory could start school. This would be Nemory's first test in a longer history of challenges.

Nemory laughs, "With a story like this one, with all I have been through so young, why wouldn't I be a hard worker? There is only one thing I fear in life and that is having no ambition." And indeed Nemory is amazing and is among the most joyous people I know. His heart is full and large. He has been my assistant in Mali since 2001 and he's helped me in the field with my work on multiple occasions. He also manages the Kamono Group and is responsible for procuring the girl's school supplies and getting them to the village in time for school.

In his professional life, Nemory is a licensed guide and driver with the Malian tourist board and has been a project facilitator to various creatives and researchers. He has always taken excellent care when it comes to helping me with my work; he is attentive to all the details and makes sure that, as his client with a mission to accomplish, that am able to succeed. In planning for this journey, he helped me to balance days of work with rest and visits to places of interest that are along the way. He takes every precaution that I don't get sick. There is no challenge he can’t meet; we’ve camped in the bush many, many times and when we do, he plans and prepares all the meals, using one of our tents for the kitchen. In the morning, he is ready to help with the gear so I can begin photographing. He is always up on time and ready to get started. He also keeps me safe and stays informed as to what is going on in the areas where we are traveling. He maintains the vehicle and does routine safety checks. Today he discovered that in the 4,000 or more kilometers we’ve traveled in the last month that we completely chewed up the two front tires so he has gone to have them replaced while we are taking a couple of days in Owaga. Africa is the last place to cut corners.

From the deepest part of my being, I thank Nemory for his mastery in his work; his interest and loyalty to my creative process over the years and for so excellently providing the structure I need in order to work freely here; to be an artist. In Africa, I am at ease; I am safe. I can dream and wander in my thoughts without care. I trust him with the MIRROR! He handles it like a he would a child with the power to see the future. With Nemory's conscious attention, I can follow my inspiration through to its natural conclusion in the locations he helps me to select. He considers my success to be his success and that is most refreshing. Imagine.

Nemory is the only one to handle the mirror.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Circle of Friendship

2009-03-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

VILLAGE OF TANYASOGO, BURKINA FASO
This is the entrance to the village of Sanyasogo in the region of Po ; you see the village elder sitting under a shelter with my village guide in the white shirt. The center piece is an alter used in ritual sacrifice. Some of the buildings in this village were constructed in the early 1900's
This is the entrance to the grandmother's house. The doorways to the houses were constructed this way so arrows from warring tribes couldn't penetrate the entrance. The form you see is of a sacred snake.
This is the view from the rooftop of the "grandmother's house." It is where Ginny and Phil will set up tents or bed rolls to sleep. Below, the artisans of the village have laid out their wares for me to see in the courtyard.
I couldn't decide between these two baskets made by the women holding them, (they were in the courtyard of the grandmother's house) and loving elders and grandmothers the way I do, I bought both of these baskets for Ginny.
Old tribal necklaces are hard to find in villages these days, so when I explained what Ginny asked, she gave me the necklace she was wearing to give to her. However I am in Owaga now, (capital of Burkina Faso) and will go to the market tomorrow to see if I can find something interesting for Ginny.
This Kassena woman dared me to use a pick axe to tear away at the ground. She was getting dirt to make bricks for her house. Of course I couldn't do it quite right and this sent ripples of laughter through the women watching.

March 3rd

I met Ginny and Phil in 1988 along a dirt track in Zaire when I was on my way to visit the Efe, (Pygmies) people of the Ituri Rain Forest. Zaire was and still is very unsafe for travelers and I stopped for them, wondering if they were in need of assistance. Since that time, Ginny and Phil have visited numerous times and we have become good friends. They are also avid supporters and sponsors; they are the principal sponsors of the Africa 2009 Portfolio and have the largest private collection of my work anywhere.

Before leaving, Ginny made a special request; she asked that I visit a village and buy for her a necklace and basket from the tribeswoman who made it. She then had the idea to have me take a picture of the woman with me and send it to her with the name of the village. Ginny and Phil would then at some point, go visit the village, bringing the photograph with them. I thought this was brilliant and lovely.

African people are very social and love stories and connections; they live for that and when I told the women this was my friends request, they said they would make every effort to welcome both Ginny and Phil.

Here are a few snapshots of the Kassena village in Burkina Faso I picked out for Ginny and Phil to visit.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Back on the Road

2009-03-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

This was the fourth violent accident we saw since leaving Cape Coast for Tiechiman in a single day.

March 2nd

The length of Ghana is about 1000 kilometers and we have traveled from Cape Coast in Ghana north to Burkina Faso over 2 days, driving with extreme caution and never driving at night. The roads in Ghana must be some of the most treacherous and fatal in all of Africa. In all my 23 years of traveling in Africa, I have never seen so many accidents on the roads involving mortality; once sometimes twice or three times a day. One this particular day, we saw four.

Usually, but not always, these accidents involve overturned mini buses that serve as public transport, brimming with passengers and big, big overloaded trucks that can't navigate the potholes and elevated dirt roads. Alcohol use is very high; drivers are in a hurry. The roads are in deplorable condition and terrible, terrible, accidents are unfortunately all too common, both on the rural road and right in the center of town.

The roads are my main concern, above malaria and all else, for travel in Africa.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Sense of Accomplishment

2009-03-02T04:11:00.001-08:00

An Afternoon at Cape Coast Castle. The beach where I photographed the Akan fisherman is in view behind me.

March 1st

Last night I went to sleep happy; savoring the warm rushes of a job well done. This morning I felt the same; delivered--and smiled when I rose. By the time the tepid water drizzled over me from the substandard shower, I was laughing. I’ve grown as an artist here in Ghana and I’m excited about the new images.

The two subjects I set out to photograph here; the sea and fish studies, now seem like a pretext to include the Akan fisherman. I photographed the men with the fish their lives depend on; the rolling sea behind them. The convergence of the three subjects sprang from the muse and from inviting chance into the process.

I am struck by how beautifully symmetrical the Akan Fisherman photographs will be in relation to the Tuareg work; both series are photographed on the sand in front of the environment where they both live. The backdrop in the Akan images is a wave or “dune” of water; with the Tuareg work it is a dune of sand. The Akan men are richly black and nude from the waste up; the Tuareg women are completely covered in dark fabric. The relationship to the sea is expressed through the use of fish in the Akan photographs--it’s the fish that shape their lives and bind them to the ocean; with the Tuareg the relationship with their desert is expressed through the use of wind. The wind patterns shape the dunes and is mirrored in their robes. The wind is the force that shapes the dunes and their lives.

Both subjects possess the grace of people who are not in the slightest self conscious about being photographed and therefore move with ease in front of the camera. The figures in both the Akan and Tuareg work are fluid. As an artist who loves working with human form, and is sensitive to simple gestures of the hands and fleeting expressions on the face, it was a pleasure to work with such abandon. I could literally watch them move for hours. There is history in their gestures; a knowing in their movements.

A month into the journey and I have completed 2 of the 3 tasks I set out to accomplish; the Tuareg shoot and now the Akan Fisherman.

Now, onto the 3rd task. The Baobab tree.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Akan Fisherman

2009-02-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Last days of shooting here in Cape Coast. These strong young men are my models; Ekow, Antubaum, Kojo, Egy, Kofi and a couple of others. Baesi is in the center at the back. As you can see, we all had great fun. On this day, the men came up with their own ideas as to how to handle the fish for the photographs.

February 28th

When I first came to Ghana and Cape Coast, I wasn't sure what I would find here. I knew I was interested in photographing the sea and I am fascinated by the ancient forms of fish. As with any journey, some things are left to chance and others, to inspiration. When chance and inspiration converge is where real magic takes place and I believe that happened here.

My photographs of people have primarily been of women; the Tuareg work is almost all women. But not here. I was so taken with the Akan fisherman. (I couldn't take my eyes off of them and had to spend everyday photographing them). They have to be the most beautiful men in the world; strong, cut, with deep, rich black skin and huge eyes. They are playful and fun. They have a wild elegance and striking features.

The Akan fisherman have to be strong to be in their line of work and their bodies have rewarded them by becoming so. They are so perfectly proportioned that when I look at them, I think they must be sculpted from grace.

After the shoot was over, I interviewed a few of the fishermen.
Kojo said, "I love the ocean like myself."

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Of Fish and Men

2009-02-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

Egya has one of the strongest, most amazing physiques I've ever seen outside of a gym.

February 27th

The day began when I looked outside and saw the sun screaming from above. With a hot day ahead, we’d have to get an early start to the fish market. With such bright light, I have to move fast. Like in the Sahara desert, I am on sand under a punishing sun and scorching heat as the morning advances. The light will only get harder as the day moves ahead.

This was taken in the mirror with my snapshot camera, just to give you an idea of what I see.

This is the 3rd time I have photographed the Akan fisherman this week and we are more comfortable now. Everyone is easy and relaxed and understands what I am trying to do. I can see they enjoy being part of this creative work and we are in full swing. It is important to have fun during the shoots because it provokes the unexpected; you never know what will come and there was a lot of interaction between the fisherman that could lead to unusual compositions in my work.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Weather and Technology vs. The Muse

2009-02-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

I had just loaded my camera and took one frame; this one, and the camera jammed. I lost this shot, but as you can see, the light is not good. I used this shooting session to advance my "seeing" so that I would know what I wanted to shoot the next day, when the light would hopefully be better.

February 26th

My room in Cape Coast has a view over the town and I can see the ocean. The first thing I do each morning is go to the window to gauge the weather and the light for the morning shoot. Morning light, from 7:30 to around 11:00 or so, is the only light I use for my work. When I see a gentle light teased from the haze and coastal fog and I know it will be a good work day. I am here to engage the muse and overcast just won’t do.

7:15 Overcast skies-- humid. Slight ocean breeze.
7:30 The light has not changed.
8:00 The sky has grown darker.

9:00 I decide to leave for the beach, tempting chance that the sky will lighten. At the cliff where we descend to the beach, thick clouds hug the sea and there are stabs of lightening. Thunder rolls in the distance.

9:30 I try and determine which way the clouds are moving; there are 5 fisherman who did not go to sea this morning because Baesi asked them to work with me plus have bought 120 dollars of interesting looking fish that are on ice. Seeing no sign of light and an ever graying contrast, I decide to abandon the morning shoot.

12:00 The sky starts to lighten and a slow sun burns through the cloud cover. It is bright enough to cast a thin shadow, but not strong enough for a fast shutter speed. I call Namory and Baesi to meet at the beach. Not knowing what the weather system will do in the coming days, I decide to seize the moment and work with the available light.

12:30 I am set up; mirror, camera, models and fish. The light is not ideal but I might be surprised. Maybe something wonderful will come of the dimmed high noon light.

2:00 The tide is coming in and with the storm brewing the seas are stronger than in the past days. I end up taking some of my photographs in the surf!

2:30 My 15th roll of the afternoon and my camera jams just one frame into it!The film is not advancing, the shutter will not release! I always have a back up body, but the lens won’t come off! I tell everyone the shoot is over for the day and we will get together again tomorrow. The fisherman are quite happy to be paid and agree to continue the next day.

3:00 I am back in my room trying to figure out what is wrong with my camera and have tried everything. No luck. After a few hours I go down to the local cybercafe.

5:30. I am in a cybercafe by the name of Edentec next to my hotel cradling my Mamiya RZ 67 medium format camera in my lap. I look up the number of Adolph Gasser Camera/ repairs in San Fransisco on my Dell mini laptop using an excellent wireless connection. I open Skype and make an online call to Max, the go-to guy for camera problems. I explain what happened and he asked me to phone back in an hour.

6:30 Max had phoned Mamiya and received step by step information on how to unjam the camera so I could remove the lens to use the back up body. After about 15 minutes, I had the lens off.

Thank you Max for tending to and solving this problem for me on your birthday! I still have 2 weeks of shooting and without your help, I would have been completely stuck.

7:00 I call Baesi and he communicates with the fisherman, the shoot is on for tomorrow.

Excerpt From my Journals
Elisabeth Sunday

Something in the Water

2009-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

February 25th

The photographs I have made today are not comfortable images of the ocean; if anything, the mirror tends to magnify that which already lies within. The ocean is an unfathomable force and its surges of power and complete disregard for the energy it can unleash is visible in a few of these images. The pull and stretch of the waves looked overwhelming. I was completely hypnotized by their swirl in the mirror and shot for a couple of hours without a break. The reflections look like the waters of my dream where all things were running.

My plans for tomorrow are to go to the fish market in the village of Elmina, north of here, and buy some large fish to compose a few studies. But as I was photographing the sea, I couldn’t get the beautiful bodies of the Akan fisherman out of my mind. I asked Baesi to arrange to have a few fisherman come meet us at the beach to model for me the next day with a few large fish. He said he would make it happen.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

The Wild in the Water

2009-02-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

It’s my birthday and I can't imagine anywhere else I'd rather be. I am doing what I love; I am photographing in Africa, engaging the muse.

February 24th

The sky was clear of dust and the coastal fog was thin. It lifted by 8:00 am throwing shine on the water and I was ready. I looked for “the running,” the wild. My assistant Namory positioned my mirror to face the water. I adjusted the bend and looked through my lens. I photographed the rolling, crashing waves for a couple of hours with fascination at how the image shifted with a slight incline of the mirror. I was transfixed.

Baesi showed up around 10:00 and insisted I come meet the elder fisherman, offer money for an offering to the beach which would give me their permission to photograph. He asked me to bring all my gear and take a few pictures at the beach where they have all their pyrogs, their ocean going, hand carved canoes.

I greeted the old fisherman and set up on their small beach where they bring in the boats. But it wasn’t the right place to work. Too many people, pyrogs, activities, children…. It wouldn’t work. I told Baesi, (who just appointed himself my Ghanaian project manager), that I would need a calm place to work. He said he would make it happen.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Getting Organized

2009-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

View from Cape Coast Castle, an old slave port. The Akan fishing village is in the lower left corner.

February 23rd

I am in Ghana. After leaving the Kumasi in the Ashanti Region a little more than halfway from the boarder with Burkina Faso, my assistant Nemory and I arrived at Cape Coast by mid afternoon. It’s an old slaving port town with a mix of English colonial style buildings and shacks with shops in front of open sewers.

There is a small artisanal fishing industry here that interested me. I stopped there first thing to meet a few local fisherman. I needed to get information about where to find large fish for my project and was introduced to Baesi, one of the overseers of the small beach where the Akan fisherman worked.

While in Ghana, I will be working with a new subject. For the moment, I have an idea of what I want to do here, though ideas generally evolve with being and seeing a new place. For now, I will concentrate on what I know I'd like to photograph; the ocean and interesting fish, and see what comes.

Excerpt from my journal
Elisabeth Sunday

Looking for the Wild

2009-02-23T00:50:00.000-08:00

There were plenty of creatures at Nazinga Ranch. They claim to have 800 elephant here. Here's one, of several I saw that day.

February 20th

I am in Burkina Faso staying at Nazinga Ranch, a wildlife reserve near the boarder with Ghana where I am headed in the next day or so. I am here to look, to pause-- An artists' life is about creating, yes; but it is also seeing and dreaming and allowing ones' vision to gestate.

The land is scrubby... brush and small trees; some crushed by elephant. Light crowned with dust and gold lit the high, straw colored grasses. It was still soft from the prevailing Harmattan high over head. As the light dimmed several large antelope, called Koba, vaulted through the brush and right across the dirt track in from of me. I was reminded of a dream I'd had in 1983 that first inspired me to photograph using a concave mirror.

In the dream, I was in a landscape much like this one. A deer ran through a field, but in the dream, I understood the field itself to be running with the deer. Everything was running; the earth heaved and rolled. Cascades of water tore at the ground and trees rushed towards the sky. The land was possessed by wildness-- and incessant motion that constantly calls forth more life. It was after the dreams that I first began using the mirror.

In the next leg of this journey, I will look for the running; the wildness in the Natural World.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journal)

Later...

The round room where I slept was a thatched roof bungalow with screened windows. No wind at all-- the room was hot, stuffy and a little smoky from the mosquito coils that burnt through the night. I got up around 3 am to go outside for much needed air. A lite wind, cool at the edges, blew just beneath my craving and thirst for air. It was pitch black, but through a back lit tangle of branches I could see the big dipper. I stared for a moment and felt the stillness; the big quiet in the heart of night. Then, just before dawn, a panoply of sounds rose from the earth; a cacophony of living things drummed in the light.

This is the wild at play.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journal)

Video work withe Kamono Group Girls

2009-02-19T03:03:00.000-08:00

The girls are watching the playback of the video. Most have never seen themselves on video before. Behind me is one of 4 mud brick classrooms for the lower school.

The girls are saying hello on video to my daughter Sahara, (her Dogon name is Kamono) who founded the Kamono Group in 2001 when she was 9.

This young student says on video she'd like to become a doctor.

Yadjangia Village, Dogon Country

2009-02-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

A few of the Kamono Group girls the day I arrived in the village.

February 17th

I visited Yadjangia today. The village is worn out; like a fatigued soul whose body is starting to wear and become too thin. When I first visited Yadjangia in 1987 it had a population of 300. Now, the village has swollen to over 5000. The elders are passing on; Odju, my appointed Dogon grandmother passed away a few months ago and the chief is very sick again. Each year, there are fewer and fewer elders and the old ways and manner disappear along with them.

The generation now in their mid 20's are wedged between the worlds and can neither advance nor retreat. Trapped in a kind of cultural purgatory, alcoholism is very high and many of the once hopeful young men have the vacant look of someone whose very soul has abandoned them. But the very young ones, still in school, are receiving a new education and I have hope for them. They are the bright young children who are too young to know the old ways and old enough to have seen a few of their parents succeed through an education.

The girls are the future here. Even the men know it; the acting chie'f, Abdulai, is the eldest son of the ailing Chief Bamadio and his brother, Salif, is council. They are both fine young men and said to me, "To educate a boy is to educate an individual, but to educate a girl is to educate a village and the world." This is why we support girls education in the village of Yadjangia.

The Kamono Group girls are such children; bright, upbeat young students working in the most challenging of conditions in mud brick classrooms with a continual rain of dust from the thatching above and mud walls. Yet, they are thriving. The older girls are in a 3 room school built of concrete. They are choosing school over early marriage and child bearing.

Thanks to the generous contribution made this year by Bonnie Raitt's foundation, the girls have the majority of the funding needed for school supplies for the remainder of this semester.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journals)

Thank you

2009-02-17T03:37:00.001-08:00

115 rolls shot in the desert with the Tuareg and 200 rolls to go in other parts of west Africa.

A big hug and thank you to all my sponsors who supported this journey and the new Africa 2009 Portfolio. A special thanks to my principal sponsors on this project, Ginny and Phil whose support includes the air travel. And thanks also to Linda whose support includes film and paper; Sheila and Joel who have a wonderful collection of Tuareg work. And thank you to Sandy and Wayne, also to John and Carola whose continued support is so essential for my ongoing projects. Thank you Klaus! And I appreciate the support offered in the days just before the departure by Diana, Janice, and Dennis! And, last but not least, Pierre the magic mirror maker who has been building my mirrors since 1985! Together you all made this happen! No one ever does these things alone; all of you believe in me and my talents. And the work goes on now... headed to Dogon Country then southwest towards the coast.

Out of contact for a while and will upload excerpts from my journal at the next opportunity.

Love,

Elisabeth

Techet Village

2009-02-17T02:08:00.000-08:00

February 13th

The expressions, gestures and compositions evolved a little bit more today. We were very comfortable and could exchange ideas casually. Defenses were down and the 3 principle young women interacted more with the camera and in coming up with ideas to make interesting images. At one point, all three women were facing the camera through the mirror with Aichata in the middle. Her friends on either side, rested their heads on her shoulders, completely covered by their wraps. The wind revealed the shapes of Aichata's companions faces. It was beautiful. This is one of the images I am excited to see.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journals)

Tuareg shoot, near Timbuktu

2009-02-17T01:52:00.000-08:00

Pictured here is Fatimata, a woman in her late 20's; she is divorced with an 18th month old and is living with her mother. She told me she is relishing being independent and free from the demands of marriage. She is an artisan, and makes camel skin bags for a living. She said we were kindred; both working in the arts and single mothers, and working with me encouraged her.

February 12

The wind was soft today; gentle puffs lifted the fabric into full shapes that were easy to work with. The light was perfect again.

I worked much closer today with the women. The group as become small and intimate; just 3 principal models now; Fatimata, Aichata and Mana and sometimes a 4th or 5th shows up. Today- they allowed me in, to witness personal expressions. They also participated more in shaping their own portraits and had ideas of their own in front of the mirror and camera.

We also had fun and laughed a lot between shots especially when I changed the film. Tuareg people have refined the art of the insult and the better you are at coming up with a clever retort, the more they like you. So between these sensitive portraits of women with fire and passion, fierce sensitivity and depth, are side-splitting comments meant to make you cry if you have a thin skin.

Among the unexpected today was a 13 year old orphan. I hired the women to model for me and the chief of this village thought the young girl could use the money. She was delightful and moved beautifully; she was grace and beauty itself tempered by a difficult life. It is usually the case, that such grace is hard won and to see it on someone so young was quite moving. She had a soul signature of a deep person, born to difficulty but has the internal grace to rise above it. In the portraits of her, you will see, she will find her way. Her name is Laila.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journals)

From the Field; Tuareg

2009-02-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

Typically, after the sun has become to bright and the heat too penetrating, we sit under and tree and discuss our lives. These women, Mana,(smoking leaf tobacco), Aichata, (out of view) Fatimata and Laila (the 13 year old next to the woman covered to protect from bothersome flies) shared their stories of who they are and what they like to do everyday. The man seen here, Aba, is translating for me as I make some notes.

February 11

Rose colored light filtered through the dust layer where I was shooting; the Harmattan was blowing hard this morning, whipping the robes of the Tuareg women into chaotic shapes. Looking through my lens into the curved mirror, I searched for aesthetic order; the equivalence of balance with chaos brought out by the wind- a force these women must compete with. Their movements are tuned to the elements here.

The women turned away and peeled the fabric off their faces and brushed away sand. Between rolls of film, I wiped sand and dust from the mirror and my lens. It's under conditions like this that I see the stillness and strength in the woman's gestures; their grit and grace. The reach of their fingers arrange and rearrange the twists in the fabric as they reshape themselves against a prevailing wind. Their expressions are both hard and soft; still and unyielding, like the desert itself. They are resilient and adapt easily to changes in the wind.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journals)

Tuareg shoot, near Timbuktu

2009-02-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

In Timbuktu with all my gear; my Land Cruiser in the back with the mirror tied onto the roof rack.

February 10th.

Woke this morning to the dull shine of a dusty sun. Soft light filtered through the dust layer over Timbuktu and my first thought was I would be able to shoot a little longer this morning because of the diffused light; maybe until 11:00 and I was glad to get an early start. The '95 Land Cruiser groaned and roared over the dunes towards a Tuareg camp where I had made arrangements to photograph the day before.

Once my assistant Namory and I had arrived, I first took notice of the light. It was perfect; filtered by the Harmattan, (the seasonal winds that blow south over the Sahara Desert), obscured the harsh shadows from the otherwise unyielding sun. I had my most coveted form of natural light for photography this day.

The women gathered and I photographed them one by one. As this was only the first day of shooting I thought it went very well and blew through 25 rolls of 120. I began my work where I left off last year; with the Anima photographs; the series of very abstract, elongated images that represent the feminine creative force. Over the coming days I will get to know these women; their movements and expressions. They have agreed to model for me everyday until I feel my work is completed.

Elisabeth Sunday
(excerpt from my journal)