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ghana {day 3}

1.16.13

Day 3 I headed to a small village Chani that in 2011 CWS implemented the water center. My job was to follow around one of the businesswomen, Salomatu who has been really successful with her business.  When I arrived Salomatu was in the fields harvesting rice with her friends. They pointed us in the direction of the fields and it was about 1.5-2 miles from the village. I couldn’t imagine walking that far everyday, especially in flip flops or barefooted.  Salomatu is a beautiful woman, I adore her dimples when she smiles.  I enjoyed hanging out with her and seeing her village thrive with the clean water and Salomatu running such a great business for her family.

this lady asked me to take a family portrait.a view of the villageThis is a view inside one of the villages. You can see their safe storage container on the right.a newborn lamb or goat. i really can hardly tell which is which here.the women in the fields harvesting rice.this is SalomatuMost women work with their infants on their back.The older kids sit in the field with some other children just waiting for their moms.i am obsessed with their beautiful fabrics and can’t wait to go to the market to get some so i can sew something fabulous at home.

the process of harvesting rice is so complex. the amount of work that they put into it is unreal.

Salomatu taking me out to meet her friends working on the other side of the field.

xo,

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Angela Van Every Johnston - Love the images. I cannot wait to get a copy of some I want to paint!

Gail Little - I love the colora and that incredible dark skin. The energy in the photos, great subjects.

Saja R. Kamal - amazing shots tracy! I miss Tamale already :(

Cindy McCall - Loved seeing your blog. What an amazing trip!!

ghana {day 2}

1.14.13

What a crazy past couple of days! The first day I am posting is Friday where I spent all day at a village about 2 hours from Tamale called Kasuliyili. It is a huge village of about 300 households which is roughly 3500 people. Sam and I rode out there together to meet the team who was working in the village who got to actually spend the night there, how awesome is that!?? I got to meet lots of great people and witness them getting clean water which is awesome! Here are some from images that day…this man killed a duck in the dugout water for dinnerthe women in the village counting the money they made from selling water on their opening day!Saja, one of the fellows playing with her new friendsThe group with the Chief of their village and the eldersthe chief making his way into the opening day ceremonyPeter & Chris to the left explaining to the people of the village how to use their water buckets.the kids manning the donkey cartSaja and the women filling the polytank with CLEAN WATER!!I finally got a baby strapped on my back, I was a happy camper!Sam said this was the souvenir she was bringing home.i adore this woman’s smilehere she is mixing the alum in the water to bring all the dirt and particles to the bottom and scoop the clear good part on top.Rachel, another fellow from the team spending some time with her friendsthe ladies clean their buckets when receiving them to eliminate more dirt getting in their water.they are used to waiting in line for anything so there were long lines to get some clean water for each household.this little girl is about 8 and too precious for words! very smart too, her english was fantastic!there are chickens everywheregoodnight Ghanathese are from the day before but too much fun not to include….

the kids here live across from where we are staying and are always playing so I had to join in the fun

Sam is all ready on the moto:)

Hope you are all having a fabulous Monday…

xo,

 

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Diane Santoro Esposito - This put such a HUGE smile on my face! About 19 frames up there is two women walking, the one on the left (tall) could easily be a professional model! Beautiful….the picture with the kids sticking out their tongues like Loony Lucy is one that needs to be framed, loved it, loved them all, your so awesome girl! Be safe coming home.

Michael Reilley - Great Pictures

Angela Van Every Johnston - Absolutely stunning! Love all the images it tells a wonderful story.

Heather Goodall Bryson - These pictures bring so much hurt yet so many smiles. The eyes are just so gripping. The world is so much bigger than what we often remember. And we’re so much more fortunate than we often realize. It hurts to see them with so little. So glad you’re a part of something bigger. Love you friend!

Lori Neill - Awesome! Love the smiles!

Cathy Van Every Gardner - Awesome photographs!

Helga Schaefer - Are they happy people or what??? What an awesome journey!

Kelley Ireland Parker - Amazing how fortunate we are, and how much we forget to be grateful for!

ghana {day 1}

1.11.13

Amazing. That is about the only adjective I can come up with when describing Ghana. I have been overwhelmed visually that I have literally had to stop and pause to take it all in. The people of Tamale are so sweet. When kids see us driving by on a “moto” {like a vespa} they scream out “salaminga” which means white person and they wave so excited that we are here.

Yesterday I went into the one of the villages about 45 minutes away for opening day with a team of CWS fellows.  This was a small village with about 20 families. Opening day is the first day that the water treatment center is open for business and people are trying the clean water for the very first time! It was awesome to witness this teams hard work and dedication to giving their village clean water.

One of my favorite things about yesterday was the energy & spirit of the people in the village. I of course LOVED the kids. One little girl in particular, levitated towards me and held my hand the whole time I was there. If I could find a way to pack her up with me I would. They actually offered to give her to me:)The kids here love to touch you and feel your hair and skin. They are mesmerized by our white skin and want to feel if it is any different that theirs. The little girl loved my finger nail polish.

We also went into the market downtown to run errands and get some potatoes for dinner. It was too hectic to take pictures and I don’t think it would be have been super appreciated either so respectfully I just put the camera down and tried to make my way through the narrow ally ways. I saw all kinds of meat and butcher shops. It was pretty stinky. My fav aspect of the market and the citizens center were the fabrics. I bought some really cool things to bring home for the fam.

Today I head out at 6am to another Opening Day for a village that is about 2 hours away. This is a larger village with about 300 households. The average household is about 8 people, so it is going to be wild and crazy today. I cant wait to share more.

Enjoy a handful of my pictures today. I will be posting more soon….

one of the ladies now taking her clean CWS water to her villagethey love soccerthis is the little girl who held my hand all day. when i look at her beautiful brown eyes in this picture i feel like i am staring at her soul.the large polytank they feel with the waterthe chief of the village gets to taste the water first.this is the dirty water the women get from the dugout to dump inside the big blue barrels. Once in the barrels they clean it and turn it into clean drinking water!how beautiful and happy is this sweet little girl?!?the donkey cart bring water in from the dugoutthis picture was taken on the back of me riding on the moto with Sam

chow from Ghana,

 

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Bonnie Bradley - wow! I can’t believe you are actually there! What an experience! Can’t wait to see more!

Holly Mayberry - beautiful Lucy! such an awesome experience!

Crown Alley - Wow! What an amazing experience! Thanks so much for sharing these fascinating images.

Jenny Tosto Brawley - Lucy these are gorgeous! What an awesome experience this is for you! Blessings for a safe trip!

Jean Johnson - So breathtaking! Thanks for sharing

Meera Jadeja Ivester - This was beautiful. Can’t wait to show my mom!

Monica Corum - OMG I love this! What a wonderful opportunity you are experiencing. I appreciate you sharing this will us. Thank you so much. Looking forward to more.

Amanda Smith Morris - These are one word, amazing. You are awesome friend!!!

Mary Beth Cash Edwards - Thank you for sharing. Absolutely beautiful. :-)

Helga Schaefer - Beautiful pictures!!!! Amazing help you guys do!

the matters family {lifestyle session}

1.10.13

Cortenay is one of my really good friends and also one of the super talented wedding planners of Carolina Wedding Design. A month or so ago we got to hang out for a family session in the park with her hubs and precious twin daughters! They have not had professional pics done since the girls were infants…um, yea they were long overdue!! We had a great time playing:)

We are really excited that we will be taking on more lifestyle/portrait work this year! We opened up a larger studio to accommodate a big shooting space indoors and then of course love hanging outside for pics too!!

i adore this sweet family so very much!!!always, daddy’s little girlsthe girls LOVED showing me all their awesome tricks on the monkey bars!

From Ghana, xo..

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Diane Santoro Esposito - Absolutely precious!

abby & greg {engaged}

1.8.13

Happy 2013! I am blogging for Ghana! True story I am here to document some pretty amazing things and had some downtime and have only a million trillion sessions to catch you up on so I thought no time like the present:)

Abby & Greg are super cute together. We spent some time uptown Charlotte for their engagement session since they live right uptown they really wanted to encompass the city in their shoot! We cannot wait for their wedding in May this year!!

Hoping to blog a lot more while in Ghana and hopefully I can even share some amazing things that I am seeing!!! Have an amazing week friends!

xo,

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