Update from Ethiopia

May 28th, 2009

The week in Ethiopia shooting the documentary has been challenging but good. Lack of internet has made it difficult to share all that has been going on. We have seen many difficult and dire circumstances. The last two nights have been the toughest. On the first night, we were out until 3 a.m. interviewing street children and needed police escorts for the slums we went into. Last night was just as difficult as we interviewed young prostitutes and heard about the hopelessness in which they find themselves. Some really sad stories.

At the same time, joy can emerge from the harshest of realities as in this photo taken on my last trip to Ethiopia.  The folks at Life in Abundance are doing great work.  Looking forward to being able to share all of the stories from this week as we move to edit the documentary over the next few months.  Stay tuned.  More when I return next week.

Brian MacDonald

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The Hair Comes Off For Africa

May 17th, 2009

As some of you know, the head shave was coming. As part of a dare/fundraising for my Africa trip I promised to shave my head. This is the first time in over forty years that certain parts of my noggin have seen the light of day. Well, here are the results. Not exactly a pretty sight. Fortunately my hair grows quickly. The comments from friends have been very colorful so far.

We leave this Wednesday for Ethiopia and will be gone for 11 days. The documentary I am shooting for Life In Abundance International follows the lives of some street kids from the slums in Addis and some of the LIA workers and their interactions with these kids. Having been there just a year ago, I feel more aware of the challenges that will be faced, but know it will be a difficult and tiring week. Hopefully there will be internet access so I can blog about some of the experiences we have. And hopefully my hair will return quickly.

Brian MacDonald

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Shoot With Rand McNally

May 12th, 2009

Last week we had a great location shoot with Rand McNally. We photographed at a beautiful horse farm. It was a little bit of a challenge to get the 26,000 pound rig out to the set but our model and truck driver had it all under control. We had to run the generator to power up. The sky was perfect at the end of the day. I will have to get some of the images posted to my website soon. I grabbed a shot of the team before we wrapped up for the day.

Brian MacDonald

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