mojoe

*WARNING!* This is Mojoe's big, long, self-pitying, whinging-like-a-little-bitch blog.

I really just need to vent about the last few months!
In many many ways I am incredibly lucky, but just recently I feel like I'm having a pretty shitty run, and so are some of those closest to me who I love the most.

Let's begin; for those who don't know, my main occupation is as an aerial photographer which I enjoy pretty well. The main plus point is that the flying season for us lasts from about early April to late October. During that time, as I don't have many overheads, I can usually save enough money to travel for the rest of the year till the season starts again. This is perfect, as I'm also trying to set myself up as a freelance photographer who specializes in travel.
See!
The last couple of years, I've been lucky enough to get to Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, East Timor, New Zealand and China.
It's been pretty sweet, as I've had no responsibilities and no one to answer to as I go walkabout for months on end.
This year however, I have a girlfriend who I'm very serious about so it's taken a bit more thought.
One of my best friends solved the problem for us when he announced he was getting married in Phuket in November and asked me to be best man.
My girlfriend Jackie was really excited as she'd never been to Thailand before and it would mean that, if she came out for the first three weeks of the trip, we would only be apart for a couple of months after she went home.
I was ok with it, although I know Thailand has ben shot to pieces by anyone who's ever held a camera, and it was going to take something special to get my images noticed by anyone. But it was keeping my best friend and my girlfriend happy, so I got onboard.
All good so far. Jac and I booked our flights and our expensive hotel for the wedding, which we called our xmas present to each other.

About two months before we're due to go, Jac's grandad is taken into hospital with terminal stomach cancer. She's devastated as, being Irish, her family is very close. It also means that her going to Thailand with me is now out of the question, as she'll have to stay in the UK to help look after him, the rest of her family being fairly useless.
A week later, my dad has a stroke and is also rushed into hospital. While it looks quite gloomy to begin with, with him not being able to remember mine or my sister's names, he recovers enough for my mum to tell me that she doesn't need me to stay with them. (I get my sister to double check that she's not just putting a brave face on things. She's not)
So, I'm off to Thailand on my own, praying that my people are all ok and that we're due a bit of good fortune.

I've learnt my lesson on my last two outings regarding camera equipment. On my first trip, my camera's metering system shut down completely in week one, leaving me to guess at exposures for the rest of the trip. And last year, the camera sensor got scratched on the second day, bottom left corner, meaning I shot a lot of panoramics that year.
This year I was very clever, not to say bordering on the professional, and took a spare camera body with me. Hah! Fooled the photography gods!
On the second day, my computer dies. And I mean, stone dead. Luckily I'm in Bangkok which has an enormous computer mall called Pantip Plaza. I run up there in a blind panic, and leave my beloved Macbook Pro, with the hours and hours of research I've done for this trip with a man named Mr. Poo. I am not instilled with confidence.
He tells me to come back in two hours. I do. Poo can't fix it. So he's given it to a friend. Never found out what his name was, Mr. Kak or something.
He tells me it's the screen, 100% certain. I'm pretty sure the screen's fine, but I have no real clue about computers, so I've got to let him get on with it. He tells me to come back tomorrow.
I go back tomorrow, after very little sleep. Mr. Kak says it wasn't the screen. (Really?!) It was the motherboard, which he's replaced. 12,000baht. My computer's back! All my research, all my software, all my life basically.
I'm relieved and over the moon excited. I bow to Mr. Kak and shake his hand.
I get back to my hotel and log on. The computer crashes. I restart it. It won't restart. I go back to see Mr Kak, very very unhappy. There's a little bit of a scene, and I have to leave the computer with him again overnight.
The next day I'm told the hard drive died so they've replaced it, but can't get anything back on it from the old one, so I've lost all my research.
On the plus side, I now have every program that Adobe have ever made. I cut my losses on this and chalk it up to experience.

Chapter 2.
I'm very much just starting out on the travel photography road. No one's ever commissioned me, I have to find my own stories and go shoot them and hope I can do it well enough to get them published when I get home. It's all very hit and miss. The one story I came up with this year that I've managed to generate even the slightest bit of interest in is an elephant sanctuary in the north of Thailand where they rescue elephants that have been mistreated by their owners, usually by using them as a draw for tourists, and rehabilitate them.
The features editor at the publication I'm going for said he was "mildly intrigued" by the idea, but the shot I "absolutely must get" is of the mahout leading his elephant through the streets to show off to drunk tourists.
The last time I was in Bangkok, this was a very common sight, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, on the 25th November, 5 DAYS before I arrive in Bangkok, the Thai government outright bans elephants in the city and in the two other cities I'd planned on visiting in the south.
Good.
We'll draw a line under that and go North after the wedding and get the shot.

I head down to the islands for the wedding, and it's all beautiful and I have a great time, although It makes me miss my girl even more.

I fly to Chiangmai, where I know for certain that the elephants are still being used by their mahouts to fleece money out of tourists. They walk the animals through the streets and charge people a few coins to buy food that they can then feed to the elephants. It's awfully dangerous for them to be on the roads and in amongst all the craziness of late night revellers, which is what the sanctuary I'm going to visit is working towards eradicating.
Although it seems like they won't need to. 4 DAYS before I arrive, three mahouts get into a punch up with a drunk tourist, and the police immediately ban all elephants in the city!

I don't know where to go now to get the shot. I actually feel as if I'm being told to not waste my time with this story and concentrate on something else!
I know it's all about the 'if at first you don't succeed' thing, but how many times should you 'try try again' before you start to look like a twat?
I've done so much preparation for this shoot, I've talked to the owner of the sanctuary in Chiang Rai, I've spoken to their PR people in London. They're all expecting a great publicity boost from the feature. And I was hoping it would help my career a little as well.

Fuck.

And I think I broke my toe yesterday.