In the Rough
The past few days have been pretty intense. I’ve been feeling a lot of things, sometimes feeling my way through the dark. First with the film classes: Marius Van Straaten has been teaching us his tricks, possibly all the tricks in the book, so we can get the best footage and the best shots to tell the story of the plight of critically endangered species in South Africa.
The first full day I was very frustrated, mostly because my camera is just not as good as everyone else’s (and I have very little photography experience besides), but also because the controls are slightly different than the others’. By that, I mean that the shutter speed of my lens is measured in fractions, as opposed to hertz or degrees. Once we figured that out though, I made progress fairly quickly. And there is no surprise there, considering the stellar level of these lectures! Truly, I can only think of a handful of other teachers who can match Marius for passion and know-how. Most importantly, Marius was very encouraging to everyone, not just myself, and even when our energy was flagging towards the end of our three jam-packed days, he continued full-steam ahead.
It is so important that we have all made progress in these technical aspects for the success of our project, and I personally hope now that I have some new tools in my belt I may focus more on working cooperatively with the team to extract the best possible ideas from our brains and to infuse them into our work.
On a more somber note, we finally watched that poaching video that Dex told us made Christie Brinkley cry. I guess she and I have something in common, because I could not stop the tears from streaming down my face. The images were so raw, and my feelings were so rough – I can fully understand how even the seasoned rangers of this reserve were moved to tears upon watching it. This short documentary told the story of how a veterinarian, upon visiting a reserve where he had worked years before, found a rhino wandering around, dragging his own weight as he slowly succumbed to a mortal wound.
This beautiful bull of a rhino had lost his horn at the hand of some damned poacher, for the men who mutilate these animals in pursuit of keratinous “gold” lack moral judgment – but they make up for it with gluttony in spades. To my further horror, the doctor who found this bull in such a sad state recognized that it was in fact Geza, a rhino he had cared for while still a calf, but only after a moment of confusion – for when the horn goes, the face goes with it.
I do not know that I could have withstood a longer film. But four minutes was more than enough to light the fire under our butts and get us brainstorming about more, better ways to get our friends and family involved with the conservation efforts. We’re talking about setting up an “adopt-a-rhino” program, so people around the world can support rhinos at The Rhino Orphanage for a small sum, and in return receive a yearly update on the calf’s health and well-being, perhaps in the form of a photo and a hoof imprint – just like the Christmas ornaments I used to make for Mom and Dad.
We still hang mine up every year and, I think, it reminds us how someone small must be treasured in order to grow up big and strong.
– Clara Bowe
For more information on our partners in this program and the motivation behind it, please check out the following websites:
The Rhino Orphanage:
http://therhinoorphanage.co.za/
https://www.facebook.com/TheRhinoOrphanage
Photography trainer and lecturer at Cape Town University, Marius Van Straaten:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mariusvanstraatentraining
The poaching of Geza, as told by Dr. William Fowlds:
Reblogged this on a traves de la lente de mi camera and commented:
Read a friend’s thoughts on her work with environmental conservation and care of orphaned rhinos in South Africa!
Thank you Avantika! Very much appreciated.