This dude is called Cubby. To me he looks like a young Samuel L Jackson. A bit.

Ban and Jerry's. Brilliant.

Okay, so I'm back. I'll proceed shortly with fresh africa shots as soon as I can.

Today was a long day to be sure. I head home tomorrow. I'll get home, in theory, the evening of the 29th.

Nerd note: I shot all my 120 film. Only shot maybe 5 or so rolls of 35mm but all the 120 is shot and that's exciting to me. film-mas on the way!

day two went well. lower key a bit. worked at a place called TASO which is an organization that provides all manor of services (meals, counseling, all the way down to aromatherapy) for HIV/AIDS patients. Joyce was the lady we worked with primarily though she had with her a few fellow volunteers and they (mostly Sarah and Joyce) transplanted some thingies and harvested some beets, radishes, and okra. (okra is a weird word)

after harvesting Joyce and Sarah were able to deliver the goods directly to the lady who runs the children's' services for future preparation which was a nice full-circle sort of thing for me to see. shot the kids in there a bit too. and incidentally they were watching some program on the tv that, according to the care center person, was about how to take care of a baby, but man did it ever look like the beginnings of a film about how to create said baby. bad-porn cinematography, clothes coming off, showering (though during this scene the girl exited to shower and the dude kept changing), and the guy dodging what i assume was a booty call from someone other than his current boo, unless of course she is calling from the shower...in which case i'd like to think he'd pick up the phone. weird...thats all i am trying to say.

oh also last night we were hanging out down at bujagali falls and these two dudes who had been 4-wheeling through some serious mud showed up and asked if we could take their photo and email it to them. i'll include on of those guys

ps pardon the edits. doing them on an old 12" powerbook so i dont Actually know what they look like.

So I am here. Things so far are going well. Today was the first day of shooting which was at the Budondo Clinic where they test people for HIV/AIDS as well as have a regularly functioning hospital (by small-town African standards. Basically they do stuff other than just HIV/AIDS) and this place is the home of one of the DIG gardens. Met a bunch of great people who have an amazing heart for helping others, which, according to Patrick (runs parts of the clinic), is not an especially African trait.

That sentence was way long. I'm starting new down here.

Hello

So getting here was quite an experience. It was as expected, but with less sleep. Got in to Entebbe around 830 am local time yesterday morning and by the time we were halfway "home" I was falling asleep in the car. I slept from 5 pm to 8 pm, ate dinner, and went back to bed until this morning around 730. I know these details are not all that important. Just saying I was totally beat.

I'm going to try to attach a couple of photos from today to give a sense of the people we dealt with.

in london at present. so far so good, other than london surprisingly be colder than uganda. shocking, i know.

oh sweet....turns out im hanging out half a block from the annie lebovitz exhibit at the national gallery. and i have just enough time to run in before heading back to the airport. Brilliant.

Yes..i Do remember this skeptical look

So I suppose I should be there by now. This is posted before I left. Perhaps I've updated already to confirm this.

Just sayin'

So I leave today. Tonight. If I can update from the road I will.

On an unrelated-to-the-above-photo style note, I leave for Atlanta today and Uganda tomorrow.

On on even further unrelated note I am listening to The Honeyrods. They were next in line after High & Mighty and "The Ballad of The Sneak" theme song. Bringing it back to 90s college rock. What up!

Jeeeeeeez! It has been an age times another age to the power of a million since I posted here last.
 
So since I posted last several things have happened.
 
Electric Lion finished it's first year (year two is underway) 
 
I launched another random blog called poptpop, which is a celebration of Pictures Of People Taking Pictures Of People. Look for it and EL to have a brand new look sometime in the late winter / early spring. 
 
I met back up with David (Paleo) and photographed for his next album.  
 
And a Big one: I posted back in October about the what and the why and since then I have been presented with an opportunity to go to Uganda to help serve a non-profit called DIG by photographing pretty much Everything they do. Pretty much the perfect thing. Very excited. 
 
 
I leave Monday for Uganda. I travel to and from via London and will get to see an old friend on my return visit. Very excited about that as well. 
 
More to come I'm sure. I have a lot of work to do when I get back (not least of which is find some more work!) but I'll try to update here more often. But don't forget about Electric Lion and PoptpoP. 
 
I'll leave you with this polaroid of David from our December shoot. 
 

So I know I just posted yesterday about various new year things and that the post before that was a video that I was in no real way involved in...so it may be a bit odd to post another video right now but I just CANNOT HELP IT. 
 
Damien Jurado is one of my favorite musicians. He has a style of making songs that makes my insides weep and my outsides smile all while making me want to ride my bike in the snow down a mountain with a fire burning somewhere close by. My point is his words are amazing, his melodies are simple and cut straight into me, and his imagery takes my mind over and I land wherever he wants me to. 
 
And this video, to me, is PERFECT for all those things. There is pain, heartache, wonderful imagery, a touch of humor, and a dash of mystery all set in a different time and place. 
 
The song is called Caskets and it is on the new record called Caught in the Trees. 
 
The video is by ThinkLab which I now have a huge and thorough crush on. 
 

Damien Jurado, "Caskets" from Matt Daniels on Vimeo.

This is Holger Thoss.

I am simultaneously whelmed, underwhelmed, overwhelmed, stressed, calm, and eager despite procrastination.

Finalizing things for the trip. Laundry MUST be next. After my shots anyway.

So. Its Thursday (well, technically at the time of me writing this part of the post its the wee hours of Friday) and I leave in just a couple of days.

I assume that I mentioned I am going to Uganda for a bit to work with DIG. I leave on Monday and won't get there until Wednesday (local time).

I had planned on enumerating some sort of list here and now but it has left my brain and I will now go to sleep.

So I am home. I haven't shot yet today but its only 2pm. I may take a nap. The above is my shadow (lame perhaps) on the banks of an interstate where there was just a gate (that should presumably be locked) standing wide open. Clearly I had time to kill waiting on my sister arrive (this was before christmas).

I had a really good week+ in New York and shall try to process the info as quickly (or thoroughly) as possible. I'm never great at that, but not time like the present to try to get better*.

*I mean this is ON my list of goals for year two...why not.