Masaai marrying modernity?

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Tanzania | Sunday, November 6, 2011 | 5 photos

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. The more my passion for photography deepens, the more I understand the importance of these words.

I have been working and travelling through post conflict Africa for charity for child soldiers which led to managing a feature film project for FOX Television. I played two roles on the film – Production Manager and unofficial behind the scenes photographer. The more I work in dynamic situations, the more I realise the world doesn’t need another photo that just looks at something. It needs one that says something. We are surrounded by hundreds of stories every day, and I am fortunate that through my work, I can help tell some of them.

I want and need to learn more about photography. My images are not published on websites or magazines because I don’t feel I am capturing an entire moment or story to the best of my ability. I’m not great with words. I sometimes struggle expressing my feelings and most frustratingly, my opinions on a subject. However with a camera, my point of view is clear. Not only am I showing a subject; a face of a child soldier, her past and her story is immediately captured in her eyes. Two stories, one picture, a thousand words.

I am fascinated by how modernity is steadily leaving imprints on what has remained a relatively untouched tribal lifestyle. Digital watches and mobile phones in amongst their tribal clothes most of which now printed with ‘Made in China’. In October I attended the wedding of Molell, a masaai warrior and the subject of my unedited submission “Masaai marrying modernity?” I explore how the masaai culture is subtly being infiltrated by modern consumerism and a rapidly globalising world.