So it begins...

Nairobi - I've arrived once again on assignment to the other side of the planet - East Africa has called me back to its remote frontiers with my last visit to this country less than a month ago with barely enough time to get my laundry cleaned. Over the past few days I've been resting at the Fairview, my home away from home, in preparation of an arduous project that is centered in the northern regions close to the Ethiopian border.

This time though were better prepared - the last experience crossing the Chalbi Desert at high speed was a mirage filled experience I wont soon forget however the knowledge that we were racing across the desert without a tire iron nor extra supplies - made me pause for a moment although one thought is quickly replaced by another out here and soon my mind drifted away. It wasnt difficult to ignore the heat or the blast furnace temperatures but it was the jarring bone crunching - kidney pounding you take - the constant thrashing that the vehicle and its human occupants feel every kilometer of the way that makes you know youre not in Idaho anymore.

Its difficult to focus with dust devils, the odd dust storm and sand pits that can easily swallow a land rover and its experienced driver...all of these elements accompany the endless single beige toned landscape without even a camel to break the lines on the horizon. The open desert in this northern range is a salt pan, once covered with cool waters and now the home of bleached white sands that while beautiful in its own way, is an emotionless landscape that makes you pull inside yourself and dream distant dreams until the engine stops and the heat goes down and the dust settles about your feet.

This time were prepared with a solid land rover, 160 litres of extra fuel, water bladders and what seems to be an endless supply of food stores and not enough clothes held safely inside our favourite black rolling thunder bags and somewhere in the mix is an old mechanical hasselblad system to support the need creatively for the feel and look of film as well as the usual compliment of Canon's best digital gear in tow...(i hope we remember how to load the film magazines although my biggest worry isnt the land rover breaking down or running into bandits or a choking dust storm, malaria or even that "Somalia is just down the road"...its that I actually have to manually focus a camera again...and that makes me pause

I dont know - there are so many things to speak on and yet no time. Its a travel day to Meru, about 4 hours north of Nairobi and its the beginning of a long 15 day photographic assignment in support of a new program called The Paradigm Project - which I'll try to explain later on. For now, a small crew of our driver, my photographic colleague Scott Shepard (for those of you that are wondering why hes not answering his cell phone or why hes not at the beach...hes in nairobi) and me. The project has been in the works for a few months now and is an exciting one that deals with carbon credits and the empowering of women in the vast tribal belt around the Chalbi Desert.

Our charge is to create a different style of image - a set of serious portraits to lend awareness to the plight of the women living in the remote tribal belt east of Lake Turkana - beyond the typical style of photographic image employed in development work these days. So with Scott's help, my friend and former - no - always Marine Seargent - and also a photographer in his own right, we're going to try to make a difference out here for those whose lives can be difficult at best. Scott may have paused for a moment about coming to this part of the world again but without question he stepped up as he always does and answered my last ditch call for help just 2 days before I took off for London...and it's not the deserts of Iraq with a gun in his hand anymore - its a camera - and a heart for good...and I'm grateful for his service in being out here with me...

I intend on creating images of consequence in continuing what has been 10 years of playing my part out here...and yet this new project is just as much a new paradigm for the both of us as it is for those in the region where the project is being rolled out - for me, even though I am very experienced out here its been difficult to decide on the right creative thinking behind these new images that I am about to create...lots of pressure not about me or the photography but that I get it right - for now though, were more focused on getting out of Nairobi before dark sets in...

gotta run...speak when we can...Rodney and Scott