Fascinating Africa (for keen photographers)

This beautifully illustrated program, oriented to keen photographers, demonstrates ways in which the power of photography can support the conservation of Africa's rich natural spaces and help to empower the peoples who live in them. The speakers are renowned South African safari leader and conservation photographer Shem Compion and award-winning local image maker Mark Overgaard. A popup exhibit of Mark's images will be on the walls of the auditorium throughout the afternoon.

The full afternoon program starts with a light lunch and an opportunity to meet and greet the speakers and other participants, perhaps browse in the popup exhibit.

Then there'll be two talks by Shem, with one of them exploring the advantages of composing images to evoke emotion and feel, rather than simply by “rules”. Shem's second talk considers the benefits of constructing images that have multiple mutually reinforcing elements, not just a simple subject. Both these talks seek to help you create more powerful images overall, which can be more impactful conservation and educational tools, as well.

Next, Mark will share stories and imagery of the fascinating Suri people of Ethiopia, their art, language and culture. He'll include arresting images of his Suri portrait collaborators and stories of their intriguing culture, such as their beautiful body painting with intricate patterns, using natural pigments ground from local rocks and mixed with water. He'll also review key photographic and storytelling challenges from this project and how he has addressed them thus far. There'll be a special emphasis on a recently launched mother tongue education initiative, its importance to the Suri, current status and crucial needs.

Another well known photographer and safari leader, Piper Mackay, who does extensive work with the Suri, has just started a campaign with her community to encourage support of this new mother tongue education initiative. You may be interested in her just-published and very enthusiastic blog post about the importance of this initiative and how readers of the post can support it; see the post here: https://bit.ly/3J7aOZN.

Finally, Shem will lead an image review segment in which a set of up to 20 participant images will receive constructive feedback and live editing in Adobe Lightroom from Shem.

Complementing Mark's talk, the popup exhibit will include framed images from his 2nd generation “Eloquent Suri of Ethiopia” series on the walls of the auditorium throughout the afternoon. These pieces will be drawn from the first public exhibit of this work, which will have just closed in Cupertino. Proceeds of sales from the popup exhibit will go to support the new Suri mother tongue education and literacy initiative.

If you or someone you know is more of an adventurous traveler than a keen photographer, please consider our companion evening program: "Fascinating Africa (for adventurous travelers)". The evening program, also on June 1, is at the same venue and features the same speakers as this afternoon program. You can look for that program title on this same events page.

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/1733738-0?pid=176 

Price: Free: USD 0.00

Time: 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm