It’s taken me only eight years since returning from Zambia (for the second time), and a request for some pictures from my daughter’s teacher, to start doing something with my photos, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.
I wasn’t into photography then quite as much as now, and as a VSO I couldn’t afford to buy film, let alone have it processed, so I don’t have as many pictures as I would if I went out now. There’s still enough of them to keep me busy for a couple of years, though.
My children’s school is having an ‘Africa’ week, and part of the focus will be on the charity in Uganda for which they collect. The trouble with this type of thing, I think, are the negative stereotypes of Africa that are reinforced: poverty, aid, Aids. All terrible problems, but sometimes people need reminding of other aspects of African life.
What I have tried to do is present some images of Africa that wouldn’t naturally spring to many people’s minds – hence the mother and child in a park in Bulawayo, the flower market in the same city, the carpentry students (whom I taught) in Livingstone, the man in the tuxedo outside ‘The Struggling Restaurant’ (and the little boy with the balloon in the back of the pick-up truck). I hope you like them.
Lunar Rainbow, Victoria Falls
Carpentry Students, Livingstone Trades Training Institute, Zambia
The Struggling Restaurant, Choma, Zambia
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Flower Market, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia
Charging Elephant
Lochinvar National Park, Zambia
Picking Lemons, Livingstone Zambia
[...] 7, 2009 by gruffyddthomas I blogged a few weeks ago about some photos of Africa, from my time living in Zambia, that I had printed out for a project my kids [...]