People | Annie O The Blog

Brides Revisited

Posted on Oct 09, 2014

Posted in Fashion, People, Weddings

I’ve just finished an editorial shoot and the full thing is now up on the site.

It’s darker, possibly dangerous and a little bit mysterious. Kind of like The Enchanted Forest.

Stop by and take a peak.

BRIDES REVISITED

Tenerife Shoot – Gandys SS14

Posted on Aug 04, 2014

Posted in Fashion, People

Here’s a select few from the shoot.

Check out the full campaign here.

Portrait of a Filmmaker

Posted on Aug 04, 2014

Posted in Documentary, People

This September I had the pleasure of documenting the Encounters short film festival hosted in Bristol, UK.

There I met three talented filmmakers from three different places around the globe that have made powerful short films that highlight issues affecting their communities.

They were kind enough to step in front of my lens.

Three films. Three voices. Three portraits.

Oscar. Jules. Kareem.

Oscar Kightley. New Zealand. “Tom’s Dairy.”

Kareem Mortimer. Bahamas. “Passage.”

Jules Koostachin. Canada. “PLACEnta.”

Find more about their important work here:

http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/commonwealth-shorts.html

Just One Goat

Posted on Apr 12, 2013

Posted in Documentary, People

For the Maasai women of Northern Tanzania, there are not very many opportunities for them to challenge the status quo and influence any community decisions which affect them. They are amongst the poorest and most marginalised groups in Tanzania. They are second-class citizens here.

But things are changing. Women are rising up. They are getting their daughters educated. They are seeking knowledge and trying to gain control over their own fate…and The Pastoral Women’s Council is helping them to change this fate and the fate of their daughters and future generations of Maasai girls.

The Pastoral Women’s Council has many projects going on that help to empower these marginalised women from Girl’s Education and Sponsorship to Women’s Economic Programs such as Microcredit Groups and Livestock Projects. Read more here.

The Maasai Society is very patriarchal and women do not usually own cattle outright, but owning cattle can help women generate income and can mean improved quality of life for themselves and their children. These Livestock projects promote property ownership, generate opportunities for income, and help women gain community respect by demonstrating their abilities.

Just one goat can make all the difference.

Yesterday I visited a Maasai village where each woman of the Village had been given a goat by PWC. I was there to document them and create images of them and their livestock, the livestock which have changed their lives for the better. They were so grateful and their happiness was immediately apparent. This one goat had made all the difference. Their lives were changed they told me, and their children’s lives were as well.

Just one goat.

If you are looking for ways to help, donating money for a goat can make a significant difference for a woman.

A goat is roughly the equivalent of $40 USD.

$40 USD can mean a changed life… an empowered woman… and everyone knows an empowered woman is an empowered family and an empowered community. Multiply this by thousands of goats donated and entire populations have progressed.

Just one goat.

Give if you can at the bottom of the page here, and please share!

-Annie

The Pastoral Women’s Council

Posted on Mar 24, 2013

Posted in Documentary, People, Writings

I will be headed to Northern Tanzania for several weeks where I will be working with the women of the Pastoral Women’s Council.

The Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) work with the Maasai women. The Maasai are one of Africa’s most recognizable tribes. Imagery of the Maasai in their vibrant dress and their beaded necklaces are almost as ubiquitous in popular culture as an image of a silhouetted giraffe walking into the setting sun over the Serengeti plains. They have become icons of tribal and traditional Africa, and are world renowned in that regard.

Their land, in Kenya and Tanzania, where the Ngorogoro Crater, Serengeti National Park, The Rift Valley, and Mount Kilimanjaro all call home, is a highly touristed area, and undoubtedly the Safari capital of the world. The beauty and history of the land and the wildlife present make it a highly desirable place to visit…

…But for all that we do know and have seen about this highly photographed culture in this very popular corner of Sub-Saharan Africa, there is such a great deal more to know about the people, and I personally think for that reason it is of incredible interest…

The Maasai culture is a pastoralist one, they are traditionally nomadic cattle herders. They are also a very patriarchal community and the women are incredibly marginalised with very limited rights. There are a lack of educational opportunities for the girls and women, lack of access to healthcare, lack of property rights, forced marriage, and a host of other inequalities. The women began to rise up to fight these inequalities and in 1997 a Maasai woman named Maanda Ngoitiko founded the Pastoral Women’s Council with nine other women.

Since then, the Pastoral Women’s Council has been Maasai led and managed, and has worked tirelessly to implement long term structures that help reduce the inequalities and promote justice and empowerment for the Maasai women and children. They have made much progress over the years but they still have a long way to go.

While I am out there I will be doing documentary multimedia work for the PWC, creating high quality imagery and film of their various projects and of the women themselves. As an under-funded NGO in the developing world, they need striking imagery and film to help communicate their story and positioning to potential donors, sponsors, and the general public. The hope is that this multimedia can help to elevate their awareness, inform potential backers, and to help promote their very important work to the world.

Viral interest would be the ideal!!!!!!!! So I am going to be working my butt off to produce some stellar stuff for them.

For more in depth information about the Pastoral Women’s Council, Maasai culture, the struggles that the women face, and the struggles they’ve begun to come up against as their land becomes more and more valuable to outside groups have a look at their website here. Also keep up to date by liking their FB page here.

Throughout my 5 weeks there I am going to be Blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Google plus-ing, and Instagramming (@realeyesannie) words and images as often and as much as I can to keep people abreast of everything from day to day projects, to behind the scenes looks, to further information about the organisation, and everything in between.

So please follow along!

I passionately believe that these women’s stories are stories worth telling and being shared over and over again, and as our world begins to become more engaged with the plight of women and girls all around the world, and with more high profile stories of girls making an impact (Malala Yousafzai, Girl Rising, Half the Sky Movement), I believe that the stories of these Maasai women are pertinent, have power, and that people will want to engage and share when they hear.

Please share this with anyone and everyone you know who may be interested in these stories, or anyone who has an already present interest in Women’s Empowerment, share the upcoming blog posts here, the FB posts and tweets, and when I return I will hopefully have many more images, film, and information to share.

Thanks for listening,

Annie