Ben Wilhelmi

Africa on wheels

me biking near Cape Town.

 

that was after a long long climb somewhere in South Africa. Finally a descent was announced.

 

typical bicycles modified for transport.

sugar cane for sale.

 

motorbike race on the slope of mount Meru.

Tanzania, Maasai tribe, vintage photography, Zorki camera

 

though while on Flying Medical Service duties I always carry a digital Nikon, D200 or lately D300s, I never fail to take a film camera with me. Below was a Zorki II with a 50mm and some Fujichrome slide films. We had landed in Engoveroni in the Rift Valley near the volcano Lengai. Late afternoon for a beautiful light. as always if the nurses don’t need me for jabs, I wander around, in the hills or the village.

this is volcanic turf, here is the Lengai far away, quiet nowadays. The village itself is built on the slope of a crater, Empakai in the Ngorongoro Highlands.

 

here is the Zorki II with its collapsible lens. This very model was made in USSR in the 50’s but the Soviets had been copying the Leica II since the 30’s. In 1945, they even looted many other German factories and went home with blueprints and crates of prime gear. Quality was to improve seriously for these copies for instance. I say ‘looted’, they say war reparation…anyway nowadays for 50 euros you get those lovely cameras and one can step, well try to, in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s shoes. I don’t mind this cheap camera to suffer under the African bush conditions whereas I’d be reluctant to bring a real vintage 1930 Leica.

 

 

 

looking and comparing those slides and those made on newer cameras, the difference is noticeable. Contrast and sharpness are not so remarkable. Newer lenses are multicoated and this explains that. On top this old lens might have slightly fogged over the years…but interesting exercise anyway. Nothing is automatic, focus is made through one tiny window, framing through another tiny visor, the aperture ring is poorly located, the shutter button is stiff and and noisy…as said before my respect has increased deeply for the old masters.

notice the little flaw, a clear streak on the right side. It looks like once in a while the shutter gets briefly asthmatic.

 

this is a harder picture to shoot. The girl is moving towards me so I have to refocus while keeping her in the frame but 2 tiny windows to switch my eyes between, remember? Nevertheless I love the challenge, no doubt.

Tanzania, wildlife scenes

some years back during my Nomad days, lots of safaris, some great flying….here in Katavi nat’l park, shot on film, Nikon F3 and my good old 300mm lens.

 

a lion taking a stroll towards a buffalo herd. Obviously the buffs are wary and cautious.

 

no luck for that roan antelope. Une hippotrague rouanne en français, une antilope quoi…funny how names are absolutely not just translated between languages. In German, this antelope named back to English is a horse antelope I think: Pferdeantilope…I have got zillion examples like that, especially amongst birds. Bloody scientists.

I wonder if once in a while a piece of sinew doesn’t snap in the lion’s face like rubber band…

 

a dreaded armed warden leads the pack. Better have those guys ahead than in your back. Breathing and buttock relaxation get better, trust me. But for walking safaris, they’re imposed on the clients… Luckily we had real armed pros like Squack Evans or Huw Jones, pictured here, second left. The guy on the right was a trainee guide.

 

blow some more recent stuff while on private safaris, digital Nikons.

vervet monkeys.

 

a rare aerobatic cormorant! Birds are normally not performing aerobatics…

 

a grey heron. Ou encore un héron cendré.

 

a klipspringer, a funny rock antelope with kind of goat hooves. Une oréotrague.

 

Lake Natron, Tanzania, aerial photography

 

that salt lake…endless source of inspiration and novelty.

Paris, lovers

Paris, spring time, summer weather, lawns are packed, lovers are lashed out.

B/W films and the absolute weapon for street photography, the Leica M.

Place des Vosges, a stunning beautiful place. 2 dudes together and as said before, they'd never dare to show affection like that in Africa. Death penalty could be an outcome...

Isn't that surprising? A tombstone representing a bed and the married couple? I'll post more later about Montparnasse cemetery or about that incredible other cemetery, the Père Lachaise. Jim Morrison is buried out there as are various famous people, historic or modern. Interesting funeral architecture and I suppose psychologists would have a say on human vanity...

place Vendôme.

a lovely hilly park in the north east: les Buttes Chaumont. Worth visiting.

Canal Saint Martin. I was admiring such refinement in lunch packs, many more examples than in this pictures. Pâté, cheese, baguette, wine...yes French clichés about food are still valid.

a common scenery in Paris this spring: Japanese newly weds in photo shoots in various locations. And the groom himself shooting! I bet he does it too while busy during their the wedding night...

and last but not least, us. Shooting together at the mirror.

Flying Medical Service clinics in Tanzania, film photography

 

1999, that Maasai kid was interested by just everything we did or said. He loved the National Geographic magazines above all. Lucky him he was chosen to got to school. I wonder what happened to him…

 

unusual picture as people here tend to keep their distance, the rule is certainly not a man showing affectionate signs to a woman, whether his wife or not.

 

recently excised girl, status shown by white beads and black cloth.

 

Sonjo boy, future pilot.

 

anthrax scars.

 

this man was in for surgery.

 

vaccination on the run.

 

Tanzania, wildlife

some years ago, while still shooting on films.

 

an uncommon feature if not unique: in Katavi nat'l park, crocodiles are notorious for digging caves in the Katasunga river banks and cave in.

what is he thinking....? Really I'd like to know what those smart dudes think of us. Mahale nat'l park.

flamingoes on take off, Arusha nat'l park.

sniffing something, Katavi.

obnoxious hippos as always.

graceful egret.

walking safari in Katavi. An armed guide is required, here Huw Jones. There are 2 types of people in this world: those who are lucky to have met him and the poor others...

stormy weather, Katavi.

gazelle bouncing in Katavi.

lake Eyasi, infrared photography

lake Eyasi, a coupla hours west of Arusha, worth going for a weekend. Kisima Ngeda is the only place to stay if you need a piece of good advice.

Infrared film used was the defunct Kodak Aerochrome. Another R.I.P. film... Kodak has been quite good at spitting in its soup...

the pictures below were shot from camp. Excellent scenery from the luxury tents, not mention the vista point just behind.

chimpanzees, Tanzania

 

the best place to spot chimpanzees and enjoy a great experience on a beautiful location is Mahale Nat'l park on lake Tanganyika, western Tanzania. And no, I'm not on anybody payroll. I used to fly clients out there and stay weeks in that tropical and hilly forest overviewing the lake and sometimes the Congo on the opposite side.

young thinking chimpanzee.

female in heat. Swelling never lies.

the kids sure know how to play a lot, just like human kids with parents nonchalently checking once in a while.

 

autumn colors isn't it?

 

an alpha male on the run, look at those powerful muscles...

rules have not changed, 10 m is the minimum distance, surgical masks have to be worn and time on the spot has been reduced. But chimpanzees didn't sign for those rules so they might come very close to you and since another important rule is to stay calm to avoid upsetting the animals and risking a bad situation, better stay still and watch the next move.

Paris, street photography in spring

 

 

I thought this man was Julian Assange for a while. Porn stuff are still displayed high up on shelves.

 

horse buying.

 

girls on a shopping spree. Very common scenery! I’m lucky I was only carrying bags on these occasions. Of course Karine has got a good reason: she has to get supplies for one year at a time. French designers for instance haven’t set foot yet in Arusha.

 

that is a  change from the anorexic sick-looking models shackling their bones on catwalks.

 

funnier in winter when smokers get out in the cold for their smoke fix and flap their arms to keep warm.

 

I remember this guy from previous years, always working on his tan while attending his book stand. These bookshops on the Seine are interesting and above all peaceful! No punk to harass and pester you. They assume you’re a grown up with working eyes and tongue, so you have noticed that books are sold and not shoes, that you can ask what you’re looking for and so they leave you in peace. Priceless…

 

as opposed to this pain in the neck and the cohort of “colleagues” prowling around most famous places.

 

Paris, this spring

Paris this spring, perfect weather most of the time (well, the farmers started to complain for the drought to come...) but for street photography and visiting, the conditions were great.

Pictures with Leica M6 and Ilford Delta 100 pro film. Scanned with the old faithful Nikon Coolscan V.

 

Young woman on the Vogueo boat, that is the Seine metro.

 

 
Paris without its legendary terrasses (and equally legendary grumpy waiters) wouldn't be Paris anymore. Read on BBC: Japanese tourists are usually disappointed by Paris. They were hoping for romantism, some cool cliches as seen in "Amelie" (le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain)....and they get the real stuff. Ouch. A few even get sent home with help from the dedicated service at the japanese embassy in Paris...

 

not in Arusha...

 

place de la Bastille.

 

the famous "Metropolitain" aka Metro.

rue de Rivoli, near the Tuileries.

 
 
the usual smokers preparing their early demise.    

lake Natron, aerials, infrared film with Rolleiflex

fabulous lake Natron, a Rolleiflex with Aerochrome film, a Cessna 206, window open and pronto. Initially, another film that was developped for spying and military activities then various types of surveys, mostly aerial, found ways to use it.

view from the south, overhead active volcano Oldoinyo Lengai.

 

Shombole, an old volcano marking the Kenyan border to the north.

 

 

a glimpse in the haze of Oldoinyo Lengai, unmistakable triangular shape.

 

western shore of the lake while connecting between 2 airstrips Flying Medical Service operates around the lake.

 

 

a volcano in Tanzania, Oldoinyo Lengai, infrared and aerial shots

a lot of scientists have been attracted by this volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai. Unique specimen in the world.

 

the Ngorongoro Highlands in the distance.

 

ashes and lava mixing up. Last eruption was in April 2008 and the black ash is still present, hampering vegetation to grow back. Some pictures, 100 years old or so, show a thick forest all the way up to the top! I wish I could see that in my lifetime.

 

a view of the western rim of the Rift valley, which is also the western shore of lake Natron. This dark of the top, a secondary plateau is not active.

 

details of the eastern slope and around. The few red dots are in fact green vegetation as seen in infrared. The volcano used to show a lot of green grass in the pre 2008 wet seasons.

 

one spot on the top shows grass and small bushes growing. That is the red spot right of the crater. After some past heavy rains, a puddle stayed there for a while, not absorbed by the thick layer of ashes. The winds must have embarked some seeds on a long journey... I doubt local Maasai warriors would have had the sense of humors to plant seeds up there...

lake Natron, aerial shots

Paris, vintage cars

black'n' white films in a Leica M6, Paris, April 2011.

 

an old Jaguar, a close up of beautiful details...

and a Porsche Spyder 550. This is the model that James Dean was driving when he died. Those 2 cars, amongst a fleet of other beauties were exposed in Paris, all belonging to Ralph Lauren for a great exhibition. Pictures were of course forbidden ( a book was on sale...). Just tell me pictures are forbidden and I have to shoot a few, just to shove up a moral finger. I have to say the guards were really good, I only managed less than 10 shots.

 

we were having lunch at Fauchon's (good stuff really, I'd have never been there on my own but with Karine's influence...) when a fleet of old cars showed up. All in pristine conditions.

 
  

   

a Peugeot 403. When I arrived in Tanzania in 1999, there were still a few roaming the streets, the awful streets of Arusha. They don't build cars like that anymore! Now they seem to have disappeared for good. The 504 is now the vintage survivor in Africa.

 

a Mercedes S class, rue de Rivoli near the Louvre.
 

lake Natron, aerial infrared photography

lake Natron, the LSD lake was worth a try in infrared photography. So while on an empty flight in northern Tanzania I used the twin lens reflex medium format Rolleifex and Aerochrome infrared film. Though I love this camera, this is not the handiest toy to use while flying at the same time, it is bulky and not perfect for one-handed use. But I liked the little challenge, no passengers were on board to be precise. The colors are not as spectacular and different as I expected. Only the green vegetation turned out red. The rest of the landscape and tones didn't seem to change that much.

 

this mountain, an extinct volcano named Shombole, marks the Kenyan border to the north.

 

 

western shore of the lake or part of the Rift valley. The brighter fuschia spot on the left is the forest near Pininyi village, one of the few lucky places with fresh water on this lake.

 
this kind of colors can be observed with eyes only. Interesting how some colors remained unchanged. I was really looking forward towards a total change of tones, something crazier than usual.

 
 

each red dot on the shore should be green, trees and and scrubs. 
 

Tanzania, lake Eyasi in infrared film

ealier this year Karine and I went to vist the Hadza people near lake Eyasi. This salt lake is located just south of Ngorongo Crater. The trip was made with the Land Rover so we could pack our heavy camera gear.

For these shots below around our tent, I used my Rolleiflex 3,5F from 1961 loaded with Kodak Aerochrome infrared film. That's how our eyes would view the world if they could see past the 750 nanometer wavelength.

 

just outside our tent in Kisima Ngeda Lodge ( a must go by the way). One shot with more sky and the other one framing more water and reflection. That's a room view with a view or what?
 

the white streak is the lake, plain white those days but that salt can get quite colorful too at various times of the year. 

 

stretching arms, yawning and looking up....

Maasai portraits on B/W films

Shot on B/W films with a 1961 Rolleiflex as shown at bottom. I don’t have to use such antique cameras, or even older ones. But it’s like driving a vintage car, fly an old plane, stay fan of old music or clothes. You sometimes get more pleasure using old skills, feeling the joy to use your brain more or at least in a different way. That is not to say I reject modern stuff but a mix of both is great. Karine is keen on vintage stuff too and we’d even like to find an adequate  workshop while we’re away in Paris in April. Last year we just missed one about developing pictures with wet collodion, that is on glass, spreading your own chemical on the glass plates, shoot with a wooden camera with a black cloth and so on. 19th century style.

Anyway, here in Tanzania, I feel like toying with old cameras alongside digital ones.

Paris, B/W film, street photography

 Paris in April, a Leica M6 loaded in B/W films around my neck.

BHV, that is a famous department store, stands for Bazaar de l'Hotel de Ville. Those numerous stores, like Printemps or galeries Lafayette, usually offer artful facades. 

 

France and food...for sure this is not England, heehee.

jardins des Tuileries, the Louvre in the background.

 

 

The Seine near the Eiffel Tower.

 

illegal street seller. For 1 euro you get a small Tower. As opposed to 8 euros in official shops. These illegal sellers are also a nuisance for visitors, pestering everyone to buy their junk. They reminded me of the Zanzibari punks...Tough they piss me off, I have to admit it is not an easy job: always wary for cops on the prowl and thus ready to flee.

 

other sellers but not annoying anybody and since the sidewalks are wide here...

 

the tube on the Seine! Unfortunately, that original service only runs on a small portion of the Seine, they have been rented by the Metropolitan RATP to operate at the same cost with the same tickets. Really lovely, named Vogueo. In French, "voguer" means something like wander on the waters. Convenient, one station is located 200 meters from Karine's appartment.

sepia editing.

Paris in April, black'n'white film

 

these days, between Flying Medical Service tours of clinics, I'm busy developping and scanning a bunch of B/W films, which is quite time consuming.

This year, I spent nearly a month with Karine in Paris. What a city, one never gets bored of wandering the streets and visiting the numerous museums, monuments and exhibitions...and in our case indulging ourselves in street photography. Street photography is quite the rage in the world of photography nowadays. But it has always been a main exercise for decades, and in '87 this was how I started to learn some skills in photography. And I still enjoy wandering streets keeping an eye open. Karine too, luckily! So we share our passion tgether. This year while in Europe we were tuned in film cameras, old cameras mostly of course. Funny how these cameras attract people's eyes, a bit like driving a vintage car.

here are some random pictures shot over the month of April. Weather was extremely hot and sunny, similar to July averages. 
 

the beautiful City Hall or Hotel de Ville (with a circumflex accent on the o, damn' keyboard)

 
 

the grass squares were quite popular, and not only by lovers...

 

these 2 girls were quite narcissic and this one now taking pictures had quite some admirers behind her, watch the shadows on the foreground by the way: guys peeping.

 

in the Marais neighborhood, one street has its own specialty. Here is Tom of Finland, quite an icon among gay people. It makes me smile, such an open attitude in Europe as opposed to Africa. Africa where we often hear or read awful facts, where homosexuals are still openly persecuted in the news, victims of heinous attacks and murders, where homosexuality is even a crime in many countries!

near the Eiffel tower, one of the numerous crooks who try to fool tourists with that famous game. It doesn't require much investment of course and when the cops show up, the con artist just puts his hands in his pockets and denies the facts or just run away, and anyway doesn't care if the very cheap tools are confiscated...

 

galerie Colbert, a touch of sepia editing.

green bike.
 
 

Eglise (church) Saint-Eustache.

same with modern art in front.

Las Vegas, Nevada, street photography

above and below, same location…different people!

Arusha, street photography while sitting in a car

when Karine drives, I take the chance to shoot the street life, it helps to cope with traffic jam waste of time. When I drive, Karine does the same. Of course the pictures are not always perfect but the subject saves the day sometimes. Colors help too.

just trying to imagine this old timer going to that advertised disco!

 

well dressed people going on a wedding party, part of the usual honking columns of cars. To be seen every Saturday. That will be a blog subject soon.

 

a common scenery: street hawkers selling various items, usually crap Chinese imports, or religious images, equally crap quality. I’m always fascinated that Africans love those pious pictures, usually kitsch and inspired by our Middle Ages paintings where Jesus and others looked like albino Suedes…Same style on those pictures here. Ethiopians on the other hand don’t buy that crap and represent him and Mary etc with tanned complexion, curly black hair….really interesting and more logical if you ask me.

 

traditional outfit but with worn with a lot of care. Maybe this woman is trapped in a conservative family but enjoys nice clothes and wishes she could dress more smartly….

 

sometimes walls are painted with civic advices, like about Aids, domestic violence, schooling kids…naïve paintings but clear enough. Another subject soon.

 

that’s us in the green jeep.

Tanzania, portraits in the bush

a Tanzanian healer, suite

to follow yesterday post...

A doctor I know has dared to affirm the seriousness of the healed cases, on national TV. When confronted to show proofs aka the so called cured patients, he admitted it was only hearsay. Funny enough he was not fired nor stripped of his license! That rejoins the funny feeling that politics has meddled in the case: ministers and even the president have visited, there are no negative opinions in the papers, even the local U.N. staff is not strongly advised to be careful…too much money and bribing is involved I heard, this last opinion for what it’s worth of course. Nevertheless there is official warning against that dangerous man. With a bit of cynicism this man could be hailed as a hero for environment, a one-of-its-kind eco terrorist fighting the galloping demography…

People die in the meantime and people don’t want to admit that, keep on flocking to the place. Optimism and desperation.

Some days ago I flew two aircraft crash survivors back to Arusha. They were busy overflying Samunge and went down. It seems Babu’s miracles don’t extend to the patients while traveling…

Now I can understand why desperate people cling on such beliefs. Look at me I’m tempted to visit a witch doctor, plentiful in Tanzania, and get all computer designers and makers (mostly HP for example) badly cursed, just to teach them a few good lessons. High time they stop selling junk on the market before they are fully safe and operational and tried by computer challenged people. I dream of a curse when they’d get 1000 volts in the bum whenever one of their creations breaks down or get a bug. 10,000 volts if it can’t be fixed after a few years on the market for lack of parts. 100.000 volts whenever data can’t be retrieved. How about that? Yes I know they wouldn’t stop jerking anymore…

a dangerous healer in Tanzania

I've mentionned this guy a few months ago. The show doesn't subside, far from it.

For the last 3 days I was flying in Loliondo area and saw or heard new facts about the famous killer, sorry healer, in Samunge, Sonjo valley, northern Tanzania. He pretends to cure most diseases, including aids, nothing less.

I suddenly could see, coming from Kenya, dozens of cars through Olaika or Pininyi, 2 really remote locations where cars were usually extremely rare, and then only jeeps. Now, saloon cars, dala dalas and buses crawl on those tracks. People come from abroad to visit this healer, and of course no border control exists in those porous areas.

What has this healer done to be so famous? I mean over the centuries there have been healers and gullible victims all across the world but why is this man so sought after…? Better marketing and psychological skills I guess. As a consequence for drinking that beverage and stopping classic treatments patients die a lot as it can be expected but the counter rumor hasn’t kicked in yet.

The medical people I work with usually confirm their patients, usually stable or under control, start to die quickly after visiting Babu, as he is nicknamed, that is grandfather...

One doctor told me he was participating in a workshop in Arusha and all his colleagues confirmed one thing: there is in average a 50% drop in patients attending their practice.

According to the local newspaper, to read with a pinch of salt, more than 3 million people have visited the charlatan. True or not it still gives an idea on the crowds rushing there.

One patient walked 12 km from the “parking lot” to the healer, one aerial picture shows traffic jams as far as you could see, another man counted 300 vehicles (that is packed up with people, African style) that left Loliondo in one day (a remote village but near an airfield), transport businesses have flourished in Arusha, chartered planes go there about every day, even helicopters at 2300$ a round trip(there is a serious middle class in Tanzania!)…

It was the bush, there were no facilities, just a few huts. Now entrepreneurs have decided to cut a share of this flow of money. Can’t blame them right? Roads to improve, cell phone coverage, food, latrines, districts are more careful than ever to collect transit fees…

to be continued.

Arusha, Tanzania, street life

Nowadays, it is quite easy to survive in Arusha without shopping like crazy on my annual leaves in Europe, or desperately trying to find people to bring stuff. Nowadays, I don’t have to pack Nutella, any book, clothes…in my bags for one year reserve as 12 years ago. I can now focus on the special goodies to fill up my bags.

But I’ll be quick to precise that I couldn’t complain even by then since 12 years ago things were already improving for the basic commodities, but 20 years or so before, listening to the old timer expats it was Soviet style: soap, toilet paper, toothpaste etc were not always to be found on a monthly basis! There are still some similarities these days for lack of planning but many brands are available so it is usually just a nuisance, no more. People were then stocking up whenever supplies arrived and were subsequently careful not to waste them. Truck trips were also privately organised to Kenya, with guards or friends staying on the truck roof to kick thieves away. These were trying to jump on the moving vehicles, open the back doors and throw goodies out. The roads were so bad and potholed that the speed was accordingly painfully slow.

Kenwood and the rest are now here, choice will always be less than in the West of course and not always at a good price. Not sure this woman is tempted by kind of shop. Probably that she has other needs to fulfill first.

 

sweet seller, common scenery with the garbage too.

 

as in the West, though on a different style, advertising is of the same kind: no shame no fear to lie outrageously about products or skills. Nice spelling by the way.

 

cell phone vouchers  on sale. Poor woman, stuck in such a lousy box for the day.

 

shot from the jeep, hence the skewed frame. Perfect choice behind that lady in red. Perfect…sometimes my belly aches for laughing too much.

 

sidewalks in Arusha are often colorful and gymkhana style. Better wear boots sometimes… Mihuri means rubber stamp. Just give any design (even copies…) to those guys and they will cut you out a perfect stamp. Don’t take the word ‘express’ at full value though…

 

5 crates, full! That requires some practice to zigzag amongst the lunatic drivers and careless pedestrians.

 

grilled corn, everywhere. I prefer the boiled one with butter but this variety is only to be found closer to the Coast, I don’t know why.

flying clinics in the Tanzanian bush

Flying Medical Service is the non governmental organization I’m flying for right now, operating from Arusha airport. Below are some old pictures on film done in my previous bout of flying for FMS between 1999 to 2002.

 

typical vaccination and baby crying.

 

Maasai mother attending a clinic with her baby.

 

but life goes by in the village while the clinics go on.

proud Maasai warrior.

 

doctor and patient under the tree.

 

another Maasai warrior. Weapons are part of their daily outfit.

 

western clothes creep in unfortunately. Hot weather, what is the point to dress up a kid like that? They get all sweaty and hot…well at least they’re knocked down and stay quiet usually. Which is quite valuable when a clinic can get attract dozens of mothers and babies. Here the mother asked me a portrait and set up a large piece of cloth on the ground.

 

Maasai girl.

lake Natron, various aerial shots

a view of Mt Gelai across the lake.

on the shoreline, alongside a wet arm of a delta

 

a village nearby.

 

on final before landing at Pininyi, western shore

Las Vegas, Nevada