I’ve already mentioned my birthday bungee jump a couple of times (see posts here and here), but it’s taken me more than a month to edit the video footage from the GoPro camera I wore during the jump. I’m finally ready to tell the story.

Several weeks ago, a company called Zavi Traders sent me a 35-millimeter film camera – a funky red model called the Holga 135BC – and some lomography-style film. I was so excited. I slapped a roll of film into the camera (or tried to) and started shooting.

Three weeks ago, I was here:

I still can’t believe that I jumped off this bridge. Still need to write a full post about it. (Photo by Mark Jackson)

I’m in Zimbabwe, halfway through a two-week photography and writing assignment for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). I’m traveling all over the country – from the capital city of Harare to some of the country’s most remote rural villages and back again – documenting success stories in pediatric HIV and AIDS prevention. The photos and stories that I’m compiling will eventually be published in a book.

Knysna (pronounced NIZE-nuh) is a small resort town in South Africa’s Western Cape, on the picturesque section of coastline between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth called the Garden Route. I visited Knysna for the first time last week to attend the annual Knysna Oyster Festival.

I’m in Knysna this week, as a guest of the Knysna Oyster Festival. When I originally got this invitation a few months ago, I accepted because I’d heard Knysna is lovely and I knew it would be a great place to spend my birthday.

My birthday is on Tuesday. On the actual day I’m going to be in Knysna – a lovely seaside town in the Western Cape – as a guest of the of the Knysna Oyster Festival. I’ll be participating in countless exciting activities in Knysna and I imagine this will be a pretty fun way to spend my birthday. (It’s a big one, by the way.) But of course I am also a little bit sad that I won’t be celebrating in Jozi.