“Karibu…” The Swahili greeting for hello. Just finished a week in Tanzania hired by longtime humanitarian client, AmeriCares to document their new initiatives and partnerships at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza and a full day in Dar es Salaam yesterday. What made the trip memorable was not only being asked to return to East Africa, and work in Tanzania’s second largest city on the southern shore of Lake Victoria, but to literally add a new Canon PowerShot G15 to the mix and shoot hi-res / HD video clips as well as image files on RAW, and utilize full manual controls. The files from this little box smaller than the size of a deck of playing cards continually blew me away (below) and I’ll continue to use it as my new “mini-Leica…” (Meaning it’s much better to bring the camera to your eye for composing instead of using it like a smartphone at arm’s length while viewing the large 3″ rear screen.) Just taking a breather here to post a few favorites from here at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport while transiting en route to back to JFK. There will be a slideshow (and possibly a video reel too) of the week’s work to come… ~cg.
MWANZA, TANZANIA. A Tanzanian mother reacts as her newborn baby sleeps on her bed in the Post Natal Ward at Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania on Thursday, September 4, 2014. (Photographed with the Canon G15) © Chet Gordon for AmeriCares
MWANZA, TANZANIA. Railway workers move creosote treated telephone poles from the deck of a tractor-trailer onto a waiting railroad freight car in Mwanza, Tanzania on Saturday, September 6, 2014. (Photographed with the Nikon D2X on RAW) © www.chetgordon.com
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
