Photos

I took this shot while volunteering as a photography for a health organization in Ghana. This was in a larger city, Takoradi, in comparison to the smaller villages we would venture to inland.

During one of the tripe inland after I shot this picture, as soon as we entered a certain district, I could tell our driver was getting very uncomfortable. As we were leaving the village a day later, I noticed he immediately relaxed. I asked him why the sudden change in composure and he subsequently explained that because we were in such a remote area, some people sought to make money by killing other villagers or visitors. They would have killed in order to get a certain organ or limb from a person to sell on the black market for witchcraft purposes. Supposedly there had been two or three people killed in the prior months to our arrival with a few organs missing from their bodies. To this day I am still not sure whether to fully believe the idea. Although, shortly after, I did visit the "juju" (witchcraft) part of the Kumasi market - photos to come soon - which was full of animals parts , skulls and hides.

Some people have commented on the length of my notes, so I apologize if this is too long or not to your liking. I try to transmit through my photos the people I visit, in addition I like to add some stories of my travels to help shape a better understanding of this very intricate continent.

This girl was quite fun, I snapped a few shots while she wasnt looking, however shortly afterwards, the women at the clinic told her to look at me. Not what I wanted but I still tried to make it work in my favour - so here is this shot. Shortly afterwards, I don't really know how to explain it, but it seems as if she realized I was white and how funny of an idea that was. She could not stop herself from laughing for a few minutes, she would stop, look at me, then burst out again- it really was quite funny and cute, even if i was being laughed at.


I have cropped the image and played with the levels a touch. All was done using Adobe Lightroom.
-Adam