Momma's Boy

I was helping my mom move stuff around that she needs to get rid of and I forced Eric to take a picture of me with her. It turned out so well I had to put it on my blog!

For the Love of Palta

And on we go. No more Africa (for a while at least) and no more Iowa. Ahora, estoy en Santiago de Chile. I arrived in the country last Wednesday (08/24/10). Santiago is gorgeous!!!! I have to say that is probably one of the prettier cities I have lived in. Besides the smog and the mullets Santiago has got it going on. Plus, with the lack of crime, I can actually take my camera with me places and take pictures. Suck on that Durban (you know I love you). I will be living in these parts for the next year. That means that the quality of my blog is probably going to drop off. Think of someone who releases a sophomore album directly after they spent an entire young life creating material for the rookie release. It is game time I guess, I gotta show that my photography is a skill and not just years of dumb luck!

A nice view of the Presidential Palace in el Centro de Santiago. Santiago has a ton of stray dogs roaming everywhere. I went to the Catedral Nacional and in the room of patron Mother of Chile and a dog just ran in I was able to get a unique picture.

Something other than Blue Skies

No more Africa, I promise. I noticed way too many of my pictures included blue skies. I thought I would try to find some vibrant pictures of things without it being a sunny day. All these pictures come from the last academic year. So I am back to using the Nikon D-60.

I am fully aware that I already lied, this one obviously has blue sky. Since most of the sky is covered by a vibrant green, I cheated a little. Also the contrast of the green, blue, and gray I think really brings out Mr. Squirrel. His firey red belly and graying brown top stick out distinctly. Also his dark brown nose gives a focal point.

I am sure that poor freezing Mbali didn't think that she would be featured in a blog when we stopped in whatever dinky small Northern Illinois town this old Walmart was in. At the same time, I have never met someone so eager to have their picture taken at a Walmart. The gray sky in this picture and the tan of the building really bring out Mbali's complexion. While the lights in the background bring a nice horizontal pattern to the picture, making Mbali almost look superimposed onto the surface. I would rate this picture as a 9 on the facebook profile picture scale.

The framing on this picture is odd. I don't know if I care for it. The concentric circles of the different levels of the Iowa Capitol Building give this picture its uniqueness. Also each level is a different color. Thank the lord I didn't drop my camera while leaning over to get this shot!

I really could have called this blog post "a study of shape and pattern". Or maybe I could have called "owning a Nikon D-60 makes any doofus a good photographer". Probably it should have been called "cheap easy 'art' makes schmuck look cultured".

They Dance Like Isaiah Shembe

I did research in Inanda, South Africa on the Nazareth Baptist Church, otherwise more commonly known at Shembe. I lived in the Nazaretha Holy City of Ebuhleni during the Holy Month of July. It was during this time that I made a lot of discoveries about myself by completely immersing myself in another culture. I spent my days stressing about if I had enough interviews with the right people, while bitching at Zahkona to make sure she was actually working.

A lot happens at Ebuhleni in July. From the weekly dance ceremonies, girls' puberty ceremony, bringing of the ancestors, boys circumcision ceremony, baptism, and weekly Sabbath. My favorite thing to witness though was the was the girls' puberty ceremony. I took a zillion pictures, but one I took of some girls' before the ceremony sticks out to me.

Dancing is the thing the Shembe is most well known for. It is the part of the church that many people come to watch, and that much of the youth of the church enjoy. It is believed that dancing is done to show ones honor for Jehovah. While most of the outfits are similar to those from the traditional Zulu dancing, the ones the young boys wear are similar to Scottish Military Outfits. The reason for this is because the Prophet said that boys must wear these because someday white people would come to the church and they would need a dance outfit culturally relevant to them.

Overall I had an amazing experience. I got to spend a lot of time around my host-family and got really close to them. I felt like this picture truly shows the relationship I built with my host family (as well as how much of a hobo I looked like).

Sunscreen and an Insulated Jacket

I wish I would have enjoyed Namibia. I don't think it was anything Namibia did in particular, but rather a mixture of two important things that made me miserable. When I reached Swakopmund, I became so sick I could barely move. Although I never saw a doctor, I believe I was suffering from malaria because of the situation that I had lived in Ebuhleni and the fact that the last week there it had rained more. With people coming there from Malaria infested areas, I think Ebuhleni became a small hot bed of Malaria. The other major problem with Namibia is an issue of population. It is hard and expensive to be a single traveler in Namibia and the public transport there sucks.

For all my dislike of my time in Namibia, I cannot refute how beautiful it was. I loved the landscape. The winter desert had two different extremes, cold in the shade and hot in the sun. I remember burning my nose one day when I went into the desert. The whole time I was in the desert all i could remember thinking was that I felt like I was going to freeze to death.

The Atlantic Coast and the Namib Desert make Namibia an explorable beauty. Yet, I couldn't help but notice in Namibia the strange influence the country had. It seems like the people of Namibia have long been a toy of outside influences. The country, seen as a waste land by colonizers, was infested by different groups always nominally interested in its people. The Namib people themselves have a long rich tradition. It was interesting to see the heavy Christian grasp on the country as well as the Afrikaans, English, and German influences.

Iowa: At Least You Cannot Claim the Weather is Boring

Did you know that Iowa is the state of the union that has the largest difference from its average hottest day to its average coldest day? Needless to say we have quite the defined 4 seasons. So here is a little snap shot of Iowa!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Recollections

If you have read my blog, every place I have ever been I loved. Not true; as you will soon find out I long from love Namibia and Swaziland. In fact, I have already posted on El Salvador, which I found dreadful for many reasons. Botswana, is not the case. I LOVED Botswana. I went for a little more then a week with my besties Matt. I wish I could take this trip a hundred times again. I had never felt more alive then when I went to Botswana. The picture I have with the blog I took at the Hippo Pool Backpackers outside of Maun (pronounced my-oon). I loved this backpackers. I remember watching the EuroCup freezing my ass off because of how cold it got in the Kalahari in the winter time. I was bored while Matt search for chemical enjoyment, so I snapped night time pictures from my Olympus point and shoot. The bar was full of local white Botswanas (there is such a thing). I remember never feeling the racial separation of the world more then when I sat at this bar.

Regardless of how terrible I have felt for being born a Gringo to this day, I was able to capture a truely amazing picture. This picture remains to this day my favorite picture that I have ever taken. Unlike most of the night time pictures I have taken in my life, this one was first time thing. I didn't have to spend several shots to insure that I had a steady hand before taking a still half blurry picture. Some how in my state, I was able to set the camera on the picnic table and capture the Catina built right into the desert. And the edge of the flood waters from the Okavango River fill the desert with a life source. The interior Okavango River Delta is one of those place on Earth like no other. Maybe it was because it was the last thing I did before I returned to the U.S. but it stuck in my mind and somehow that is how I picture freedom to be.