Ben Wilhelmi

New York City by night

 

funny taxi contraption.

 

This was an excellent diner! I like that colorful old neon and chrome deco.

Monument Valley, Arizona

 

a superb national park. Local Indian natives run the place. I was surprised to see so many US flags, even if customized, after what the Indians have been and still go through since white men set foot in and invaded their territories… Some form of resentment wouldn’t be unreasonable…

John Wayne, John Ford…mostly Claudia Cardinale came here for shooting wild west movies.

 

a Rolleiflex in Paris, b/w street photography

 

 

a wink to Cartier-Bresson, a man in partial profile with family eating on the Seine bank.

 

B/W portraits, Tanzanian bush

 

Northern Tanzania, various tribes share a vast and remote territory around lake Natron.

Older women are not easy to approach for pictures.

wildlife, Tanzania

 

lion feasting on a roan antelope (une hippotrague rouanne). A rare antelope that I’ve only seen in Katavi park.

Obnoxious hippo chasing lions off. Such a territorial behaviour!

a ground hornbill ( un bucorve en français)

shooting street life while driving, Arusha

 

Promised, Mom I’m careful and I got quite used to shoot without looking through the viewer.

wooden carts are still heavily used for deliveries in town.

 

A rare taxi biker with a helmet. For his passenger? Next life. Rap crap stuff has been seeping through in Africa too. Is it better than Rambo or Madonna who were fashionable here around  2000.

 

Next to impossible to spot a public bus without some kind of motto, quite often with a religious meaning. Though it always looks like the drivers forget about them once behind the wheel. School girl getting a taxi service.

 

not a rare sighting. Everything on wheels get to be overloaded in Africa. The skills of these guys are impressive.

 

Colors! The bigger the bus the flashier the colors. Haile Selassie is till very popular in Africa. What’s the link with the dolphin…?

 

Funny enough, Led Zeppelin is to be spotted on a few dala dalas. Same owner who is a fan? Too bad the spelling was left unchecked.

Masai portraits, B/W photography

 

Tough mean looking mama. Even her Masai husband must think twice before coming home late and drunk…

 

 

Harley Davidsons in Oatman, route 66, Arizona

 

there were Harleys all over the place and on miles and miles on the roads around. A big gathering was going on for bikers. It made the scenery quite interesting. Oatman, on route 66,  is not much but on a day like this, it gets very much alive. The western movie decoration was hilarious. Some people are really good at exploring their childhood dreams.

 

here was a rarity, a Russian side-car. An Ural maybe?

the main street, for a second I thought these dudes were waiting for us to start a duel.

 

in the past, this couple would have been at risk to come in such a gathering with a Japanese bike. The Hells Angels would have trashed what they considered sissies’ motorbikes. Besides Harleys, few brands were accepted, usually Italian or English. But nowadays real Hells Angels or other tough bikers are not not alone on Harleys.

 

leaving Oatman on route 66 towards California.

more Bikes kept on coming.

Pink Floyd, concert in Werchter

March 1989 in Belgium, Pink Floyd made the incredible honor to visit us. The concert took place in a an open field. Much more quiet atmosphere than Woodstock of course even if dozens of thousands were attending. The audience is wide here, from teens to grandparents. Fans dating from the mid sixties. Everybody was seated on the ground, not missing a bit of the show, some people crying softly.

In Versailles, June 1988, at a previous Floyd gig, 100.000 people! we had been standing up for a while. There had some movement near me, a girl from our group had fainted of pure emotion. Her boyfriend didn’t notice or didn’t want to because when he was notified by one of us, he hardly looked down, just said “later…” and kept staring and listening at the gig. No way this guy was going to miss a second of the show! Of course the girl took it badly when she woke up on her own, realised she was not worth a few seconds of  Pink Floyd. The guy must have thought there were plenty of other girls on this Earth, but not many Pink Floyd gigs…finally he was a smart philosopher, wasn’t he? By the way none of us helped her either… but then we were not even dating her so why bother? Facing the Floyd, I defy any gentleman to keep his manners haha

 

the laser show was breathtaking.

 

Burst of fire on stage.

 

Nick mason on drums, Nick Wright on keyboards.

 

The Pig, a big balloon floating over the audience. The eyes were powerful light spots.

 

David Gilmour.

 

 

I had sneaked my camera, a great Minolta X700 and a 135mm 2.8 and a 50mm 1.7  lenses all hidden in my thick leather jacket sleeves, some Fuji 1600 asa films in my cowboy boots. Security was there but body search was limited. By then 1600 asa was a magic and maximum number for color films. I dream of shooting  the same gigs with a Nikon D3 at 25000 asa, or even 102.000! The D4 to come is announced at more than 200.000 though quality is not that great at that extreme setting.

lake Natron, aerial pictures, Rift valley

no comment for a change…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longido, Tanzania, aerial photography

 

flying straight line or driving from Arusha to Nairobi brings you through Longido, a little village overlooked by a mountain.

here is the peak, a bit like a rhino horn from far away. Unmistakable from many miles away.

a nice one day hike from where Kilimanjaro, mount Meru or, on exceptional weather condition, even volcano Lengai can be admired.

lions eating an elephant

 

the elephant died around lake Ndutu in Ngorongoro conservation area, Tanzania. The 2 lions were very protective of their meal which lasted for a few days, and still, wouldn’t share any of it. The various scavengers would have to wait for the last bits when the lions’ bellies were about to explode.

street life in Nairobi

 

Leaving Nairobi by bus back to Arusha, I snapped “Nairobbery” (the unofficial but most common nickname for Nairobi) life out of the window.

Soetimes I think there are more cellphones in Africa than in Europe

 

Ads are getting big and spread all over in Africa. Maybe the guy is having a hangover from that beer? As anybody can see, while the image is decent, the logo is shit as usual. Low carbs for a beer, who cares really? These marketing people really, no shame to consider consumers as morons….

 

Traffic cops…sometimes they just seemed at best to be considered as information doll, not to be taken seriously. Just the same for robot lights by the way.

 

At least they used a black santa! Good for them. Christianity still has a long way to go to adapt. Swedish look alike, blue eyed pale sick jesuses and maries are still the norm in Africa, basically coming from our medieval pieces of religious art. That probably helped the missionaries to keep the lid on African pride….

 

yep graffiti can be spotted here too. But not yet the same kind as we know in the West. Baby steps.

 

I suppose the road is in much better condition than the sidewalks, if any…

 

Cool cars, USA

cool car, Cadillac 54 if I’m right, and cool dude. Supposedly the best Elvis impersonator. Las Vegas of course, where else?

 

Seligman, somewhere on route 66.

 

 

rent a RV but you got the ads included. Too bad if you were looking for low profile. Quite an un-American feat anyway, low profile…

 

homemade with leftovers of a 1932 Ford A and more… Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

Taos, New Mexico, not short of beauties either. Mexican-owned Chevrolet.

Chevrolet Bel Air 1956.

 

Page, Arizona, a typical monster truck to go in Antelope canyon. I’m dreaming of having the same modifications done on my Land Rover 110, so I could crush all the driving morons in Arusha notorious traffic jam.  And it could be useful too in many streets of Arusha “city” or in the Tanzanian bush.

lake Natron, aerial photography

 

photo shoot with a Masai model, B/W

 

Last week, I was flying for Flying Medical Service in northern Tanzania. This is mainly Masai territory near volcano Lengai. Here is Olpirikata, a tiny Masai hamlet, one of the numerous airstrips where we operate on a regular basis, that is a  2 week-rotation system.

This Masai girl, quite a stunning face, was initially shy, I had to insist a bit when tings got much easier when she was her friends enjoying the prints I had brought from a previous photo shoot. Curiosity and a bit of envy got her!

At first she didn’t quite know how to behave in front the lens but that didn’t last….

 

This one is my favorite of the lot. I often wish I could only shoot the same model for 5 or 10 minutes, instead of changing model with every click. But then there are sometimes 20 people waiting and I’m not sure how they would react to that.

 

This is really unusual for many people out there. Whereas mirrors exist, one cannot see one profile. So a profile picture always comes as a surprise initially, sometimes confirmation from friends is needed, but in the end, I get asked to shoot more.

 

In 2 weeks hopefully she’ll receive a few prints, although they’ll be in colors. B/W wouldn’t be fashionable and appreciated in Masai culture I bet….

Tanzania under the rains, aerials

 

while flying for Flying Medical Service, I get to see incredible places. Places which have changed a great time lately. Green colors showed up in no time, typical tropical feat after some heavy showers. Waterholes, non perennial lakes, rivers have filled up quickly too.

One of our Cessna C206’s on clinics.

this airstrip is normally the driest of all we use. Grass got the upper hand once more, though it won’t last much past December…

Nairobi Arusha on the road, photography

 

from the coach window, just observing road side life.

sugar cane stall. No juice machine, the cane is just for chewing.

 

That’s a new type of contraption on these taxi motorbikes. Not the best way to ride with the pole straight in the face….

 

street sellers at an unofficial bus stands. 

these little stalls are to be seen everywhere alongside roads, selling a bit of everything but mostly food.

 

A venerable Peugeot 104, still in reasonable shape I’d say, though she is having a bad day apparently. Peugeot managed to lose its grip on the African market. Toyota took over….

 

Mishkaki, aka shish kebab in swahili, whatever the spelling is, that’s the nickname given to such a travelling party. Mind you, it could be 4 adults on the same little motorbike.

 

Paris, B/W street photography

 

with a Leica M6, great camera for street shooting. Zeiss and Voigtlander/Bessa for instance have done great similar great rangefinder cameras too. Nikon and Canon too but decades ago...

Burma, B/W pictures

 

smoking home made cigars is very common even amongst women.

 

shot on Leica M6, Tri X films (another probably dead film soon when Kodak goes on its belly...)

Pink Floyd, a gig in Werchter, Belgium, 1989

March 1989, my second Floyd concert. Man, I would have done the complete tour in Europe and over. Too bad I was stuck in the Air Force… even if you can fly high in both, I don’t think the Air Force would have agreed to give me free time.

a detail from the screen. I nearly missed that picture. I had dropped my camera, convinced the light was too low, not worth giving a try. A friend in our group, Jean-Louis whispered, insisted “Just take it, fucking hell!!!!” So I did…luckily.

Nick Mason drumming…

 

David Gilmour.

 

the famous pig from the Battersea power plant picture on “Animals”. That huge balloon was dangling overhead the audience.

 

 

Nick Wright, RIP, at the keyboards (middle).

 

Arusha, street life in pictures while driving

The pictures below are always that great but while ‘m stuck in traffic jam or driving slowly, Arusha street life keeps me busy. There is always one detail, one funny feature catching your eye, well for those who can enjoy that activity.

Colors don’t always match perfectly, but colorful it is out there. Many vehicles in Africa show a motto related to religions. Some can be scary like “God is my co-driver”! I’m always concerned the driver might be busy picking his nose a bit too long and rely too much on his so-called co-driver…

 

For once a smart motto.

 

Wooden hand-carts are numerous and have to be taken into account in the jams.

Colors! Sometimes you better wear strong sunglasses!

This guy overestimated his own weight but is getting helped. The neighbor is busy loading a huge crate of tomatoes, maybe a second one on top later, on his piki piki (small motorbike in swahili) and then will probably drive like crazy as usual.

 

And cyclists know a few things too about riding overloaded….only bread but still.

That’s it, some of the pictures I collected on one morning drive to the airport… better than a jammed European highway!

grounded in a Masai village, part VII and last

 

some goats are to spend the nights in a hut instead of an enclosure, here being released in the morning.

 

goat tending seems to take time, between milking, preventing the young ones from suckling too much, practicing some family planning, herding  and looking for the lost ones, and here giving antibiotics jabs. Children are put to work on cattle, goats, donkeys… at an early age.

 

I came back to the bird kid as the preparation was moving on. A wooden stick, some straw, some rags are tightened together and inserted in the empty bird body.

Then the legs and tail are cut off, wings are trimmed.

Final product. More will be needed to fill up the wooden crown to come.

 

and round 8am, we were rescued by the second airplane, flown by Pat Patten and Ezra Jay. They brought spare parts and tools, some food and water for us just in case, and some food our hostess, sugar, flour and tea. Best to bring food as a gift instead of flowers or junk gifts.

We swapped planes, Tara and I took off soon after the farewell and thanks. Back the airstrip we missed yesterday and pass on a message for an afternoon visit, to the hospital to get breakfast and new medicines and off again for the regular Saturday tour of clinics. We didn’t have to spend the new year’s eve in the bush after all. Flying Medical Service doesn’t change schedules for holidays anyway.

plane grounded in a Masai village, part VI

 

morning life started at 5h30 but I managed to stay mostly asleep till dawn just near the fence.

Not only people were keen to pose for us, they insisted for more pictures. Too bad the prints won’t last long in such an environment… photo albums are pretty much unknown…

Some of the village elders. As one can see fashion is creeping here too, in the far bush. Only half joking, whereas Masai women like to wear jewelry and various new clothes though staying traditional, Masai guys don’t really care anymore after the warrior period. They just grab whatever is available in shops they might spot in their long travels. Socks and shoes on a toga are not quite fashionable, right? Though never underestimate Gaultier and other ‘designers’. Who knows if this post were to be spotted by one of them, short of ideas, this trend might be on on show the next catwalk….

That cow was carved on our bedding cow skin. A colleague had once spotted our aircraft carved like this. A airplane in caveman style? I need to get that picture.

 

this poor bird had been captured, knocked down by a thrown stick. A male red-and-yellow barbet (un barbican à tête rouge). It will be shortly prepared to ornate a wooden crown worn by boys after circumcision.

these are 2 old pictures showing the birds in display, either many of them like above. The idea is to close the gap on the wooden structure.

Or baby steps as the kids have to start small sometimes. And there might be variations between Masai clans, like ostrich feathers that are not seen towards Serengeti or lake Natron, to my knowledge at least.

 

back to the poor barbet, He was still fighting and biting while I took a picture.

The preparation consists of emptying the bird body, stuff it with straw and cloth, clip the wings and legs.

grounded airplane, Masai village, part V

 

I took many pictures of course, and I’m only showing a selection these days. Fortunately for Tara and me, this is one of the villages where I’ve developed a decent relationship with the ‘models’, that is I always bring a print after the photo shoot. I could do in every village but I’ve preferred to focus in some village only. Otherwise I’d have 1000’s of pictures to bring every month.

 

when darkness came we were given this Masai sofa-bed. We had to keep seated on this for a few hours, only 2 at a time could stretch legs. I admit we were hoping a bonfire, chatting, some singing… as in a previous Masai night in another village. All was dark and quiet, kids were silent, mamas busy cooking in the huts, there was no lighting anywhere. Our cellphones had been useless but suddenly the little built-in lights came handy.

So we kept on chatting till 9pm when we finally got each a big plate of rice. We were a bit suspicious, Masai food is renowned for being …peculiar but it turned out to be excellent. A bit of sugar and extra milk would have made it perfect rice pudding. In any case this rice cooked in the middle of the bush, on a ground fire, was better than the one we get at the hospital!

the 3 guys would sleep on the sofa we had stayed on for dinner, plus a mosquito net! That was too cramped to my liking and I went to sleep on the ground, after sweeping old dried excrements away. I prefer less comfort but room is vital to me. We had been offered to sleep inside a windowless hut but we all declined for the even more cramped situation we’d face plus the lingering smoke as the cooking is made inside.

I slept quite OK even if the temperature was a bit chilly. My fleece made an excellent pillow and a K-way made a good blanket.

The animals, 100’s of goats, some donkeys and cows are kept in the same large enclosure so it was a noisy night. I wrote some notes under the starry sky and finally felt asleep, thinking that nevertheless the airplane situation was a setback, our situation was not bad at all.

the 2 girls had an even smaller sofa-bed! Too small to stretch legs, they had to be careful too when turning around to avoid kicking. Basically they tried to sleep in fetal position, in the same direction altogether. The mattress is typical: woven bits of wood and a cow skin. Not bad but still hard for many people.

our crippled plane facing sunrise.

 

a brief glowing moment on Shombole.

 

a most welcomed cup of tea. There again normal tea and milk. The milk was luckily fresh from the goats, hadn’t been preserved in Masai gourds. Gourd preparation is a complex process that includes ashes, herb cleaning and maceration and urine. Yes urine. So pfew, fresh milk.

grounded plane in a Masai village, part IV

 

so, stuck for one night in that remote village, still some hours to go before dark, better be creative like shooting pictures and sharing Masai activities. I had prepared the airplane for the next day, secured it on the jack, cleared grass and rocks to bring it back on the strip etc.

I’d be curious to know the origin of that scar. Lion, husband…

 

the birth had just happened, the baby had just been cleaned and licked but the placenta was still hanging half way.

Tara, the pilot, had made a face that didn’t go unnoticed by this naughty girl…

So she picked the placenta up with a stick…

and started to chase Tara. Some sense of humor is universal…

plane grounded, a night in a Masai village, part III

 

so nobody could come and rescue us with a spare wheel that day, airstrip too dangerous for regular commercial operator.

Personally, I was kind of keen to spend a night at Olorbelin, northern lake Natron, as was my copilot here surrounded by kids. The Masai were most welcoming. We had some hours to kill before nightfall so we kept busy. Shooting pictures was one activity.

towards the end of the day, the main job seems to be milking the animals. 100’ of goats!

from kids to grandmothers, everybody works …or should. No male teenager nor male adult to be seen around….

Flying the bush, off the airstrip, part II

 

Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed by this incident. I had to reassure my passengers and my copilot-student who was absolutely not responsible for this. I insist before some idiots start a wrong rumor here in Arusha. There are some brain-dead bonzos out there… like spreading the rumor of my death on an previous story, with absolutely no information whatsoever for doing so.

The brake lines were both leaking!! Very unusual on aircraft independent systems, different than on cars.

I made some radio calls as we had no phone network, the real bush out there around lake Natron. Finally I got in touch with the base and explained the scenario. Unfortunately, no commercial operator would risk an airplane there, and my boss was out on a far away emergency flight. Which meant a night, not at the opera, but in the Masai village nearby. Yeeesss! Personally I thought it was a great feat. Tara, the other pilot, was keen too to renew her Masai sleep-over experiences. Funny enough the local nurses and the doctor were not so enthusiastic, hee hee. And I mean the real Masai experience, not the shitty stuff alongside the touristy paths. The second airplane would come the next day early morning with water, spare wheel and brake tools.

To be continued…

(back in Arusha I took some more pictures of my art)

under the belly, some dents and nicks.

The rim that hit a 30 cm rock!

Right wing, the leading edge that hit a tree and clipped it.

the same tree also damaged the flap that was down for landing.

the elevator, probably damaged by a rock.

flying the bush, veering off an airstrip

 

so far I was proud that my logbook looked perfectly clean. No accident, not even incident. OK there have been some bruises here and there due to bad surfaced airstrips, Flying Medical Service has a knack for awful strips in the Tanzanian bush. But never did I veered off an airstrip.

We were coming for landing at Olorbelin, an short airstrip near volcano Shombole on the Kenyan border, northern lake Natron. The wind was strong from the side so I took over from our trainee pilot, landed a bit hard and I lost brakes right away! I quickly told my copilot to hit the brakes on her side but she had no brakes either and we veered of the airstrip in a flash.

Scary moment I’m telling you. The area is littered with rocks and little trees or logs. The plane started to bounce violently a coupla times, we hit a tree, dust was flying off, and still no braking no sign of stopping…all I was thinking was to keep the nose up to avoid damage on the propeller and in turn on the engine, and trying to keep direction but without much effect.

Finally we stopped, took a big piece of breath, checked on everybody on board, a bit shaken and half smiling in disbelief. We stepped down and started to look for damages. Some metal bruises here and there on top of the burst tyre. The Masai people who had enjoyed the show, waiting for us under the clinic trees, were running towards us.

 

That big rock (middle of the picture) initially stuck in the soil was thrown out on a few meters by the left wheel! A 30 cm round rock that burst the tyre which finally helped us to stop. The light colored patch on the right side is the airstrip.

A tree we clipped with the left wing. I admit I didn’t enjoy the sighting of that tree coming fast towards us… Wine bottle size trunk.

That’s a lying big piece of log that the plane jumped over! Notice the wheel tracks.

my phone to compare sizes.

Some of the many various rocks with met on our way out of the airstrip.

on small plane, it is totally doable to put it on jack and remove a wheel to fix a puncture.

I had had some faint hope for fixing the puncture when getting out of the plane…well the sight of this split tube ruined it all.

and anyway that kind of ripped off holes on the tyre wouldn’t do any good to the tube.

 

More tomorrow…

Pink Floyd in Belgium

 

Werchter 1989, Pink Floyd on show. The screen showing a videoclip, I forgot which track, “Time” I bet?

 

David Gilmour, right, and the fabulous choir, not sure if Clair Tori was in there, but they were just fabulous, especially on “the Great Gig in the Sky”.

 

Why a venerable and splendid Dakota, out of all the airplanes….? Great choice anyway.

The Pig, the famous pig. Not as big as the Battersea one but big enough when hovering over the audience. DCA spots from the eyes!

a bed and a dummy passed over us and crashed on stage with flames and loud noises.

 

wildlife, Tanzania

 

Scars, hippos are so stroppy and aggressive, always fighting and biting each others.

 

Old pictures, all shot on film cameras, usually Nikon F3 or FM2 or Leica M6.

Flying Medical Service, people and medical outreach

 

while busy flying with Flying Medical Service, I have got some opportunities to take some pictures. Here are some of my early shots from 1999-2002.