Jason and I are preparing to head back down to The Gambia next week. After a sojourn in the UK (and a flying visit back home to NYC), our first assignment back on West African soil, for a feature article, is to walk the 80km coastline of The Gambia. So, it’s time to lace up our sorely neglected walking boots – or, my case, polish off my old Birkenstocks – hey, if I can walk 930km around the small West African country, I’ll be virtually sprinting 80km.
Although we’ll be treading some familiar ground – and no doubt seeing some familiar faces along the way – but we’re excited about exploring parts of the coastline we haven’t done so before.
In early December, 2012 – mid-January, 2013, we followed the course of one of Africa’s last major free-flowing rivers – the River Gambia. Along the way, Jason documented the everyday life of those people who’s lives depend on the river.
From the source of the of the river – in the Fouta Djallon Highlands of Guinea-Conakry, through the riverside goldmines of south west Senegal, on into The Republic of The Gambia itself, where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean – we had an incredible journey, discovering the regions that we passed through; including dodging hippos and hair raising moto-taxi rides with stoned bikers! Welcome to behind the scenes of our River Gambia travels…
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We hope you enjoyed the ride. You may also like to check out our Floriotravels Youtube page, where you can see snippets of our journey in motion.
Updates coming soon on our pending travels, back down to West Africa
For the last couple of years we have been asked to donate prints to Critical Exposure – for their Picture Equality fundraising auction; to which we have readily agreed to. It’s such a good cause, which helps to raise thousands of dollars.
‘Critical Exposure teaches youth to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change.’ About Critical Exposure
This is Critical Exposure’s 10th Anniversary and last year they raised over $30,000 for their programs, to help empower youth through the medium of photography – which falls in with the ethos of what we are endeavoring to achieve with our ‘Photos Tell Stories: teaching photography – a visual language‘ workshops; we held the inaugural workshop in The Gambia, West Africa, earlier this year.
Please help spread the word, to make 2014’s auction an even bigger success – you can even bid for Jason’s print or for donated prints from other photographers, including Ed Kashi, Ami Vitale, and National Geographic.
We are already missing being physically present at Photoville this year. The phenomenal Brooklyn based unique photo destination is, to date, one of the most enjoyable exhibitions we have ever done . We were astonished at the volume of people who passed through our exhibition shipping container doors over the course of PV 2013 – 1000’s of people, who may otherwise never have seen the body of work we exhibited.
Photoville has yet another stellar cast of photographers exhibiting at this years event – last years had over 50 shipping container exhibitions! – and a multitude of workshops and panel discussions, including:
La Frontera: ‘With this long term project I document cultural activities in what used to be some of the worlds most dangerous cities along the US/Mexican border. Since 2008 I photographed 180 artists along the entire 2000 miles long divide to show the vibrant cultural side of a region that is usually portrayed by the international media with the sole focus on violent crime... .’ Stefan Falke
Personal Projects, Long Term Commitments– panel discussion with *Julie Grahame/aCurator & Stella Kramer/Stellazine: ‘Meet three photographers who are successfully executing personal projects. Marvi Lacar will talk about her project concerning mental illness, Andi Schreiber will talk about her series “Pretty, Please,” exploring middle-age in a youth-obsessed culture, and Catherine Chalmers looks at bugs, most recently working with leaf cutter ants in Costa Rica. They will present their work, discuss the long-term commitments involved and take questions afterwards.’
*Julie and Stella – a formidable duo – are the best at what they do (individually and together). Therefore, if you need to book for this panel, book it now!
Iraqi Detainees – ordinary people, extraordinary ordeals – Chris Bartlett: ‘Beautiful and humanizing portraits of Iraqi former detainees who were arrested, tortured and released without charges in the first years of the war.’
There are many, many more incredible exhibitions and talks in the PV 2014 program – we could list them all! However, why not click over to their website and check it out for yourself: Photoville Exhibitions. You can then click through to the various sections for the workshops, panels, and so on.
Although we have been enviously watching, from across the Atlantic, the preparations unfold towards this years PV opening (Sept 18th), and although we can’t be there in person, we will be there – in spirit or should that be, print. We were/are extremely flattered when the wonderfully energetic, organised, and truly inspiring PV team (especially founders: Sam, Laura, and Dave), asked us to exhibit the ‘River Gambia‘ images on the NY Waterway’s East River Ferry – as part of a series of exhibitions from various photographers. We believe our exhibition will run sometime in early October, for 3-4 weeks. We’ll keep you posted on that, as and when it happens.
Thanks Photoville guys – big love! And, to everyone involved in or going to this years event – have a blast and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, be truly inspired, wander amongst 1000’s like-minded souls, and take in this exceptional view!
PHOTOS TELL STORIES - documentary | filmmaking | photography | people | travel 