A screenshot of the mini-site
I started working as a photojournalist in January 2011, covering the referendum for South Sudan's independence. Now, three years later, I have just returned from a trip covering the latest crisis to hit the country.
Prior to embarking on this career, I worked as a web-designer/developer in Paris, and that interest in the delivery of information—how it is presented and laid out—still passions me. The last year or so have been rather exciting as media companies begin to innovate with layouts and take advantage of technology in order to advance the way we interact with stories. No longer is a website a simple repository for what appeared in print, mashed together in a uniform, template-d layout.
So I am very happy to announce the launch of South Sudan: Shattered Dreams - a three-part film series exploring the current crisis in the country that began my career. As well as photographing the situation in country, I have been experimenting with a little video, and along with journalist Jessica Hatcher, have interviewed South Sudanese experts and victims of the crisis.
The series combines photography, graphics, multimedia presentations and text, to explain what is happening in South Sudan, how the country ended up in this crisis, and what could come next. The stories are told by the South Sudanese themselves - a major desire in this film was that it should be they who tell the story.
As well as shooting, editing and producing the content of the mini-site, I also designed the layout, and coded the website, which is a product of several late nights re-learning programming code, and a throw-back to my former career.
IRIN have provided us with the space to innovate, and I greatly admire—and am grateful for—their encouragement and vision in creating this series, as well as the strong editorial input and support in producing the films.