Ben Wilhelmi

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.

Aerial photography, Florida

 

Florida…I only some time there to pass an ATP rating, basically that upgrade implies flying instruments only with a pair of partly blinded goggles. So the flights only happened at one airport and no looking outside. How frustrating! So I went once or twice as a passenger just for the sake of it, and I took aerobatic lessons too but aerial photography was then not in my mind.

Here are some pictures from a flight between Tampa aera to Fort Lauderdale…

see how mountainous Florida is?? So young US would-be pilots willing to fly the bush later on should do some flying in Arizona or similar states to get more useful lessons or mountain flying, density altitude…

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…

 

Wildlife, East Africa

 

 

Muddy rhino.

 

Vervet monkeys.

 

Pelican in lake Manyara while migrating.

Kirk’s dikdik and elephants

Impala in Nairobi park with the city skyline.

 

these reticulated giraffes are not seen in Tanzania where the Masai giraffe is the common one, see below.. Here in Kenya, in a sanctuary.

 

Ferry flight, Dubai-Zurich, aerial shooting, part XIX

 

3rd day, the Athens-Zürich (Altenrhein) leg, northern Italy, flying at 16.000 ft... luckily the heater worked well in the De Havilland.

same picture, below slightly cropped.

 

 

The Alps on their way.

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…

aerial photography in Tanzania

 

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…

 

Gay Pride some years ago, Bruxelles

 

My Good old Leica M6 loaded with HP5+ films.

B/W portraits, Tanzanian bush

 

Colors! Lake Natron, aerial photography

 

ferry flight, Dubai Zurich, aerials, part XVII

 

the 3rd flying leg, from Athens to Zurich, now overhead Italy, from Brindisi flying up the coast.

Unfortunately, we were flying alongside the coast but overhead the water. Being seated on the right side in the cockpit I was poorly positioned for shooting the landscape. Here across the left window.

So either I had to wait for the captain to grab some food in the back and I could then shoot properly through the left window, or wait till I was myself sometimes hanging around in the back. This mountain range would include Mt Pollino, Mt Papa, Mt Corvati… that’s also where the Apennine range starts in the south, then goes all the way north, more than 1000 km long.

 

Some clouds showed up again over the Adriatic sea towards the north and east hiding Croatia.

 

This is Vieste area. We took a new heading which brought us inland, finally.

 

Beautiful colors and patterns I must say.

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.

Arusha, driving and shooting pictures.

 

Arushan traffic jams gives some time to observe the urban jungle out there. Here is a little bit of various scenes or fashion and colors.

typical colorful coach. Taste was optional…

 

Rare pigs. Many Tanzanians are Muslim but still in minority as opposed to Christians. But pigs are rare nevertheless. In swahili, a pig is kiti moto, which means hot seat. Don’t ask me why.

 

Japanese second hand bus. The original marking haven’t been sprayed over, not unusual. Bob Marley is still fashionable in Africa….

not like the cops always on the prowl for a bribe.

 

Trendy grandpa.

 

Posters, rugs, calendars, maps, science diagrams, religious portraits are the usual things these guys sell. What a life, spend your day with arms up….

 

Cool dress!

 

So typical….

 

some road sides in Arusha.

even the crappiest hand-cart, like coaches or dala dalas might show some slogan or motto. “Serengeti”…I’d like to see this guy crossing the Serengeti for sure and see what happens….

ferry flight Dubai-Zurich, aerial pictures, part XV, over Greece

 

from Athens, the weather was mostly good, though cold outside, like –20. The cockpit was nicely warmed up but funny enough the back of the plane was about freezing: some water bottles were partly frozen.

Over the Peloponnese we left the westbound heading for a north westbound heading to Brindisi. I was quite impatient to fly over Italy I must say.