Jodi Bieber

This week we have been asked by our lecturer (Harold Guess) to find a photographer that we like- whose photos we relate to and whose work could possibly influence our own. When I typed in the Google search bar, I looked for a female South African photographer. I found the talented Jodi Bieber who is well known and whose work, after looking through her portfolio is amazing! Click on this link to her site. Below is an example of her portrait shot of Bibi Ashia, a young woman who had her ears and nose cut off by her husband and in-laws. You can read more about it on Bieber's site :

Portrait shot of Bibi Ashia, taken by South African photographer, Jodi Bieber.

Nadia

A new found hobby perhaps?

*Amy Sutherland- an honours linguistic student, a baker and one of my confidants*

I wake up at 6am, bounce out of bed and eagerly skip to class these days. Yes, the sun is now rising earlier and I have sun streaking through my three bedroom windows, but I wake up so excited rather, to go to class and learn more about photography! I can officially say, that if I don’t take up another course to deepen my basic photographic knowledge, then I am quite happy to adopt it as a hobby along with baking, soduku, eating the said baked goodies, running to journalism department, reading a page of a book and so the ‘exhilarating’ list continues.

This week has seen me running around Grahamstown with my on-loan camera, taking shots of anything that our Intensive lecturer, Harold told us to. Wednesday was all about portrait shots. I have realised that I get so excited in his classes, trying to sponge up everything he says and then somehow forgetting to take notes. Just to give you an example of how bad my memory is, you can ask my closest friends about how I cannot for the life of me remember my ID number, it took me a good couple of months to learn my cellphone number and then there is the terrible, atrocious, horrible (they would fill in more adjectives if I gave them the chance to) fact that I can’t remember anybody’s birthday *face palm moment*. But, in my defence, I am trying and I have written down their birthdays in my diary, so there, if they read this post, I am trying dear Shire-lings. 

Anyway, domestic situation aside, yes, portrait shots! From what I (think I) remember, Harold told us to take pictures of people, five we know and five we don’t. Vary the shots- environmental shots (people in their environments/working places) and close ups. The most important thing to do (according to Nadia’s memory) was to get them to acknowledge you as the photographer- that there is an agreement between you and the person. Harold spoke to us about using the eyes as an opportunity to understand and gain access to another level of that person. Find out the person’s name as that is the first step towards how a normal picture and portrait will differ. By the time the lecture was over I was like Lewis Hamilton, ready to GO GO GO!

 

Out of the Journalism department and pounding the street was a different story though. It was a sweat-dripping scorcher of a day, and I found the sunlight to be quite harsh in some of my photos making the people I photographed squint, or frown, but there were some fairly decent shots. I also got my first rejection from a sangoma in training, she didn’t take to my bright, doe eyed wannabe photographer grin. Below are some of the photos that I really like and I got some good crit back from Harold. His advice thus far is in relation to my editing using photoshop (which is another story and a titanic one at that). Here are my pics! Please feel free to comment:

*Bron Mantel- a deep thinker, one of the people I care about and respect the most and a photographer herself*

*Mr Thomas- one of the most beautiful faces I have had the privilege of shooting since holding onto my trusty on-loan camera : ) *

*Thobani- a soccer enthusiast and the next big presenter/journalist (love him to bits)*

One of the things that I have enjoyed about this exercise is that I get to know people while I take photos, especially these portrait shots. People tend to get nervous with a camera in their face and I found that by just talking to them, asking them about their day, what makes them happy, what makes them sad or what their favourite food is can really make a difference. You get a grin that reaches the eyes, a hand that strokes a lip and then just like magic the memory  almost falls out their eyes as they describe their mother’s cooking or that the holiday was needed after a heavy term. That’s when I try and get them to glance at me and try capture that. I’m still working  on it, but as a rookie I am trying to learn as much as I can and just enjoy the experience of it all. And that, as my grampa Mr. Leonard Moore (or Lenny/Gramps to me) always says, makes all the difference. 

Nadia 

 

Intense intensives

A framed shot of five street lamps

Aperture. Shutter Speed. Composition. These words are as familiar to me as Afrikaans is to an American. This week has seen me leaving my beloved Radio behind and focusing on photography for our fourth year intensive course. Yesterday (Tuesday), we had to take our cameras (mine is a beautiful Canon) out into Grahamstown to complete an obstacle course. I had to try and see things in a new manner, no longer on the hunt for the best possible audio, but now getting as close to the ground as possible to take shots of litter and grass! 

I had always appreciated a regular ‘point and shoot’ camera, but our Photojournalism lecturer, Harold Guess expects us to take the camera off automatic and place it on manual (who does that honestly). This, he says, allows for creativity to set in. Take for example this shot that I took of cars driving on a street just around the corner from 'The Shire' (our student house). In this shot below, I had to twist a little button (still getting the names right) to make sure my aperture was at its highest (the hole exposing light is open to its widest) to ensure that as much light hit the lense considering it was quite a glum day and evening. Then I had to make sure that my shutter speed was really slow to ensure that lots of light came in. And then I got the shot of 'streaking car headlights'.

*If my terminology is wrong, bear with me, I'm still learning and I will get better! Comments with suggestions would be great*

One of the other obstacles we had to complete was to take a photo of the railway tracks that cut through Grahamstown. I got down quite low for this shot and I do think it is quite a beauty if I say so myself. Check it out below:

Taking a close up of Cara (my digsmate) applying makeup

I chose photography as my intensive to not only learn more about a new and interesting world of media, but to also challenge myself to think differently when telling stories. Radio is spoken and you can hear the emotion in people's voices, you can imagine the world they live in from the background sounds. I would like to think that photography is the same as audio as it snaps up a moment in time, giving you the image of a person's face and their background, but allowing your imagination to fill in all the gaps. 

One thing I have realised quite early on in this course is that the manner in which you compose a photo gives you as the photographer a lot of power. It gives you the power to shape the viewer's eye and to take them on a journey. That kind of power, combined with audio needs a lot of attention to detail and a responsible attitude. I think with that in mind and an ability to be aware of what your role as a media practitioner is, I should end up a pretty decent radio/photo journalist. :) 

If you have any suggestions of how I can improve my technique, drop me a comment or two! 

Nadia xo

Ant's view on the world

To the end of 30 minutes.

I am disappointed in myself. Not in my documentary, not in the material I have collected but rather in myself. This disappointment stems from missing out on the smaller things that could add to and make this documentary even better than it is currently. Let me explain where I am currently regarding ‘Women in Uniform’.

My script looking like a worn out soldier.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday saw me picking up my freshly printed paper edit and using it as a map- a guide through the experiences and stories of Karabo, Windvogel, Morodi, Zuma and Bikitsha.  Thank goodness almost 80% of my content was transcribed and I had thought of ‘future Nadia’ when putting together my paper edit! I found it quite easy to track down the individual clips in the mass of audio and that made the process go slightly faster. I quite enjoyed this process as I was keen to sit down and listen to what Karabo had to say about her day in the fire department, or what Morodi had to say about her love of being in the military. It was a good feeling being able to see and hear these different aspects come together in the program Adobe Audition 1.5, as opposed to seeing it only in my paper edit.

Saturday saw me laughing a few times and calling those around me to come and take a listen to what Karabo had to say about her fire suit being ‘supposedly’ fire resistant. I hadn’t realised how attached to this young fire fighter I had actually become. I was so happy to hear all of their voices, hear their mannerisms and see them saying all of this in my head. This part of the process made me feel like a real journalist as opposed to my usual role of a producer who facilitates the activities around me. Cutting clips, saving them and placing them in the order set out by my paper edit gave me a sense of pride in my work which I haven’t felt in a long time. This project felt like I was presenting the women with a platform to talk about issues that don’t get spoken about often enough. I was opening up the discussion though! Doing this through their daily experiences, through their stories as opposed to a sensationalist and explosive piece about the 6^th South African Infantry Battalion. 

A little snooze over the ever-changing documentary script.

Sunday. I was losing steam. At least this was one day of the week that I got to sleep in, have a cup of coffee and savour the crumpets my digsmate had made. Then I missioned to the Journalism Department- ready to record my narration and ‘klap’ everything together. Finally, all the tiny clips were coming together to look like a decent whole. The narration was in, the clips were in and I was editing and saving like a pro. Little celebrations were going off in my head. 

And then in hit me like a bad smell. My documentary was not 30 minutes long. It was 23 minutes. I was crushed. What to do? What to do? Should I continue my doccie and hunt down “filler” material from all my interviews? Should I just mix it down and call it complete at 23 mins? No. I will not compromise this collage of stories; important stories from Karabo, Windvogel, Morodi, Zuma and Bikitsha’s lives as women in uniform. I will not compromise my professionalism as a media practitioner. Yes, I have missed my deadline, and yes that makes me mad at myself, but I would rather follow through with this, to the end. To the end of 30 Minutes. 

So dear reader, there will be one more blog post when the documentary is complete. I hope you will stick around with me long enough to read it and to hear the final product because that’s why I do what I do; to not only create great journalism, but to get people like you to listen to and appreciate it. 

Yours in documentary making, 

Nadia :)

Scribble marks on the page, smudge marks on my face

I officially feel like a writer. The evenings see me sitting at my desk with the light of my lamp shining on my documentary script and my frustrated face. There are pencil and pen marks all over my revised script and every now and then I notice smudge marks on my cheek where I have been holding up my head as the hours slowly turn closer to 3am than I think. At this point, all I can say is that the creation and revision of a paper edit has officially become the hardest part of my documentary making process. 

I write, scratch out and re-write narration for the documentary. I feel moments of inspiration when I see the interview material from the women I have interviewed and there is hope! Here is a sneak peak of the opening of my doccie:

(Bikitsha): "When I was young I wanted to be in the military. I wanted maybe when there 100 years,when they talked about the people who defended the country, I wanted to be one of them."

(Zuma): When you join the defence force, it’s like a different ball game in a way... Most people have said that it’s a, being here it’s not just about getting employed, they refer to it as a calling because at the end of the day, you leave everything that you’ve known or you’re used to, and you sacrifice just for the well-being of the country... and it pays off. 

Actuality such as this has allowed my narration to be guided and moulded to where the documentary will go next. I like to think that Bikitsha and Zuma's words have the power to guide my thinking therefore the process of creating a paper edit has become a mutual process between myself and the five women. They may not realise it, but they are still helping me in this process even as I sit alone in the early hours. I feel that the content is quite sound and that these women have played their roles, but my work has only just begun.

This week has seen many tears surrounding this project. It has been a taxing week regarding this stage of the process but it is getting there. I have reverted to using a pencil to write out my narration as opposed to typing it and talking out loud to myself. I think this helps my focus and ensures that my narration is in line with how I actually talk, as well as hearing if it fits into the piece as a whole. I also have to keep reminding myself to yes, be an observer in the documentary, but to not place myself in it as having experienced things like the Fittest Soldier Competition. At least I am aware of these issues in the documentary and that allows me reflect and review my narration constantly. A good practice to adopt.

The next step of the process is to cut all the clips, place them in order and record my narration. By the end of the weekend, I will have a documentary about women in the sixth South African battalion and I will sip on a Hunters Dry in celebration.

Nadia