A day in Ouagadougou, a photo from Centre, East

Photographer's Note

Today three undramatic photos from Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) in January 1982.

I decided to use this young girl for the main feature. I have very vague memories of taking this photo, but I think I happened to meet her in the large open space in front of the Culture Palace, one of the few large, modern buildings in the city (but not very beautiful). I guess she looked curiously at the pale stranger, and since I thought she looked nice and was nicely dressed I asked her for a photo.

One WS was taken in a market area, the other shows the city's major mosque.

All photos were scanned from Kodachrome slides.

This url will show you a larger version:
https://i1.trekearth.com/photos/65960/ouaga2020f.jpg

Fis2, ktanska, pajaran, ikeharel, alvaraalto, alvaraalto, tyro, jhm, PaulVDV, ricardomattos, jean113, papagolf21, adramad, PiotrF, ChrisJ, COSTANTINO, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

pajaran (114845) 2020-05-16 0:15

Pozdrav.
Lep pogled, dobar tekst ...
Lepe fotografije i secanje, lepo pokazano.
Dobar rad skeniranjem slajda.
Zelim vam lep dan, sve najbolje za vikend.
Paja.

Greeting.
Nice view, good text ...
Nice photos and memories, nicely shown.
Good work by scanning the slide.
I wish you a nice day, all the best for the weekend.

ifege (46869) 2020-05-16 0:15

Hi Gert
Another good trio from Burkino Fasa but I do like the portrait best.
cheers
Ian

Fis2 (169659) 2020-05-16 0:29

Witaj Gert!
All photos create a report from this place.
Interesting images from everyday.
The woman is impressive.
I like framing and colors.
Nice weekend.
Krzysztof

ktanska (44446) 2020-05-16 0:34

Hej Gert,
Very nice portrait of this young girl on an open gravel ground. I like that skirt and scarf too. I guess you applied noise removal on the sky, but it made those tree branches look somewhat smudgy.
Kari

Silvio1953 (220525) 2020-05-16 1:01

Ciao Gert, great portrait of lovely Young girl with fantastic dress, splendid light, excellent clarity, wonderful colors and fine details, very well done, my friend, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

alvaraalto (42804) 2020-05-16 1:44

Hello Gert,
Another impressive series of photos and an excellent additional text.
It's wonderful how you illuminate three different aspects in three photos.
The individual, daily life and the environment and here again the excellent scan quality.
Have a good weekend.
Be careful and stay safe, Rob

Royaldevon (85606) 2020-05-16 3:06

Hello Gert,

Your photographs have scanned remarkably well.
This young girl was too sweet, too prettily dressed to be ignored and she makes a most attractive subject! If you had met her in a modern context, you would immediately have thought she was heading for a yoga or pilates class!

I love the market photograph.
I can't quite make up my mind if there is tension between the man and the woman in the f/g! He is certainly taking a superior stance, with his hand on his waist, whilst she looks a little subdued! This kind of photograph always provides details to peruse and wonder about!

Keep safe this w/e,
Bev :-)

pierrefonds (113534) 2020-05-16 4:42

Hi Gert,

You have captured well the smiling expression of the young girl. The point of view is showing the details of her physionomy and of her clothings. The light has a good effect on the colours. Have a nice day.

Pierre

tyro (30513) 2020-05-16 6:21

Hello Gert,

Ouagadougou looks to have been a rather pleasant place to visit in 1982 and the people in your photographs appear pleasant and content with life too. But I rather suspect that it might not be so happy or safe nowadays.

Your noes, as always, are very informative and a joy to read and these three photographs are of excellent quality. I think your choice of main image was just right - this is a very pleasant looking young lady rather nicely dressed and, though she may be curious of the pale stranger, she has a friendly and kind demeanour.

Your photo of the mosque is wonderfully sharp and clear but I love your shot of the market area - so many people and things to look at and examine in detail - but such a pity you weren't able to show us those vultures eyeing up the meat in the butchery - I wonder if they ever managed to steal some?

Wonderful!

Kind Regards,

John.

jhm (211734) 2020-05-16 6:36

Hello Gert,

The Lady takes alovely position for you.
But with this much sun becomes this very difficult, but perfect done.
You choose a very well angle,for this nice portrait.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice weekend,
John.

ikeharel (112397) 2020-05-16 6:59

Good afternoon Gert,
She was looking inquisitively at you, and yet nicely posed for you.
Besides face expression some items here caught attention: the half empty water-bottle, the mat held on her other hand and the dust on her feet and flip-flops shoes. Amazingly contrasting.
A fine scan as usual. Interesting WS's as well.
Wish you a nice weekend,
Ike

PaulVDV (62790) 2020-05-16 7:34

Hello Gert,
Three very different subjects brought together here today. Difficult to choose a main photo but I think the young girl looks very pretty. In addition, she is well and elegantly dressed ... I would not immediately think the poorest inhabitant of the city.
Is that a prayer carpet she has with her? In that case a fairly large one.
I remember a TV programme on a Flemish channel in which it was shown that in Burkina Faso different religions occurred within the same family. After the marriage, the wife would normally fit in with the religious beliefs of her husband. Their daughters would do the same with the religion of the sons-in-law.
On a large family party thus Muslims, Christians and animists are present together. Thereby posing no problem.
In that programme this seemed a bit strange, but actually very beautiful.
I think I remember reading later that the terrorist attacks in recent years have explicitly intended to undermine this peaceful family situation ...
Recently no more news on Burkina Faso ... but yeah, everything revolves around corona.
Best regards, Paul

rychem (72187) 2020-05-16 7:40

A very nice series of three photos, I like this patiently posing girl with a colorful mat, very well captured
regards Ryszard

Tue (91526) 2020-05-16 10:11

Hej Gert,
Et meget godt portræt af pigen midt på det tomme torv. Hun stod der meget stilfuldt i sin blomsterrige nederdel. Som du siger kan man se nysgerrigheden efter den fremmede mand som ønskede at tage et billede af hende i hendes ansigt. :-) Den meget blå himmel var en rigtig god baggrund.
Lars

Miguel82 (47110) 2020-05-16 10:42

Gert, the three photos presents the daily life in Ouagadougou. The market scene is authentic and shows customers bargaining with vendors. The little girl on the main picture poses perfectly. She is carrying a mat. I like the arid environment around her and her traditional clothes. Fine colors, good sharpness, interesting photo note, regards.

jmdias (114220) 2020-05-16 11:59

gert

I liked this portrait and the way the girl is taking tubes in her arms in diagonal. I liked the mosque and its shapes. it is modern and simple but I liked its different design and I would take many photos of it being in a place with not so much monuments. haha.

take care

jorge

ricardomattos (17368) 2020-05-16 12:58

Hi Holmertz,

Uma foto marcante esta pela beleza da menina e das belas roupas que ela estava usnado. Até o tapete que ela carrega é fotogenico. Ótima nota também. Linda foto!

Parabéns e abraço

Ricardo

lousat (138561) 2020-05-16 13:11

Hi Gert,3 beautiful and different pics from Ouagadougou,the architechture of mosque is amazing and very impressive and i can see perfectly in your excellent postcard. Lovely market scene and a big applause for the girl in the main pic,in pose for your as a movie star..ehehe..have a nice evening and thanks,Luciano

jean113 (27613) 2020-05-16 13:22

Hello Gert, three very interesting pictures showing life in Ouagadougou in 1982.
The main picture is a lovely portrait of the girl; how kind of her to pose for you. The fabrics that they wear always have lovely colours and designs.
Were you travelling by yourself?
Very informative notes, thank you.
Kind regards, Jean.

emka (157280) 2020-05-16 23:51

Hello Gert,

Nice picture of this girl with a shy smile. The scarf she has is very similar to the scarf I used in Iran and Arabia. :). But I prefer your Workshop pictures more. I like mosques, so it is interesting to see one. Burkina Faso is the cradle of voodoo. My friend went there especially to see it. And there are more things to observe in the market picture. I remember your other photo with the vultures.
Have a nice Sunday

MAlgo

papagolf21 (152605) 2020-05-17 1:31

Bonjour, cher Gert,
Une fois encore vous avez frappé très fort à travers ces prises de vue.
Les qualités photographiques sont manifestes. Je suppose qu'il y a depuis 1982 des changements quant à l'environnement.
Très bien.
Amitiés.
Philippe

GyurMaster (24668) 2020-05-17 13:43

Dear Gert,

All the all three photos are nice and would sell as a main upload and to be honest, choosing between this and WS1 would have been a hard decision. But I guess would have made the same decision. Its a very good portrait, similar to those used to be printed on the front of the magazine with the yellow frame.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

adramad (72536) 2020-05-19 11:25

Hi Gert.
Three magnificent and different photos from this unpronounceable place, very original and different the construction of the mosque, the market with the light, color and life of the same and this young girl, more modern dressed and with a harmony in the dress that poses for you very calm with that mat under her arm.
The point of view, sharpness, lightness, color and composition chosen are excellent.
A very pretty pictures. I like.
Have a nice day.
Best regards.
Luis.

PiotrF (54246) 2020-05-21 16:41

Hello Gert,
An interesting daily life scene, great portrait of this young girl.I like beautiful colours and good composition.
A very nice photo from your archive.
Fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

ChrisJ (171172) 2020-05-22 1:31

Hi Gert

Good scan and excellent sharpness and pp work. Nice use of a shallow dof too. Punchy light contrasts and well framed and composed. Tfs!

kasianowak (17672) 2020-06-23 6:46

Hi Gert
It would have been useful to see this upload before a certain quiz on world capitals... ;-)
This photo is deservedly the main upload. You captured the girl during her daily chores, with her surroundings shown, slightly less in focus but still recognisable, in the background. But I like the other two as well.
Thank you for your kind comments about my last upload, and sorry the video was short. It was more of an attempt to make it a souvenir, just for myself/family and it only occurred to me later that I could show it to TE members as there aren't many videos of travelling in a Toyota in Afghanistan out there. I may upload another, a bit longer one later.
And yes, I did figure out that the link in your note was there because of my request. Thank you for that!
Best wishes
Kasia

COSTANTINO (115477) 2021-09-08 23:02

Hello dear Gert
At first I like the way you take
such photos from January 1982
too many years ago....
i liked your phrase as following....
....I GUESS she looked curiously at the pale
stranger.......i would like to know is she is
alive now and how her life was....
regards
Costantino

mcmtanyel (67583) 2021-11-12 20:42

Hello Gert,
Three fine photos from Ouagadougou. My favorite is the one taken in the marketplace.
Regards,
MT