Food Banks Help Mothers Facing Famine In Niger

As a husband and father, my heart breaks for single mothers that work hard and still struggle to feed their children. I met a woman named Mary from the Fulfulde tribe in the village of Mbsowan whose husband left her and their three daughters because he couldn’t provide food for them. Now, Mary
must try to care for her children by growing millet on a small plot of land she owns. She is able to sell some of the millet she grows and uses the rest to feed her three young daughters for months after harvest.

Because everyone in the village was working the same kind of system of farming and selling, they would completely run out of food and have to travel farm to neighboring villages and sometimes other countries to find food. Mary told of times when her daughters would come to her crying because they were hungry and she didn’t have any food food to give them. It is painful to imagine having to tell that to my children, but even harder to think about my wife having to tell them because I am not there.

But this year crops did not produce well across Niger because they didn’t receive enough rain. Because Niger is landlocked and primarily made up of smaller subsistence farmers that don’t have irrigation systems, they rely on the rain to produce crops. No rain = no crops. No crops = no food.

Thankfully, Mary has food to feed her children because Operation Blessing built and stocked a food bank to help villagers keep a source of food within community. After harvest, they are able to sell their excess crops to the bank and during times of need, they can use that money to buy back food from the bank. Because the banks start completely full, there is capital to invest in more millet as the supply depletes. The food banks are working and families are being fed.

Operation Blessing has 17 food banks in Niger that are helping thousands of families, but for villages without a food bank, the food crisis still remains. More food banks are needed to help keep villages stocked with food and prepared for season ending dry spells that wipe out crops and threaten famine.

I’ve seen it first hand and want to be a part of the solution for other mothers like Mary. If you want to help be a part of the solution, you can help feed families in need with a donation to Operation Blessing: bit.ly/donate2OB

SEE RELATED POST: “Helping Families Overcome The Food Crisis In Niger”

Free “Punch Of Blue” Lightroom Preset

As a thank you for reading my blog, here is a preset I created when I wanted to add a punch of blue to my images. I like the contrast that can be created when a little blue is injected into darker tones of the image. I’m still using LR3, but for those of you lucky enough to be using LR4, you can use it by following these instructions. his can be converted for those of you lucky enough to be using LR4. I hope you enjoy it.

• Download TCece “Punch Of Blue”LR3 Preset.

The Story Behind The Photograph: Esther In Kenya

The Photo:

(Canon 5D MkII, 16-36mm f2.8 @ 1/2000 sec, 25mm, f2.8, ISO 100, Flash Fired)

Helping Families Overcome The Food Crisis In Niger

The past year has been difficult for the people of Niger as they have had to battle a drought that killed most of their staple crops – millet and sorghum. The UN’s World Food Programme, OXFAM, and other NGOs have stated that this drought, coupled with the extreme poverty found through the Sahel region of Africa, and increased food prices suggests that these families are on the verge of famine. I was in Niger a few months ago and the people I met all mentioned that their crops had not survived the drought and that tough times laid ahead because there will not be enough food in the country to feed everyone.

That’s why Operation Blessing is helping families store up seed in food banks that will be available to the villagers when it is hard to find elsewhere, but we are also teaching them to grow crops during the dry season. It is really helping the families where we are working, but there are many more that need our help as well. We’ve seen the effects of famine in the Horn of Africa this past year and we want to support as many families as we can in order to keep children from suffering. You can be a part of protecting these little ones. To make a donation to help fight famine, visit: http://bit.ly/fight_famine

You’ll be hearing me mention Niger more and more in the coming weeks as I talk about the families that benefit from dry season farming and the food banks.

Peruvian Sunset Wallpaper

This photo was taken in Lima, Peru while I was on a shoot with Vida Dura. Waves were crashing the the rocky shores as we watched the sun setting over Isle San Lorenzo.

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The Story Behind The Photograph: Jao In Niger

The Photo:

(Canon 5D MkII, 50mm f1.2 @ 1/200 sec, f2.2, ISO 100)

Clean Water and a New School Bring Hope to Masai Children Like Nairiamu

The trip to the Operation Blessing projects in Kimana was amazing. We were greeted by song and as we entered the school Operation Blessing built in the village. They had been in class for 3 weeks and the children were already learning Swahili, English, math, science, and social studies. I immediately noticed a 6 year old girl named, Nairiamu. She was sitting front and center and was smiling ear to ear as she sang to us and showed her grasp of the English language.

After talking to her teachers, I learned that she is always the first child to arrive at school and loves to sing and dance. She is also excelling in her studies and helping the younger kids with their english charts. Kiamuru’s mother said that she lives to go to school and wakes early to do her chores so she can get to class early.

In Masai culture most girls do not have the opportunity to go to school unless they are close enough to their home. Much of Nairiamu’s excitement is the privilege she now has to go to school because Operation Blessing built one in their village.

One of Nairiamu and her bother’s chores is to fetch water for her family. It is a 4 hour round trip carrying a little 5 liter bucket on her back with a piece I fabric on her head holding it up and bearing most of the weight. This also limited her ability to go to school. Operation Blessing also built a well in their community near the school, so Kiamuru and many other students can go to school and still bring water home to their families without having to make an extra trip.

My heart was overjoyed as I watched her take her first sip of water from the new well through her beautiful smiling mouth. May her vibrance, potential, eagerness and smile continue to flow with as much life as the water that sprung from the well.

My Thoughts About Humanitarian Photography

I absolutely love my job and the ability that I have to share people’s stories, but it is something that deserves to be handled ethically and with great concern for details. This is a start to a dialogue about storytelling and the way a camera/photograph has the ability to present different truths about the same scenario depending on our framing. It might even be that a stronger photograph is also the most misleading and present an ethical dilemma. Find out a few of my thoughts on Humanitarian Photography and lets start a dialogue about how we can use story to change lives.

I keep this on my wall as a reminder…

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Trying To Keep Up With Travel & Personal Life.

It has been a while since I’ve updated this blog because life has been really busy. I just returned from trips to Peru and most recently to Kenya and my wife and I are closing on our first home this Friday! So there is a lot to do at work and home right now.

In fact, I’ve been busy cleaning our rental home, securing moving trucks, learning how to operate our new pool (so excited that our house will have a pool because VA summers are really hot), ordering new floors, and other things to get ready for the move. It has all been a whirlwind, especially when you wrap it around my travel schedule. Luckily my wife is awesome at working with details and is handling a lot of paperwork.

But as hard or busy as I think my life is, I am always grounded when I meet people like 24 year old Esther who have a whole lot more to deal with on a daily basis. I don’t have to worry about how I am going to get water for my family or if I will have food for my children to eat tonight. Instead, my problem is what to to choose from the stocked cupboards we keep.

Behind the Scenes of VIDA DURA in Peru

I am spending the week in Lima, Peru as a cameraman for the show VIDA DURA. It has been an amazing experience working with the crew to shoot 16 episodes in various locations around the city. It has been a change of pace for me to work on a scripted shoot with more equipment and a larger team (still small for the industry). The natural elements are just as hard to work with, if not harder, due to size of the crew and amount of equipment we need for each setup.