Nicola Daley(I)

[on shooting I Am a Girl (2013) in Cameroon] Arriving at the dusty airport we found our luggage had not made it. In fact, half the plane were missing their bags. The director, Rebecca Barry, and I queued for an hour to fill in paperwork for the missing luggage, only to find out the next flight in from Kenya was in 3 days time ! Luckily we hand carry all our camera equipment on board with us. All we were missing was our tripod - surely someone in Cameroon would have a tripod, right ?! (...) After scouring the city of Yaoundé for a tripod, we eventually found a stills tripod and managed to borrow a monopod. We began filming an arranged marriage of a 17 year old girl named Habiba to her 36 year old neighbour and she's very happy as she's his first wife. Men can have more than one wife in Cameroon. (...) Her ceremony lasted for 4 days and even involved a horse race through the narrow bumpy streets ! Last night's ceremony was incredible as the streets echoed with traditional drumming and singing in celebration of their marriage. About 30 women, dressed in the most beautiful saturated African prints, and Rebecca and I were crammed into a tiny room, as the women sang and kept beat on a metal bowl turned upside on the floor. There was only just room for me, the camera and monopod! (...) We've been shooting on the 7D and using the GoPro for car rigs, POV and transitional shots to get us in and out of each country. We have one light with us - a Rosco lite pad which is great and slips easily in my back pack. One light means I am keeping a keen eye out for the best natural light coming through windows and open doorways... [from: "A Postcard from Nicola Daley in Cameroon"]