|
|
|
Working man in a city of ash
 |
|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
On August 16, the active volcano Tungurahua erupted violently, scattering debris for miles. Read more about the volcano and eruption here (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungurahua
The city of Ambato, about 35 km (22 miles) to the northwest, was covered in a blanket of ash shortly afterwards. The following day, Thursday, the cleanup effort in the city began. Roads were closed and most of the city's residents put on masks or protected their faces with a damp cloth to sweep up the dark ash that had covered their homes, businesses, and city streets.
I took advantage of the opportunity to snap some shots in the downtown area, where despite the darkened sky and clouds of dust visible everywhere, many people were out working throughout the day to gather the ash into bags, which were then to be collected.
It was an interesting atmosphere - traffic, except for police and official vehicles, was completely absent, and the streets seemed dead, filled only with the sounds of sweeping and the occasional shouts of street vendors selling masks (two for 25 cents was the price at the time, it has since risen).
I saw this man walking in the middle of the street in the midst of clouds of ash from all the sweeping going on, looking like he had somewhere to go. I don't know if he was heading to work or leaving, having decided it wasn't worth it, but I liked the juxtaposition. |
Betty, e30mike, surfnico has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekEarth members may rate photo notes. |
|
|
| Discussions |
| None | | You must be logged in to start a discussion. |
|
-
- Betty
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 24 W: 0 N: 32]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/s-n-s.gif)
(133) - [2006-08-23 20:13]
-
Hi Adam, nice journalistic photo, the man stands out well in his clean city clothes surrounded by the ghostly gray atmosphere, had the POV been slightly more to the right or the shot taken just a second earlier you could've avoided having someone right behind him, making him stand out even more; nonetheless sharp, well exposed image, nice job. I've been so focused on the crisis in Lebanon I'm ashamed to admit I don't even remember hearing about this eruption, thank you for posting about this event,
Betty
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 76 W: 30 N: 86]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-s-g.gif){kind=small}