Liberians, like most people, love their phones. A popular song played pretty much on repeat is “Put your number on my phone.”

Liberians also love having their photo taken while miming talking on the phone. As soon as I asked people to take their photos, they’d reach for their phone.  This is such a common phenomenon in a place where phones are status symbols that one of these days I hope to put together a collection of portraits of Liberians talking on the phone.

This isn’t at all a phenomenon limited to my work. For example, here’s a screen shot for the Consulate General of Liberia that features a lovely lady on the phone.

Right before I left Liberia, I was snapping photos in an area called Red Light for everyone’s favorite blogger/professor Chris Blattman (more on that later). The area is a busy and chaotic market. I really wanted to get up on the top of a tall building to do some longer exposures to show the hustle and bustle. The tallest building around was a bank. I talked to the security guards and they said I could go on the roof to take a couple of shots. But not before I took their snap!

My favorite is the guy with both the walkie-talkie and the phone. Love love love it.

And here’s the final shot I got. Unfortunately there are no noticeable phones in this photo.