I met Zollz in 2021, for a shoot to make content for a brand I was working with at the time. This was before I left Twitter, and we have since worked collaboratively on several successful projects, with most of them going viral. So, when he told me he needed an assistant for the WRC Rally shoot, I was down.
Zollz is a soft-spoken and amiable fella who looks like the American Footballer Odell Beckham Junior ‘OBJ’, the full beard (with flecks of gray), the smile and all. He is the type of fella to say shit like ‘samahani’, ‘naomba’, ‘nisaidie’. Yeah, he makes some of us look like unschooled, uncultured barbarians. When I heard that he was causing a storm on Twitter, I had to see it. He was dressing down a brand/brand manager in the politest way possible, expressing his frustration over their lack of communication while at the same time keeping it civil. The crux of the matter was that, the said brand/brand manager had booked him to be an influencer for their campaign during the WRC but had not communicated, making him miss out on other opportunities (more on this later).
We got to Naivasha on Thursday evening so as to be ready for an early day on Friday, fortunately the good folks from Nomad Africa had sorted Zollz with a nice pad adjacent to Lake Naivasha Country Club in an old colonial estate called Lucita Farms. The pad had ‘pinteresty’ vibes – a reclaimed stable, a perfect studio apartment for two bachelors with very basic needs. There was even a chef option on the table – haha, imagine two chaps who live on ugali mayai with a chef at their disposal. The estate is on the shores of Lake Naivasha, with rolling green lawns, two huge dogs, a sausage dog, a pool and lots of rosemary. It is one of those places people go for retreats to align their chakras and all that shit – dip your toes in the water and walk barefoot on the grass.
The Apprenticeship
I will tell you one thing, shooting the WRC action, or any motorsport event is not glamorous – there are no chics, no glory, nobody to chipo – it is just the camera guy, some drunk UG & KE bros, dust and the wilderness.
Let me paint you the picture:
You have to wake really early so that you can get to the venue earlier than the regular crowd. Find a spot to park and then do a reconnaissance – you need to find good spots where you can shoot ‘action’ shots/money shots. For ‘commissioned’ photographers – those with huge brand backing or with the media – they get the prime positions, they have passes and credentials which, unfortunately for us, we didn’t have. So, we parked and started looking for a spot to get amazing shots – jumps, corners, hills. Zollz being a perfectionist, had us walk for about 6 kilometers along the race route before we settled for a nice part of the track that was a vantage point with several angles.
Your troubles don’t end there. There is the dust. This is the Safari Rally, often done in the wilderness, on unpaved roads and sections with dust so fine and deep – called fesh fesh – that it literally bogs down cars that they have to be towed out. You have this high revving, not road legal machine, moving at over 100 KMPH on a dirt surface, throwing thick clouds of dust – dust so fine like flour and you are in the middle of it trying to get a shot of the action. The dust gets everywhere, I mean everywhere. Your girl may think you are sipping cold ones with fine birds in Naivasha, but you are there inhaling unholy amounts of dust in the wilderness trying to get the money shot. Not the type of powder you should be inhaling during a weekend of debauchery and sin.
The other risk with these things is flying debris, specifically stones and pebbles. From the little physics instruction I have retained, things always fly off a tangent. And when these rally cars are doing 5000 RPMs (fancy talk from car guys to say - very fast), the stones/pebbles offering traction are also flying at the same speeds turning the debris into bullet like projectiles that can possibly take you out. My associate had a chance encounter with such a pebble that grazed his index finger and fortunately did not causing any bodily harm nor damage to his equipment.
For me, and many other people, with the attention span of a toddler, Toyota Number 1 and Number 4, are all the same – the Hyundai and the Ford too. One picture, one video fits them all. This is not the case with this chap and photographers of his ilk. We have already walked 7 kilometers in, but this chap has to go look for other positions and angles for heaven’s sake. I love to complain but at this point it was pointless, being 7 KMs in and having to walk back the same was not appealing. So, like Sisyphus, I had to find some joy in the tasks assigned, however pointless to me they were. Surprisingly, looking back, I had found an eerie sense of calm, I was in the moment, geeking about the photos he is taking and the videos I am taking. I had found purpose and meaning in this seemingly pointless task. This was an education that I couldn’t get anywhere. I was in the middle of nowhere, machines zooming past me, dust up my butt-crack and I was at peace.
One of the pain points from his Twitter thread was that he had been contacted on the possibility of being an influencer for a company during the rally period but they had not communicated on time meaning he had missed out on other chances to work with other people. This meant that he was to bear all the costs of shooting the entire rally event from equipment to accommodation, transport and other contingencies. For most of us, this would have been a sign that this was not meant to happen and stay home. This was not the case for him. He was willing to sleep in a tent or in his car but shoot the rally action for the second year. Fortunately, the brand reached out and they came to an agreement.
Lessons
One of the things you get from photography and shadowing a photographer is that this is a very solitary exercise. You will be deep in some bush with action lasting 20 seconds, not network, just you and your thoughts. You will learn to enjoy the moment, listen to your thoughts and appreciate where you are and how far you have come as a person.
Shadowing Zollz is akin to getting a masterclass on gentle masculinity. A masterclass in courtesy, gravitas and class. He will greet doormen, gatemen (gate persons hehe) and everybody he encounters without fail. ‘Habari yako, uko mzima, asante’. He will say ‘samahani’, ‘nisaidie’, ‘naomba’ and all those fancy Swahili courtesy manenos to servers, shopkeepers or anybody offering him a service. Could never be you? I know, you uncultured bastard.
The other lesson I got from him was having pride in your work and craft. He was willing to cover the whole event without any backing – he gave it 100% despite him not having any huge brand backing, or media passes and even fancy cameras. He is him.
Charles Bukowski says:
If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.
I hope by shooting the rally that weekend, he felt like he was sitting on Mt. Olympus, one with the gods. He was on the Mt. Rushmore of photography.
This is an ode to a photographer, to a friend, to craftsmanship.
Follow him on social media, give him work, buy prints and NFTs, request to tag along and learn a few things.
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Twitter: @Zollz – IG: @Zollz13
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