Scrap dealers collect pieces of metal to be sold near a construction site. Monrovia, Liberia.
One week ago I arrived in Monrovia, Liberia to participate in a project spearheaded by my friend and professor Ken Harper at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. Ken is an incredible guy with a huge heart and deep roots in the Liberian culture. He has trained journalists here on several occasions, and this current project, Together Liberia, is his brainchild guided by the efforts and lessons learned in prior years.
This week and next I’ll be spending my days alongside Andrew Hida in the newsroom of a local paper called The New Democrat, one of Monrovia’s 20-something papers but one of the few dailies. We’ll be working with two of their reporters, Peter N. Toby and Abbas Dullah. Media is rampant here, but there is little training for professionals and zero dedicated photojournalists (reporters are also shooters). We’re working on photography skills, digital workflow and some basic multimedia, and I’ll be shooting some here and there on my own but primarily working with the reporters.
It’s been an interesting ride so far. Like many African countries Liberia is on the mend after a decade of civil war. Nonetheless, the Liberians have a kind way about them and I’m looking forward to the week ahead. More images to come.
