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On Assignment
In 2005:We went to NYC March 17-21, 2005 to present our report (lecture with HDV-video) at the Explorers Club. The 2005 Year began again with a major trip to Kenya, Eastern Africa, traveling with Danielle. We joined Bob Pearlman on an Explorers Club "sponsored" expedition to study and documented the rapidly disappearing oral histories of the Maasai.
These are our notes transmitted from the bush to the Field Journal:
Let me know of your reaction to the 12 entries in the daily "Field Journal" that Danielle and I contributed to and supplied most of the images http://www.maasaioralhistories.org. Here is an exerpt:
Field Journal, January 8, 2005 Yesterday we visited Sekenani Primary School, a school of 475 students aged 5 to 14. Only 20 students were present. This low number illustrated the difficulty in communication. Landlines, cell phones, faxes, emails are all the modern tools we take for granted. Stanley Mpoe, the head teacher explained that at school break the children had been told to come back on the 10th of January. A change in opening date could not be communicated to all the children, some of them living as far away as 15 kilometers from school. ......... Regina Nakola 01/09/2005, Sekenani and Olchurrai Village, Narok, Keny 01/07/2005, Sekenani, Narok, Ken
Field Journal, January 13, 2005 Today we went to Aitong Primary School up on a plateau overlooking the Maasai Mara Park. We crossed a private animal reserve with many zebras, wildebeest, elands and gazelles. The school was nicely landscaped, surrounded by a fence so the animals do not destroy the vegetation. Dormitories were under construction, so the children who live up to 50 kilometers away, can in future sleep at school. Nowadays, those who live far have made arrangements to stay with relatives or friends Like the other two schools we visited, the buildings are inscribed with mottos like: "Reward is after hard work" or "education is life". The Elder, Ole Maitai, a man in his 70s, was dressed with the traditional blanket, called oichiti. Whereas the other elders we listened to wore nothing below their colorful blankets, Ole Maitai wore a raincoat and a cloth called enaga. around his wrist he was wearing a bracelet called olkataar, passed from father to son. He was very animated, told interesting stories, which fascinated the children who asked him many questions. At 12:45 a bell rang, children were leaving for lunch, but in our classroom the students kept on listening attentively. I could not understand, as I don't speak Maasai. I was eager to know what the stories were to understand their interest. I learned later they were about warriors, the Elder's experience with a lion. This is my last school visit as I am leaving Kenya on Saturday. I am taking away with me great respect for the students. They must walk to school by any weather, they have little but are eager to explore and learn. I will never forget the smiles on their faces when for the first time in their life they discovered a computer and saw their pictures on iPhoto. What a privilege to witness such a moment in a young life. Cordially, Please check out beautiful video of the Maasai Oral Histories Project from Friday's Films. Here are some pictures taken over 20 years ago
This should be a tremendous experience, and the special access should yield unique new images as well as capture an invaluable historic record that is being rapidly eroded by modernity. For more information on this Safari and on the Maasai Oral Histories Project, visit www.maasaioralhistories.org. New Imaging Capabilities:We've several exciting new technologies at work for us, beginning this year. Our move to digital consists of a three-pronged digital service offering: Digital Still Photography: With sponsorship from Olympus we're now shooting still imagery in high-resolution digital format. we've been shooting digital all year, and my digital specialist Sam Willard provides clients with high-end Photoshop post-production image work on demand. Digital Video: We're proud to announce that after shooting for the past several years in DV, we've just acquired Sony's new industry-leading HDR-FX1 HDV camcorder, which records in High Definition video format. This new wide-format HD technology will be going along with me to Kenya, and is available for video projects. In conjunction with my video production partner, Tim Kelly, we offer end-to-end digital production services. Digital Stock Photography Online: I'm most proud to announce that my extensive photography archive, which spans 50 years and all seven continents, is now available in digital format. With the help of Sam Willard and Erica Burkeen, my in-house digital staff, and Kamaradata technology we've been scanning my entire archive and making it available to clients online. We're making progress towards a complete web-based catalog, and currently have the ability to receive and respond to stock image requests in hours or even minutes, instead of days. With our entire archive at our fingertips, custom-tailored web galleries can be created and posted for online viewing on our secure, password-protected server. High-resolution images can be delivered via FTP in real time. Look for a fully automated web-based catalog later in 2005. Please see our archived On Assignments
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