5:30 am Saturday arrived VERY quickly. Especially after a late night trying to keep this blog updated with very dodgy wifi. It showed four bars but it was giving me LOTS of attitude. Yes, this is where someone might say "1st world problems" and it would be 100% true.
This particular shot required rubble which we were thankfully able to find very close to the hotel. In an effort to make sure we caught everything, we planned to shoot both at dawn and dusk. In preparation for the morning shoot, Derek worked hard to get the CARE box placed just right.
The talent was great and our morning session was wrapped up within 2 hours. This left us with some free time so, after breakfast, we went off our own. I promptly returned to my room, shut the curtains, armed myself with my sleep mask and took a long nap to catch up on the sleep I didn't get the night before.
Our new driver arrived (George had been our driver and we LOVED him so) and was kind enough to take the scenic route to our destination, so we could drive by the President's house (taking pictures was prohibited) as well as an overlook where we could get a shot of the Nairobi skyline as seen below (and slightly distorted - I'm still trying to get this whole "panoramic" thing down).
Because we weren't going to shoot again until late afternoon, we had some time to do one of my favorite things. Shop. We went to a great store/market called Spinners Web where I did round two of purchasing items for friends, family and colleagues. The current exchange here is 85 shillings to the dollar so, things are actually more affordable than they would be at home.
After shopping, we had a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant and then returned to the hotel to prepare for the afternoon portion of the shoot.
So - you may be wondering "why did Ginger title this entry 'Unsolved Mystery'?" Well, when we returned to our location, (which was supposedly locked up and secure while we were gone) we found that the flat platform of concrete that we'd shot on in the morning had been destroyed. And, it was ONLY that particular spot. Nothing else seemed to have been touched. We couldn't (and still can't) think of a reason why someone would do that.
Was it a coincidence? Perhaps it had been untouched all week because whoever was working on it had another job M-F and they had some time to work on it on Saturday?
OR
Was it the guys who owned the lot who did it? Perhaps thinking that since we'd left that morning without paying them (because we knew were coming back) that they were going to take it out on us by messing with the scene? Not sure about this thought either - they would have needed some serious equipment to break up the concrete like that.
We'll likely never know (most of us assume it was the latter of the two). Thankfully, this was the worst thing to happen to us all week and to say "worst" is an overstatement. We shuffled around the rubble to create another flat spot to set up the shot and went from there. Derek and Vincent carried on in their usual loving way.
After another couple of hours shooting as the sun descended, and Vincent said those well known words..."it's a wrap" bringing our amazing shoot week to a successful end. We went back to the hotel for a quiet dinner at the pool side restaurant and called it an early night.
No shooting on Sunday but, we had plans to go to Nairobi National Park and if you really want to see the animals, you need to get there as soon as it opens (6:15am).
Random notes from Saturday:
- Our driver was very sure to tell us that, if we had our windows open, anything of value (cameras, purses, etc.) should be kept out of sight. He then said "that's why people call this city Nai-robby." I'd been here a week before hearing anyone say that.
- Vincent (our photographer) relayed to us the origin of toasting (that it came from a fear of being poisoned) which I found interesting but, when I looked it up, I was told a different story. The true origin for any history buffs, can be found here (and I am assuming that this site is accurate).
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