Adios, Ciao, Bye

The rest of the group headed back to Chapel Hill left early this morning. We had a wonderful dinner last night with the entire group at a restaurant called Don Quixote. Everyone is pretty sad to leave. We really bonded with each other through working on our stories and spending time being social in Santiago. I think everyone was ready to move on though, as I am. A part of me would be really exicited to be heading back to Chapel Hill today, but the rest of me is looking forward to the adventure of South Africa. And of course all of me is excited to see Rebecca today in London!

I never made it to the beach here. Sad... But there are a few palm trees in Santiago.

July 25 Fireworks

As promised, here is a shot from the fireworks I missed. Taken by Leah Latella. The site might not be up until mid August, but it's worth the wait. The whole July 25th story turned out really well!

Missing Home

I'm not usually one to miss home while I'm away, but for the past few days I've been wishing that I were heading back to good ol' Chapel Hill at the end of this week. I miss my room and my favorite coffee shops, and my friends. I am definitely excited to see Rebecca for a few days though. Unfortunately it didn't work out for here to visit me here in Santiago, but I am glad to see her environs and hang out in London a bit.

Things here are winding down for the photogs. I'm working on timings to sync the photos and audio. Yesterday and today we're covering the huge festival that's going on here. Nobody really knows which holiday they're celebrating but one of them is about Saint James or something. They lit up the cathedral last night with a beautiful display of fireworks. I'll try to snag a photo from one of the others who was assigned to shoot that, because I had a terrible view from the carnival where I was stationed. I ran into some crazy Galicians later who insisted I join them for a beer. It didn't take much to twist my arm because I had been shooting the rides for way too long. They were all about my age and it was good to get their perspective on many things, including American politics (uck), and Galicia and the fight for independence from Spain (a recent mini-bomb went off here a few days ago, it was no big deal in the end but of course caused a little scare). I also told them all about North Carolina. In the end it was quite a cultural exchange. I'm off now to continue shooting the festival. Today I'm assigned to the big square in front of the Cathedral.

Vilarello

My time in Vilarello, Galicia was wonderful. A town of about 10 people, it is tucked far up into the mountains where the loudest sound is the buzzing of bees. I accompanied another student, Anna, who is doing a story on the village, which likely will not exist in 10 years. There was an issue of her safety with some of the villagers, so I gladly went along. I wrote captions for the Rapa photos, hiked a bit and had a chance to clear my head and breathe deeply. The trip took over 3 hours to get there, with the last hour spent winding narrow roads, hoping another car wasn't coming down.

Things here are coming together slowly. The audio people (who are mostly Galicians) almost had a mutiny yesterday. I was out shooting some final shots for the stone story, but apparently they do not like the direction they're being given. Things seem to be much calmer today as people finish up audio, write captions and tone their images. We're having a big meeting tonight to look at all the photos, hear the audio that's done and probably deal with any big issues. Everyone here is really stretched to learn how to work with others. And I was thinking the other day that this project is really quite ambitious in what it is trying to accomplish, and I don't know of any other quite like it. So it's very natural for there to be plenty of kinks and problems along the way, since most here have not done this before. And we also keep coming back to the fact that, "Hey, we're in Spain!"

El Mundo

Madrid's big paper, El Mundo, had an article about our project today. They featured one of my photos! Looks like Rebecca and I are getting lots of press this summer! >View the article.

I am off tomorrow for a remote village. Should be fun! We turn in all our photos and captions Sunday at 10pm. Nobody's sure what we're doing after that, but we are definitely going to the beach!

One More Story

I write this entry from my car, overlooking a huge quarry while listening to classical music. I am waiting for the light to soften a bit before I take a photo. Why am I taking photos of a quarry? Well, just as things were winding down with the Rapa story (writing captions, doing a final edit to go with the audio, etc) me and my sound person, Jessica, were assigned another mini-story about stoneworkers. Apparently Galicia is famous all over Europe for its stonework, and I can see why, because almost everything is made of beautiful old stone. So I’ve been shooting a story about a guy who is restoring a stone house (a 4 year project for him and his crew) as well as visiting some quarries and other places where rock is cut and shaped a bit. It’s been another pretty fun story, although tracking down all these people and places has been a source of frustration between me and Jessica, since our way of doing things is slightly different. I like to ask all the questions up front (like, “Will you be working with stone when we come tomorrow?”) and it seems Jessica is a little more timid about asking strangers about their schedule (and since she’s doing most of the talking b/c I don’t speak Gallego, she has to be the person to ask). I had my first real argument in Spanish, as a result, but things are ok now. Jessica is trying to finish editing all the audio from the Rapa into a 3 minute piece, which also presents a challenge, and taking time away from her to do this mini-story is probably not the best idea. But if I’ve learned anything in Photojournalism, it’s that there always plenty of problems to be solved. I am probably also going to help out with another story that is in a very remote village. I’m told it’s absolutely beautiful. I am mostly coming along to help with driving and some Spanish. I’m excited to see more of Spain! There are plenty of things that us photographers have been complaining about (most things due to lack of communication from above), but we always come back to the fact that we’re in Spain!

And just to mention two random things: 1. I really love driving around in Spain. There is something about driving around in a foreign country that makes me feel independent and free because I had the same experience driving last summer in Mexico and of course last month in Ireland. 2. While writing this entry I had to translate from Spanish. I am now thinking mostly in Spanish! No dreaming yet though.

Different Worlds

Sunday marks the last day I will be shooting for my story. The past two days I've been visiting the little town, Amil, where the Rapa will take place. Today I trampsed around in the woods amidst the mountains following those who herd the wild horses together then take them to a pin where they're kept until it's time for the shaving. About every other thought was, "I can't believe I'm in the middle of Spain chasing wild horses. Is this for real?" All the other thoughts though were about Rebecca in London, a city that despite it's relative proximity, seems worlds away. I wish I could have beamed her in today for the hike, as I know how much she would have enjoyed it.

You might be wondering what else I've been doing with my time, since these Rapas only happen on the weekend. Besides one day that we returned to Sabucedo to see the small village after the Rapa there was over, I've been trying to help out the other photographers as much as possible, since some groups have had trouble communicating in other languages. I've been to the coast, and I really hope to return and spend some time at the beach. Right now I have quite the farmer's tan, being out in the sun all day for various days. Oh, and I learned to count to 10 in gallego. Can't spell it though, or I'd prove it for you. The galician language is very similar to spanish (castellano) and portuguese. It's a beautiful language, really. And so far I have been able to understand most of what people say, although once I respond to them in castellano they swith over so I can really understand. Finally, I've posted a second rough edit of photos. Rough Edit II.

Rebecca OK

London was hit today with what appears to be terrorist attacks. I have heard from Rebecca via email that she was about to get on the train this morning to go to work when it was evacuated. She is safe in a random hotel for now. Please keep her in your prayers, as well as all those in London.

Works Well With Others? : 1 2 3 4 5

I have been out shooting three days now, and finally had today to take a breather. I met with various members of our group so we could all get on the same page about what the story is and how we're going to tell it. I think the biggest challenge so far has been that we all have different ideas about how to do things, and various levels of experience and skill. Those trained at UNC (myself and the designer) know how our director Rich wants things to be, but the others do not, and apparently have not been told. Things like, we absolutely have to have names of all the people in the photos, unless it is totally impossible. Today was a bit frustrating as I realized we were all lacking bits of important information. For instance, I just learned from the designer today that the enter site is going to be about "The Ancient Way" or traditional ways of doing things that are changing or dying out. For me personally, I also struggle with knowing how and when to step in, as a leader, and help guide things. With this group, that is not a very easy thing to do. So I am surprised that the challenges with this project are not in photography, but in working with others. I think for today, I'll give myself a 3 or 4, but of course I am aiming for the 5. You may view a rough edit of about 30 images from the 3 day festival in Sabucedo. I am shooting one more festival this weekend and then will pretty much be done shooting, although I will keep shooting other things on my own.

Rapa Das Bestas

At 5pm Friday I was told I would be leaving the next day to cover a traditional festival called "Rapa Das Bestas" (that's a Galician term for Shaving the Beasts). It started in the Bronze age when people lived out among the wild horses, and would shave their manes and tails in the summer to keep them cooler. But now it's a tradition, where people from small villages gather horses from the mountains then herd them into the town where they tackle each horse and remove their hair. As you can imagine it gets quite wild in the ring and I'm happy to say that I'm still alive, even though I was in there with them today! It is going to turn into a great story, I think, as we continue gathering content (photos and audio) from various other villages that do the Rapa Das Bestas. I am working with a Galician student, Jessica, who does audio and a graphic designer and infographics person. The good news is, our deadline to have all the photos turned in is July 17, so I will have some free time in Spain! Look for more photos once I have more free time. I shot over 1,000 the first day, but I'm going on a 250/day diet from now on. Now I'm headed to bed because we're up early again tomorrow.

Safe in Santiago

After a delayed flight (6 for 6!), I arrived in Santiago Thursday afternoon without a hitch. Caught the bus into town, found some directions to my dorm and was able to check in a day early. The room is quite nice, with lots of light from a skylight sort of thing that I can swing open to let in air. The photo is a view from my room if I stick my head out. That cathedral is one of the most beautiful I've seen. La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is still my favorite though.

For those who may not know, I am here in Spain for a summer school class through UNC, in collaboration with the University here and one in Chile. We're doing multimedia storytelling, and I'm on the photography team (though I hope to participate some with the multimedia team). When it's over at the end of this month we'll have produced a site much like the one from last year (chiloestories.org). The rest of the group (including students from Chile) does not arrive until Friday afternoon, so I've just been exploring the city and catching up on fun stuff, like posting photos from Ireland! (there's a link on the side, or you can view the photos here .)