Shooting in the desert

Getting there

We travelled to the Sahara in february to shoot a Documentary about the Saharawi refugees in southern Algeria. I've been to North africa before and i was familiar with the arabic culture, so i was excited to travel but i knew it wouldn't be easy to shoot there. In theory we had all the papers and permissions we need to get into the country with our equipment. But it was just theory. The problems began on the International airport in Algires. On the arrival the border guards found the cameras immediately. We had a Panasonic GY1, and a Canon XH A1 with us. An officer came for us and took our passports and permissions away. Something wasn't right... Somebody probably the Polesario officials mixed up some names on the permissions. So the negotiations started. The departure to the south was just 3 hours away and it seemed hopeless to get the cameras on that day. So we decided to leave somebody to sort out the problem with the help of the Polesario. Armando, the producer of the film stayed there..to deal with the bureaucracy of Algeria. He already gained routine to sort out such things, in israel, gaza, and the west bank.

Preparing for the conditions we bought 2 peli 1150 cases for the cameras.. the XH A1 and the GY1 fits perfectly in those cases, they are strong, water proof and the most important that they are dust proof. And you can take them as a cabin luggage with you on the plane. I never would send my camera as a simple baggage. We done a big mistake, we did not took a hard case for the tripod..... so one of the locks on the leg of the Manfrotto broke... still usable....but a pain in the ass..

So we took a flight south into the desert...

We arrived in Tindouf, in the night. As usual in Africa a big chaos welcomed us. Small airport, and a lot of people...shouting, pushing ect... As i heard they packing our stuff, i was sure by than that something will brake.

The saharawi officials welcomed us warmly. They already knew a few actors we went to the sahara with. Packed us in jeeps and off into the desert. Pitch dark.. the lights where only at the Algerian checkpoints. Theyre just waved to the drivers and we went into the Polesario controlled area.

First morning

Waking up and walking out into the desert was an enormous feeling... A couple of hours ago..sitting in the London traffic..than the busy airports..noise everywhere...and now ...all i can hear are Goats.

Our host welcomed us warmly with delicious breakfast and of course with lovely arabic tee. I was quite stressed because of the cameras, and i already wanted to start shooting... so many new things to frame.

We missed a couple of things on the first day, when finally the cameras arrived with Armando. We immediately started to shoot some cutaways in the camps.

The flat areas, the huge spaces, small hills, and the small cube huts gave me a lot of opportunity to frame, and to compose. The people in the camps where really friendly, we could walk around the camps without any escort, everybody was smiling on us. The children where a bit afraid of us on the first time, but as soon as they got used to the camera they got curious, ad started to rip down the deadcat from my Rode ntg1 mic which was attached to the XH A1 with a shock mount. If you act determinedly and show them to go away they just leave you alone and watching you from the background.

It wasn’t windy that day, but what you immediately recognise, that your camera starts to get dusty, even when there is no wind. Preparing for the sand I bought a rain cover for the camera. It helped in the calm and in a weak wind, to keep the camera away from that fine sand. But as soon as the wind got stronger the camera, and the rain cover got full with sand.

We had a few stormy days. And I wanted to shoot some pictures out in the desert storm. We took the Panasonic…. It’s really hard to capture that feeling what you’re getting out there. The sand tries to rip off your face, wants to blow away your camera, your eyes, ears, and mouth is full with sand. You try to capture the effect the storm causes but all you can see is sand all around you. Like you where sitting in the fog. The Panasonic gy1 lasted quite good afterwards, at least it worked. The viewfinder was really dirty from the inside, but still usable, and you could hear the sand scratching while focus pulling on the Fujinon lens. I had the same with the XH A1 without taking it into the storm. There was another crew in the camps. An Irish girl and a south African guy with the Sony Z1. The camera stopped to work for a couple of days, without knowing the reasons of it. Probably they had sand issues as well. After a few day it just started to work. You cant really prepare for the sand, because it’s so fine that it gets everywhere. Unless you put it in a plastics bag and duck tape all sealings. It was a good lesson.

The frame of the picture comes, because the small canon cameras auto lens cover was stuck, from the sand.