LAMU, KENYA – Another productive day with my Alpa TC and Phase One IQ 180 in Lamu. And another day of poor self-control editing. So I’m giving you five images out of many possible candidates from a walk on the beach, a walk around Lamu and a ride to lunch on a dhow.
On this day one year ago: “She who must be obeyed”.
LAMU, KENYA – We arrived yesterday in Lamu, a lovely old Swahili trading center. The town is located on Lamu Island in Kenya on the Indian Ocean. There are no roads or cars. Donkeys and dhows are the primary means of transportation. It’s a visually remarkable area – I was completely at home with my Alpa TC and 35mm Schneider.
Here’s an image of some of my legal homeys.
LEMARTI’S CAMP, KENYA – So we’re packing up to leave Lemarti’s Camp so I thought that I should give you a few images of it. Here are images of our “bathroom” and of the massive fig tree the anchors the site of the camp.
A wall at the airstrip for our flight to Nairobi, and thence to Lamu.
On this day one year ago: Hell’s Kitchen.
LEMARTI’S CAMP, KENYA – We took a bush walk this morning through the gently rolling foothills that surround the camp. This is semi-arid territory. It reminds me a lot of parts of my native Utah, substituting acacia for cedar. I took my Alpa TC with the 35mm Schneider on with me. Only ok light – nothing terrific today.
On this day last year: the Metropolitan Club.
NORTHERN KENYA – We made a long drive to a Maasai market. This is a one day only affair that appears periodically at various sites. The main trade is people bringing goats to sell and buying clothing, vegetables, household items and so on. According to Lemarti full-grown goat fetches $120 or so, which is a lot of money in these parts.
I’m going to trouble you with eight images today. Editing has been really difficult. I could probably do better if I had more time. At least the images aren’t of airport lounges.
First, four images taken in a small settlement that we drove through to get to the market – images that fit into my “small towns” body of work. All taken with my Alpa TC, Phase One IQ 180 back and Schneider 35mm Digitar.
Now four more taken with my Panasonic GH2 at the Maasai market:
On this day one year ago: 1185 Park Avenue.
LEMARTI’S CAMP, KENYA – Maria caught up with us in time to board a bush plane to the Northern Kenyan foothills where we’re spending three days at Lemarti’s Camp. This is a “tented camp” far north of the beaten path, owned by our friends Anna Trzebinski and her husband Loyapan Lamarti. Lemarti is a Samburu Maasai; Anna is a Kenyan of European descent. We’re here to see Anna and Lemarti and to soak up some Maasai culture. We weren’t planning any game drives (we did that last year), but ran into a herd of elephants in our long drive from the dirt landing strip to the camp.
This is a remarkable site, which (like a lot of Kenya) gets under your skin. We arrived in time for tea, dinner and a sunset. Images captured with my Alpa TC, Phase One IQ 180 and a Schneider 35mm Digitar.
On this day one year ago: Barking Dog Cafe.
KAREN, KENYA – Here we are in this suburb of Nairobi which either is or isn’t named after Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen), depending on who you talk to. Karen was the site of Blixen’s coffee plantation which forms the backdrop of Out of Africa. Back in the day this was the bush, now it’s a suburb.
We’re staying at a relatively new hotel, Hogmead, in Karen for one night to catch our breath from travel and to wait for Maria. Hogmead is in a large, beautifully restored, colonial house. I wonder how they get away with the Harry Potter name? They’ll probably be getting a nastygram from Harry’s legal team. Here it is captured with my Alpa TC, Phase One IQ 180 back and 35mm Schneider Digitar lens.
On this day last year: Jim.
