Rwandscape

Somewhere between Kigali and the UG border

I went to Rwanda for the weekend. More pics later. (Click to view big)

The Edge Of The World

I live in Wandegeya, just outside the city centre, and there’s seldom any peace. Sawmills, ambulances going to Mulago and the big trucks heading north to Juba. But the mornings are different- a hum as the traffic starts to build, but otherwise peace and ibises. And sometimes you can watch the sunrise over Nakasero, with the storms boiling behind on the lake, and imagine you’re on the edge of the world.

I’m not a morning person, but when I have to be I make sure the camera is handy.

Iganga District

I love this house.

Shot while on assignment for Raising Voices.

Mame

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

Mame is a Senegalese drummer. He’s also the human equivalent of vitamin D. You can find out more about his drumming group, Sabar Percussion, here.

Words to Live By

From a really rather marvellous essay on billjayonphotography.com, comes this list of rules for amateur photographers, written in The Amateur Photographer some time around the turn of the 20th Century. Number six is alarmingly prescient, given the current difficulties in photographing in public.

1) Never photograph a man in such circumstances as you yourself would not like to be
photographed in.
2) Certain classes should be tabooed:
a) Public personages travelling incognito.
b) People labouring under physical deformities.
c) People suffering from temporary accidents, e. g., the occupants of a Channel
steamer after a stormy passage.
d) In general, people who implicitly or explicitly express a dislike to be photographed.
3) Never use an expedient to prevent a person knowing he was being photographed,
when, if he did know, he would probably resent it.
4) Never let the fact that the victim “didn’t know” excuse a violation of good taste.
5) Never use a camera as a medium for “a thundering good
practical joke.”
6) Finally, remember that though you may escape without penalty, your misdoings will
be held against the brotherhood in general.

I’m Back!

It has been a very, very long time.

In the interim I have watched a man lose a presidential campaign, broken a very expensive lens and enjoyed the sensation of seeing a photo on the front page of a national newspaper. It has been a heck of a time.

I’ve updated my website and would love any feedback anybody has to offer (anything missing? Too much?), so click over to www.willboase.com and have a look. In the coming weeks I want to turn this blog back into something worth reading, so I hope you’ll stick around.

Indiegogo Funding Update

Dear all, thank you so much to all of those who have donated so far to my Indiegogo funding campaign about covering the elections in Kenya. You have been amazingly generous. We’ve raised nearly $2,000, and I can’t thank you enough. The actual trip starts this Sunday, so if you haven’t donated yet please click on the link here and have a look at what we’re doing, and see if you think it’s worth a few of your hard-earned cents.

In the meantime here’s something from the archive- a scan of a negative shot in Nairobi in 2009. I love this picture because of the soft tones afforded by Portra NC, a film which was developed for use by wedding photographers who wanted to capture all of the detail of the bride’s wedding dress. Nairobi may not be quite a wedding dress, but it has its charm.

Downtown Nairobi, 2009. Hasselblad C/M 500, Portra NC.