Children in the slum loving the attention of the camera. This particular settlement is home to a couple of thousand people, the so-called sukumbasi's. UN says that around one billion people in the world are living in slums like this one!
Despite the countless number of little distracting situations that constantly require 'taking care of' and 'tending to', so common to my life here in Nepal these days, I've actually managed to get several things done in the last month or two! The Alamy work is, for the moment, finished. I've got about 300 photo's in the pipeline and they should be available online within a few weeks now. That's a fair start, but more is needed. I'll probably need something like a thousand photo's to get things rolling a bit on that front. I tend to shoot some 2-300 shots (keepers) a month. Only few of them are probably suitable for stock, so with that pace it's gonna take a couple of years... hmm, I'll have to find some time for that as well the next couple of months...
And then I've got a new web-site pretty much in place now. It's got some cool, new features, a bright and light layout and easier navigation. At the same time, I've tried to keep it really simple. All in all, quite an improvement, I think. So now, I'm producing some of the new stories and materials that I want to post on it, and when that's done, in a month or two, I'll be ready for the big launch. Hopefully, it'll bring in some new clients. I'm really hoping for (and focusing on) the editorial market, but I don't wanna miss any good opportunities working with ngo's and commercial organizations either. In the end, these may prove bigger clients than the editorial stuff. All depends on weather the situation here in Nepal will develop into peace and prosperity or revert back to war and terror, I suppose. Right now, it's still undecided. YCL and JTMM are competing with the government SPA-M alliance about who can make the biggest mess of the 'peace'!
In the mean time, normal life continues unabated for all the commoners, myself included. I'm currently finishing up a major story that I've been wanting to do for a while now - about a year, in fact. I just never took the time before now. It's about some of the poorest people in Kathmandu, who stay in shanty towns constructed on government land without permission. I've done fairly extensive research on this one, and the story is pretty much finished, but the photography is proving more difficult than I expected. I've got loads of ideas of shots I wanna get, and I have a really good location. Very 'scenic' and friendly people who are generally quite happy to let me shoot away both inside and outside their houses. But a big white guy walking around with his big camera is bound to draw a lot of attention, especially from the numerous kids running and crawling around. I try to use it to my advantage, but most of the time there's too many posers. If they would just keep an authentic look on their face! But no, they freeze up and stare directly into the aperture in a extremely rigid, corpse-like way. Or smile too much, damn it!. So it'll take a few more visits before I have those shots I want.
