Adapting
BY NICK MARSHALL, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA -- It's odd. Only a little after a week and it feels like I've grown accustomed to this place, this pace. At first I took picture after picture, snapping away, afraid I'll lose a moment, afraid I wouldn't capture it all. Everything was new, everything was exciting, it felt like we would stop down and take off again after a weekend. But now, I don't take as many pictures, not that I'm bored with this place or it's not interesting, but it feels like I understand it better now. I don't feel like I'm going to run out of time.
Locations and props have been giving us a problem -- well many things have been putting a rut in our path but I think the most exciting thing about this project, from the crew perspective, is how everyone does stuff on the fly. We change things that need to be changed, every day we make split second decisions and adjustments. We do anything to capture a scene and people just talk to each other. There are no egos and no one speaks down or up to anyone else, we respect each other and listen. We're slotted into our roles better now and everyone is on a Zambian rhythm now.
People are very open here and will talk and talk. And you'll listen with a keen ear, eager to hear their life or a project they are working on. We talk and laugh and it helps with the stress and the waiting. There are so many things happening, so fast it's hard to recall it all, hard to get it all down, but I take notes, jot down little things when I can and remember. There is drama everywhere, even when we leave the set, at our compound there are things to talk about, things to laugh about and everyone is meshing together, getting accustomed and helping each other out like a family. There is a high level of community here, everyone helping, sharing; they are eager to help, eager to say hi and talk. We are adapting to that community, that sense of helping and altruism, and in our little compound we just share very passively and are calm and we laugh. There is a lot of laughter.