Lone monk prays for peace at Turtle Island. Turtle Island hill has been the scene of various actions that took place between police and water protectors. It was here on November 2, 2016 that authorities fired a rubber bullet and hit journalist Erin Schrode while conducting an interview.
Police have responded to protesters in some instances with pepper spray, bean bags, and other controversial means, and used private security staff with guard dogs in one confrontation with protesters that included women and children. Amnesty International also reports that those recently arrested have reported being strip searched and forced to pay bail for minor offenses.Members of the media and legal observers have also been arrested or charged with minor offenses.
“People here just want to stand up for the rights of Indigenous people and protect their natural resources. These people should not be treated like the enemy. Police must keep the peace using minimal force appropriate to the situation. Confronting men, women, and children while outfitted in gear more suited for the battlefield is a disproportionate response” – Eric Ferrero, director of communications for Amnesty International USA.
Blackwater Bridge is the dividing line between the Water Protectors and Oceti Camp which is to the south of the bridge on Highway 1806. Law enforcement are on the north end of the bridge behind concrete barriers with military vehicles facing south. I was able to hitch a ride with strangers from Washington State and we joined a caravan of about one hundred cars to travel to the north side of Blackwater Bridge via backroads. We were spotted by a helicopter and were met by County law enforcement and several green and white US Border Patrol vehicles just short of the entrance to the north side of the bridge. To their credit they allowed the Water Protectors to hold a prayer ceremony on the highway without disruption.
On the way my fellow passengers were singing a Chief Dan George’s prayer song for safe travel into unknown waters – it must have worked because there were no clashes or arrest.
Frontline reporting, video and stills images with content available. Contact: Dave Banks dave@davebanksmedia.com/818.399.3670
Water Protectors and volunteers gather at the top of a hill to find cellular service – two bars are outstanding and let me add that uploading images and videos is exasperating.
FYI: The proper name for the people commonly known as the Sioux is Oceti Sakowin, (Och-et-eeshak-oh-win) meaning Seven Council Fires.
The original Sioux tribe was made up of Seven Council Fires. Each of these Council Fires was made up of individual bands, based on kinship, dialect and geographic proximity.
Sharing a common fire is one thing that has always united the Sioux people. Keeping of the peta waken (sacred fire) was an important activity. On marches, coals from the previous council fire were carefully preserved and used to rekindle the council fire at the new campsite.
The Seven Council Fires are:
Mdewakanton – Dwellers by the Sacred Lake
Wahpekute – Shooters Among the Leaves
Sisitonwan/Sisseton – People of the Marsh
Wahpetonwan – Dwellers Among the Leaves
Ihanktown/Lower Yanktonai – People of the End
Ihanktowana/Upper Yanktoni – People of the Little End
Tetonwan – People on the Plains
Dear Friends in the Los Angeles area,
On November 16, 2016 I will be leaving Los Angeles for Standing Rock, North Dakota to document (video and still images) the protest of the North Dakota Access Pipeline. I will check in with the Tribal Council in Fort Yates, ND and drop off donated goods. If you would like to donate items for the people of the Sioux Nation let me know I am happy to take them with me. Beyond my cameras and audio gear the space in my Kia Sorento is limited but I do have a roof rack. If by chance you have extra 9volts batteries, AA batteries and AAA batteries I could sure use them for the production.
Thank you all for your support. – Dave Banks
I believe that I am trapped in the thoughts of a writer with no way out, I am terrified that at the end of the last chapter my character will no longer exist.I can only hope that the author has a strong vocabulary with very little rewrite. This is my sentence, where I live life on the streets of L.A. – what a crazy story this is going to be. The author writes a word without risk as I am forced to walk the boulevards day in and day out, but I forgive the author. How I have wonder, but am not sure if my story is being revealed to him or if the author has the final say. I can only hope that maybe, just maybe the author will let me know my fate. Esc key, fiction or non-fiction, I just don’t know.
I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated. – James Nachtwey
1100 Journalist killed since 1992
The year 2014 was a one of contradictions, with stories only brought to life because of those journalists willing to go where the stories were.
The U.S. legalized gay marriage in many states, while countries like Uganda and India took leaps backward, arresting gay people in the name of civility.
Health care reform took hold in America, opening access to medical care, but on the other side of the planet Polio was making a comeback in Pakistan and the Ebola virus was ravaging West Africa.
During the yearly U.N. general counsel meeting, nations talked of peace and yet Syria and Iraq burned under the onslaught of ISIS, girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram and militias slaughtered each other in the Central African Republic.
The journalists below are some of the people who felt compelled to take the risks, to tell the stories, to go deeper than the vast majority would ever dream, so that we could better understand what is happening around the globe. Their pictures took us to the front lines, often at great danger to themselves. In some cases, they got too close and tragically we are now deprived from seeing the world as they saw it.
This is not every photojournalist we lost in 2014, this is only one small group, representative of the nearly 100 journalists who died while performing their job. They brought us the news we should know and reminded and why we should care.
If there is any lesson to be taken, it is this: pay attention, act, question and care for each other.—Shaminder Dulai
JAMES FOLEY
James Foley reported from conflict zones in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, working primarily for GlobalPost and Agence-France Press. His striking, intimate video dispatches from conflict zones, such as this unflinching look at an ambush on a 101st Airborne company in Afghanistan, demonstrated his dedication to foreign reporting. He was captured while reporting in Libya in 2011 but eventually released. As the country’s civil war escalated, Foley reported for AFP and GlobalPost from Syria; he was captured in 2012 and killed by ISIS in 2014.—Jared T. Miller
ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS
An Afghan soldier, left, and a policeman peek through a window as they line up with others to get their registration card on the last day of voter registration for the upcoming presidential elections outside a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 1, 2014. ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS/AP
Anja Niedrinhaus, a former chief photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency, was part of the Associated Press team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for their work in Iraq. She reported from Frankfurt, Germany; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Moscow, and the former Yugoslavia, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and throughout the Middle East. Colleagues praised her fearlessness and leadership. Niedrinhaus was killed on April 4, covering the presidential election in Afghanistan. She was 48. An Afghan police commander opened fire on the car she and her friend, fellow reporter Kathy Gannon, were waiting in at a checkpoint. The commander was later sentenced to death. —Tzirel Kaminetzky
Anja Niedringhaus is seen in this April 2005 file photo, in Rome. Niedringhaus, who has reported from many areas of conflict, died while covering the presidential election in Afghanistan, April 4, 2014. PETER DEJONG/AP
LUKE SOMERS
Pro-democracy protesters in Sana’a, many of whom have lived in tents at Change Square for a year and a half, broke their fast as heavy rain poured outside, in July 2012. LUKE SOMERS/DEMOTIX
By all accounts Luke Somers was the boy next door, driven by a passion to expose views of the “other” and challenge assumptions. He was also kind hearted and picked up his camera for the right reasons. “He never called with demands that his pictures weren’t being used enough, he just wanted to show people that Yemen was more than car bombs and terror,” said Ossie Ikeogu, one of the photo editors at his agency Demotix, who got to know Somers over the years. Ikeogu remembers first meeting the young man and thinking he was a teacher with a hobby, but a look at his portfolio revealed Somers was more than the unassuming translator for hire in Yemen. “He was always looking to paint a picture that wasn’t what we always see in the Western media,” said Ikeogu. He started with protests, but realized he preferred documenting the people in the market, the aftermaths of terrorism for citizens and clashes of culture, what Ikeogu calls the “winds of change” in the country, “anything that captured a flavor and sense of daily life.” He was aware of the danger, but not afraid, and felt comfortable in Yemen according to Ikeogu. At first he wasn’t worried when Somers didn’t return his phone calls, but a few days later that changed. For months Ikeogu called his phone with no answer, finally he sent a last email with the subject line “Hope you’re ok.” Somers had been kidnapped in Sana’a, Yemen, in September 2013. In December 2014 he appeared with militants demanding the U.S. give in to their demands in exchange for him. Somers was killed by Al-Qaeda militants during a rescue attempt by U.S. commandos in Yemen. He was 33. —Shaminder Dulai
Luke Somers (1981 – December 6, 2014) SOMERS FAMILY
CAMILLE LEPAGE
Anti-balaka fighters from the town of Bossembele patrol in the Boeing district of Bangui, Central African Republic, Feb. 24, 2014. CAMILLE LEPAGE/REUTERS
Camille Lepage, 26 at the time of her death in Central African Republic, was a French photojournalist who had based herself in South Sudan two years earlier, covering the country’s development following independence in 2011. After studying at Southampton Solent University in the U.K., she was drawn to African issues, telling Petapixel in 2013 that “I can’t accept that people’s tragedies are silenced simply because no one can make money out of them.” In the last days of her life she embedded with a Christian anti-Balaka militia, in opposition to the Muslim-dominated ruling faction, in the western part of Central African Republic. She was the first foreign journalist to die covering the country’s violent conflict. —Jared T. Miller
Camille Lepage (Jan. 28, 1988-May 12, 2014) in Damara, Central African Republic, Feb. 21, 2014.FRED DUFOUR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
MICHEL DU CILLE
Moses Tarkulah stands by as colleagues enter the suspected Eloba case ward Bong County Ebola Treatment Unit, on Tuesday September 16, 2014.The newly opened 50 bed unit is managed by International Medical Corp, and was built by Save the Children. On its second day of operation, it saw three new patients; one patient died Monday night. MICHEL DU CILLE/THE WASHINGTON POST
Michel du Cille was coming off a 21-day Ebola quarantine and a few weeks of rest when he decided he had to go back to west Africa to continue documenting the devastating effects of the virus. As his co-workers and friends from past trips would write, du Cille was like that, driven by a calling to always get the story. Before his trip, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner reportedly told his employers at The Washington Post, “I have had to check my emotions, and I use those emotions to make sure I’m telling the story in the right way, to make sure I’m using my sense of respect, my sense of dignity, to show images to the world and to do the right thing by the subjects.” He collapsed while walking on foot from a village in Liberia’s Bong County, and died of an apparent heart attack on December 11. He was 58. —Shaminder Dulai
Michel du Cille (1956 – December 11, 2014) JULIA EWAN/THE WASHINTON POST
AUNG KYAW NAING
Than Dar, the wife of slain Burmese journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, stands in front of a family photograph showing herself, her husband and daughter posing with Aung San Suu Kyi, during an interview at her home in Yangon, October 28, 2014. Naing was detained and killed by Burmese military while covering armed clashes between the Burmese army and Karen ethnic rebels. SOE ZEYA TUN/REUTERS
Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, was a Burmese freelance journalist and political activist from Rangoon working along the Burma-Thai border. His work appeared in many local Burmese media outlets such as The Voice, Eleven Media and Yangon Times. He was detained and killed by Burmese military while covering armed clashes between the Burmese army and Karen ethnic rebels. Activists and supporters protested the killing of Naing and called for an inquiry into his death, his wife saying she believed he was tortured while in military custody. The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission reported multiple injuries to his body, including several gunshot wounds, discovered after after his body was exhumed in November. —Tzirel Kaminetzky
SIMONE CAMILLI
Simone Camilli, 35, an Associated Press videographer, was reporting in Gaza over the summer when he was killed along with his translator Ali Shehda Abu Afash by an unexploded missile thought to be of Israeli origin while it was being defused. Hired by the AP in Rome in 2005, Camilli frequently covered Israel and Gaza, basing himself recently in Beirut. He co-produced a 2011 documentary with Pietro Bellorini, About Gaza, which detailed the roots of the conflict and featured interviews with Gazans about life in the region. —Jared T. Miller
Simone Camilli (1979-Aug. 13, 2014) in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Aug. 11, 2014. KHALIL HAMRA/AP
ANDREI STENIN
Andrei Stenin, 33, was a Russian photojournalist who contributed to news organizations such as Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and RIA Novosti. Stenin covered conflicts in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Gaza before covering the war in eastern Ukraine. It is thought that he was embedded with Russian-backed combatants when he went missing. His death was confirmed on September 3, 2014. AFP/GETTY
Andrei Stenin, 33, was a Russian photojournalist who contributed to news organizations such as Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and RIA Novosti. Stenin covered conflicts in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Gaza before covering the war in eastern Ukraine. It is thought that he was embedded with Russian-backed combatants when he went missing. His death was confirmed on September 3. —Michael Ip
ANDREA ROCCHELLI
Ten orphans seek refuge from overnight bombings in Sloviansk, Ukraine, May 14, 2014. ANDREA ROCCHELLI/CESURA
Andrea Rocchelli was in Sloviansk, Ukraine, covering skirmishes between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russia separatists, when he was killed by a mortar shell along with his fixer and another journalist. He founded the Italian photo agency Cesura in 2008, and contributed to Newsweek and Le Monde, among other publications. He had also covered the conflict in Afghanistan and the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Libya; here, this photo taken 12 days before his death on May 12, shows 10 orphans seeking refuge from overnight bombings in Sloviansk. —Jared T. Miller
Andrea Rocchelli (Sept. 27, 1983-May 24, 2014). COURTESY CESURA
MOUAZ ALOMAR (Abu Mehdi Al Hamwi)
A Free Syrian Army fighter points his weapon in Tal Al Nasiriyah in Hama province, February 5, 2014. MOUAZ ALOMAR/REUTERS
The 17-year-old freelance photographer died, according to reports, while uploading footage of a bombing he recorded earlier in the day on April 25. He was published widely through social media. —Tzirel Kaminetzky
ALI MUSTAFA
A civilian search and rescue team rushes to the scene minutes after a government air strike in the Aleppo neighborhood of Kalase, February 26, 2014. At least four people were killed in the attack. ALI/MUSTAFA/EPA
Canadian-born freelance journalist Ali Mustafa went to Syria to cover the gaps he felt were missing in mainstream media. As he has said “The only way I could truly get a sense of the reality on the ground was to go there to figure it out for myself.” Beyond his photographic contribution to as a SIPA press photographer, he also kept an active Instagram and Twitter account. One of his last posts on Twitter, dated soon before his March 9 death, links to a photo of a young boy carrying a sack of objects near a demolished home. He has stated that his aim was to portray “the way war impacts us as human beings.” He was killed during an airstrike in Syria. —Tzirel Kaminetzky
Ali Mustafa, Canadian-born photojournalist covering the war in Syria, uploaded this photo of himself to Instagram, where he often posted moments from his travels, on September 19, 2013. Hashtag: “#Me.” _FBTM/INSTAGRAM
TURAD MOHAMED AL-ZAHOURI
Turad Mohamed al-Zahouri, a citizen journalist from Syria, died Feb. 20 in Arsal, Lebanon from injuries sustained from a mortar shell that landed near him in Yabroud, Syria. He was the photographer for Al-Qusair Lens, a Facebook page that covered events in Al-Qusair and surrounding areas. QUSAIR LENS/AP
Turad Mohamed al-Zahouri, a citizen journalist from Syria, died February 20 in Arsal, Lebanon, from injuries sustained from a mortar shell that landed near him in Yabroud, Syria. He was the photographer for Al-Qusair Lens, a Facebook page that covered events in Al-Qusair and surrounding areas. —Michael Ip
FRANKLIN REYES
Rafael Manso turns his face away from sparks flying from the boiler as he works at the Jose Marti Antillana de Acero iron and steel mill in Havana, Cuba, June 7, 2012. FRANKLIN REYES/AP
Franklin Reyes was born in Havana, and joined the AP’s team in Cuba in 2009 after beginning his career at a local, state-run newspaper. At the time of his death, Reyes was working on a story about the Cuban economy; he died in a car accident while returning from an assignment in Havana. This photo from June 7, 2012 shows the Jose Marti Antillana de Acero iron and steel mill in Havana, Cuba. —Jared T. Miller
Franklin Reyes Marrero (1975-Nov. 3, 2014), in Cuba. AP
There was a time in my professional life that the tools of my trade required 13 anvil cases, patients, and throw away paper underwear. The demands for international travel as a documentary filmmaker was like an assault on climbing Mt. Everest. Months of preparation are involved along with logistics, scheduling, and risk management. Once at the point of entry in a foreign country the arduous task of clearing customs begins with lots of patients as every item in the anvil cases are cross referenced to see that the serial numbers match the Carnet. For those not familiar, a Carnet is analogous to a passport for equipment. It is an import/export document, which allows property to pass across borders without hindrance. Free passage is assured by the guarantee that imported property will be reliably exported again after a set period of time. However, the documents 
must be scrupulously prepared and every item’s serial number on the Carnet. The Carnet must be recorded through customs on entering a country and then checked out again on exiting. Any errors or omissions can cause the delay of the entire shipment unless you have Baksheesh which is tipping or as some may call it charitable giving. I call it outright bribery.
objective and allowing the climber to summit faster. An experienced mountaineer will jettison gear that was not used on previous climbs and go “Light and Fast”. With that in mind and since I’m not tackling Mt. Everest but Scotland I have downsized my gear to an carry on bag.
“I’m not hopeful – either for peace in the Middle East or for peace in the Holy Sepulcher,”– Father Jerome Murphy O’Connor is a professor at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem
In old city of Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulcher belonged to five different Christian groups: the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics (Franciscans), Armenians, Coptics, and Ethiopians. This makes for complicated arrangements; disputes are common, particularly over who has the authority to carry out repairs. There’s a wooden ladder on a ledge just above the main entrance that’s been left there since the nineteenth century, because no one can agree who has the right to take it down. It’s not unusual to see fights between monks from different sects in the Sepulchre. Passions run high, particularly on important holy days. All it takes is a monk in the wrong place at the wrong time in a religious procession and it’s SmackDown. Fists fly, holy water’s thrown, beards pulled and even candlesticks used to ram groups of opposing monks. Peace on this Holy holiday whatever your belief.
Jay Leno says, “Within these pages Dave has written gung-ho, self-deprecating, wildly engaging accounts of his exploits, with all the behind-the-scene high-jinks that go into shooting news and documentaries across the world.” In Cue the Camels, Dave shares his misadventures in a comedic style that is sure to entertain.
Vroman’s Bookstore Link: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/local629
Cue The Camels available at: www.cuethecamels.com, www.oodlebooks.com, Also available at: Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, California www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9780957438385, , Book Soup in Hollywood, California, booksoup.com/book/9780957438385 , Amazon Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Cue-Camels-three-time-award-winning-film-maker-ebook/dp/B00IA10Z88/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403461103&sr=1-1&keywords=cue+the+camels
Part One
Dave Banks discusses and signs Cue the Camels
Jay Leno says, “Within these pages Dave has written gung-ho, self-deprecating, wildly engaging accounts of his exploits, with all the behind-the-scene high-jinks that go into shooting news and documentaries across the world.” In Cue the Camels, Dave shares his misadventures in a comedic style that is sure to entertain.
Vroman’s Bookstore Link: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/local629
Cue The Camels available at: www.cuethecamels.com, www.oodlebooks.com, Also available at: Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, California www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9780957438385, , Book Soup in Hollywood, California, booksoup.com/book/9780957438385 , Amazon Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Cue-Camels-three-time-award-winning-film-maker-ebook/dp/B00IA10Z88/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403461103&sr=1-1&keywords=cue+the+camels
