Major Project Summary

John Easterby suggested writing out a summary of my project to help in the editing process. It worked. This is my "artist's statment," a term I feel uneasy with, and what I will have printed on the exhibition program and post in the show itself:

“The devastating impact of climate change, mainly caused by ballooning carbon emissions from rich Western nations, will hit hardest in Africa, a United Nations report has warned…Up to 30 per cent of Africa's coast could disappear as sea levels rise from between 15cm to 95cm in the next 100 years. Important cities such as Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Maputo are at risk.” –The Independent, Nov. 6, 2006.

Vanishing Coast is an examination of the people who make Maputo’s beaches unique, find them sacred and spiritual, or use them for recreation or their economic livelihood. I began the project in 2007, initially building on an idea to document Lisbon’s marginal from Lisbon to Cascais. However, the evidence of coastal erosion in Maputo was so shocking, I immediately changed my focus. As a staff photographer at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in the U.S., I worked on an award-winning project called “The Beach Builders.” This project documented the impact of coastal erosion in Florida and other states. I tapped into that experience and began researching the problem in Maputo.

The collapsing road between the Mercado do Peixe and Costa do Sol was the most glaring example of erosion along the Marginal. Repairs were made and sea walls were built in an effort to prevent the ocean’s advance. Exposed roots of casuarina trees, originally planted to slow erosion, hang like skeletons to show where sand dunes once stood. And the most striking example of what Maputo’s beaches looked like less than 80 years ago are found in photographs of colonial Lourenço Marques by photographer José dos Santos Rufino. These photos, taken circa 1929, show a vast coastline with large beaches that no longer exist, as do other historical photos taken throughout the 20th century.

An advisor to the Mozambican government predicted that within 10 to 50 years Maputo’s beaches will disappear. The tees planted to slow deterioration are regularly felled and efforts to slow erosion, such as building seawalls and dumping construction rubble along the beach have failed. Experts attributed the 2007 flooding of Bairro dos Pescadores to climate change and Costa do Sol’s greatest protection from the Indian Ocean, Xefina Grande, is at risk of disappearing from the effects of rapid erosion.

Rather than photograph the progression of the coast’s physical deterioration, I chose to create a portrait of the coast through the people. This is a look of what will be lost without intervention.

Thinking Adam and Olly

I've found Olly and Adam very intense. I had my first tutorial last week with Adam, and it was incredibly useful. I was mostly interested in talking about my final project and wanted to get a bit of guidance and feedback. It's definitely out of my comfort zone and their work, way of thinking and methods are far from anything I've every done. They're on that line of art and documentary photography that is appealing and powerful, but still difficult for me to embrace entirely, but it is affecting the way I think these days.

My Borders Proposals

Sacrificial chicken: they let me shoot the victim but not the sacrifice.

A stump I photographed before it fell and was still a tree.


Miramar beach after a long holiday weekend.

A new sea wall at Triunfo Beach.

I'm back in focus and got out to photograph for the first time in a while. I had my three year old in tow, and it felt good.

I've been hashing over what I'd be doing for my borders project for some time. Some of you have had to listen to me go in circles trying to narrow it down. I have sifted through my ideas and have come to two that I'm going to concentrate on. I have axed out all together the literal idea of going to a physical international border and working there. I wanted to be able to have access to something that I could work on close-by and two-hour or longer travel daily was not attractive. I will still do some of those stories but not for our group project.

In trying to push the borders idea a bit, I am going to concentrate on land mines in Mozambique. The concept of being constrained by a border or barrier created by man that could kill or severely injure one grasped my attention. In this country, there has been successful de-mining in the north of the country, but there is still work that must be done in the south including areas surrounding Maputo. Before the holidays, I had been communicating with folks from the HALO Trust in Mozambique and finally met with them. I made them part of my brainstorm and came to an agreement.

They will take me out to various de-mining sites in the Maputo region. Apparently they are not terribly excited. A pair of Mozambican employees will take me to meet a farming family who is typical in areas with known mines. They apparently use only a portion of their land because of real fears of mines in outer portions. They warn me that it will be tough because these people are usually quite angry with groups such as HALO even though they are trying to help them because the problem still exists. I also am hoping to make some portraits of victims of land mines. HALO has connected me with an NGO who might be able to help me.

Hopefully this works out, but they put up enough doubt with scenarios of past photographic flops that I am still leaning on plan two which is taking the advice of Paul who suggested I stick with my current project on the Marginal and the decaying coastline applying the idea of the border between land and sea. I am, as my posted photos demonstrate, still hot on this project. I've written up notes for myself of what else I need to accomplish with it and would like to do which includes doing sound of various groups I've photographed, recording interviews and making more several more photographs. The pictures I've been doing are the Australian casuarina trees that were planted to thwart the tides.

My ultimate plan is to have a show. I am going to put together an edit and proposal for a site here where I'd like to exhibit. Aside from my own pictures, I am going to ask an artist to make me a map of the Marginal and am still seeking permission to use that historical picture I did a post a while back.

In my inquiry to one of several people who have used the historical photo in question may pay off in an unexpected way. A publishing group that put out a book of historical photographs in Maputo looked at my website and various links and asked if I'd be interested in doing a book for them about Maputo. I'm certainly interested and will keep you updated on where this goes.

Historical Pictures and Research

Since last week, I've been doing more research about coastal and beach erosion in Africa. A lot is going to have to wait because people are gone and institutions are closed for the holidays. I've made the rounds on foot and through e-mails to get to the bottom of the historical picture that I've become semi-obsessed with. I finally was able to find out the photographer of the picture taken in 1929 showing the old Práia da Maputo where the Marginal is now. It's changed incredibly and that's why I find it important. But most importantly, with the Clube Naval, the yacht club build by the Portuguese in 1913, it puts the area in context with an existing historical landmark.

The photographer's name is José Santos dos Rufino and he is dead. A project by three Portuguese universities through a joint foundation called Memorias de Africa posted Mr. Rufino's volumes of postcard books of photographs of Lorenço Marqués, the colonial Portuguese name that changed to Maputo after the Portuguese left in 1975, online along with similar projects from other former Luso-African colonies. It's incredibly interesting. I've found several old pictures of the Marginal, but this works the best for my purposes. Here is the response that I got from one a member of the group:

Dear Sir

Rufino is dead for long time.

As far as I know there is no problem of using the photo the way you describe.

We just put it on line, because they where already on line in the site of Companhia de Ferro de Moçambique.

But I can not give you authorization to do the same. I have not such power. You do what you want on your own.

Sincerely

Carlos Sangreman

CEsA

I also had a meeting with the management of Clube Naval who have this picture on their website as well as on their wall with other historical pictures but had no idea of who had taken it. They said, it was from an old postcard and gave me permission to use it and are going to make me a copy of theirs'. The casualness about giving me permission of a photo that they don't own rights to was a bit funny, but the main groups using it all share the same attitude. The copyright law in Mozambique and Portugal is the life of the artist plus 70 years which is similar to most of the world. It's clearly not up, but people have sort of taken a public domain attitude with it. I would like to ultimately get my work into a book form and would like to include Mr. Rufino's picture along with an updated photo, so I'll continue with this a bit more (Tt's a sort of caution that came from working at a newspaper-people loved to sue us.)

On the other front regarding this photo, I've been trying to find a location to repeat the picture. It's impossible so far because the hillside in which it was shot is now either developed or filled with trees and shrubbery. I've gone on sort of nerve-wracking little hikes through some areas on the hillside where homeless people and bandits live dodging garbage and human waste. It was quickly apparent that I could not get the photo I wanted. My other solution was getting in the air–I'm afraid of heights and hate flying.

A Portuguese photographer friend of mine has a buddy who is part of an air club that has access to a plane for $100 USD. He's going to see if he can help arrange for me to go up.

Meia Maratona

A competitor in the wheelchair race in the half-marathon moves down Avenida Marginal. The wheelchair race was 10 kilometers.

Keep Keepin' On: Projects, Equipment and Multimedia

Here's what I've been up to photographically that is. I've actually been busy on some assignments which is always nice but blurred my focus a bit.

I'm trying to put a cherry on top of my Marginal/Maputo Beach Erosion project but am consumed with Paul's–I think observant advice–of trying to get a few more details, overalls and getting closer to my subjects. I have a list of a few things that I'd like to get, but I'd like to move on. One thing that I would like to do is visit Beira, a coastal city in Mozambique that I've been told has a much worse beach erosion problem than Maputo. I'd just like to spend a day or two photographing some of the damage which I think might enhance this project a bit to give some perspective and scale. I

Another project that I've started is doing portraits and interviews with albinos in Maputo. The reason that drew me to it was a BBC story that I heard a while back about killings of albinos in Tanzania by people who sold their parts to witch doctors who believed they had magical powers to bring wealth. There is a serious stigma around them and several aid organizations (unfortunately not in Mozambique) who help people with the skin condition. I've only just started and am trying to sharpen the idea a bit. I am buying a softbox, another light stand and a few other doodads to enhance my portrait power. (Also, because the folks at Polaris subtly suggested that better lighting equipment was needed.)

On the equipment front, I'm going on a buying spree, sort of. I'm planning on buying a Canon 60D, but will hold out a bit until after the first of the year (I might just let the 50D drop in price a bit more and a couple of those instead). Also, I'm a bit inspired by Brett and have a few prime lenses that I'll buy as well. However, I'm going to buy a Canon G10 this week. I was looking to buy a G9 this summer while I was in the states but stepped back when I heard that the G10 was coming. In Perpignan, they weren't yet released but word of them was abuzz. I played a lot with G9s that various drinking mates had. They were very popular there. Anyway, I'm excited about it.

When I was in Lisbon, I had a little Minox point and shoot that I loved until it died. I always had it with me. It was small (sort of like a Canon Elph) and I liked being able to be less intrusive when I was out and about. Unfortunately, the file sizes weren't that big, so I have a number of really nice photos that I can't, for instance, put up for stock. The G10 has much bigger files than the 20D SLR I shoot with now, plus you can shoot on RAW. It's bigger than my old Minox, but definitely cooler. You can put a strap on them too.

I was about to buy a load of software, but Maria sent me an e-mail that made me hesitate. I have to grill her a bit. Nevertheless, at the top of my list is Soundslides. I also plan on getting a digital mp3 recorder of some sort and perhaps a microphone. I've had a number of heavy discussions about multimedia and am going in the direction that I'll feel comfortable with. Despite what might seem like resistance, I actually have a background in convergence and multimedia. Brian Storm, Dirk Halstead and the like are no strangers to me.

When I started at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as a photographer in 1997, everbody there was spent a week in video training in our television station. All the still staff learned how to shoot (on beta and high 8), edit, and learn the basics of television photojournalism. It was fun at first, but in time interfered a lot with our still shooting. Eventually it sort of faded to the background. Still, folks like Dirk Halstead and people from around the industry spent some time at the H-T visiting and studying. When I left, we still did it on occassion but photographers who really enjoyed it (there were a couple) could do pretty much whatever they wanted because our 24-hour news channel was always hungry for content. When I met some of my old work mates this summer, they were a bit gloomy because the paper had decreased the size of the video staff and were going to start using the still staff to do more video.

It's never been hard to see the importance of multimedia and as a manager, I saw it from a different perspective. However, as a photographer, I admit I am resistant and not fully on board. I guess since I have done it, I am not so into it. I have always been very into the idea of the power of still images and sound together. The first time I saw Brian Storm speak, he was still at MSNBC and just starting to make a name for himself. He's a still guy at heart and used to talk about-as he still does-the power of still images married to sound. Essentially, it's sort of a version of what we do now but with printed words instead of recorded. He would talk about NPR (National Public Radio in the U.S.) and images together could empower our stories. I'm a huge fan of radio journalism which probably comes from growing up in the car culture of Los Angeles, and in particularly NPR. Shows like This American Life are great at creating powerful imagery.

I also had a friend, David Snider, who had similar type of things to say but sort of went a different direction. So to make it short: Soundslides. I'm sure when I get the stuff, I'll have all new problems to solve like what software to use to edit sound and the basics of radio journalism.

Next up, borders projects: I'm thinking.

Assessment Project

click image to expand

Africa loses from one to two meters of coastline annually due to coastal erosion according to a 2002 UNESCO study. With a rise in sea levels, the problem is complicated by man. Mozambique, named as one of Africa's most threatened coasts, faces trouble as one of the world's poorest countries with problems that the government prioritizes much higher than coastal erosion. Maputo, the country's capital, is booming with new investment and development. Much of the new building is along a 10 kilometer road that runs along the coast from the Port of Maputo to the rural Vila dos Pescadores that lies over the Costa do Sol Bridge marking the end of the Marginal. With the Marginal crumbling due to beach erosion, repairs are being made, but the unique life on Maputo's waterfront road may not be repaired as easily.

The Marginal is killing itself. The physical road, Avenida Marginal, has priority over beaches, so with sands no longer able to shift naturally, they simply erode. With development, the city and country are trying to take advantage of an opening for economic growth. The city is encroaching on the coastline from one side as the waters of Maputo Bay take its toll on the other.

In Maputo the road is lined with businesses, including restaurants, bars, clubs, stores, a casino and a new gated community near Costa do Sol, but on the other side a unique culture and regional identity is disappearing. The 10 kilometers between the Costa do Sol Bridge, which separates the rough dirt road leading to the Vila dos Pescadores fishing village and the paved road and new development, and the roundabout at Praça do Robert Mugabe show the past, present and future of the Marginal.

From Miramar, the Marginal’s middle point, to Costa do Sol the road is collapsing at many sections, and it is characterized by trees hanging over sand dunes with exposed roots as clear signs of the beach’s decay. One only needs to examine historical pictures of Lorenço Marques, Maputo’s colonial name under the Portuguese, with beaches that once lay where sea walls now stand protecting and separating the bay from the road. An old picture hanging in the office of the historic Clube Naval shows a uniformed rowing team on a long-gone beach in front of the club. The waters now bump against a seawall. The modern coastline in this area of the Marginal only vaguely resembles that of the past and may foreshadow the fate of the eroding beach further down the road.

With priorities that outweigh environmental issues and minimal funds for improving the infrastructure, it seems inevitable that what is left of Maputo’s beaches will soon disappear. Concurrently, pieces of Maputo’s traditional society will also disappear. Fishermen, religious groups that believe the beaches and water are sacred, friends who gather to play soccer on Sundays as well as the beach’s tourist draw are affected.