PENHA Fundraising Meeting – Adulis Restaurant

For the second time this year I found myself being invited to an evening in aid of the Charity PENHA, held once again at the friendly Eritrean restaurant, the Adulis in Brixton Road, close to the Oval Tube Station. There was to be traditional music and dance from the Horn of Africa and the traditional coffee ceremony and the opportunity to watch and listen to Vanessa Champion who spent some time in Uganda to see the work being done among the pastorialists of the region.

I arrived early enough to be present as they set up for the evening, which meant I was able to watch the dancers practising and this gave me a chance to see whether I might be able to improve upon the shots I took at the first event back in June. At that time I was using the Canon EOS 5D MkII and the highest ISO I used with confidence then was 2000 ISO and I struggled very often to shoot faster than 1/30th of a second. Adam Woolfitt very generously allowed me to borrow his MkIII for the evening, which entailed a full day accustoming myself to the different way of working. I learned in that time that the differences between the two versions were substantial. My testing suggested I may well find it viable at around 6400 ISO and this was confirmed very soon. As the evening progressed I pushed things further.

One other difference on this occasion was that I set up my iPad on the bar and plugged in CamRanger, which gave me a good chance to review shots I had taken as well as provide others the opportunity to look at the shots I took within a few seconds of my taking them. Many found this intriguing and it allowed me to become involved in conversations about this 'magic'!

I felt very welcome as many of those in the restaurant knew who I was and said how much they liked the shots I had taken on my last visit, however their names escaped me, but several of the faces I did remember.

Zeremariam Fre spoke to introduce the evening to the guests and explain a bit about the work being done by PENHA and how it differed in its approach and explained that the audience would also hear from Dr.Tekeste Ghebray the former  Executive Secretary / head of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) about his involvement, and also how later Dr Vanessa Champion would relate the story of her recent visit to Uganda with some of the photos she had taken when amongst the Pastorialists and where she saw first hand what PENHA were not only advocating, but putting into practice.

Zere and his wife also spoke of what was happening during the evening, of the Dance Group, the Coffee Ceremony the food on offer and the various hand-crafted goods that were on display and for sale, all in aid of future work by PENHA. A point that was stressed was how in this group of countries were many whose differences were in conflict, yet were brought together by this organisation.

The Ethiopian Dan-Kira Dance Group were very energetic and despite the difficulties of operating at such low light levels and in a confined space, I did manage to capture some of the infectious spirit of their display. Many of the audience were tempted on the dance floor amidst great applause, and the dancers from the audience were not all in the first bloom of youth! The rhythm and volume were infectious and irresistable!

One group of girls from an NHS HR company were present because one of their number was going out with a member of the dance group, and they asked me to capture them on camera, and even insisted they take a shot of me with one of them; modesty prevents me from showing this shot and also I had 181 acceptable shots and so one had to go and that was the victim! It exists on the Cutting room floor, and anyway I was not told her name…

Vanessa introduced me to a very interesting Architect who listened carefully to my concerns related to the Chaulington project and gave me a very interesting idea to try to solve issues that surround this local plan and how I might create a competition to arrive at a solution. Anyone who is interested in what is an excellent idea for the development for Vauxhall's current Vehicle Storage Area with almost no local resistance, but needs to resolve numerous external issues first, enter "Chaulington" into a search engine. I was buoyed up by this architect's answer, so much so that I have passed his comment back to my contact at Vauxhall; I must now get his name from Vanessa!

PENHA Branding & Network Event

PENHA is a pastoral and environmental organisation dedicated to improve the perceptions and hence the aid and support to countries within the Horn of Africa; they held an event at the Adulis Eritrean Restaurant in Brixton Road, London. One of the organisers of the event, Vanessa Champion of Dragonfly Communications invited me along, and as a consequence I invited a talented photographer, Karena Perronet-Miller, who has done photographic assignments in India, to come along too.

We set off from our very different points mine from outside London, Karena’s from North London, yet as I came along the Brixton Road, Karena spotted me before I sailed by unknowingly as she had stopped by one of the shops en route, so we entered together giving me the opportunity to introduce Karena to Ness downstairs, having been greeted by the owners and  Zeremariam Fre at the entrance.

Already music could be heard from below, and although we were early there were already other guests who had arrived still more promptly. Karena, despite having told me she was apprehensive about such meetings was soon very much at home, and I realised I need not have worried. The atmosphere was very welcoming all round, and having checked with Ness about photographing was assured it was just fine – it was not long before I was far from alone in taking the opportunity to capture the event for a wider audience! It proved to be difficult to avoid each of us finding other photographers featuring in our images.

It was a wonderful opportunity to listen to some lively music, some introductory speeches, explanations of some of the instruments being played and their origins. Naturally, it was also the chance to gain further experience of ‘unavailable light photography’ by having to shoot at 5000 ISO to get exposures as short as 1/15th second with some semblance of sharpness somewhere in the picture – especially challenging when trying to capture speakers whose heads seemed capable of swivelling 360 degrees and hands that moved faster than the speed of light, and musicians whose virtuosic fingers operated at similar velocity.

In some instances due to moments of humour, or subtle changes in expressions I have shown images that at first sight may seem duplicates, but often taken together provide a greater truth to what was happening. Mixed lighting sometimes enhanced the images at others proved quite challenging when I was processing them for display in the gallery, but I hope overall, I have captured the essence and ambiance of the evening which I thoroughly enjoyed as did my feet and toes as they often followed the beat with abandon.

It was a well-organised and successful event with splendid food, wonderful hospitality and incredible friendliness; I met several new people and was very grateful to be invited and I hope in this record have contributed in some small way.