Ben Wilhelmi

Kampala, street photography

 

I feel sorry for these sellers...the job to pack and unpack everyday, carry the whole burden across Kampala unpractical streets...

 

 

 

Corona is officially there but the measures are half hearted in many cases. Here above is one good citizen though.

 

Women tend to be more friendly than women when I practice street photography. Smile, waving hand, even a blow kiss...but men? That is another league. Some will be friendly too (no blow kiss though) but others will be plain rude, I don't blame them, and yell the same obscenity, that is "Eat your mother's ass"! Similar to the French "Nique ta mère"...(fuck your mother)

I know I have been a "fashionisto" but I think I can spot a fashion crime here, no?

 

Uganda, random pictures

 

 

 

Things are not that different from Tanzania in the end. Just details here and there. For instance those Hel's Angels are more numerous, faster too (yes yes) than in Tanzania.

 

School kids wear uniforms too.

Pavements...equally a gymkhana concept to enjoy here too...

Just off Entebbe airport there is a beach called Aerobeach. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I reached the place as 15 or more wrecks and relics litter the place, including 2 airliners. This is a Mig 21 Fishbed, Russian make from the 50's. The memorialstatue is of the late Yonathan Netanyahu, brother of the actual Israeli prime sinister. He died in the famous 1976 raid in Entebbe to sort out a highjack situation. 

A typical scene in any street in any town or city.

 

Hats off to African girls who love to be fashionistas where road conditions don't really encourage this trend.

 

This big bike is a serious change from the usual little 125cc made in China or India, equally reviled by owners and users

The business woman, 3 phones and a charger...

How to decorate a coach ...come and nose around in Africa.

Some pictures in South Sudan

 

A tourist(?) market, well NGO people fall in that category somewhat.

I’ve been warned, Sudanese people can be cagey about pictures, especially the thousands of men sitting and doing nothing, well apparently. They are called security men. If true they made a special effort to look poor and craggy. So they’d be happy to jump on an unsuspecting photographer under the pretense of security. Secuwhat? The place is just a big dump behind rebuilt…but any way, any excuse to make some money is good enough.  So street photography is not as easy as in Tanzania…

 

I can see many similarities though.

 

I thought I had been spotted by Mr Darkglasses here but no action followed.

“Keep Juba clean”, yes please, the place is the dirtiest town I have seen so far.

 

I suppose one has to cope with the hurdles of a country being under reconstruction. Not everybody can afford a modern steel and glass office .

 

Cool name for a bank? Well is there any elephant in this country?

 

Happy ladies in Agok.

 

Unfazed kids: my gesture to shoo them away from the airstrip were ignored. They were still there when I took off…

Market day in a Tanzanian village, photography

 

 

 

notice the goats being pushed in as well...

 

departing means loading the trucks…

 

 

notice the VIP sign on the windshield…

 

 

photography in a village, Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

seriously overloaded Land Rover. The engine wouldn’t start, people came to help and push but no one got out of the pick up to ease the effort!

 

loading a truck, from half empty to about full. Whenever I think a vehicle is full, it is only half full. Standards definitely vary from one continent to the next.

Arusha Tanzania street photography

 

locals and expatriates or even tourists have many grudges against Arusha but I like to grab a camera and keep an eye open. Interesting sceneries happen.

“Boda boda”, the local nickname for motobike taxis. Only for people wish a death wish or a certain level of unconsciousness… These riders seemed to have jumped straight from bicycle riding to these. Here I got spotted by this pretty girl, she just smiled, didn’t ask for money.

 

Mobile fruit stand. Not so many around are that elaborate with a roof.

 

On a Sunday, shops are closed usually but other entrepreneurs squat the front pavements for their own business, usually selling crap Chinese goodies. Pleonasm I know and Africans were quick to notice that too after just a coupla years of invasion.

 

Umbrellas against the fierce sun. Common sighting lately, even in the bush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

scenes in bush villages, Tanzania

 

Burma, people at work, B/W

 

 

 

life in a village, Tanzania

 

Loliondo, a big village north of Serengeti. Lots of Masai people but not only. A village that seems to love colors.

 

truck instead of bus. Sometimes it is more confortable than a local coach, that is if the truck is full of sacks of rice. Then one just lies down on those sacks and can take a nap under fresh air.

 

Tanzania is the fastest growing country in term of cellular phones. I’m not surprised by that feat. Even Masai people in the remote bush have got cell phones.

 

Vodacom, one of the leading brands in phone networks.

 

2 warriors buying phone recharges.

life in Loliondo village, Tanzania

 

 

Masai man leaving after the market.

 

this man was extremely serious while buying a cow bell. Each bell seemed to have its own tune and he was listening carefully to each bell before making his choice, like a musician choosing his instrument. The tunes must be important indeed if you are to herds on long distances, better have a sound you like. Also to retrieve lost animals…

 

it seems there were 2 painters, one sober and the second one drunk …

 

dreaming of better days and a new jeep…

market day, Tanzania, B/W film photography

Olbalbal, a village in the Ngorongoro area. Market days are twice a month and the people activity is greatly increased.

And Maasai women want to look good so these ones here wash in a puddle.

 

except selling cows guys are rather busy chatting up.

 

but women seem to combine too funny stories while selling stuff.

 

 

a Leica M6 was on the prowl.

Loliondo, a big village in Tanzania

 

this old tramp, not a beggar, lies on a daily basis on that old dirty mattress with his little belongings scattered around. He seems to suffer from some genital disease: the shiny thing between his legs is indeed one his balls, tennis ball size…

he doesn’t seem to beg or talk to people. Here he is getting ready for the night…

 

mototaxi and Masai passenger.

 

tall boy shop….? Notice the 'effort' put by the owner took to paint his motto…

 

Masai women shopping before heading home in the bush.

 

derelict yard.

 

typical shop front walls painted in bright colors. It had already struck me in 1999.

street life and market in a village, Tanzania

 

this is Loliondo, a village near the Kenyan border and Serengeti.

not a fashionable hat but a sack of grain or rice maybe.

 

typical toy around, some wheels made of flipflop soles, a plastic bottle or jerrycan, a string or a stick and you’ve got a little vehicle. Some are more elaborate than this one, with trailer, steerable wheels….

 

colors! Very hippy 70’s no? I kind of remember that sort of design when I was a child….

 

the door was locked but I’ll enquire one day. Some women’s club? Must be tough case in local culture, Masai or else.

 

that old blue Land Rover was already there, in that color, in 1999.

 

 

warriors shopping!

 

colorful coach, as always. Those drivers or owners, as in many places in the world, love to decorate their coaches for the worst or the best, usually the worst.

 

these girls didn’t want their pictures taken.

market day in a village, maize selling, Tanzania

while flying on a medical clinic, the market was happening in Olbalbal village nearby Ngorongoro Crater. The doctor didn’t need any help so I went for a photographic stroll.

 

maize was sold from the back of that truck, spread on the blue tarpaulin and bagged again with the help of the bucket.

 

quite often potential Masai client would grab some grains, roll them in the hand, squeeze or even smell them. One is never too careful.

 

10.000 Tanzanian shillings, the highest denomination unfortunately, are worth about 5 euros. Imagine buying a car hand to hand with such a banknote when you need a few dozens millions …

 

2 kids helping…

 

here filling a goat skin bags which look really sturdy.

 

the bucket is used as a reference for payment and then used to refill customers’ bags.

Market in a Tanzanian village

 

Loliondo, near Serengeti.

 

I like the match of colors of this picture. But I feel sorry for this mean looking woman's husband…he’d better not show up late at night with alcohol breath and suspicious hair on his clothes!

 

what can be so paradisiac about a hair saloon? Paradaizi is paradise in swahili obviously, another one of those superb direct translations.

 

market day in the bush, Tanzania

 

my Flying Medical Service duties bring me to nice remote places, I land on airstrips that would take hours to reach by jeep. Just before landing in Olbalbal in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (thus not a national park), I noticed the village was busy. So I left the staff to perform the medical duties and I walked to the village. Market day, that is lucky day for any curious mind.

heavy sacks of corn are offloaded from the truck.

that yellow bucket serves as a reference container.

I had crawled under the truck for a different angle.

a customer bag is being filled up. 5 $ a bucket or 8500 Tanzanian shillings.

this woman bought a lot of bags apparently. She must have come with various helpers.

market day, Olbalbal, Tanzania

I just came back from clinics with Flying Medical Service aircraft. Once in a while our calendar falls together with market days here and there. This time it was Olbalbal village being in a frenzy, located on the outside western rim of the Ngorongoro crater.

I wish this photogenic Masai man didn’t wear such a lousy hat but other than that what a striking face isn’t it? I wish I could have him for a proper photo shoot.

 

there was that truck in the village loaded with sacks of maize. The crowd arrived in no time.

 

A tarpaulin is spread out then the grains are thrown out.

 

then a bucket is used as a measuring cup to refill clients’ bags. About 5$ a bucket. I was told the prices were down a bit since the government just forbade grain export to prevent starvation within Tanzania.

 

some helpers are quite young…

and another bag went down…

and more buckets were transferred… I realised the workers were in such a hurry when a second truck also arrived on the scene with grain. This truck had arrived first, after speeding on the bush rough tracks I bet, and the workers knew the second one would here soon too, so they tried to serve as many clients as possible.

money talks.