Ben Wilhelmi

wildlife in B/W, Tanzania

 

rainy skies, Tanzania

 

while on duty with Flying Medical Service in the rain season.

Needless to say, we don’t always escape the rains or the storms…

some Kodachrome pictures in the US parks

 

Kodak, killing the golden goose again, stopped that marvelous film some years ago, that is the Kodachrome 64 (after the 25 and the 200). It was still possible to develop it through 2010, so I used some of my last rolls on a road trip in May 2010, the rest in Tanzania. All with a Leica M6, a 28 and a 90mm lens.

Monument Valley, Arizona. Dust storm coming on the top picture.

 

 

Just leaving Zion, Utah.

 

 

Bryce Canyon, Utah. Karine and I were lucky: snow was still hanging around

 

 

Arches park, Utah

 

 

Near Telluride, Colorado.

scenes in bush villages, Tanzania

 

Masai warriors, posing and playing, Tanzania

 

the street of Arusha, photography

 

One street corner on Sokoine road, one of the main streets.

 

Angry punk at his portrait taken. Since I have no more respect for him and his colleagues as they have for me and the rest of the traffic, I really don’t feel a bit sorry for his feelings.

 

As opposed to what we are used in Europe, these guys here are legal, they’re not ready to pack their goodies in that large piece of cloth of run for the police in a second….

Flying Medical Service, operating in the rains

 

Rains in Tanzania are quite interesting. Personally I enjoy flying in these seasons. Since we don’t have the same constraints as commercial operators, flying with Flying Medical service gives me various and challenging opportunities…

Rain showers and storms can show up with hardly no notice, be quite violent for a brief period before the sun shines again, airstrips get flooded and out of use within one hour, clear skies get obscured and dangerous in no time, dramatic lights and changes in vegetation are to be enjoyed…

 

This pond in the northern Serengeti area is usually dry. But filled up as it is here is being enjoyed by everybody, cows and herders of course, women and girls can use the water for cooking and washing everything without walking the usual long miles to the next water point, baths are not a luxury anymore…

 

Not sure these ladies and kids will make it home before the clouds crack open.

 

Flooded areas.

 

Obscured by clouds…

Rare full river…

 

Interesting intersection between 2 rivers bringing their own colored muds.

 

This is Monik not a chick but an airstrip partially flooded in lake Natron area. Yes you’re looking at the airstrip…. Luckily a large strip so the side could be just used. Just…

sepia portraits, Tanzanian women

 

I personally find this Sonjo woman particularly pretty! Beautiful eyebrows for instance.

 

recently excised Masai girl. She will be ready for marriage soon. The baby is not hers but she insisted to pose with him.

 

Tanzania, wildlife photography in B/W

 

Dented lioness…eye and ear.

 

Masai warriors playing and posing

 

Flying Medical Service again… this place Ololosokwan on the northern edge of the Serengeti had seen  a new batch of warriors, freshly anointed. Proud is a euphemism to describe these guys. After all, this is the best part of their life starting: fighting, chasing girls, roaming the bush, collecting cows (that includes theft, hence the fighting), playing with lions, and spending time time looking trendy and handsome. And to deserve this, they had to go through circumcision, without flinching without showing any emotion!

So whereas these warriors are not so happy to pose for tourists, they got to know me and trust me to bring many prints.  So just like girls who’d have a chance to loot a Prada shop for a photoshoot they posed for me on various occasions, exchanged clothes and jewels, and varied their composure, a  lot! Here is a selection where I hardly had a word to say.

Funny how some jokes are universal huh?

B/W landscapes on medium format films, USA

 

Monument Valley.

 

On the great scenic route 12 near Bryce Canyon, Utah.

 

the Little Colorado River near Grand Canyon.

 

OK here there is a trick, this is an infrared picture in Zion nat’l park, Utah.

 

 

My beautiful Rolleiflex 3.5F, a medium format twin lens reflex that uses 6x6 cm negatives. This vintage great beast is from 1961, But older models from the 30’s , barely different, are still out there doing great pictures. Not the easiest camera to use but it gives great pleasure.

Paris, Street b/w photography with a Rolleiflex

a 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F medium format to be precise.

The advantage of a ‘weird’ Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex is that it looks so special that people don’t see it as a threat. Maybe these 2 pretty girls wouldn’t have posed and smiled at me had I been pointing with a bulky modern digital reflex and big lens… then they may have seen the link between my vintage camera and their vintage Vespa?

 

this other pretty unaware model didn’t even notice me. Special feat of the Rolleiflex: the usual position to shoot is to hold the camera on your belly. People sometimes don’t even notice you're snapping away. 

 

on the Trocadéro scene.

sepia portraits in the Tanzanian bush

 

when I don’t have to help the medical staff nor fix something on the aircraft or the airstrip, I do some pictures. Lately I’ve introduced that studio look to the portraits. I was a bit anxious people might not be used to this white background but when I brought the prints (still in colors though) 2 weeks later they seemed utterly happy, so did I. They kept on asking for more anyway…Maybe I’ll bring some B/W or sepia prints next time and see. I’d love to bring an enlargement but that would create jealousy…

 

This Masai warrior was a bit of an exception: he insisted to keep his umbrella for the shoot…

 

street photography in Arusha, Tanzania

 

those carts will carry just about everything, even car wrecks.

 

common scene to see armed guards walking around. A rifle is definitely not the best weapon to guard a property but it is the mot common weapon issued with the shotgun.

 

a local jacked-up customised hot rod… It mad me laugh whn I thought of the tune-in fashion in Europe. These guys should meet up and compare their tasteful ideas….

 

Arusha City Bus Serv’? Baby step I suppose because this is the only one I’ve seen so far.

 

cell phones (2 in this picture) are all the rage in Africa, especially in Tanzania which is leading the pack I read in the news. Logical, the landlines were sooooo crap and useless…

Zanzibar, street life in Stonetown

 

street photography, Cologne in the eighties

 

the colors by then...adults would wear that too!

Monument Valley, Arizona

 

I’ve visited this incredible location twice and I wouldn’t mind to go gain. There were no many visitors which is perfect so one can nearly feel the place is deserted. The absence of tarmacked road also helps a lot. It’s not difficult to imagine this desert was the shooting location of many wild west movies.

Claudia Cardinale was briefly here for “Once upon in the West”. That strikes a cord more than for John Wayne…

 

I can’t help being in awe and surprised when I come across a tree in this harsh environment. Monument Valley post cards don’t help either: seen from far away, it seems the desert aspect is always put forward. So scrubs and small leafed-trees are common in here.

the place is a reserve run by Navajos, so the style is different, more basic than in government-run parks elsewhere. Which is not always a bad thing: except a stall or 2 for souvenirs and a dirt track, the landscapes and vista are left untouched.

horse riding trips are available. That would be awesome, right? My bloody horse and donkey allergies…

at the end of our visit, a dust storm approached, pretty impressive soon.

in the bush, Tanzania, B/W portraits

 

 

street photography, Arusha, Tanzania

 

once in a while, I just grab a camera and keep my eye peeled in the streets of Arusha.

Rastafarians are not that rare in Africa. More than punks in the West I’d say.

 

the monument for the Tanzanian soldier. Behind is a brand new Chinese made hotel. I’ve been shocked to hear that Chinese are already severely hated by Africans, I mean workers, not the politicians and businessmen of course. Poor quality of whatever is made in China and sold here, hard conditions of work, no benefit whatsoever, poor salaries…. I came by bus from Nairobi the other day, I had 6 hours to chat with the driver who seemed to loathe utterly Chinese people, "the new colonialists in Africa, worse than white people" he said smiling. He showed me the numerous patches that were already broken down on the brand new Chinese road. What a shame and scam indeed. He seemed also impressed (and admirative) than some exceeded Zambian workers had killed some Chinese foremen already...

 

loading a motorbike taxi. No fear….

quite often walking on the road is safer than on the derelict pavements…

 

the famous clocktower, still empty at that early hour in the morning (but don’t look at the clocks, they’ve been out of service for years). This tower shows various mileage to other places and is also located halfway between Cairo and Cape Town, that is 5500km each side.

I should have asked how this vendor ever got a hold on a sunglass stand.

 

sweets for sale.

street photography in Stonetown, Zanzibar

 

Historically these Masai dudes ain’t got nothing to do on the island. They’re either visiting or trading, rather the latter with bead work for tourists.

 

I’m not too sure of what to think of this guy’s dress…but homosexuality is still a huge no-no in Africa. Still criminalized in many countries… They pretend, the idiots, that white settlers brought that so un-African behaviour on the continent…

 

typical scaffolding in Africa. I’d be rather wary to climb on these…

 

Modern clothes for this but they’re probably still coping with  the religious society so the veil…

 

USA, funny car plates

 

well funny that is for non Americans of course. Anywhere else in my knowledge car plates tend to be dull and barely allow some playing with letters and digits but still within an imposed set of rules. Anyway here are some US plates.

 

The state nickname is most common, usually with a landscape background, though style can vary! I bet that this clown would love am elephant skull on his bonnet, if he were living in Africa...

 

Guess what, this Cadillac 56 owner was an Elvis impersonator.

 

Karine and I had rented this Ford in Las Vegas, a long way from home, Washington…

 

Yep, the Wright brothers are from Ohio. I’ve got no idea what else Ohio has to offer, maybe I should check on Wiki.

 

Armed forces mottos are quite common too.

 

colorful portraits in the bush, Tanzania

a selection of Masai and Sonjo portraits in Tanzania.

 

Tour of duty with Flying Medical Service, people in the bush

 

I just came back yesterday from a tour of mobile clinics with Flying Medical Service. I flew to Loliondo area, that is northern Serengeti, then lake Natron and the Gol mountains. In Tanzania that is. Weather was mostly bad, we’re in the middle of the rain season, and thus I couldn’t land on 3 airstrips. One was quite flooded, another one was damaged by trenches made by flowing waters, and the 3rd one located on top of a cliff was shrouded in clouds. So badly that even flying alongside the cliff I couldn’t find a hole in the clouds  to crawl up. The cloud ceiling was at 4000 feet against the cliff…and the strip is still 2000 feet higher in the mountain.

In the Sonjo Valley, there is a village I particularly like for various reasons, one being that 3 tribes live together there, more or less peacefully. Women seem to go by much better than men, the latter still tend to fight each other, with Kalashnikovs even sometimes. Every year we get emergencies with bullet wounds…

A Sonjo woman with a typical Tanzanian-flag necklace.

 

 

 

a Mangati woman, with a typical spiraled necklace.

 

an elder Mangati lady, with scarification marks around the eyes. Younger people seem to drop that traditional feat.

 

 

and some Masai women fully equipped.

Anyway, these women like their pictures to be taken and they trust me that I’ll bring prints later. This time one model was a bit shocked that I also wanted a picture of her alone, without her baby. Shocking indeed! Many women would rather have their babies pictured rather than themselves. It must be said that in remote areas women have only one right: produce and raise children (preferably males). So being childless is a social stigma, disaster. And so denying that role by requesting a picture without the baby must be seen as slightly insulting?

I also got some nice shooting with the Sonjo kids playing with an old bicycle rim. Sonjo kids still dress very often in these bright colorful pieces of cloth, the same 4 colors for the 13 years I have been flying out there. No red, no purple, no black, no white… nope just these yellow, light blue and orange colors. And green but not on this picture.

New York City, street photography

 

 

aerial photography, colorful lake Natron

 

 

Paris, B/W photography

 

I’m not a translator, but basically here we go

“Passer-by, stop here, the building was dedicated to the muses and to the joy by R.S., he welcomed therein the famous Cabaret du Chat Noir”. The Muses and Joy… what a program

 

ferry flight Dubai-Zurich, aerials, part XVIII

flying overhead Italy, from Athens to Zurich area. The radio had got alive since we entered the Italian airspace. I think watching and listening to an Italian girl talking is always a sweet spectacle. Well even on the radio, it was fun to listen, the singing accent for one, the rapid fire, ‘ciao ciao’ or ‘buongiorno’ at nearly every sentence, Italian sentences instead of English, even the foreign pilots were drawn in the good mood and said ‘ciao ciao’ quite often.

One of the many villages perched on a hilltop. The houses were packed and not aligned.

some names I spotted on the map below us: Pescara, Rimini, Ancona, Trezzo, Bologna, Parma…

Cologne, street B/W pictures, eighties

 

I was just 18 or 19, roaming Cologne streets and practicing street photography…

Volcano Lengai, aerial pictures, Tanzania

 

the triangle, that’s her at the northern Ngorongoro Highlands seen here on the right.

 

slowly but surely, after more than 3 years, vegetation is reclaiming bits of land on her slopes. Ash layers must have been so thick after the eruptions in 2007/08…

 

B/W portraits, Tanzanian bush

 

Colors! Lake Natron, aerial photography

 

Masai portraits, photography on film

 

during my early years in Tanzania, from 1999 till 2002, I was flying for an NGO, Flying Medical Service, and during my numerous mobile clinics, I had some spare time for my hobby, that is photography. Initially equipped with a Minolta X700, I switched to Nikon F3 and FM2.

B/W street photography, Cologne in the 80's

 

During holidays and some weekend, I’d pay a visit to Mom who lived very close to Cologne, Germany, like 20 min by train. Funny enough I was not that inspired to go to Brussels and shoot street pictures there. Of course I lived far from Brussels, and it was quite a mission to reach the capital…

these guys were numerous on the cathedral square…

once in a while, a priest would come out and ask for calm…

 

Paris on B/W films, street photography

 

 

one of the excellent  Yellow Korner galleries. A young connoisseur admiring nudes.

 

did you know LP’s are back, brand new? There was a t-shirt with various dates of birth and death for music tapes, Walkman, LP’s…but for the latter there was a rebirth date!

 

 

volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, aerials, Tanzania

an active volcano in northern Tanzania, a unique one in the world. Deified by the local Masai tribes. These shots below were taken over the last months.

the new crater rim since the last major eruptions in 2007 and 2008.

 

the volcano slope, more than 3 years later, the grass is still battling to regain ground through the thick ash layers.

 

further away, the grass shows sometimes a green hue. By then, ashes were to be laid more than 100 km away.

seen from overhead lake natron.

 

the Flying Medical Service Cessna 206 that helps me to bring those pictures. The volcano on the horizon always adds a nice touch to the landscapes.

 

Route 66, USA, car wrecks

 

I don’t do advertising on my blog, well if Leica or Nikon wanted to contact me I’d listen…, but I make an exception for this company, SmartSign, and their line on Route 66: www.RoadTrafficSigns.com. I had a pleasant chat with the marketing director, Daniel. So for the Route 66 fans, you might want to have a look at their cool products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ferry flight, Dubai-Zurich, aerial photos, part XVI

 

on th 3rd day, we left the Greek airspace for the Italian one.

this is the Peloponnese area, islands, mountains, these pictures here are shots alongside the Corinth and Patras gulfs.

The whole Ionian sea was hidden under a thick cloud layer. This is the last view from Greece. The Ionian islands and Corfu would stay out of sight, damn’.

Otrante Strait (Canal d’Otrante) between the Adriatic and the Ionian sea

 

and here is Brindisi.

from here, we could finally fly straight towards Switzerland.

rainy season in Tanzania, aerial photography

 

there are some tractors around but cows and plows are still common.

the Arusha Loliondo road track. Many of our airstrips are not even close to this in term of width and quality.

 

Malambo village and airstrip, Gol mountains.

 

Tanzania, dry season, aerials

 

Giraffes on a dry pond.

a precious water point.

 

 

near a spring tha rarely dries up.

 

 

lake Natron, colorful aerial photography

 thta marvelous lake in the Rift Valley, northern Tanzania. I just can't get enough of it.