February 2011 Calendar Wallpaper
Curious mixes of ancient tradition and modernity co-mingle throughout Africa. In the town of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso, a Fulani family zips by on a motorcycle. The driver’s wife carries a toddler strapped to her back with a simple piece of cloth in a centuries-old African fashion. Download the February 2011 calendar wallpaper. IRENE [...]
A Multimedia Presentation on Burkina Faso: When Darkness Falls / Spirit of Humanity
I was invited by the American Society of Media Photographers (Washington, DC chapter) on January 11, 2011 to give a presentation during their 8×10 Program. I’ve had a lot of requests by people outside the area or who weren’t able to make the program to post the presentation online. So here it is! I spent [...]
The Griot’s Work is Never Done
I am finally finished preparing my multimedia presentation for Tuesday evening’s American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) 8×10 Program. I am happy to say that I zipped up the file and sent it on over to ASMP, together with my bio yesterday. It’s a still photography slideshow from my November trip to Burkina Faso set [...]
Bridal Gifts that aren’t for the Bride
In the town of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso, a Fulani wedding has taken place. Friends and family of the bride carry gifts and possessions – pots and pans, blankets, textiles, decorative flowers, and other items – from the bride’s home to her new home with her husband. Surprisingly, many of these gifts are not [...]
Girl in a Nomad’s Home AND January 11th Presentation to the ASMP
So I’m a little more than 1/3 of the way through processing the images from my November 2010 trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa. My goal is to pretty much finish processing – including captioning and keywording – by the end of the month, but this is a pretty ambitious target, so we’ll see how [...]
January 2011 Calendar Wallpaper: An Intense Gaze
In West Africa, certain villages have markets that “assemble” at regular intervals, such as weekly or every three days. People from villages around the region come on market day to buy and sell food, livestock, and other goods and services. Last month, I visited the village of Bourro in northern Burkina Faso on its market [...]
Tabaski’s Meat Thief
The religious holiday of Tabaski is one of the biggest across West Africa, where much of the population is Muslim. It takes place 70 days after the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. When I lived in Niger as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Tabaski was always my favorite holiday of the year, because of both [...]
December 2010 Calendar Wallpaper is Here! “Hidden from View,” Burkina Faso, West Africa
If you’ve been following my blog over the past months, you’ll know that I pre-wrote this calendar wallpaper post because I’m actually traveling as we speak in…Burkina Faso, West Africa! So I thought it would only be fitting to make a December calendar wallpaper in honor of my last trip to Burkina in 2007. This [...]
Women Photojournalists of Washington and FotoWeek DC Present: “Women by Women” Photography Exhibit & Silent Print Auction
Earlier this year, I joined the Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW), a group of kickass female figures in the Washington, DC journalist community. WPOW puts on an annual traveling exhibit called, “Women by Women,” and I am one of 19 photojournalists to have been juried into the 2010/2011 exhibit by jurors from the New York [...]
2010 DC Carribean Carnival Parade
Last Saturday was the 2010 DC Caribbean Carnival, which is held every year during the last weekend of June. It launches with a parade with dancers in traditional Carribean carnival costumes. My husband and I rushed into DC early Saturday morning, still 30 minutes late, only to find that this really IS a Caribbean Carnival! [...]
Mali: The Makings of a Pot
I recently returned from Mali, where my friend, Melanie, and I had the opportunity to visit the pottery village of Kalabougou, a 45-minute motorized canoe ride down the Niger River from Segou. Click here to see the complete photo story, Mali: The Makings of a Pot.