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“Zulu” - heaven
“Zula” - brilliant, ahead
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Contents
About Katie & Zula Photography. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Why “Zula”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Portraits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Weddings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Personal Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Brazil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Services, Rates & Contact Information. . . . . . . 70 7
About Katie & Zula Photography Katie Albert has been 27 years old for many years now and has had creative tendencies for as long as she can remember. Though photography is her most known medium, she has dabbled in many forms of the arts, exploring painting, clay, wood, glass, drawing, collage, semi-embarrassing crafty-type things, and more. Having grown up and successfully universitied in the midwest, she moved to California in the fall of 2000. She was the Communications Director at Oak Hills Church up until 2007. In between then and now, she has held several random jobs, obtained her helicopter pilot’s license, and done some traveling and volunteer work. All the while, she kept her camera busy and amassed a storied digital library. Katie vividly remembers how the photography all started: a Christmas gift in 4th grade from her Nana-from-the-Lake in the form of a 35mm Vivitar point-and-shoot with a sliding lens cap that made a very pleasing clicking sound when it closed. A love of photography runs in the family from her great-grandfather on down. Following her Nana’s death, Katie was pleased to discover they had both taken an identical picture of Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies 70 years apart. There is something about looking through a camera viewfinder that is magical. It is uplifting and renewing to photograph God’s creation, but it is simply transformational to capture moments of humanity and fleeting truths within people. That is one of the ways Katie continues her search for God while on earth, and thats what lights Katie’s photographic fire. 8
Why “Zula”? While “Zula Photography” was mostly chosen for the pleasing sound that is formed when mixing those consonants and vowels together, but the word isn’t necessarily meaningless. The meaning of Zulu is “heaven”; the
meaning of Zula is “brilliant” or “ahead”. While traveling through southern Africa several years ago, Katie had the privilege of discovering the Zulu culture, a people group living in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region. Through a series of happy accidents, she found herself invited to the king of Swaziland’s birthday celebration, and on another evening, shared a hot spring with the actual Zulu king. A few years later, she would find herself mastering the radiotelephony alphabet while training to fly helicopters; “Zulu” is the letter Z in this phonetic alphabet. And finally, a few years after that, a little husky puppy would crawl into her heart, and, due to her affection for the word and the experiences surrounding it, she feminized it, and this lovely furry lady became Zula. 9
Zula Photography provides many photography services, including family portraits, senior portraits, engagement photos and various other special interest shoots. 10
PORTRAITS
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FAMILY
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PORTRAITS
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SENIOR PORTRAITS
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ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS
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MUSIC SHOOTS
Hickory Wind
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Michaela Nasello
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Zula Photography has shot weddings across the US, Canada, and even Europe. Each wedding is a unique expression of love and creativity, and Katie thrives on serving each couple as their own wishes dictate. 20
WEDDINGS
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The following pages represent an unthemed collection of Katie’s personal images.
From Katie
These images are a sampling of my life as I live it. My dog Zula racing through the snow in ecstatic joy; vacations with my family from Sayulita, Mexico to the Lake Michigan coast in Wisconsin, to Cranbrook, British Columbia; playing at the park with my niece to changing my other niece’s diaper. Then there is the solo trip around the island of Ireland, the Northern California coast, an African elephant safari, and a summer spent in South Dakota’s Badlands where thunderstorms with massive, high winds are practically a weekly occurrence. The practice of making images helps one to remember an event, but the activity also forces me to look, to actively see and to think about what’s going on around me; I have ended up living a more attentive and present life when I use my camera. 30
PERSONAL PROJECTS 31
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Katie spent the final months of 2007 volunteering her time and photography talents for a few NGOs in Zambia. One organization works with troubled children, most of them living on the street, and uses the creative arts to help them communicate and express themselves. Another, parked squarely in a massive region where AIDS is pervasive, is aimed to educate and encourage rural residents regarding sexually transmitted diseases. The last organization is a hub for urban refugees pouring in from war-torn and troubled regions, including Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a training center and a huge resource to those not speaking the language and entering a new place with no money. 42
AFRICA
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The kids are painted and dressed for the Children’s Festival parade, which shuts down a few miles of Lusaka streets to make way for 600+ kids in unique-themed costumes.
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A Lusaka girl wants her photo taken but feigns a bit shy when the camera is finally aimed at her.
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This was a young resident of a girls’ home for orphans and runaways. The home encouraged school work, empowered the young women to learn skills, and provided some counseling. The NGO used the creative and musical arts to empower children visiting twice weekly.
A young girl from the girls’ home mentioned above performs a tribal dance during a festival.
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This woman was one of many recipients of a micro-finance loan to start a business as a dressmaker. She and her husband were two of many refugees from an unstable nation who planted themselves in Lusaka, Zambia. Here, she smiles in her stall at the market, proud of what she has already accomplished.
A family having just arrived from Burundi, who doesn’t speak the language, finds rest in the shade at the refugee center in Lusaka.
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A local boy cannot help but join in the fun, playing with kids from the neighborhood and seeing what this camera-toting white visitor is doing.
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But when the camera gets turned on him, he gets shy.
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A local girl is seen through the gate at the girls’ home. Most houses, when it can be afforded, are fenced off for protection with tall cement-block walls and metal gates.
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Children living in one of Lusaka’s more rural children’s homes for orphans are circled up and thoroughly enjoying a game meant to enhance creativity and silliness. Not seen in this image: 50 yards away are a seated circle of women de-feathering, butchering, and cleaning dozens of chickens, surrounded by a pool of blood. They are, of course, enjoying the sounds of the kids’ laughter.
A brother and sister, children from one of the women hard at work mentioned above, enjoying watching the circled group’s role play.
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In 2012, Katie had the privilege of traveling with a team from my church to India to partner with the Nehemiah Project. The Nehemiah Project works in the Ukhrul District of Manipur, India, a remote area suffering from the ravaging effects of HIV/ AIDS. More than 35% of babies born to women with HIV/AIDS will contract HIV/ AIDS themselves, and most children will not live to see their 5th birthday; however, with proper care and education, the chance of a mother passing the virus on to her child is virtually eliminated. The Nehemiah Project works to educate, care for and treat pregnant women living with HIV/AIDS, as well as the children affected by the virus. The Nehemiah Project connects pregnant women and the fathers-to-be with a doctor in Ukhrul Town, the main town of the District, who meets with the parents and, whenever possible, delivers the baby, dramatically decreasing the chances of passing HIV on to the baby. The Nehemiah Project pays for all traveling and medical expenses, as well as formula for up to one year to ensure that the virus is not passed on through the mother’s breast milk. Find out more about the Nehemiah Project at nehemiahinfo.com.
From Katie
Ultimately it’s tough not to be “us” (the visitors, the helpers from the great USA) and “them” (the poor, helpless, needy). Such a paradigm strips dignity from those we visit; it’s sideshow-esque. So how can I be part of a “we” or “us”? How can I participate rather than observe? My internal life has to be active and attentive and find ways to relate, or my narcissism takes over. I also have to have a more acute vision - I have to see better so I can choose what and who to photograph and discover what the story is. It’s not a fashion photo shoot where there is an object (a human with an outfit), so I have to take fewer photos , or the subject of the photos becomes an object instead of a person with a soul. I have to enter into the experience not with a mindset that I am playing a role in God’s story; that still has a bit of an ego edge to it. It has to be, “What is God’s story in this person, and how would He have me participate?” 52
INDIA
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During our morning walk to the Children’s Home, we came across this mother and child resting on the side of the road. Ukhrul is an extremely rural and mountainous region, and the hills are often filled with smoke from fires burning trash.
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This is the grandmother of Somichan, an orphaned boy no more than six. Addiction and disease stole his parents away from him, and his grandmother, though heartbroken to leave him at the Children’s Home, was simply too old and infirm to care for him. She was so happy that after one day he was laughing and playing with the rest of the children even though he spoke a different language. This image was taken a couple of hours before she said goodbye to him for the last time.
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Children play with each other at the Children’s Home in Ukrul.
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The Nehemiah Project also supports mothers who are HIV or AIDS positive, and helps support a local clinic that educates women who are pregnant.
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In 2013, Katie was again able to travel with a team from her church, this time to work with Restoration Ministries, an organization that works with the children and their families living in the slums, or “favelas�, of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Most of the people who live in the favelas are plagued by hunger, disease and poverty, and many are scarred by the devastating effects of prostitution, drugs and domestic violence. Founded by nationals Paulo and Ireni Mota, and now lead by some of the individuals that it reached as children, Restoration Ministries seeks to build trusting relationships and restore hope to broken lives through children’s camps, street parties, bible studies, leadership training, computer centers and classes in English, dance, music and capoeira. Katie was not only part of the team that came to work along side Restoration Ministries, but has also lent her photographic services to the ministry. Find out more about Restoration Ministries at restorationministriesbrazil.com. 62
BRAZIL
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A young mother and her baby were able to attend a women’s retreat put on by Restoration Ministries and the American team.
A Brazilian girl joyfully reunites with her American friend.
A woman living in the favela waves, excited to see the ministry staff arriving.
The reality of life in the favela.
A woman in the ministry guides the American team through a narrow alleyway of the favela.
The ministry staff and American team pray over some members of the ministry.
A small, shy girl comes to the “street party� that the ministry puts on weekly near her home, interested in the Americans but not yet brave enough to take part in the games.
One of the leaders of Restoration Ministries plays with the children outside of the ministry’s day center in the city.
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Despite the hardships that life in the favela presents, children have a remarkable ability to find joy and wonder in the world around them.
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A common site in Sao Paulo, a large favela spreads across the hillside. Some favelas are made of nothing more than cardboard while others are built with cement. Many have open sewage, and only some have electricity, legal or pirated.
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Services & Rates Portrait Sessions: $150 for a half hour session, includes 10 high resolution images $250 for a one hour session, includes 15-20 high resolution images Professionally printed photographs, canvasses and albums are available to order. Weddings start at $1720 and include a disc of high resolution images. Please contact Zula Photography for more information.
Contact Zula Photography at... facebook.com/zulaphoto instagram.com/zulaphoto zulaphotography@gmail.com PO Box 6536, Folsom, CA 95763 72
Publication design by Melissa Renfro
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