Life, The Universe and Everything

• More from October

  Posted: October 29, 2008, 8:08 pm by egm

  October draws to a close. What a month it has been! I wish all months were like this one jobwise. There's been so much to do, I have had to painfully turn away some jobs. On one day as I was covering the wedding of my friends mentioned in this post, I had calls from two different people asking if I was available. One of them even asked me if I could ditch the wedding and do their job instead! It's times like this that made me realise getting Ramon is now a matter of my young photographic venture's life and death. And so the quest for that has been put into gear in a major way. I hope to have Ramon join Raul before December gets here.
  
  I had fun covering my friends' wedding. That showed me what can happen if you have a couple that is completely free and relaxed before the camera. You can get some amazing shots! I hope I get more chances to cover weddings that are as much fun as this was.
  
  
  
  In the tiny world department, the most recent wedding I covered was for this couple where the groom is a guy that was in the same high school as me. One of the bride's maids was in the same university as me. One of the couple's friends helping out was in the same primary school as me. The only institution missing is nursery school, though I'm sure if I searched hard enough I might have found someone!
  
  During that wedding, there was a concurrent celebration of sorts by Delarue. At one point in the evening they had a fireworks show. I was able to capture the couple on camera with the fireworks in the background. Had I known that this would go down, I would have had the couple at a more strategic location that would have better captured that scene.
  
  
  
  I was able to attend the rehearsal for the wedding a day prior. Before the rest of the crowd got there, I decided to take a few fun photos. Imagine my joy when I discovered a number of dragon flies buzzing around! Raul on tripod was quickly set up, enabling me to get a few lovely shots.
  
  
  
  
  
  Remember when I vowed to never cover a funeral? Well, it looks like I will have to remember the saying, "Never and Always are two words you should Always remember Never to use!" Yup, I got suckered into covering one. At least just the church bit of it. And I couldn't really say no to this, as it was for a friend. One thing though, out of this came several jobs! So I cant' really complain. Because of that gig I was referred to a PR company that does work for Microsoft. MS has had a series of events this week, and I was asked to cover them.
  
  The biggest thing about covering certain jobs is the fact that you have to be chonjo always, even in the midst of great temptation. The first event I covered was a dinner at The Stanley. The food they have is already tempting enough as it is. Add in the fact that I hadn't had a filling lunch that day, and you can begin to imagine the suffering I went through. At one point another photographer and I said we would sit to eat, only for the guest of honour who we had been waiting for for ages to show up and mess up those plans. Fortunately for the other photographer, he could go and eat, since he was covering the event for a magazine. But for me, the PR firm needed to have photos of every stage of the event, so I couldn't just up and leave! We KYMers were being served at a different part of the hotel.
  
  This reminded me of an event I covered for EABL early this month. Had I been one to drink, I think standing there amidst all that free alcohol I would have gone certifiably mad.
  
  
  
  
  
  See what I mean? Look but don't touch! They also had some serious mbuzi choma going on. At least during the formal part of the program, these were off limits. But after the main job was done, we were told to go wild. So that wasn't totally off.
  
  To their credit, MS and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports did have a media breakfast yesterday at The Stanley, so it wasn't all bad. This was a chance for them both to give a press conference, and since it was that early in the day, they organized for us KYMers to get fed. Good stuff that!
  
  
  
  It's tough being a celeb. Eric Wainaina was not part of the program on Monday. But because the guest of honour was late, and Eric happened to be around visiting a friend, he got asked to perform. He gave a rendition in acapella of one of his songs. Then he sang happy birthday to a lady in attendance. On his way out, he got asked by a number of people for a photo opp. Though he had to leave to prepare for an early flight the following day, he still made time to pose for photos with people. All with a genuine smile. A very gracious guy that!
  
  
  
  What is it about Kenyans and having words on pictures? I was at a function earlier this year displaying some of my work, and this guy came up and said if I wanted to sell my photos locally, I would have to have some words on them. Gah! That's like telling Leonardo Da vinci that the Mona Lisa wasn't complete without words on the painting! Well, it appears that for this market, that just has to be the case. I wish it wasn't so. I have sold two pictures so far, and both have had to have words on them.
  
  
  
  I seriously wish I could get the people who would appreciate the pictures in and of themselves without any words to sacrilgeously massacre them! I feel like I have sold out by selling those to pictures with words on them. But beautiful pictures on my computer does not rent or food provide! However, if the coming months turn out to be as bountiful as this October has been, then I can do away with that blasphemous action, and focus instead on selling what I want to sell.
  
  Fortunately for me, during the Stanley event on Monday I was able to see some great photography on the gym walls at the hotel. I talked to the gym manager who said he was open to seeing some of my work and evaluating whether they could be hang on the walls. I am working on getting some of my best photos printed and mounted onto stiff paper as a portfolio of sorts and meet with the manager. A plus side for me is, these are pictures of things Kenyan. The ones hanging on the walls currently are all of places outside Africa, let alone Kenya!
  
  To close, I leave you with an introspective post of a wedding photographer whose work I greatly admire. Enjoy!

• Mish Mash

  Posted: October 11, 2008, 7:49 am by egm

  Down to 1 post a month. That's sad! But, such is the way of life. Too much going on that makes regular posting impractical.
  
  September was a dead month! Very few jobs coming my way. I thought it was just me, but I hear from others they faced similar stuff. October, by contrast, has been a great month, with a job almost every other day! And this barely two weeks into the month. The funny thing is, I had put out an offer to friends for free photo shoots. I needed to practice photography! Otherwise I'd find myself regressing. As soon as I'd put out these offer, jobs started streaming in. So that offer had to be placed on hold.
  
  The highlight of October will be covering the wedding of two good friends of mine. 3 days before the first anniversary of the first wedding I covered from start to finish with Raul.
  
  I had my first engagement session late September. A couple that is getting married in December wanted to have photos of both of them taken. So I spent about an hour and a half with them having a blast taking their photos. What a way to break the ice with a couple, such that by the time of their wedding they are comfortable enough with you that they look free and naturally relaxed in their pictures. Something I probably need to do more of.
  
  Some of the downtime afforded me opportunity to try things other than photography. So I decided to try my hand at baking. The problem with that is, once you know how to bake something, then you keep doing more of it, and before you know it the kilos start piling up. So it has to be controlled!
  
  The holy grail of baking is the black forest cake. I tried it the first time round, and it came out less than I'd expected. But some friends that tasted it said it was okay. Maybe they wanted to spare my feelings, bless them.
  
  
  
  Round two turned out much better. Still not perfect, but closer to it. And tasted a whole lot better! I used up an entire 250ml bottle of Viceroy on it. Maybe I should not say that out loud lest I get murderous glances from some that shall remain unamed!
  
  
  
  Kirima in this post reminded me of days gone by when photographing things as simple as bees on a flower provided much excitement to me. I realise now that there's a danger of being too focussed on the money aspect of photography that you lose the passion for photography in and of itself. Which, if one is not careful, can lead to sub-par images. And so I am taking it upon myself to re-ignite that passion. Thanks Kirima for that reminder!
  
  Enough of this mchanganyiko maalum of a post. Time to go off and click away. Nice weekend y'all!

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes