Author: Coburn Swem

Before leaving for this trip in our first blog post we had to describe what we thought it would be like here in Kosovo. I really didn’t know what to expect, and I found as we spent the first week traveling through the Balkans that I imagined Kosovo to me more like the places we went in Albania. I imagined a lot of little markets and shops lining all of the roads. I expected to always see people on the streets walking around and going to shops, but found that where we are staying and where the AUK campus is located, it’s a quieter part of Pristina. There is still activity bustling all around but it doesn’t feel like its very busy or crowded. We’re more separated from the downtown area, which is where it gets busy during the day.

After spending this first week in Pristina and getting to walk around and get acquainted with the area, I feel pretty comfortable walking around by myself to go to the store to get snacks, or to go to the market and bakery for fresh fruits and pastries. It is also a bit more of a walk but going down to Mother Theresa Street is also nice to just walk around all of the shops.

The first week of classes at the RIT AUK campus was pretty good, but very busy. With it only being a five-week program, everything is go go go. It’s interesting taking a second class in Peacekeeping and conflict transformation besides the Documentary class; I’ve never taken a class on this topic before. It’s a very different kind of class than any I’ve taken at RIT for my major, but the content is still very interesting, especially since it is applicable to this region. This upcoming week we are starting our first project for our documentary class called the “Newborns” project. We are interviewing a person to explore what this generation in Kosovo is like and to see what their lives are like as a result of everything that’s happened in their country. With the ball rolling on this project, and our proposals set for our final project already, we are all going to be very busy but I’m so excited to make lots of great work in the process.

In the second part of the week interesting things have happened. First we got the assignment that need to be done about interview, the group of three people had to interview one another for 5 minutes. It was exciting, three people with different profession, it was chance to meet better each other as well know basics about profession and the country. Second interesting thing is that each group has got the person to do interview with and at the end of second week we have to make documentary about the person we got which is so exciting, is a chance to meet different people with different profession which is at some point presentation about the life in Kosovo.

 

Despite being the second largest massacre on European soil since the second World War, I don’t recall ever learning about the Srebrenica genocide in school. In July of 1995, 8,000 Bosnian boys and men were murdered by Serbian forces. I can only imagine complete chaos during a time where turmoil was at its peak; Bosnian refugees flooding the area, the sounds of suffering families in search of their loved ones, and the air filled with hatred and violence

Being in the exact area 20 years later was eye opening, emotional, and extremely informative. Viewing the personal items that were found across the area, showcased behind glass, was probably the most sentimental part of the entire visit. Boys as young as seventeen, murdered simply because of their ethnicity.

Our tour guide and a survivor, Hasan Hasanovic, shared with us his experience. “They didn’t care that we were unarmed. Their primary concern was that we were Muslim and they wanted us dead” he stated.

Hate is a very powerful human emotion that can lead people to do very evil and unimaginable inhumane acts. But love can lift the human spirit to endure pain, loss and struggle to become a survivor and a positive energy that can in turn heal the hearts of many. Love can help people to see the good in our differences, regardless of religion, gender or nationality. I am very grateful to have visited this memorial and take away what I have learned from my experience there.

– Brittainy Newman

 

During our weeklong trip throughout the Balkans, our group met with Prof. Dr. Vesel Memedi, the leader of the RDK political party in Macedonia. Part of what he discussed was the revolution that has taken place in Macedonia for about two months now, and all began with a wire tapping scandal. According to Prof. Dr. Vesel Memedi, the scandal was that the government wiretapped 26,000 cities and Macedonians started to make it public what the government had done. There was a lot of corruption on an enormous scale in Macedonia, not only with the wire tapping scandal but also with multiple killings that were kept hidden in the last ten years. The government in no way wanted to resign, so they insisted that they needed new elections. In the 25 years of Independence in Macedonia, they have never had fair and democratic elections.

I found this kind of revolution to very interesting, mostly because I’ve not once seen a colorful revolution such as this. When I first was walking around Skopje, I thought it was possible just graffiti all over the statues, fountains, and buildings. But as one of our tour guides later explained, I realized it was for a very different reason.

This revolution is known as “The Colorful Revolution” because so far it has consisted of protestors throwing paint on statues and government buildings all around Skopje, Macedonia. I find this topic very interesting and have decided to explore this topic more for my final project in this Documentary class. So far this revolution has not been violent and the police have not been very aggressive towards the protestors either, but Prof. Dr. Vesel Memedi said that this colorful revolution will not continue infinite, and that soon it could take a turn to a more violent side, and if it does that he hopes it will be a controlled violence. “I think two months has been enough for the revolution to take place” and I think “there will be another color and that color will be blood.” You cannot fight a revolution with colors, and I am excited to have the opportunity to learn more about this unique revolution with my work.

 

 

Though I am a photo student at RIT, I am absolutely clueless when it comes to documentary work, and that’s exactly why I took this class-to learn something completely out of my comfort zone.

When I came to RIT, I initially assumed I wanted to specialize in fashion photography, but the sexist and obnoxious ways we advertise things quickly pushed me away from wanting to pursue that sort of career, and I decided maybe I should switch to fine art photography. Before making the official decision to switch, I decided to take one fine art class, along with one advertising class just to make sure I make the right choice. Though I really liked the work I made in the fine art class, I was much more fond of the ad class once I discovered food photography.

After I became vegan in 2014 (after being a vegetarian since 2007) I became obsessed with cooking and food as a whole, but I never really thought of turning that love into a career. The ad class opened up the door for me, and I’ve officially decided to specialize in food photography. Now I am in the process of starting a vegan food blog with my sister, showcasing my work along with sharing recipes with the world.

 

In my spare time I don’t only like to photograph food, but I also create dark, fictional narratives responding to humans unique relationship with nature. My narrative inspiration comes from natural landscapes around me, which have a mysterious or uncanny aura about them, along with horror stories and the sense of the unknown.

In a perfect world, the subjects we wish to photograph would immediately want to tell us their stories and our lives would be easy.

But this isn’t a perfect world, our jobs are not easy, and that is what makes our work so rewarding in the end.

It isn’t easy for someone to understand why I want to sit with them and hear about their life and their stories. Part of what we have to do is communicate to them that they have a story to tell and that that story is worth being told.

We experienced our first problem to be solved today when we tried to contact our subject to set up a time and date for an interview. There seemed to be a miscommunication over the phone about who were and what our intentions were. This short interaction made me realize how much of an extra effort needs to be put into making people feel comfortable.

Our job as documentarians is to figure out a solution when we inevitably come across a problem. We face many challenges but it’s important to not let them get in the way of sharing someone’s story. I expected to face difficulties with the language barrier when we started working here, but I didn’t think we would have bumps in the road so soon.

In the end, it was all a learning experience that will better me as a person and as a photographer. I am still very excited to begin the Newborn project and hope to learn a lot from the generation living here!

This past week was spent on a bus traveling through the Balkan regions of Albania, Greece, and Macedonia. Our group immediately got a feel for what an adventure our trip would be once we began driving up the abnormally narrow, windy, and incredibly bumpy roads that went up the mountains leading to our destinations. Though our bus driver was clearly a pro (seeing as he was able to drive the bus backwards up a hill through a traffic jam without hitting anyone) I was still convinced we were going to die several times.

Ever since we arrived at our first destination (Krujë, Albania) I was in awe with the beauty of the region. I have never been exposed to such magnificent mountains and crystal blue water before. Heck, I’ve only seen the ocean once in my entire life and let me tell you, it was not nearly as beautiful as any of the water I saw on this trip.

 

Though every single place we visited was wonderful and gorgeous, Saranda, Albania was by far my favorite. Our hotel was located on an adorable street leading to the downtown area, and overlooked the water, showcasing the regions killer sunsets. We spent most of our time there on private beaches that were only accessible by (a very sketchy) boat, bonding as a group by playing “chicken” or attempting to do cheerleading stunts in the sand. We spent our nights eating dinner quite late (between 9 and 11pm) laughing together and watching futbol games. We were almost always the most obnoxious group in the restaurant, putting together 4 or 5 tables just to seat us all, and taking about 40 minutes to figure out the check.

 

The food was incredible even though being vegan left me eating salad and grilled vegetables practically every day and night. I once tried to be adventurous and order a cheese-less pizza, however due to the language barrier I ended up with a very cheesy, sauce-less pizza instead. Lets just say I was not “food-adventurous” again.

 

The entire experience left me wanting more. I felt that a week was nowhere near enough time to really see three countries and learn their stories. I plan on going back for sure and finishing my journey.

Hello everyone

I would like to share with you some impressions of the documentary class. Since I’m RIT student and one of mine major concentrations is web and media so I find very interesting this class. Lot of international students attend this class which is about documentary of Kosovo in different fields. After meet each other, we start conversation with the professor about ideas for this project. One of my colleagues come up with the idea that she wants to work with minority especially Serbs because she has only met one in the US for the first time and she was excited about meeting that person,and she goes on and on with her idea while I was siting next to here and with the smile waiting for her to finish with her idea. When she finished with her outline, for the moment it became silence and I faced here and I said “I’m Serbian, nice to meet you”. Situation created a pleasant laugh and after the class we went in the campus and we exchanged our experiences.

Hello everyone,

I added this class last friday after I dropped a Management class that was beyond my capabilities: That’s the first time I don’t feel bad about my shortcomings…

I am originally from Prizren, Kosovo – a city in the south, which I don’t believe anyone will end up not visiting. (I am thinking about having everyone down for lunch at my terrace some weekend coming ahead)

My terrace: 

For the last 4 years, I have been studying Vocal Jazz Performance at the New School in New York. This summer I’m here so that I can graduate with a light semester this Fall in NY.

Back to my impressions…

First of, I would like to congratulate Meredith and Jeta for putting together such an incredible goal and doing a great job leading us. I have read all of the postings and have been getting goosebumps reading through your experiences pre and during this trip. It might be the chilly weather too… (just kidding). Some of the people left me curious about their nationality and I hope that I will meet everyone in person instead of using technology to do so. The idea of the journal is brilliant, though.

The first two sessions so far have been both very informative and inspiring. They had me focused 100% of the time – the time that felt too fast, as it usually does in engaging classes. I wish that we all will take everything we can from this beautiful opportunity given to us and I leave you with a picture of my hometown, Prizren.

(The picture is from Google and the photographer is not credited).