Off The Grid with Luke Coleman - Our man in Iraq
I have known for a while that I was going to be changing role somewhat, the chain between me and the office faster and tighter than before. More commissioning, report writing, managing, editing. Less in the field, finger on the button catching an image, a rush, a sound, a moment. My last hurrah was to be in style. Literally, a 24 minute film on the Kurdistan Fashion Week, the first international standard fashion event in Iraq. I spent a few weeks interviewing designers, following the fortunes of wannabe models from casting to catwalk, snapping and filming. I was backstage at the show, even on the catwalk at one point, the hair stylists love my long hair, the Ukrainian professional models loved the camera, their local students and the experience of being in actual bloody Iraq. The designers were fantastic, the event went off without a hitch large enough to derail it, and it was generally breathless and brilliant. The main hair dude, Akram, even offered me a free treatment in his salon. I took him up on it, thinking I was going to get me split ends seen to. Long story short, I now have straight hair for the first time in my life, and I’m worth it.