kids and boats - Zanzibar Photo

Photographer’s Note

Kids playing on a small beach in the Stone Town, on the waterfront, the central part of the town.

I am back from my 6 week long trip to Africa, to Tanzania and Malawi, Marcin went with me. I worked on two projects for NEED magazine and I spent the last two weeks in Zanzibar. Africa is not a place to take pictures like Asia is, it is a completely different experience. If you like doing street photography go somewhere else - big cities don't seem to be particular friendly to guys with cameras, you are mzungu.
anyway, I visited Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Arusha (where I did one project), then we moved back to Dar and towards Malawi, what took us almost a week, via Iring and Mbeya. Then we crossed the borded and stayed a day in Livingstonia, then Nkhata Bay and Blantyre, where I did the second project. Tired of the rain we flew to Dar and went to Zanzibar, then back to Dar and London. It was a very interesting experience, not very rewarding in the matter of photos tho. Would I go there again? not sure, maybe if I had projects to do, or I knew some local people there, with who I would walk in the streets.
Street photography in Dar es Salaam on your own? Good luck! but luckily at least in Zanzibar it is possible.

and big thanks to Narayan for answering all my questions about Africa.

and hats off to Nygus, who shoots fantastic photos in Africa.

Ulishna, Isabelle, mark88, bfly, Praetzer, devimeuxbe, ChrisJ, arnabchat, everlasting has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Ulishna (2246) 2007-01-20 12:33

Hello Maciej,
welkome to the home!;)
Fantastic trip! I want go to Africa and hope to go where soon.
Great photo! I have not any words...
Julia

malgosiak (80) 2007-01-20 12:59

i totallly love the idea and composition, wish it was my picture!

tcht (7298) 2007-01-20 13:57

Hello Maciej
Wonderful compo here with many great elements and details. First that strikes me is the back-flipping boy and then I see that wonderful rope leading our eyes to other objects here...very well devised image with great anticipation.
Cheers
CheukHin

rhizomes (15325) 2007-01-20 14:27

Hi Maciej,
Impressive picture ! This beach and the jumping boy are strange but beautiful. Strange combinaison...
Christophe

designsoul (21394) 2007-01-20 14:36

Hello Maciej,
Great to see you back here, with such a fantastic shot, exquisitely composed with the child jumping in the air and his shadow below on the sand. That rope in the foreground leading to the old ship is an essential beautiful part of the whole composition. The colours also are fantastic!
Bravo Maciej!
sasa

mark88 (5800) 2007-01-20 14:39

Sceneria jest iteresująca, ale chyba namocniejszy jest sam dzieciak i jego cień.
Pozdrawiam.

bwiti (402) 2007-01-20 15:43

Belle composition... J'aime beaucoup l'ombre du gamin sauteur...

pilpel-adom (3016) 2007-01-20 15:55

Hey Maciej!
Very nice shot! Timing here is very good, as well your positioning and the use of elements to frame the kid and convey the many subjects that dot this pictures: the kids in the water, the boats and the main boat in the FG - the rope here did a dual work of both separating the frame but also combining all elements together - the lighting conditions are so-so, you shot it almost against the light direction and you can feel the strong sun (shot after 12:00?) - but hell, there is a limitation of what we can control in the shot, right? Catching the kid at flight is hard enough!
:)
Well done and good luck with future projects!
Chen

casperduppy (1464) 2007-01-20 17:57

Lovely picture! I particularly like the way that wherever I look there is something unique and of interest. Thank you for sharing :)

casper

Praetzer (1657) 2007-01-20 18:17

Find this very strange but it works. Figure. ALfred

schekerli (234) 2007-01-20 19:12

Very well timing. It would maybe be better in BW. What do you mean?

AnimeshRay (8886) 2007-01-20 19:28

Maciej,
what a photo! The thrill of Zanzibar, that fabled city, its sordidly tragic history, and now the exuberance of its freedom is framed in this exhilerating moment....simply splendid.

[Very valuable notes--I will remember your caution if I am ever lucky to travel to this land. Thank you.]

jjcordier (24674) 2007-01-21 2:01

L'enfant qui saute et son ombre auraient constitués à eux seuls une plendide image....peut-être plus forte que celle que tu proposes?
Amicalement
JJ

Furachan (0) 2007-01-21 2:09

That is a splendid shot all the way, Maciej, I know some Webb pics that are close to this. Yu stayed back (wisely) and took in the entorety of the scene, the far away boat, the sea, the beach and finally that back juming boy caught in mid flight.
Really special this - could win a prize...
Best,
Francis

partha (13657) 2007-01-21 2:58

Hi Maciej,
Great shot. Perfect timing and the overall composition looks great. U have captured teh happy moments wonderfully.
Regards.
partha

devimeuxbe (55865) 2007-01-21 3:15

Hi Maciej
it is nice for me to see your picture from Zanzibar. It look like one one my past post.
As you maybe know, i have many pictures on Zanzibar and i have an humanitarian projects there on mother and child health. So i will be interested to know what is your project there.
This picture is nice, Maybe you got a too strong light, but however, the atmosphere is nice.
Have a nice day
Bertrand

rowanb (864) 2007-01-21 3:30

stunning shot maciek, that leaping kid really makes it pop out of the screen. just a spot on composition really.

ChrisJ (70271) 2007-01-21 6:12

Hi Maciej

I love the abstract shadow of the boy on the sand. Excellent overall pov with good sharpness & colour. Tfs!

s10001in (1485) 2007-01-21 6:28

Impressive work Maciej.
Great moment captured.
Colors, WB is perfect. Intresting view & quite balance Framing.
Wish you good luck for upcomming projects.
-Regards,

arnabchat (7036) 2007-01-22 0:13

hats off!!
what a good take! all in the nice POV that made this take a success, with the good high horizon, great sunshine, ropes, and the vault!
wow!
Greetings, Arnab

Luko (13894) 2007-01-22 5:51

Just for the shape of the shadow, this photo is worthwhile and will get my two points, although I'm quite bothered with the magenta cast of the colors giving it a cold mood while it deserved a warmer tone(look at the sky going slightly purple). I also think your composition is a bit too rigid for the scene, going for something loose with less horizontal lines was IMO the way to go.

Now, I'll echo to what Gal already wrote on one of your previous postings, what a weird idea you had to take asian type photos in Africa...
I'm not very surprized about what you're writing on african towns, when you look at the members portfolios, nygus and narayan included (although I can remember of Narayan shooting in the streets of Mozambique), also looking at photos of the african expert photographers, like Depardon, Manaud or Maitre, most of their scenes are rural or tribal influenced, nothing like India or Cardiff streetphoto... I can't even remember a photo taken in big city... there must be some reason.

In the future, I'd like you to tell more about Malawi and Lilongwe and surroundings if you've stayed around.

[2]

nicoz (1963) 2007-01-22 6:17

Hi Maciej,
I went to Kenya a little while ago and didn't really like the cities there either... I thought it was quite scary. Your photo's great! The kid backfliping and its weird looking shadow are excellent! (i wonder how spontaneou it is ;-)
I like the compo with the ropes, boats, creating some angles/symetries etc...
I agree with Luko, there is something in the colors that seem to be improvable, but it still is a very good shot.
Nicolas

Darren (6817) 2007-01-25 8:49

The kids shadow is great here and carries the shot. Otherwise, I find the perspective to be a little distant though; a tighter crop wouldn't have bothered me. Colors/light are a little cold here and don't quite fit with the beach scene for me. Nice shot overall Maciek.

everlasting (10898) 2007-01-27 4:44

Great timing, the wonderful catch of the backflip and shadow would have probaly have been enough but to have it just as part of the whole compo makes it even more valued. Colours are so nice

sayat (2944) 2007-01-27 14:54