Sorry for protracted blogging silence. Like last year, I disappeared after BRITDOC into the rural wilderness of South Africa (with a little urban time in my birth city of Joburg too). It was strange how fast the chaos of my working life dropped away and felt so far away. I started to think I had made up Shooting People and BRITDOC and the world of docs and independent film in general. In a weird double-move it all felt very irrelevant while I was away but now that I’m back in NYC it feels more relevant than ever. I’m getting obsessed with ideas around storytelling and narrative and who tells what stories about whom. Not to mention who funds and distributes and sees these films!

Anyway, blah blah blah, I haven’t formulated these ideas very clearly yet but I am feeling very excited and inspired about plans for Shooting People and for my own work.

And I am going to learn Xhosa! I said it last year and did bugger all about it but I really want to do it.

And you know how I love my photos so here are a few random pics from my trip – mainly taken in the Kruger Park and the Eastern Cape – and many taken by my marvelous sister and her marvelous new digital camera.

Elephant by the side of the road in Kruger

Impala Lilies in Letaba Camp

Giraffe munching

We saw lion three times this trip which was very exciting

Handsome old Baobab tree

Giraffe sculptures in Olifants Camp

Zebedee!

Me running down a dune in the Eastern Cape (running up and down sand dunes is one of my very favorite things in life)

Naboom – these plants cover the hillsides and I think they’re very poisonous but they’re so beautiful

Weird mushrooms on Hogsback Mountain – where everything is Tolkien-related and the liquor store is called The Ring!

Donkey cart (I love this picture because of the beautiful trees)

Before we get down to business I feel it would be remiss of me not to bore you with some of my holiday snaps. It was fantastic to be back in South Africa and I managed to drive all over the country seeing old friends and family.

I did a lot of sitting and looking – the Peter Biskind book on my lap didn’t get read very much!

The wonderful Keiskamma Art Project in the Eastern Cape. You can read more about the amazing work The Keiskamma Trust does in the fields of art and health here: www.keiskamma.orgThere is also a lovely documentary I saw about it that just played at the Encounters Festival in South Africa called “Keiskamma – A Story of Love” by Miki Redelinghuys. I highly recommend tracking it down.

Beautiful things for sale in the Keiskamma shop.

This vervet monkey chased me into the house. It is humiliating to be chased by a small monkey. I know that now.

Vultures on a tree at dusk. Later we watched these vultures fight with two hyenas over an elephant carcass.

An elephant right by the side of the road in Addo Elephant Park.

A giraffe crossing the road in front of us in the Kruger National Park.

Zebedees in Kruger.

This was taken in Franschoek in the wine region near Cape Town. The town is ridiculously beautiful and the wine flows freely which is never a bad thing.

Ok, that’s it with the fun and games. Next post will be back to the gritty business of film. No monkeys.