PORTFOLIO

Through these selected photographs I have combined my love for portraits and extreme close ups. I incorporated these two ideas into capturing the animal, person or nature's true God given beauty and natural emotion.

ENJOY!

HABARI

From June 14-24, 2009 I was fortunate enough to be a part of a group of students who embarked on many adventures through the beautiful land of Tanzania! This trip opened my eyes to a completely different culture and way of living. During the trip I decided to take advantage of everything it had to offer. From the amazing food, hunting with the Bushmen, to capturing breath-taking scenes on camera, God never seemed to stop revealing the true beauty and greatness he placed upon this earth! I can't stress enough how much this trip has meant to me! Thank you Brooke and everyone else for making my trip to Tanzania the best trip of my life!

6/15 (Check into Lodge) Rivertrees Lodge

After a 16-hour flight to Tanzania From Memphis, I was ready for a shower and some good sleep. We met up with Brooke at the airport and met our guides for the 10 days we will spend in Tanzania. Our Guides are Elisa and Jackson. We will be riding in 2 huge green Land Rovers that have 3 roof tops that open and a built in cooler. It was a rough bumpy drive to Rivertrees Lodge but it only took 30 minutes. There was not much to see because everything was dark. We had a late dinner of soup, nachos, and quiche - Yummm! I have a room to myself which is fine with me and I’m sure that is fine with everyone else. The rooms were nice and had mosquito nets that came down over the bed. The toilets flushed and the shower was hot. Oh and there is Wi-Fi!

6/16 (Arusha National Park)

Waking up happened early for me today even though today was the only day we would get to sleep in! 5am! Every morning people get up at 5am to go to morning worship. I woke up to chanting which went on forever! I guess I will have to get use to it because I will probably wake up to it every morning. Not Happy about that ! Anyway – we had a good breakfast, which consisted of eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee and toast. Hopefully we will have some Tanzanian food soon. We started our 1^st Safari a little late today because we had an orientation. Safari – we loaded up around 9am into our two huge Land Rovers with our guides Jackson and Elisa. Just from the ride from the Airport I can tell these two Guides are going to be awesome. As soon as we got to Arusha National Park we saw three giraffe. It was such a relief to see them so close to us because that means better shots. All I have to say is what a great way to start of my morning. Lets back track…. What really made everyone’s morning was seeing the Waterbuck running across the field right behind the lodge. Today’s Safari was mainly a practice run for what to expect and how to go about taking pictures. We ended up seeing Zebra, Buffalo, Savanna Baboons, White tailed lemurs, some blue Monkeys, Water Buck, Giraffes, Flamingos, Gray Crowned Cranes, and one Hyena. It was a busy day. I was in the car with Bailey the whole day, which was very fun because we got the whole car to ourselves.

Jackson was an amazing guide. He would give us the answer to any question we asked him and the best part about Jackson was he knew how to joke around. I think the highlight of the day for me was seeing the Giraffes and the Baboons. The Baboons were everywhere. They walk as a Troop and can have us to 60 in a Troop. I have absolutely no complaints about today. I am going to try to be very optimistic and high spirited the whole trip because I am so blessed to even have the opportunity to go on this trip let alone actually be in Tanzania like this. I am so excited about the next 9 days because I will be spending it with a really awesome group.

This is not surprising but Jackson asked me to call him grandpa today. Babu (Grandpa) and I am his grandson. This is very Cool.

6/17 (Tarangire National Park)

Today was our last day in the River Tree Lodge. Even though our wake up call was 7am, I woke up again to the call to Worship. I listened to the whole thing because I know I would not be able to go back to sleep. The call to worship was mostly like one person singing, but it sounded like chanting to me. We had breakfast at 7:30am and packed up ready to leave at 8:30.

Today we drove 2 and1/2 hours to the Tarangire National Park. This park was nothing like yesterday’s safari. It was completely open (no fences). The Land was very dry and a whole lot less forested. I was definitely a lot more prepared today for the safari than yesterday. Today I rode with Brooke, Mi’chel, Christina and Nicole. Our sighting today consisted of Giraffe, Waterbuck, Impala, Zebra, Elephant, Baboon, Blue Balled Monkey, Lovebirds, Eagle, Helmeted Guinea Foul, Red Billed Hornbill, Golden Weaver, Superb Starling, Ostrich, Suricates, Mongoose, Hyrax, Wildebeest, and Dik Dik. Today was again a full day. In the Park there are 300 different types of birds. Today’s highlight was having the Elephants just 15 feet in front of us, seeing all the birds and being chased by Baboons. The scariest thing that happened was having 10 Baboons run by me trying to take our food. I have never so close to such a fierce monkey before. It was exciting but scary for a minute. I have learned so much about my camera and about what to take notice of when shooting wildlife. Today was a blast! I had so much fun taking pictures with Christina and Mi’chel. They never stopped cracking me up. The sun today was extra bright. I could feel the heat piercing my skin, which is why I got so burned. Today alone was worth every penny I spent on this trip. The landscape views we saw were breathtaking and the trees were so beautiful. The Upside-down tree is probably the biggest tree I have ever seen. They were at least 10-15 feet in diameter. The phrase we learned today and used nonstop was Simama, which means stop. Elisa told us to tell him that whenever we wanted to stop. We took full advantage of that. After the safari we drove 20 minutes down the rode to the Tangangika Wilderness Camps. On the way there we saw the prettiest sunset. I cannot put words on how beautiful it was. We arrived at the camps around seven. The cabins look like regular huts, like you would see in Tanzania but inside there is a big tent that covers the whole hut. The tents seem a lot nicer and are a lot bigger. The power is by solar panels. Just to paint a picture of how out in the bush this camp is, directly behind the huts are Zebra, Hyenas, and Wildebeest roaming the land. To top the day and night off… When you look up at the sky all you see are billions of stars. I definitely do not see this clear a sky in Jackson. What a day! I think I will pack up because I just heard a Zebra by my porch. Got to go check it out. Quote of the Day – (Meryl) “ Di to the O” Ditto

6/18 (2nd Safari at Tarangire National Park)

God is amazing! Today could not have been anymore fulfilling.

We decided as a group(actually Brooke) to get up at 5am, which was not that bad except for the fact that I literally did not get any sleep. I got in bed around 1:30 and just as I was falling asleep I heard some thing rustle in the grass. This being the first night sleeping sort of in the wild, I freaked out. I was not scared about the animals per say. I was mainly scared about someone coming into my tent and stealing my stuff. The noise of movement in the grass, grass being eaten and footsteps on my porch kept me up for 2 hours. Anyway, that was not the amazing part of the day.

The reason for getting up so early was the have a better chance finding Lions and other animals that comes out in the morning. Elisa was our driver again and put extra Fanta in the cooler today. He knows me to well. We ended up riding around the park really fast without stopping so that we could spot a Lion. It just so happens that we drove up on five female lions sleeping under an upside down tree. We could not have gotten a better spot (right in front) just 15 feet away from us. Behind us was the older male Lion, but he was behind a lot of bushes. I learned that Lions feed one day and rest two days. Fortunately we found them on their rest day. My next goal is to see a kill and a Hippo! We ended up taking pictures of the lion for an hour and I got 200 pictures out of it. This was just the morning.

The day just got better and better. We spotted a Leopard a little later and followed it until it ran up a tree. Even with my 500mm lens I could not seem to get a close picture of the Leopard. They blend in very well. However, I did get a great picture of the Leopard right before he jumped up in the tree. Nicole had the quote of the day. We egged on Elisa to go forward more so that we could see the leopard, but when he pushed the accelerator the car got stuck. Nicole jokingly said, “Be careful what you wish for”. The Leopard was eyeing us up and down as lunch. Seeing the Lions and the Leopard was pretty much the only new animal we saw today. After the Safari we stopped at two tribe market stores. A certain tribe ran the first market where the women made everything by hand. They were all dressed in blankets and robes and had beaded necklaces on and six earrings in their ears. Some had wholes in their ears the size of a half dollar. Everyone bought something. I bought two bowls and a Christmas ornament. I learned fast that making deals with the women was important because they would usually go down in price a little. At the end of both markets the women sang to us and danced. I was so amazing to get a taste of their culture. It was truly a blessing that we saw them because it helped show me that even with just a little bit in life you can be happy and dance and celebrate. The rest of the day was break time before dinner.

Update – Not much sunburn, no mosquito bites, bruises all over my body from hitting the car on every bump in the road. Getting along with everyone….. So far!

6/19 (Kirurumu Lodge)

I slept like a log last night and did not wake up once from the Zebra. We left the Tangangika Wilderness camp around 8:30 and headed up the mountain to Kirurumu Lodge. On our way there we stopped at the local hospital. This hospital is meant for curable and preventative medicine. Patients with HIV, malaria, really any illness can come to the hospital. It was very humbling to see all of the people who were there with some kind of sickness and not have the money to pay for it. We then toured a village where a few families live. These families mostly grew banana trees. One tree will produce one season worth of bananas and then its cut down half way. The people use every part of the banana tree. They use the leaves for roofing and art. We saw how the people live and what they do on an everyday basis. The children are so use to American and other foreigners giving them money and candy that they hold out their hands waiting for something to eat. If you take a picture of someone, they will expect something in return. We visited a hut where six men make wood sculpture and sell them to tourist and local vendors. Another thing I have learned is how to barter. It’s amazing that you can get almost half price of anything you buy. We then drove up the mountain to Kirurumu Lodge. Getting there was rough. We drove up the mountain on a rode where every inch of the ground had a bump, rock or hole. Christina and I almost lost our lunches towards the end of the drive. Kirurumu greeted us with orange juice and carried every ones’ bags to their room. I will say that every place we have stayed has had excellent service. They go to great lengths to make us feel comfortable. Thanks to Brooke’s critique of my pictures, I have a plan of what to do for my portfolio. Dinner was good except it was cut short because we had planned to go on a night drive. There is only on place in Tanzania that offers “Night Game Drives.” We all piled into a huge open Land Rover which had a driver, a spotter and a man with a gun. We saw Hippos, Bush Babies, Horned Billed Birds, two Lions, Impala and we chased a Hyena. The spotter in the front vehicle had amazing vision and could spot an animal about 60 yards away on the dot. I didn’t get any really good photos of the Hippos, but sometimes it’s just about the experience. I think that Babs (my grandmother) would rather me have a great experience than have difficulty trying to capture it in a photo. We got back at the lodge around 11:30 and I for the first night went right to sleep.

6/20 (Drive to Lake Eyasi and Kisima Ngeda Tented Camps)

I am sitting on the most comfortable bed/couch that is on my front porch. I have my 100% Deet bug spray on and still have not had one mosquito bite. I spoke too soon. I just got two bites on my leg. Hopefully they did not have malaria. Tonight had probably been the most relaxing night yet. It is just warm enough for shorts but just cool enough to be comfortable. I could fall asleep right here because of how the palm tree branches swaying in the wind sound like rain. Everything is so beautiful.

Today: Our wake up call this morning was for 7, which was somewhat late compared to the previous days - even thought I woke up at 5 am to the chirping of birds. I thought my head was going to explode. I eventually dozed off until 6:30. We had fruit, sausage, coffee with chocolate and toast. I passed on the eggs because it made me sick the day before. Today we traveled three long hours towards Lake Eyasi. The road we traveled tops every road we had been on up to this point. It was non-stop bumpiness and as Elisa called it the “Dancing Roads”. As we road in the car, we drove past little villages with random housed along the side of the road. It was sad seeing how these people live and seeing houses built just out of sticks and mud. Almost every house we passed had children that would run up and hold out their hands for pretty much anything but for the most part it was “Pee Pee” which means candy in Swahili. The youngest boy we saw as 3 years old. It breaks my heart to see them like that but I think they shouldn’t be trained to think that if they beg, they would get something. After three hours we made it to Kisima Ngeda Tented Camp. The lodge sits at the edge of this huge lake that is mostly dried out during this time of the year. The lodge has a pool and a fresh water fishing pond where kids come down to fill up their jugs with water. Since most of the day was spent with travel, we had the afternoon off to show Brooke pictures and walk out on the lake. Meryl, Mi’chel, Jamie, Christina and I went out on the lake and saw where all of the children bring their goats and cows to get food and water. On the way back to the lodge, I spotted some sap coming out of the tree that looked pretty cool and Jaime can vouch for me. I started taking pictures of it and some of the kids showed me that they eat the sap. I pulled some down and they went crazy. They were fighting over who would eat it. Obviously it was like candy to them but it was so sad to think that it might have been a few days since they had eaten. Around 6pm we headed up the mountain that looked over the lodge and the lake and saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. We had a delicious steak dinner and had flan for dessert. I think that was the only bad part of my day. Its 10pm and we have to get up at 6 am. I am getting to bed!

6/21 ( The Hunt)

This morning I got up at 6am! Even though I went to bed somewhat early I felt like I had not gotten any sleep. The short story about my night is that I hallucinated for about 2 hours. It was not a fun night. Today was extremely unique because we were going to hunting with the Hadzabe tribe. I was pumped to see a kill because the whole time we have been on this trip I had not seen a kill. Today was my lucky day. We practiced shooting arrows with the hunters before we went on our hunt. Trying to pull back the string on the bow was extremely tough, but Bailey and I ended up being the best shots out of everyone in the group. Going to camp every summer sure paid off! The Hunt was so much fun even though they killed two Bushbabies (Africa squirrels) and a Monkey. However, that is their way of life and that’s how they survive. The hunt was intense and it even got to me a little bit. I felt bad for Christina because she got pretty upset after the first Bushbaby was killed. I don’t blame her one bit because seeing them take so much time to kill this one little animal was heart wrenching. After the hunters killed the monkey they built a fire and threw the monkey on the fire still alive. It was definitely something you don’t see everyday. Well just to make it more interesting, the eldest man ate the brain of the monkey and they offered each of us a small bite of white monkey meat. We all ate it and just for the record; monkey meat tastes like chewy, gamey chicken. All of us had a hard time looking at meat that night at the dinner table.

The rest of the day consisted of meeting a blacksmith and his family of the Datoga tribe. The blacksmith made eating utensils, jewelry, and spears for hunting. He even made Meryl a spoon that day. You could tell that they lived a lot better than the Hadzabe tribe because they had actual clothes and jewelry on. The next family we visited was also a part of the Datoga tribe, but they just lived a little differently than the blacksmith’s family. They lived in strong huts made out of mud and stick and had a fence that surrounded their houses. The man of this family had 3 wives and at least 5 children. They seemed to live a little better because they had more jewelry, more wives, and better housing. Oh, and right as we were leaving we asked the man if he was going to have anymore wives and his response was that we could leave Mi’chel and Christina with him. I will take that as a Yes! It was a very long day, but I am glad we did it because now I can say I ate monkey! I hope I get better sleep tonight.

6/22 (Travel to Plantation lodge)

We woke up around 8 and had a delicious breakfast and headed off towards Plantation Lodge. The road today was not bad at all because we drove on a paved road almost the entire time. Plantation Lodge was the nicest Lodge we stayed in the whole time. All of us stayed in this one huge house with four rooms, two decks, a dinning room area, and a fireplace with couches. It was so luxurious. They had down comforters and beds that were better than Temper Pedic beds. We had a nice relaxing afternoon by the pool again and had a great dinner with our favorite zucchini soup. This was our second-to-last night so we decided to have a small house party. We ended up having a dance party with me as the DJ and instructing everyone how to properly dance! We all had a great night. (yeah yeah, sure!)

6/23 (Ngorongoro Crater)

Today was our last safari and we definitely fulfilling day. We traveled down the mountain into Ngorongoro Crater, which at first was a horrible ride for Mi’chel, Christina and me because for some reason or another we were all sick. However, after some Advil and a Fanta we felt like new people. It was one of the coolest drives we had because there was fog pouring over the mountain and the view was absolutely breathtaking. We had a very exciting day because we saw another group of Lions lying in the grass. We also saw two Cheetahs, a Rhino about 500 yards away and an animal on animal kill. Ok, it was only a Jackal holding a bird, but it was still a kill. We ate lunch at one of the two Hippo pools in the crater. We only saw the heads of the hippos because during the day they stay under water. The best part of the day for me was when we drove to the other Hippo pool. I really do think there were sixty Hippos in that pool. It was one of the coolest sites we saw on the trip. We also got to see two Hippos mating, which is very rare to see. Our drive back was spectacular. Our car looked out the tops of the car the whole time looking back at what we were leaving behind. On the ride up the mountain we laughed so much we almost had to stop and get out to catch our breath. Our car had the best time bringing up old stories about school; family, and even old TV shows we watched! It’s hard to believe that we will be in an airplane flying back home!

6/24 (Flight Back Home)

We made it to our last lodge where we only stayed long enough to get showers and eat an extremely fast dinner. I got the recipe for that Zucchini soup we all liked. I am going to miss Africa so much because this has been the best trip I have ever been on. I have had so much fun with our group and our guides. We really became a family on this trip. Along with having so much fun, I learned so much about another culture and how they wake up in the mornings and go about their day just surviving. I will miss this place, but I am excited to get home to share my experience with everyone and hopefully change my lifestyle in more conservative way!