As we sipped down our tea and coffee, i think we both quietly knew that she had found a photographer, and I was booking my first Jewish wedding – but most importantly, that we had each made a friend. The decision to hire came a few days later, and I was not able to meet Jon until the wedding day itself – they both lead very busy lives. Rachel had to coach me over and over the aspects of a Jewish wedding traditions to make me ready. I enjoyed these moments and lessons, and when the wedding day finally arrived, anything could not have gone any more perfectly. The hitherto feared winter cold was supplanted by an unusual warm and shiny weather, allowing for some outdoor portraits. The wedding ceremony and venue which was at the Hershey Auto Museum was a perfect choice for a unique, classic and elegant wedding that was also sure enough to satisfy Jon’s lust for classic and rare automobiles. Enjoy some of their loveness! And to Rachel and Jon, Mazel Tov!

This church in Lancaster is a perfect one for weddings. The location is great! Lancaster has some of the finest traditional architecture complete with exquisite brick and mortar walls. I will be photographing more of these buildings, and posting them. I also will try to keep bringing updates from my street on South Ann. So far no incidents, but I want to be able to document the life on that street, either through words but preferably through photographs – even though that might be a little too dangerous. What do you think of these photographs?

I for one hate moving passionately but was very excited about this one. I am now close to people, a lot of people and I love that. Plus, many a ticities do happen in the city that we have usually missed. It is also cheaper in the long run. For example, the Brickerville commute was costing us about $60 in gas every week, has a large yard for maintaining etc.

There are several reasons why we have moved to the city and I am wondering if I should make a dedicated blog for it, but let me just say that for now, life is exciting, it’s a new chapter and we do love our new house. I will post some photos of the new house and the old one. We did not move with any furniture and are looking for offers. Craigslist is another place we are looking for deals.

Oh, we don’t have the Internet yet but the convenience of the city is such that I can jump on my new motorcycle and go to prince street cafe and use their wifi on my device! The photo below is an iPhone photograph taken at night.

If you live in the city and would like to come and welcome us please do. And bring gifts!

If you live in Lancaster city or any city or have any experiences living in the city, what are they?

Elena and Lansen tied the knot on February 25, 2012 at the beautiful and historic Harrisburg Capitol, the official government building of the State of Pennsylvania. It was very beautiful and sunny in the morning, but very moody and windy in the afternoon, making it difficult to shoot photos of the bridal party outside. Harrisburg Capitol weddings and generally Harrisburg city is very beautiful, so we didn’t like the weather for that. But considering, I mean it was February when its supposed to be winter storm after winter blizzard, we can’t complain. But not even weather can stand in the way of a very gorgeous couple and happy couple whose wedding was attended by close friends and family. It was our first Harrisburg Capitol wedding, and you are darn sure we were excited to be part of it. We had met Elena and Lansen a couple months earlier after their mom got our referral from a friend. We then had a few hours together and shot their engagement photos that can be accessed here. After the wedding ceremony, the guests all headed back to Lancaster for the wedding banquet at Media Heights Golf Club. The reception was fun, laid back and had lots of dancing. I need to mention that Elena’s parents are of Russian decent,  and so there was a little bit of some Russian flavor. The dad, as he strummed the strings sang a very beautiful and reminiscent song that he used to sing to Elena while she was little. We enjoyed every bit, and thankfuly, CJ did not miss us all day as he enjoyed the company of our good friends that babysat for us. Thank you Elena and Lansen for allowing us to capture this intimate day. Stay beautiful, and stay prayerful! Below, enjoy some of their loveness!

But it’s already here. Invisible Children has created a viral video that for whatever reasons has put Uganda on the forefront of internet media, television and major newsprint for more than two days. What I would like every Ugandan and African lover to ask is this; how can we leverage this massive unprecedented exposure into something, something really good? I have often heard that even bad publicity can be good publicity. I would like to believe it. Musicians have used it to sell records, and so on and so on. Stanford Graduate School of Business says this of bad publicity:  ”in some cases negative publicity can increase sales when a product or company is relatively unknown, simply because it stimulates product awareness.” That’t exactly my point. Uganda was hardly known. The aging class that could still remotely relate Uganda to the mayhem of Idi Amin was quickly fading. But now Uganda is back in the main stream. It is now even a phrase, you didn’t know? Uganda be kidding me!

True, if you live in the west, many people maystill ask you where Uganda is on the map or if you lived in a tree or something…it doesn’t matter. For now, at least for now, Uganda will be fresh in their memory, they will know it’s a country – even if they may not know where it is in Africa! If you are African and you are not from Uganda, do not be offended if some student or the guy in the grocery store thinks you are from Uganda or Central Africa. You are African, that’s what matters! Many may start thinking that Uganda is Africa or narrowed down to Central Africa, even though it is in East Africa. That don’t matter much either. What matters is for weeks on end, Joseph Kony will be a household name in the west. If that was the objective of the campaign, they have achieved it. We have had our fair share of dissenting with the narrative both on twitter, blog post, radio and television interviews, et al. But now we must seize this moment, take advantage of this free publicity and hunger and talk about Uganda that the world needs to be hearing about. The world is ready to listen. For example:

1. Uganda Tourism: Uganda is a leading tourist destination in East, South and Central Africa. Even though the impression from the Invisible Children documentary may paint a grim picture, Uganda is absolutely a safe country to visit. In fact, many parts of Northern Uganda which were the epicenter of the Kony or LRA war are totally pacified and have some of the most magnificent game parks. Last year, I drove through the Murchison Falls National Park in Northern Uganda while on a photography commission for my client. The photo below was taken in that park. Uganda has more than 342 animal species including lions, elephant, giraffes, zebras, and over 1040 bird species, by far, the most attractive destination for bird watching in the whole of Africa. And did you know that  over half of the world’s Mountain Gorillas reside and thrive within Uganda? Yes, there was war, but that was then. Now come and visit Uganda and enjoy Uganda Tourism!

2. Uganda Culture: Despite our rants on social media, the internet, the blogs, radio and television about the Invisible Children Kony2012 video, Uganda has the most hospitable of any groups of people in the whole of Africa. Ugandans are calm, very welcoming and amiable. Perhaps that explains why Uganda is the largest home to millions of refugees from different countries across Africa, has a huge Asian population from China and India, and is home to hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, Congolese, Sudanese and Somalis. Many that have visited Uganda enjoy the night life that never stops till 6 in the morning (I don’t recommend it), the boda-boda (you will discover it when you go there, you can’t miss it), and everything. Ugandans speak good english and it is easy to get around, whether you are a tourist, foreign worker or investor. And we do not kill gays, contrary to sensational reports in the media. If you are gay, according to BBC, the president of Uganda says do your stuff, don’t force it on others and don’t brag about it, and no one will bother you.

3. Investing in Uganda. Recently, Harvard University and MIT published a report that shows East Africa will be the fastest growing region in the world between 2012 and 2020. So, for sure 2012 is a great year. Apart from capturing Kony, Uganda is also touted by the Harvard and MIT report to be the fastest growing of all the East African countries during the same period. If you are in business, whether its agriculture or technology or healthcare or construction or energy or anything, Uganda is a great destination. It has a huge educated population and many Ugandans like most places in Africa have a great entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore, do not be deterred by the Invisible Children video. Uganda is a great place to invest – it is a peaceful country.

4. Uganda and Innovation: Recently, a group of Ugandan university students of engineering researched and developed the first ever electric motor vehicle in the whole of Africa. The Makerere University technology students, with the help of their professors and government funding unveiled this car to the public last year. According to American Technology Blog EnGadget, The Kiira EV plug-in was test driven successfully after nearly three years of development…the two-seater successfully completed its first test run, reaching a top speed of 65 kilometers per hour and nimbly making its way up a 55-degree incline…the Kiira is capable of maxing out at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour, and can run for up to 80 kilometers before the next recharge. In fact, one local engineer is currently making a helicopter, while two different groups are each making an aircraft. One of the groups is the Africa Space Research Program, and the progress of their aircraft can be seen in photos here. Besides such bold innovations, many Ugandans have heavily invested time and resources into developing local information technologies, both web and mobile based. Such initiatives should be reported and supported. This photo below is by Edward Echwalu/Reuters. 

5. Uganda’s Challenges and How You Can Help: As any developing country, Uganda still faces some major challenges. And certainly, poverty is the main challenge. In my view, without poverty we would not have Kony in Northern Uganda, in Central Africa Republic, in Congo, in Chad or the Sudan. Poverty is the main root of conflict, that’s my thesis. But an interplay of various factors can perpetuate a conflict like that of the LRA. We have already argued that the Northern Uganda conflict needs holistic solutions including truth telling and reconciliation that would bring  national healing, real democracy and an open space for different political actors, addressing governance challenges including corruption, and improvement in government social services. We face all these challenges but we are optimistic. Addressing poverty issues and empowering people to have a voice should always be the starting point. That’s why I urge you to look for non profit agencies and social enterprises that address the issue of poverty and self sustainability. Obviously, humanitarian efforts such as dealing with victims of war and trauma cases or the nodding disease in Uganda issue should always happen in earnest, but long term efforts of dealing with the root must always be emphasized. And do let the local people take the lead. Check out our start up social enterprise here.

Lastly, the great English Statesman, World War II England Prime Minister, Winston Churchill upon setting foot in Uganda declared, “Truly Uganda is the Pearl of Africa”. He was attracted to the magnificent scenery (landscape), wildlife and friendly natives (culture). To him, the beauty of it all could only be described as a pearl.” The pearl still remains today. Kony can’t destroy it, the UPDF can’t touch it, and no one will tamper with it. Come to Uganda and experience the Pearl of Africa. Contact me if you would like to visit Uganda. I will hook you up. Follow me on Twitter here!

But let’s go back to Pinterest; why do I say that it is changing the way of business for wedding photography and even for the whole entire business wedding industry? First, with so many tech platforms, the information overload is in overdrive. So I did not discover Pinterest on my own like I have with others in the past. A prospective client from Japan who is planning a wedding in Masai Mara, Kenya had a Skype meeting with me a few weeks ago. Then in answering my questions on what kind of wedding photography style she would prefer, she quickly sent me a link to her pinterests. On here she had several photos from popular wedding blogs and from all over the Internet that in a way mapped out her personality in a handful of photos. I could fairly visualize the vision for her wedding and therefore also for me to know whether her vision met my artistic and visual communication style. As you know already, 98% of the brides make the hiring decision for a photographer (not scientific but you do get the drift). And you also know that most brides are very organized, carry folders with “interests” to the meeting with a wedding vendor. It may be difficult to see the brides file with crumpled pages and very few minutes for the meeting where you also have to show them a tone of products that you offer.

Other brides may be reluctant to share the folder with a photographer or vendor they are only meeting for the first time. Occasionally, varying from client to client, I will let them show me their folders. Thankfully I have. Ever been rejected as that would put me down – nobody loves rejection. But now, things have. Hanged. Rather than gather paper and stuff, wedding brides will be pinning their interests on Pinterest. This will help you and me as vendors serve our clients better and exceed their expectations. Of course I am assuming that for you and and for me, it’s not about us, but about them, right? Cos we are getting paid anyway. And did you know that the phenomenon growth of Pinterest is being pushed by women? While Google+ has a lot of men (and photographers), Pinterest has more women subscribers. So, i just discovered the Pinterest page of a bride we are shooting this Saturday. I am sure we will be a me to surprise her. A of Word of advice, please brand your photos with a non destructive logo (better-still your blog URL) that you plan to post on Pinterest. So that as the photos make rounds and pins and re-pins on the website, someone will be able to trace the photos to you and perhaps translate into business for you.
Let us know your thoughts on Pinterest and everything. Peace.

PS: This post was made on iPhone and may contain a lot of typos. Also, it’s 100% opinion so I do not quote anyone or make any reading references.

Two weeks ago, I got a rare opportunity to volunteer for a full day with Send A Cow Rwanda. I had a scheduled trip to do an assignment in Uganda, and Green Micro-finance, which has a working relationship with Send A Cow in Rwanda arranged for me to make the trip, meeting my airline flight from Entebbe to Kigali and back to Entebbe. Green Micro-finance works to merge the environmental and microfinance sectors. They develop environmentally sustainable programs in partnership with local microfinance institutions and non-government organizations. Green Micro-finance working with the Executive Director of Send A Cow Rwanda, James Pimundu, worked out the details for a seamless trip. James already had a scheduled meeting in Nairobi which meant that I did not see him. But he left his wonderful staff that I worked with and traveled with me to the field to capture some of the many amazing development stories in which Send A Cow has been involved. Angelique and Laurent, both senior employees of Send A Cow in Rwanda were involved in the details of the mission.

Without rambling much about myself, my this and my that, I would like to quickly talk about the work of Send A Cow in Rwanda. First, it is important to understand that 10 hours is not sufficient to capture exhaustively the magnitude of the impact that Send A Cow is having on the ground in Rwanda. However, it is also better to have something than having nothing at all. I do take photos better than I write and so I will let the photos do their own taking. But for some useless details, the photo may not speak or the interpreter may miss the message. For example, you would be keen to know that we visited four families, all of which have received a cow from Send A Cow – Rwanda. The concept of Sending A Cow is very simple and multi-edged sword, if there is such a thing. The whole idea is to promote development of family based businesses through agricultural practices that in turn not only generate income, but also ensure food security, better agricultural science and community building. At Send A Cow, they help farmers to access seeds, cows, goats and poultry; to use land more effectively and efficiently; they train the small farmers on business and marketing skills, better hygiene and sanitation, improved nutrition, green energy solutions, and ultimately, all these are pathways out of poverty.

For example, if a cow is given to a home, that translates into food for the home through milk. Milk is a very nutritious product for children. Some families receive up about 20 liters of milk from a single cow every day. They drink some, share some with poor neighbors and sell the rest for an income. The compost manure from the cow is used to improve crop productivity. Very tiny plots of land have been made into highly productive gardens for vegetables that are eaten at home, while others get sold. Manure can also be used for creating green energy, also called biogas energy. This is used for both cooking meals and lighting the home. One of the families said that since they got their biogas installed 2 years ago, they have not used charcoal or fuelwood; not once. This family owns two cows. Deforestation is the single largest threat to environmental degradation in Africa. Albeit initial installation costs for biogas can be high for the rural people, combined benefits and the long terms savings have no price tag. Send A Cow helps its clients to attain these installations, and so does the government of Rwanda, in very highly subsidized deals. As you know, the Rwanda Government instituted the One Cow Per Family Program, of which, Send A Cow is also partner. And for this particular program, the government says of the aim of its ‘One Cow Per Poor Family’ policy is to provide every poor family in the country with good quality, suitable livestock – not just cows – by 2020.” The One Cow Per Family program is partly attributed the drastic decline in poverty levels, cutting it by 12% in just the last 6 years, according to the LA Times.

Send A Cow has been doing this kind of work since the 1980′s starting in Uganda. Every family that receives a cow is supposed to pass on the gift of a first born female cow to another person. And that’s how everyone pays it forward.

Population control needs a national policy framework. In such an environment, the messaging from different groups that have a stake in the future of Uganda would be congruent, understandable and not confusing. Without this, it makes the work of advocates such as UHMG very difficult; because on one hand they are advocating for small families, while on the other, the government of Uganda (read President) theorizes that a large population represents a cheap labor force, an incentive for a growing middle class. Should UHMG then sit and do nothing? Hardly, because there is USAID money to be spent. But there are smarter ways to spend this money. For example, UHMG or any other interested parties could lobby members of parliament, invest in authoring a bill and finding a sponsor/s of this bill in Parliament so that this issue can begin to get to the fore front. The debate that is likely to ensue could have an impact 10 times higher than your current campaign. Moreover, who knows that it would get adopted and then as a country we would have one direction.

Spending money on billboards and television in the english language clearly shows that they also either don’t get it or have a different agenda. By targeting the youth who are 18 – 30, they are right on the money; because this is the demographic that is either about to get married or has been married for a while. Urging this group to have smaller families is therefore a no brainer. In fact, I would take the target age group down to 15 or 14. Because in rural areas, kids are getting married and having children. While 18 is the age of consent in Uganda, so what? Children are getting married younger and no one is doing anything about it, so the campaign could as well include them.

But that’s where this campaign is not relevant to the population growth issue in Uganda. Crafting a massive media strategy that devotes probably more than 70% of the media dollars to the urban and english speaking demographic misses the mark – gapingly. This group already knows what you are saying. If they haven’t read it somewhere, they have heard it in school. That is why in Kampala, or in other urban centers, the number of children in a household, especially for those below 40 years is less. We need a scientific survey, but I would argue that the average is about 3, a far cry from a national average of 7 children. We therefore need to understand why such a huge disparity? And the answer is quite simple because we all know it (may be we don’t); it lies in the economics.

Families – all the way to the rural areas that earn a livelihood through meaningful monetary transactions also are compelled to budget, whether on paper or otherwise. They budget for food (land production), school tuition (private and better performing schools), and independent healthcare (not Mulago or affiliated hospitals). Because they barely make ends meet, they are forced to make sober choices. They consciously ask; if we want our children to inherit a piece of land, what’s a reasonable number we can produce? If we want our children to acquire a quality education since UPE is still crawling (roots for quantity and not quality), how many children can we manage? This internal self reflection and realty checks are imposed by economics; money! And so, here goes the question? How can we begin to reverse population growth in a country of 33.5 million people in which about 30 million are poor, where there are allures of free (substandard) education, free healthcare that doesn’t work, and free land (in the rural areas)? What’s the mindset of the poor person who’s got these attractive advantages? When his village is facing famine because of poor environmental practices, the UN and USAID at the begging of his government come to his rescue.

How can we begin to teach our people that while it’s true that “Children are a blessing (to us) from God”, we have just become a curse to them! We also need to become a blessing to our children. We need to be able to provide, period. That’s the whole duty of parenthood – whether it is providing love, security, education, protection, we must strive to provide. This calls for holistic approach, it calls for a National Security Strategy (which I still argue Uganda doesn’t have) in which we can all operate, with or without our hip messages. Almost two years ago when we did election messaging, I went to the deepest of the villages in Uganda. I realized then that the people of Uganda’s most immediate means were not elections; it was their survival. No wonder that our message would get eroded by the stacks of cash that made rounds in the villages on the eve of election day.

The poor have become the pawn in a chase game. Corrupt governments need them to keep ruling, NGOs and aid agencies cease to be relevant without them; but this gotta stop. Addressing poverty challenges and helping people out of that misery is the most logical way. People need to get integrated into the economy first. And lastly, learn from those who are doing things right. Ask the right questions; for example, how has Rwanda managed to reduce/drop the fertility rate from 6.1 to 4.6 in less than a decade?

Behind sprawling buildings and the dusty streets of Kampala lies Kisenyi, Uganda’s biggest slum of several million people; some living there while several others working there daily. Kisenyi is a sheer contrast of the rising Kampala skyline on its backdrop, but both ends fight for their own significance. Yet, one would argue that Kisenyi, the slum, could as well be an extension of what “the good” Kampala would look like if we were all poor, filthy, dingy and hopeless. In Kisenyi, the future just looks bleak.

I met with Ruth Aine, a Ugandan journalist and blogger and brainstormed on how, through our gifts and talents, we could try to give back. Our mission was simple; organize Kisenyi residents, take their portraits (dignifying), interact with them and show them that some one actually cares. For us to achieve this, we needed to find a partner in the community which Ruth did so ably and quickly, making a connection with another Ugandan blogger, Javie Ssozi, who had some unique connections in the area with the Kisenyi Community Shelter. Then we needed to find volunteers for the project, and we went to find Ugandans on Twitter that would be interested in the initiative.

Again, Ruth mobilized a handful of the twitter community and friends in lightening speed. We needed volunteers to come and interact with the people – interview them and tell their stories, take their photographs, and for us to have the slum experience first hand. Kisenyi is not a place one would ever desire to go, and much less live. Yet, here, children and women live in the most squalid conditions, in a neighborhood smelling of filth, sewerage and drugs, surrounded by heaps of rubbish, protected or terrorized by vice. If one stops for a minute and realize he or she could be the one living in such conditions, they can only shudder.

Unfortunately, having a government that does not care about social services means these forms of poverty and injustice will prevail for a while. Into perspective; if a national hospital can lack drugs or doctors, can there be hope for the slum dweller or the street kid? Yes, there is hope! Since we had our Kisenyi Photo Shoot 2 weeks ago, a good samaritan, inspired by our simple gesture to give back, is going to pay for Madina’s school tuition through medical school. This was in response to Rosebell Kagumire – an award winning journalist and blogger, who volunteered with us on that day. We have also been contacted by our friends at Ruhanga Development School in Kabale, to explore ways in which we can transplant children from these conditions to have an education and develop other skills. Nothing is conclusive yet, but that we can begin seeing such prospects with a simple project like the #KisenyiPhotoShoot means we have the ability to change and transform our communities – through simple acts, may fulfill some dreams.

We inspired ourselves, inspired people on the web, and may be we inspired the community that we served. Evelyn Namara, the Program Coordinator at Solar Sister said that her mind was opened; reflecting on the conditions of the people, she realized how most of us are so blessed and yet we complain so much. I would like to send special thanks to Four by Six Images and Patricia Kahil who offered free prints to the residents of the portraits we took on the day. They also did the make up on the subjects. Please also check out Edward Echwalu’s blog, our other volunteer photographer who captured some amazing shots with us on the day. Thank you to our special volunteers Patricia Twino, Ford Tumwesigye. Lastly, thank you to @VillageServe; our social enterprise. Tweet me here!

Shortly before my latest trip to Rwanda and Uganda, my old friend Royii inquired about the possibility of a family portrait session. Usually, I travel with a mission and it gets difficult to arrange sessions (that’s why I have turned down a few requests), but because he and I had talked before I made travel plans, it was easier to arrange for the session. Things are a little difficult in Uganda; from transportation (Kampala traffic jams) to finding suitable (clean) locations that are conducive for family portraits that are public. It did help a great deal that Royii and I were childhood friends – they came to pick me and my gear from home. Royii and I went to school together (and did all the bad things teenagers do) and have managed to keep the connection. He married his high school sweet heart, Anita, and I remember visiting them in hospital when they had their first daughter – Roanita. As we drove to Entebbe, a small airport town that touches the lake shores of Victoria, I realized how far we have come; from  skipping showers and classes (hehe, gotcha!) and now to having children! Here are some of their portraits. And if you would like to have a SIGNATURE session and are wondering about my availability, please contact me through this page.