A picture post for today. Some by me, some by others.
Food riots in Mogadishu. (AFP)
Sudanese who have been living in neighboring countries including Chad, Uganda, Congo and CAR are returning to South Sudan for a census, which looked promising but has had more than a few hitches. I took a bunch of photos for this story but they never ran on the wire. So unlike my other AP photos, I actually own these and can use them as I’d like, ie, for your photo copying purposes, dear reader.
When I wrote about the Acholi women living in in Kireka, I first hung out with them at an NGO called Meeting Point for lots of singing and dancing. I’ve been to many a singing and dancing session, but this is the first one where they put a hollowed out gourd on my head during the festivities. Unfortunately, since there was a gourd on my head, I wasn’t able to properly use my zoom lens and capture the event for posterity.
8 Comments
Ah, dancing with a gourd on your head! That’s the Berkeley girl I know and love.
[Reply]
Great pictures!
[Reply]
Michal– I actually go through most of life with a gourd on my head, it’s just so hard to photograph myself when my vision is obscured… Okay, so maybe not, but I do try and dance but my ass, though as large or larger than many an African ass, will never shake as an African ass does.
Michael — Thanks!!
[Reply]
That picture, third from the bottom, how did you take it?
)
[Reply]
27 – There’s this great line by Robert Capa, one of the pioneers of modern photojournalism, where he said, “If you’re pictures aren’t good enough you’re not close enough.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901020708-267730,00.html
He died getting a little too close, but there wasn’t too much risk with some Acholi ladies in Kireka.
I got into the center of the circle of dancing, and moved around with the women.
The key is to start taking a few photos from afar, and let people get used to the idea of you and the camera, and then move in closer slowly, allowing them to get used to you every time you move closer. Eventually, you can be really near them and get different angled shots as they move because you’re close up. I really liked taking photos of this woman and she non-verbally cued me that it was okay for me to be really near her taking photos. As she bobbed up and down, I got above her a bit and snapped.
[Reply]
Okay, so you got close. Cool. Nice advice for a wanna-be photographer like me from a pro.
But that no explain how you hovered – levitated, I dare suggest – above the woman. You’re clearly looking down at her from the heaven.
Comment as-tu ça fait?
[Reply]
okay, now i want that blue skirt. amazing! it looks like the pattern is swimming.
[Reply]
27 – I’m not that tall, but she was shorter than me. I just waited for her to duck down for a minute and I snapped. Or really, I just try and snap a lot. When I’m photographing something, the key is for me to move a lot, and that way get different angles. It’s fun to photograph people who are dancing because the end result image is the combination of their movement and mine.
J- I want to see you in a skirt… I’ll send one back to the states for you soon, but only if you return a photo of you in said skirt, and perhaps other photos as well.. Remember, the key is movement!
[Reply]
Post a Comment