I am back in the UK once again after a 3.5 week trip to Sudan, Tanzania and Kenya, shooting for both a client and myself. Prior to heading off, I invested in an SU800 and SB900 to complement my SB600 with the intentions of shooting plenty more portraits with decent lighting. However, like all of my recent grand plans, I didn’t quite manage to shoot what I set out to do.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
In Sudan I was much more preoccupied with making sure I covered the work of the charity I was visiting, and this meant fitting around people preoccupied with the upcoming elections – rightly so. The heat was also a problem. Beyond 10.30 – 11.00am the temperature out in the sun became too much for me and I would become obsessed with finding something vaguely cool in the market. When it is 45C, even a luke warm, fizzy orange drink tastes like heaven. In Tanzania I was walking a great deal with the Hadzabe and trying to build up a relationship so that they felt comfortable enough to let me shoot with the lights. After not having much of an opportunity for several days, I made the decision to shoot the group of hunters I was with on the final day, whatever happens – and as luck would have it, they had their most successful hunt. But this success led them to an afternoon of drugs and alcohol and by evening, when I was hoping to shoot more portraits of the rest of the group, everyone was too drunk or stoned. Kenya was more successful in that I got what I set out to do – portraits of the current group of former street boys at the care centre run by the charity.
I am currently waiting for a new monitor to arrive so I can do some proper editing and I have a couple of soundslide features that I’ll be posting soon, after I have finished with the images for the client. For now a few more images from Sudan and Tanzania.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
All the above are of Hadzabe, or Hadza, taken at Lake Eyasi not far from the Ngorogoro Conservation Area. These remarkable people may well be the last hunter-gatherers left in Africa and today number less than 2,000, of which perhaps 300-400 still practice a traditional lifestyle. The remainder settle around small villages close to Eyasi during the high season and make a living by taking tourists out into the bush and sharing their way of life. The men in these photos belong to the latter group of Hadzabe.
The images where shot simply with a softbox camera left, using a 1/4 CTO to warm up the skin tones slightly. I’ll be posting a full selection of images and a feature about the Hadzabe soon.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
I met this beautiful woman at a borehole at the edge of the village and then again at the house of a teacher. I asked the lady if I could shoot a portrait of her and she agreed, as long as I took some of her family as well. This is shot outside her tukal, the clay-walled thatched huts common to the area. Neither child was particularly keen to stand still and they were constantly distracted by the crowd that had gathered behind me to watch what I was doing.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
A young Dinka girl with her baby sister just outside the village. For both this image and the previous, it was simply a case of balancing the bright ambient light with the softbox and adding a little CTO to warm up the faces once again.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera right, 1/4 CTO, bare SB900 camera left, SU800, D3, 24-70mm.
A Dinka woman cooking inside her tukal. This was much harder to shoot compared to the previous images. The inside of the tukal was very dark as a result of the soot covering the thatch, and the fire where she was cooking was tight up against one of the walls, similarly with a lot of soot. The only place for me in the tight space around where she was cooking meant I would have to include the open door in the frame and the bright light streaming in, compared to the dim indoor light, would have been difficult to handle. The solution – block up the door and use a softbox camera right and a bare SB900 camera left, to perhaps suggest another source of ambient light in the tukal, and give her head and body better definition.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, D3, 24-70mm.
Portrait of Abraham Ding, a teacher at a local school. I wanted to make use of the beautiful shadows cast by a large tree and so climbed up and hung on to a branch whilst directing Ding and a willing lighting assistant.
Shot with an Elemental 50 x 50 softbox camera left, 1/4 CTO, bare SB900 camera right, SU800 D3, 24-70mm.
Portrait of Dotjang Agany, another teacher at a local school. Both Ding and Dotjang have a seen a great deal of conflict in their lives but are now helping the next generation of Sudanese through education. I will be doing a small feature about the teachers and pupils of the school supported by the charity I was working with. Keep an eye out for more images over the covering weeks, both here and on my Facebook page.
You’ll notice that all images now link to my Photoshelter archive where they will be available for purchase and immediate download soon.
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fantasic shots, it looks like it was an amazing experiance for you
Many thanks Karen – It was a remarkable trip. I’ll be posting more images of the Hadzabe this weekend. Matt