We just launched a new visual format for telling some of the stories we capture, incorporating several types of media: still images, video, sound, and slideshows.
Follow this link to view the first two we created! The first story is about Degie, a young woman in labor in rural Mota, Ethiopia , and the second story is about Fatuma, a camel milk producer near Jijiga, Ethiopia.
I had the honor of attending Dr. Catherine Hamlin’s 90th birthday party this month, and what a celebration it was!
Dr. Hamlin’s many decades of work surrounding maternal health in the area of fistula repair and prevention has earned her a well deserved Nobel Peace Prize nomination this year so there were many reasons to celebrate her life.
She was joyous and curious during the whole event, and even came to an intimate dinner party that same night. She is an incredible inspiration to many!
Nicholas Kristof wrote an article about her, and Oprah made a generous donation to the hospital in her honor.
I am hoping to be able to devote more time to the organization she started. First up: a redesign of their website and assistance with a revamped communications plan.
And yes, relaying more stories regarding how Hamlin Fistula Hospital saves and improves the lives of rural Ethiopian women.
Our first Prints For Prints project was quite the ride! Having only worked with the printers a few times before we left, we were a bit nervous about how we would perform in the field under extreme conditions. And we also did not know how we would work as a group, in Africa.
Soon after we arrived, we met up with my transportation and translator team in Ethiopia and they surprised us by taking us to see a football match between Ethiopia and Nigeria projected on a big screen which was set up in a beautiful park. It was the perfect place for both groups to get to know each other in a spirited setting.
The next morning, we got up early, grabbed our gear, and set out to go to Sheno, Ethiopia, the childhood home of our guide, Dani. His family let us set up the printers in their home so we could make photos and give prints to his extended family and to villagers around the area. It did not take long to get the process up and running, and within a few minutes we cranked out our first print.
It was a beauty!
I also brought prints that I had made before I left from images captured a year before and gave them to the family. It was an honor to spend time in this village and to see how much our prints were appreciated.
Once our process was humming along, we then branched out and made prints in various locations around Addis Ababa and in smaller villages outside of the city, some as far away as Lalibela and Arba Minch.
One other commitment of the Prints For Prints project is to train local students on various aspects of photography, in one-on-one sessions. We were fortunate to be able to coordinate this training with DESTA for Africa and the Nike Foundation’s Girl Hub projects.
It was especially gratifying to watch local students in the workshop take over the printing, and make and donate prints to others that they met on the streets and in compounds.
We printed from any spot we could find, and even sometimes while on the go!
We also loved giving our cameras to the subjects and letting them photograph us. Such fun!
We made prints in places we never imagined, such as on top floors of high rise construction sites, and also in hospitals in remote areas of the Afar region.
I also brought a print for each market worker I had photographed a year ago. We laid the prints out on the ground, and people searched for those they saw in the prints. My Ethiopian friend Habtamu and I gave each worker who arrived a print of themselves and they were really happy to receive it.
Here are two of my finished portraits, created in two scenarios. The first image is Fatuma and her daughter Semed, right outside of their kitchen where they prepare food for a hospital in the Afar region. The second image shows Raya in his place of employment, a construction site in the Bole region of Ethiopia.
There is much to process about this first trip, and I look forward to making a few changes to the process so that we can have an even better experience during the next offering of this service.
Thank you to the community of photographers and other supporters who generously donated their prints, time and ideas to make this project fly!
Joni Kabana, Portland, Oregon, USA
Wow! We just found out that one of my images made the Top Ten Photos list for Mercy Corps!
I remember this day so well…
I asked the camel milk producers if they could sing a bit so I could record it, and I received a full blown concert and performance. Such joy, such camaraderie. I learn so much from them!
I just returned from spending some amazing time with two groups of photography students in Ethiopia and I could not be more excited!
Each student had a different skill set level, but each and every one of them had an incredible eagerness to learn and their love for the craft was so very apparent. Passion abounds in Ethiopia for learning photography!
However, some students did not have access to a camera and had to borrow ours for the day. I would love to find cameras, lenses, photography books, and other supplies to donate to the new photography school that is being developed by the amazing Aida Muluneh through her DESTA For Africa organization.
Any donations can be sent or dropped off to me and I will ensure that they go directly to the school.
Many thanks for your consideration!
Prints For Prints participant Bill Purcell gives a quick lesson to a student in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia:
A student gives a print to a shoe shine woman and her baby:
Aida Muluneh and I, on the first day we met each other:
Making my way down the long dark hallway, I hear voices coming from everywhere. Booming voices, little chattering voices, a squeal of delight here and there, and just a tad of controlled angst from one isolated voice as curtain time nears.
I am backstage, at a rehearsal just before opening night of “Dream”, Oregon Ballet Theatre’s first performance of the new season. And I am in awe.
The elaborate costumes! The whirls of practice leaps! The whispers! The feet pawing at a box of stability ensuring rosin! The wide-eyed excitement from tiny dancer Cupid and lightning bugs and butterflies!
I don’t know much about dance except that I love to see it, and do it. Music flowing through a body, silence too: we don’t realize dance’s impact until we find ourselves shaking a leg at someone’s wedding or letting ourselves surrender to a drum in a village in Africa, or watching a professional dancer onstage move in ways we only wish we could.
Oh, how it can alter our mood, outlook on life and frame of reference to what is happiness. If only we would do it more often ourselves. But for now, our eyes can drink in the wonders of how our bodies are capable of expressing rhythm through the mastery of accomplished dancers.
Being backstage gives us a glimpse into the immense amount of work that goes into a performance. What strikes me the most is seeing the people who are sweeping the floors: they are true dancers themselves, back and forth and back and forth, they sway as the live orchestra warms up.
And the woman who is on duty calling the lights and curtains and stage entries…can she be more alert? Her gaze is steady and strong, coordinating so many moving parts and people and props and pulleys, yet she possesses a calm fortitude under immense pressure that is inspiring.
I wonder if being around the dancers influences a support staff’s dance. Perhaps we all should carry such grace into our daily lives.
I see a dancer, she must be new to the company, and she has the look of terror in her eyes. But I watch her search the eyes of a principal dancer as she observes their every move. Her eyes soften and fear is replaced by confidence as she sees this seasoned dancer wink at her. And with that, she enters the stage, dances with her heart, and exits with elation.
Inspiring, energetic, passionate, and feverish.
This is Oregon Ballet Theatre.
We will soon embark upon our Ethiopia 2013 Prints For Prints project. Today we gathered to do a test run on our printers, and all systems are GO!
Here are the members of the team with links to their websites:
L-R: Heather Binns, Bill Purcell, Constance Spurling, Joni Kabana, Steve Bloch
(Photo by Ben Opsahl)
The new poster is out for A Midsummer’s Night Dream!
I loved working on this. The principal dancers (Alison Roper, Brett Bauer) were amazing to work with, and it was an absolute delight to photograph the cupid and butterfly.
One thing that has become apparent while traveling anywhere is how precious a photograph print is to a family, especially in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Most families have no record or image of their loved ones, and when we are able to give prints to villagers, it is appreciated beyond measure.
So this November, I will be traveling to Ethiopia with a small team of photographers and we will set up a small portable studio in several villages. We will capture portraits and donate the prints to the families we photograph. In addition, each US photographer will be paired with an Ethiopian photographer so there is an exchange of talents: technical skills, cultural awareness, and love for humanity.
We are planning a fundraiser to help with the costs for this project. The concept is simple: we are calling the fundraiser “Prints For Prints”, and we will auction matted prints from photo-loving friends (both amateur and professional photographers). The prints will be sold at a very reasonable “affordable art” cost ($50-100 sliding scale) during a fun and relaxed party, followed by music by Portland’s very own Ethiopian funk band: The Tezeta Band!
This event will be held on August 8, 2013 starting at 7pm at the Secret Society Ballroom and we hope you will be able to attend.
All ages welcome until 8:30pm, then it is 21+.
Follow me at @jkabana on Instagram during November to see this project in action.
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PrintsForPrints
See our Website to view all of the prints and the fabulous photographers!
(Villagers in Marovoay, Madagascar look at a Polaroid photo that was just made with their family.)
I was interviewed for a story about obtaining fixers in foreign lands in Pop Photo.
Daniy sustains happy energy no matter what he is asked to do.