Woo hoo! Baye Fall video is up
February 5, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
I’ve been following Baye Falls, a group of Muslim men, around Senegal for about six months. I’ve been pitching the idea much longer, but after no one eventually bit, I just decided to start shooting and make a project anyway. Finally, VJ Movement liked a video pitch about their music, and thus this video is published! You’ll probably — hopefully — see more stuff about Baye Falls from me some time in the future. But for now, here’s the video! (ps.. I’ve embedded it, but please click on the link and watch it - at least for a few seconds — merci!):http://www.vjmovement.com/truth/600
B&W
February 1, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Senegal. Mamadou’s Family. 2009.
Africa Fun Park. Encore. (last one - I promise).
January 31, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
I know I’ve blogged profusely about the joys and beauties of the Africa Fun Park. So I promise, this is my last post. But last time we went I took some tiny video clips with my ipod Nano and threw them together in Final Cut the other day. I played with the speed a little, which I’ve never been able to do with work projects before. And thus.. Africa Fun Park video has been born.
Africa Fun Park from Ricci Media on Vimeo.
I swear I work. I just rarely call it that.
January 28, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Sometimes I think people back home have no idea what I do. (I am a multimedia journalist, also known as a Media Ninja, thanks to Kari Barber and Nico Colombant, who recently informed me that ‘multimedia’ is a little passé).
Anyways, I freelance from Dakar. I work for bunches o’ people: Voice of America, (THE VOICE if you will.. and we do), VJ Movement, UNICEF, Arise magazine. Last year my photos were published in Marie Claire and NY Times (I was pretty pumped about this, obviously J.)
I gather stories in a variety of ways—photo, video, radio, etc—and then tell them. Most of my work goes up on the World Wide Web.
I’ve decided to update the ole’ photoblog more about what kind of daily work I’m doing, because that way at least I can share a little about West Africa news in the mean time. Plus if I’m feeling lazy, I’ll just repost the story I did for the day. Whoop.
I also think that if another freelancer, or hopeful freelancer, stumbles on this here blog, they will hopefully get a better idea of how the freelance world works. I know I had basically no clue when I started (I now have a few clues… just a few).
This week I did a radio story, video editing for VJ Movement for a story that was due TODAY (ftp’ing as I type), and I visited a UNICEF site to photograph and report for a human interest story they want.. along with a few other random digging for upcoming stories.
But back to the radio story. It’s a topic I’ve been filing on a lot for the past few months. It’s Guinea. Guinea is a country in West Africa south of Senegal. It’s had a rough post-colonial go of it (in terms of democracy), and in December 2008 a coup led by Captain Dadis Camara meant another chapter was beginning. LOTS of stuff happened during 2009 in the country, including a stadium massacre of civilians by the army that left more than 150 dead. Then Camara’s right-hand man shot him in the head in an attempted assassination. Camara lived, but no one heard from him for weeks while he was being treated in a Moroccan hospital. Now there’s a new interim leader, and it looks like things MIGHT be on the upswing. But on verra.. as they say.
Here’s the radio story I did on the latest Guinea news this week..
And for your viewing pleasure.. a goat head I photographed at the Baye Fall all-night singing fest a few weeks back..
poor lil’ guy
Horse Taxi ..also known as the Happy Birthday Video
January 26, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Just a little video of a horse taxi in Louga, Senegal - made specially for Ms. Kate Thomas on her birthday. Kate likes horses.
I had just got done shooting Baye Falls chanting in a tent from 9 pm to 9 am, and my lovely escort, Moudou Mbaye and I, were on our way to the bus stop to get a ride back to Dakar.
When we got to the bus, we piled on a rather ancient contraption, and Moudou joked with the driver, asking if he thought the bus would make it to Dakar. Turns out, Moudou was right, and we broke down three times.
Thus, an ode to The Horse. Who didn’t break down once.
Music by Patrice.. Soulstorm
Horse Taxi In Louga, Senegal from Ricci Media on Vimeo.
Ongoing Project
January 20, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I’ve been following Baye Falls for nearly a year now, and before I explain who they are, let me just show you a goof-off photo of the Yaye Falls. Baye Falls = Group of Muslims in Senegal (much more complicated than that, but I’m working on a video story for VJ Movement, so you’ll just have to wait till I link to that. Anyways - Yaye Falls are their female equivalent. This was taken at 7 am after staying up all night chanting and singing (them — not me. I just took photos).
Girl Making French Fries.
January 17, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Took this in Louga last week while I went on a whirlwind 36 hour reporting trip to photograph some Baye Falls. More on that later….For now, Girl Frying Frenches will suffice.
Winter in Senegal
January 14, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 4 Comments
One of my favorite parts about winter in Dakar, besides the sunny days with cool breezes and temperatures around 75 F, is that when the temp. does drop below 74, you would think it was going to snow any second if you look at the way people dress. I am as guilty as anyone, especially having spent the two years before coming to Dakar in southwest Florida. From my scarf-wrapping and feet-stomping, you would never guess I spent my first 22 years scraping ice off of windshields in the mornings for three months of the year.The street vendors do one of the best jobs of dressing for harsh weather, seeing as how they are outside all the day. The puffy jackets and scarves come out, as hoods are wrapped around the head. Case in point is Mr. Samba here. After I took this photo around 6 pm in the evening, I went back and checked on weather.com what the temp. was: 70F. And the sun was shining.
More Africa Fun Park
January 11, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Buying tickets in the land of Bumper Cars — which by the way is one of my favorite French things to say. “Auto Tamponouse”…
And then I felt like a jerk.
January 7, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Christmas Eve day I woke bright and early to hail a taxi and go out to a suburb of Dakar. I was shooting/reporting a story for UNICEF on how (if) the economic crisis (doubled with the food crisis, doubled with the earlier fuel price crisis) was hurting families in the area.I got to the ‘burbs (burbs here do not have the same connotation as they do in the US. The distance from the town center and lack of infrastructure usually means the further out you go, the less monetary income the families have).Anyways, I get to the burbs and meet up with Filbert, who is associated with a local NGO and has arranged for me to meet with a family that is having hard times. (Side note: What many people might not know is that many if not most international journalists are useless voyeurs with expensive equipment until they have someone like Filbert there to help them. End Sidenote).So on the way to the family, Filbert tells me that the family has agreed to meet with me, let me photograph them and talk to them, and they do not want anything in return.BUT Filbert says.. umm.. these people are really on hard times.. and they’re taking the whole day (a day they COULD use to search for work) to talk to you. SO you should probably give them something like 2000 CFA (ummm about 4.50USD). This is where many things go through my head..1. Taught in J-school NEVER to give people ANYTHING for a story (SECOND SIDENOTE: this is not J-school).2. Damn it.Already gonna have to pay about $8 to get there and back for the day. Add it to the growing expenses?I grumble to Filbert a few times how this ain’t in my budget, and you know.. poor, me. That type of filth. Then I laugh, tell him I’ll give them 2,000, and Filbert leaves me alone with the family.So, Mamadou shows me into their house. There are four small rooms and an open-air dirt area as the common living room. There are 18 children all together, because Mamadou lives with his wive and their five kids, his 3 brothers and their wives (except for the one who died during childbirth a few months ago) and their kids, and his sister. And his mom.They used to eat two meals a day, now it’s down to one. I ask if the kids cry when they get hungry (some of them are as young as one and two). He says if that happens, someone goes to the boutique, gets a bag of cookies (small bag here - 100 grams or about two servings). Then they put the cookies in hot water, stir it up to make a paste, and give the kids some. The paste part makes the food go around more.Then they put the cookies in hot water, stir it up to make a paste, and give the kids some.Ok.. now here’s the part where I tell you how much I hate ‘feel sorry for Africans’ stories. Because I do. Thing is, Mamadou’s problem isn’t an African problem, and I don’t think my stories are supposed to encourage a bunch of people to rush in and save Mamadou. Because first of all, I also get to see a lot of love in these places and a lot of amazing families, and that can beat the hell out of a pocket full of cash sometimes. It makes me also think about what it means to share. I’ve got something, so I share it. Mamadou and his family have something, so they share it. Just because you can see and touch what I’m sharing, doesn’t mean what they have to offer isn’t just as important…It’s just a wake-up call that so many of those things you are truly born into. I don’t feel guilty, I dont’ feel ashamed.. I just feel grateful and compassionate.Oh.. but then I DID feel guilty for complaining about the money I didn’t want to give them. It WAS christmas eve after all. 
..Here’s Mamadou: 