I’m Glenna Gordon, an American photographer and journalist, presently commuting between West Africa and Brooklyn. Previously, I lived in Liberia. And before that, I lived in Uganda. I’ve traveled and worked in over a dozen countries in Africa.
This blog is named after a found object — a plastic lion that was in a crate of discarded items a friend and a few other artists had gathered. I sat on their roof in Nakasero, Kampala sorting through the crate. On that day, I was looking for something. “You are lost!” a Uganda might say. But, I’d found this discarded kid’s toy, made in China on the cheap, that somehow ended up in East Africa. Something about the hollowed out, paint-chipped figurine appealed to my understanding of this place: I’d never seen a real lion, after all.
... on Why Invisible Children can’t explain away this photo I get a lot of emails asking for advice on getting started as a journalist in Africa and how I got where I am now.
Thanks to a ten hour flight from JFK to Accra, I finally wrote it all out. In this document, you’ll find information about how I got where I am now, and bits on interning, wire work, freelancing, blogging, and other random ideas: on being ten feet tall and other thoughts about starting out as a journalist in Africa
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David Herbert says:
I just read this. You are really something, GG. I hope our paths cross again one day.
Dave Herbert
[Reply]
— January 27, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
Steve says:
Glenna,
It was wonderful of you to write and post this for everyone. I’m dangerously tempted to pack my bags and fulfill my Ryszard Kapuscinski-inspired fantasies.
Steve
[Reply]
— January 28, 2009 @ 4:45 am