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A Tight Spot [To the Victor - The Spoils!] by Flashman (with Fred Deakin, member of Lemon Jelly)27 September 2011: Vendor in Abu Shouk IDP camp, North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

Daily life

18 September 2011: Mahedin, 18 years old, butcher. Knowing how to slaughter and dismember goats and cows, he decided to try with camels and is now one of the two only butchers killing and preparing camel's meat in the IDP camp he lives. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

Rehab

After almost three months shooting mostly meetings, resulting in a serious lack of inspiration and creativity, I'm back to the field with a very exciting project. It's quite challenging, sometime frustrating when I can not get what I want, but it's a real pleasure to shoot again and to try to present something different. Final result in a few short months.20 September 2011: Ahmedhay Ahmed, 25 years old, farmer in North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

New website

First of all, I finally spent some time to improve and rearrange my website. I now officially have my domain name olivierchassot.com and it should be a bit easier to follow my work. Moreover, although I like zenfolio, I started to be seriously annoyed to have their banner squatting my website. So hopefully everything should be fine now. If not, please let me know.Then, Perpignan'side effects are still affecting me and I feel more motivated than ever to take photographs, push my limits and to hopefully capture something different to present for my Master's. Once again, I miss a bookstore to spend some time looking for inspiration.13 September 2011: Abu Shouk Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.[Click on the picture to enlarge it].And finally, after a bit more than two weeks with my new Macbook Air 11 inches, I can confirm that it is a great laptop, especially for people frequently traveling and who need a light, small but still powerful and ergonomically usable computer (once you've started working with a Macbook Pro or a Magic mouse, it is impossible to return to a Netbook's touchpad). Of course, a Macbook Pro 15 inches is way more confortable to write documents or process pictures. But you can not have everything and, compare to a MBA, a MBP becomes VERY bulky and heavy. So my MBA will spend some time in my bag while my MBP will enjoy a bit more my desk(s).15 September 2011: Slaughterhouse, Abu Shouk Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

New project

“This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit. If you don’t have enough time, stop watching tv. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop, they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love. Stop over analyzing, life is simple. All emotions are beautiful. When you eat, appreciate every last bite. Open your mind, arms and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences. Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them. Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself. Some opportunities only come ones, seize them. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them so go out and start creating. Life is short. Life your dream and share your passion.”by Holstee11 September 2011: Mustafa Osman, 31, from Malam, North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].11 September 2011: Adam Ahmed Abdallah, 59, from barakallah, North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].10 years ago, I was in Singapore, trying to find out if the images on TV were real or a bad movie.3 years ago, I was flying to Sudan, trying to find out if Darfur could be a new chapter in my life.Today, I'm starting my last big photo project in Darfur, trying to find out what is coming next.

Visa

I attended, for the second time, Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan (South France). After a few weeks (if not months) very poor in term of images and an up and down mood, my inspiration and creativity were a bit low. Visa 2011 has been a massive electroshock. Great exhibitions, excellent projections in the evening and interesting discussions with other photographers till late at night, I'm flying back to Darfur with a few fresh ideas in mind. Shame I will only have about 3 months to realize them (as I won't extend my contract after December 2011). However, I feel it is time for me to move on, to bear new challenges and to open myself up to new experiences/horizons.Difficult not to mention every photographers I got the chance to see the work of but I particularly like the the work of Alvaro Ybarra Zavala and his excellent book Apocalipsis, Lu Nan in mental hospital in China and Fernando Moleres's exhibition on African Children in Prison.Inspiring and sometime very frustrating, when e.g. discovering the talent of Ed Ou, a young (24) and already (too :-)) talented Canadian photographer.22 August 2011: A Nepalese doctor checks the eyes of a Darfurian boy, during a free medical consultation provided by UNAMID to the population of Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].