Places | Annie O The Blog

Archive for 'Places'

Chaos & Beauty

Posted on Oct 29, 2014

Posted in Places

It was October in Lagos. The fisherman had just come in with his catch as the daylight was preparing its farewell.

The scene that next took place against the setting Portuguese sun was equal parts CHAOS and BEAUTY.

Dark Clouds in Nepal

Posted on Oct 29, 2014

Posted in Places

If you’re attempting to set eyes upon the mighty Himalayas, refrain from traveling to Nepal during Monsoon season.

If however you prefer a dark wall of cloud obstructing your once-in-a-lifetime view, then by all means visit between the months of June and August.

I, sadly, was not able to gaze out at planet Earth’s most awe-inspiring landscape and a mountain that has captured the imagination of humanity for as long as we’ve been in its shadow, despite me having travelled 8,000 miles for it and was now a mere 80 miles standing directly in front of it.

Luckily for me and my appalling timing, Everest is really only a fraction of what makes Nepal, Nepal.

(Read here.)

(Do not read here.)

A Love Note to Chicago From A Native Living in London

Posted on Oct 28, 2014

Posted in Places, Writings

I wrote this quasi-poem 4 years ago before my wedding as an introduction to Chicago for all of our British family and friends that were going to be travelling to our wedding.

Unanimously, they all thought their experience in our city topped that of any others in the country. All were surprised by what they found there and regarded Chicago as their new favourite American city by a long shot.

Standard, I told them.

I thought it was perhaps time to repeat the sentiments.

—————————————————————————————————-

CHICAGO is a special place and most will seem to agree, that the people here are WORLD CLASS and no better place there will ever be.

We’ve got it all here anything you could want and we laugh at those who don’t know it, we relish in the fact that it’s all ours but for our guests we are most proud to show it.

You want baseball we’ve got it, football too, and hockey and hoops just the same. As a sports fan you’ll be in absolute Heaven as not a day goes by without a game.

Restaurants, bars, cuisines and music for any type and people of all styles and kind, the diversity makes whatever scene you’re looking for never hard to find.

More green spaces than Greenville and more parks than Parkville this is the ultimate picnic place, lay out a blanket, throw a Frisbee, sip wine and eat cheese and adapt to our Summertime pace.

Our city is the home of comedy and the greats of the past started here, Second City is mecca for improv comedy and we’re sure you’ll enjoy what you hear.

It may as well be an ocean that Lake we live on because as far as we can tell it is, we’ve got boats, beaches, and lakefront galore so grab your speedos and head for the shore.

Sure the Winters are arctic and the Summers like fire and the wind cuts your skin like a knife, but those us from here know what treasures it holds and wouldn’t give them up to save our life.

September is our month of hot days and warm nights, twinkling lights and the warm glow of Fall, it is our farewell to Summer, our hello to Autumn, and our very best month of them all.

So come settle in, relax, enjoy, explore this fine urban place. We know you’ll think there’s nowhere better so come and get used to our midwestern pace.

Le Plaisir de Nothingness

Posted on Oct 24, 2014

Posted in Places, Writings

I realised sometime after my 7th visit to ole’ Paris that I don’t keep returning for the obvious; the architecture, the museums, the delightful neighborhoods, the world famous cuisine, or even the wine that so surprisingly fails at making the head fuzzy despite drinking abundant amounts of the stuff.

What is it really that makes me long to return to the City of Lights almost as immediately as I board the Eurostar for home at Gare du Nord?

It is a funny thing I suspect, for I’m a wanderer at my core, always seeking new places and experiences. The bug bit me long ago and I’ve yet to free myself from it’s firm, juicy, and ever so tantalizing bite. I rarely return to a place once traveled to as the world is wide time ticks on and I’ve not yet gazed upon the 80% of it that I’m realistically shooting for. Maybe 70. 60? There’s Latin America, Mongolia, and that funny little place next to Greenland, the Himalayas, Antarctica, Mt. Fuji, Bhutan. They’re all places I’d like to explore and time is of the essence. I’m a notorious non-returner. Yet I can’t seem to restrain myself from this neighbouring city of comically overpriced coffees and territorial locals, that calls out my name and pleads that I visit her again and again! “One more boeuf bourguignon” she says. “Just one more beaujolais!”

What is it that I find so annoyingly metaphysical about Paris? Why is it that when any morsel of money and time happen to simultaneously end up in my possession do I venture back to a place that’s been walked through, shopped through, ate, drank, and tipsily sang through almost a dozen times over?

The answer, I’ve found, is in the unique pleasure of nothingness.

The cafés and bars here are not places to eat and drink, they are places to REVIVE. The swirling smoke, the light chatter, the slow sipping of café au laits, the contrast of people hurrying by, the welcome uncertainty of time and of circumstance, the contentness that takes over the mind and body as soon as the act of sitting takes place. The café is a temple and I am its monk. Opening hours are from sit down to stand up. It is ok to seat oneself, to stare directionless, to enjoy the sweet nothings, to shut off the outside world. In the safety of a café you are one of the many taking a quiet timeout from life, from the memories of your yesterday and the plans of tomorrow. If life’s stresses are a poison then the Parisian café is my antidote. An outpatient therapy. My over-the-counter remedy.

I never knew I could contemplate the delicate flavour intricacies of a cup of coffee as painstakingly as I have in a Parisian café.

I never knew how long I could successfully stare off into an unspecified point in space before I sat in a Parisian café.

I never thought about nothing at all as much and for as long as I did in a Parisian café.

I suppose the frenzied movement that engulfs you on the streets of Paris is what makes reprieve so much sweeter, so much more gratifying to escape.

Either way it’s a gift and I accept it brazenly each time that I go. For there are few places more charming in the world to revel in the art of absolutely nothing.

(To view the full Paris image series head here.)

Beijing, A Memoir.

Posted on Oct 20, 2014

Posted in Places, Writings

My plane touched down in the darkness and I knew that my first nights encounter with Beijing would either be a thrilling blend of romantic sights and the scents of exoticism, or just plain terrifying.

I was alone. Which in itself was not the issue, but I’d had virtually no sleep in the past 48 hours, the bags under my eyes had grown large enough in size to carry a weeks shopping from Marks and Spencer’s and due to exhaustion and a moderate yet unpleasant bout of stomach flu I had begun to question my body’s ability to stand upright without assistance. I somehow made it into the back of a taxi and no sooner were we on the road and headed in the direction of ancient history, of Tiananmen Square and the mystical Forbidden City, or so I guessed.

The vast expanses of highway soon turned into a maze of small alleyways and the emptiness of the airport was a distant scene as the frenzy of late night pedestrians pulsed through the streets by bicycle, rickshaw, and foot. The glimmering lights of the lanterns hanging from each dwelling space guided us through the narrow roads and all at once, my exhaustion evaporated and my senses were alight with the intensity of a thousand blazing torches.

I had arrived in one of Beijing’s ancient Hutongs, the old neighborhoods where the locals have lived for many centuries. I had imagined what one might be like, and then right there before me it all was, laid out beautifully like an extravagantly designed film scene…

Everyone was on their mark, choreographed to ride past on their rickshaws at precisely the right intervals, to sit pensively smoking their pipe in the frame of the doorway, their wafts of smoke perfectly illuminated under the scarlet-colored lanterns, the impeccable juxtaposition of light and shadow in the alleyway and the steady flow of extras directed to walk ever so naturally over the floodlit cobblestones as they chattered away in their native tongue and exited into the darkness of stage right.

Twenty yards up on our left, we spotted my guesthouse. As I unsuccessfully attempted Mandarin pleasantries and paid the driver, the star of the next scene entered the doorway, the aroma of savory meats and tobacco following her.

“Nihao!” she said on cue. “Welcome to Beijing.”

A Coffee Encounter

Posted on Oct 18, 2014

Posted in Documentary, People, Places

As we hiked through the many miles of sun-drenched rice fields and became lost amongst the dense vegetation of Bali’s heartland, we happened upon a quiet village.

In the spirit of exploration we walked down a few empty roads and as we turned the corner we saw her – quietly sitting on her porch, illuminated by the evening sun, the strong scent of coffee beans from her stove wafting through the air.

Her welcoming demeanour told us we’d be invited for a cup. I’d never before turned down an offer for coffee, and I wasn’t about to now.

{To see more Bali encounters and the full image series head here.}

Maasai Women Rising

Posted on May 14, 2013

Posted in Documentary, Places, Writings

I have just returned from six weeks on the road with The Pastoral Women’s Council in Northern Tanzania.

The days were long and the continuous car journeys across the immense landscape were even longer. Village to village, week by week, I think we must have covered every inch of Maasai country. It was tiring, the roads dangerous at times, physically demanding, mentally exhausting, and absolutely bloody brilliant.

Working with The PWC were some of the most motivating and inspiring hours I have probably ever spent doing anything. The team are a collection of indescribably dedicated people who embody the phrase “giving back.” They are educated, they are optimistic, they are motivated, and they are committed to giving back to their communities in a way I could have hardly comprehended unless I had seen it for myself. Spending days, weeks, and months on the road at a time they leave their families to visit remote villages where women and children need their help. They are working tirelessly to change things for their communities and seeing them in action was quite a humbling experience.

It was a privilege to meet them, to learn more from them about the plight of Maasai women and children, and the Maasai culture in general, and the work that I did simply would not have been possible without them. Like literally, it would not have been even close to possible as I do not speak the dialect and I had no other means of transport! They are a fun and lively bunch as well and that never hurts now does it?

Unfortunately I was not able to write as many blog posts as I would have liked to while over there, but I simply did not have the access to internet that I would have needed, and so I tried to keep up with behind the scenes images and info on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@realeyesannie). Hopefully some of you followed along and didn’t mind too much my hijacking of your news feeds.

The majority of the trip was spent travelling to the various projects of PWC in most of the areas in which they work. From Song and Dance Projects, to Women’s Right’s Committees, to Sponsored Girls, to Women’s Livestock Projects, we visited, and I documented.

The girls that I met at the various schools were so dedicated. They just simply wanted to be in school, and were thrilled that they had the chance. They had such a burning desire to learn, and to be educated, and they spoke of it as if it was the absolute ONLY thing standing between them and a life of premature marriage, early motherhood, and a future they don’t want. Probably because education IS the only thing standing between them and that life they don’t want.

They cling on to education like a fly to honey because they know it is the only way forward for them. What stands in their way sometimes is an inability to pay for the schooling, and the girls who are lucky enough to be sponsored know they are the lucky ones. Like families all around the world many Maasai parents simply do not have the means to put them through school. Sponsorship is so important for them….

…and so the girls spoke to me spiritedly (in impeccable English might I add) of their educational experiences, of their home villages, and of their lives at the school…. and then the quality of their voices change when I ask them what would happen if their sponsorship ended.

” I want to be a doctor so I can help my community, so I NEED to be in school. This is my dream. If I don’t have sponsorship, then none of this is possible. How can I help my community then? What help am I to anyone then?”

Hearing them and the desperation in their voices made me hate myself for every half-assed school assignment I ever turned in, every day that I pretended to be ill so that I could skip out on a day of class. How much I just took it all for granted. How much we all took it for granted. Perspective change to say the least.

The women that I met village after village were so open with me once they learned that I was working with PWC, and they really understood the importance and potential of sharing their stories in front of the lens. These women wanted their stories and their voices to be heard, and I as a photographer was extremely grateful for their openness.

Day after day I heard stories from women whose lives were changing for the better because of PWC’s projects. If you have read any of my other blog posts about PWC then you may have read a bit about Maasai culture and about some of the projects and how they are helping change norms. Livestock projects are giving women economic power, and a voice, something not typical in Maasai society, and once they find this voice, they really are starting to use it!!! (Many times much to the dismay of the men)

The various other PWC projects from Women’s Rights Committees to My Rights My Voice are working to help educate the Maasai about their rights, and give them a platform for sharing their stories, and voicing their opinions.

PWC is working on the ground 27 hours a day, 8 days a week, beyond their means, to help raise women up. But change and progress can take a long time, and unfortunately takes a lot of funding as well.

The current struggles the Maasai people are facing with Land rights is another very serious issue they face at the moment and while I did not personally document this, they are up against monumental threats, and you can read much more about their land struggles here and here. They are facing what most unfortunate groups of people in history have had to face when their land has suddenly become valuable to outside groups, and the Maasai of Northern Tanzania have the real misfortune of living in some of the most coveted Safari territory in all the world. It is a very serious thing they are facing right now, up against big government, and big foreign money, and they are trying to garner as much international attention about it as possible. It is the only chance they have really to ensure the survival of their indigenous culture. International pressure and media interest seems to be their only fight.

My time with PWC was obviously very personally rewarding, but was also incredibly fruitful work-wise. As I now begin to process all of the content that I returned with and the editing process commences, I hope to have much more content and shareable material to present to you in the coming weeks. Perhaps all I ask is that you do just that, share. I will do my best to create some video and content in the coming weeks that is deliciously shareable and cool, and maybe if I can get Bieber to see some of this stuff his trillions of followers will do all of the work for me. Ideal!

Hopefully we can all find a way to relate to these stories, and see these as universal issues. The world is getting so small, we are all becoming so interconnected, and we can do so much more to contribute now that we couldn’t have done before.

In the words of one of the Maasai women who so eloquently summed it all up for me:

“The progress of the Maasai and the progress of women is the progress of all people.”

Won’t argue with that.

-Anne