Mousgoum fisherman, a photo from Extreme-North, North

Photographer's Note

Maga is a small city located east of Maroua, in the extreme north of Cameroon few kilometres from the Chad border, south of D’jamena.

I found that place one of the highlight of my trip in the Northern Cameroon with a mix of many different cultures and of great landscapes. Here, an artificial lake was created in 1979 to give birth to the SEMERY project, an attempt to develop the rice culture so that local people can improve their standard of living.

Maga itself is a crossroad for Mousgoum and Choa people.

Mousgoum people are pride farmers and fishermen who have a large influence over the area together with the Kotoko people. 4 kilometers from here, one can discover beautiful clay “Sare” which used to be the traditional dome-shaped houses for a family.

Choa people who are arab speaking nomads who periodically enter the Cameroon territory with their animals during the dry season so they can survive. Women form these tribes seem to have extremely beautiful traditional red dresses and to wear a profusion of earrings, collars, etc…

I only spent one day sailing along the shore but it gave me a strong motivation to come back for several days and meet these different people. It’s not totally clear if this would be safe enough to stay overnight but I’ll try to collect as much information as possible before doing so.

Another curiosity is to meet the hippos who found a great ecosystem to proper. It’s really spectacular to observe between 30 and 40 hippos at sunset. The show is really impressive especially because they may be aggressive if we come to close with boats.

Here is one of the latest shot I made during that great afternoon when leaving the area with hippos. This is a local Mousgoum fisherman who came back to Maga with his fishing nets.

jleveque, Galeota, delic, dolin, Aliine, dcastor, pedrocarmo, Elaine_Blath, smash2707, johnnyh, robiuk, Porteplume, chrisnet, eleparc, Albrecht, MadraRua, xramm, Dyerco, Wandering_Dan, ajujot, MLINES, marine-coeur, manojtnair, Dworkin, Ethelep has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Galeota (10352) 2007-03-26 14:51

Hello Steven. Superbe image pour accrocher au mur. La scène est certes statique, mais la beauté du tout l'emporte pour former un poème imagé. Le titre même (Mousgoum) est attrayant.

jleveque (898) 2007-03-26 14:52

Bonjour Steven,

merci pour ce magnifique cliché qui respire le calme. Merci aussi de nous montrer la richesse ethnique et culturelle de l'Afrique.

Bonne soirée,
Jérôme

dolin (7369) 2007-03-26 15:00

Hello Steven.
J'ai pas grand chose à dire...c'est beau et voilà...
Ce orange bien chaud est superbe et le contraste avec ces silhouettes est parfait.
Le gros plus, c'est ces petites herbes qui dépassent de l'eau et ce jeu de reflet dans cette eau léfèrement ondulée.
bref...bien jouà
fred

delic (6735) 2007-03-26 15:02

Simple but powerful composition. The silhouette against the orange is visually pleasing. Well done. Regards,
Hakan

Aliine (2669) 2007-03-26 16:07

Bonjour,
Incroyable, on dirait un tableau ;)
L'ombre chinoise du pêcheur et de son bateau est vraiment sublime.
Et le cadrage tout simplement parfait...
Merci pour cette magnifique photo :)
Bonne soirée.
Aline

grigand (20290) 2007-03-26 16:21

Hi,
A very nice shot, only yellow and black, fantastic siluette ! Well done.
Ciao
Andrea

mortijo (12828) 2007-03-26 16:25

Effecftivement, comme le dit Galeota, ceci on peut accrocher au mur. Statique, oui, mais ...ces couleurs rendent l'image tellement poétique qu'on pourrait facilement passer des heures à la contempler. Elle ira d'ailleurs dans mes 'favorites'.

hatti52 (12786) 2007-03-26 17:06

Hello Steven
wonderful compo.Two colours there:orange and black.Excellent siluette and reflection
well done
cheers

izmirli (3989) 2007-03-26 17:21

bonjour steven
beautiful gold colours.wonderful silhouettes.
well done.best regards.
gürkan akçakır.

pedrocarmo (1295) 2007-03-26 19:36

Hi Steven

Great contrast, made by a very great exposure.
The colours resulted very well.

Well done

dcastor (74) 2007-03-26 19:42

Very nice picture, Steven. I like it, the sharpness, the colours, the mood.

If I were to suggest any improvements, I would've like to see the camera aimed slightly lower to allow for the full reflection of the man to show. I would also like a little bit more space in front of the boat, perhaps at the expense of some space behind it. These are, ofc, only thoughts from an amateur and I'm not sure without seeing it that it would actually enhance the impact of the photo.

vincz (19113) 2007-03-27 3:26

tres tres belle compsotion, si trnaquille, avec de si belles silhuoettes sur ce fond orange. On aimerait aussi glisser tranquillement sur l'eau a cet endroit. Merci pour cette effluve d'ailleurs!

ohe (2334) 2007-03-27 4:07

Dear Steven
Colors are really specials on your shot!
The sailer is very well rendered.
Thanks for sharing,
- Olivier -

teutza (10590) 2007-03-27 4:26

HY Steven,
that's the perfect postcard!!
i like it a lot1u made a beautiful simple composition
teo

alimo3 (6854) 2007-03-27 7:16

Bonjour Steven ,
une belle image entre cuivre et or !
grace a ta photo le temps s'arrete...
J’aime beaucoup le sentiment de plénitude que dégage ton image, c’est tout simple et beau.
Amicalement.

Tom

Elaine_Blath (8471) 2007-03-27 7:51

Hi Steven,

perfectly graphical...superb! And great note to accompany it...

Take care, Ivana

smash2707 (3320) 2007-03-27 8:41

Beautiful composition providing a sense of peace. Nice silhouette with a marvellous warm background. Regards, Yvonne

johnnyh (639) 2007-03-27 10:50

Wow Steven!! nothing short of perfect, what a fantastic composition with stunning silhouettes, such a pleasure on the eye and very very appealing, great work and best regards John.

robiuk (10807) 2007-03-27 19:58

Excellent stuff, Steven!
Pure graphic delight!
Amazing colours and lines,
Robi

Porteplume (4036) 2007-03-29 14:00

Bonjour Steven,

C'est si beau, si atmosphérique, magique, on en reste coi!
Mais vous avez reçu tant de louanges pour cette magnifique image que je vais tout de même ajouter que j'aurai eu peine à trouver des superlatifs si vous aviez aussi saisi la reflection sur l'eau du lac... ;o)))

* Je vous suis ces derniers temps parceque il y a un nouveau membre de notre famille qui est vient du Cameroun et ça m'a rendue curieuse de ce pays.

Amitiés - Viviane

chrisnet (23062) 2007-03-30 4:01

C'est une très belle image. La couleur orangée et les ombres chinoises de la barque et du pêcheur ajoutent à la magie. Seul regret, l'ombre du pêcheur n'est pas entière, c'est dommage car sinon cette composition aurait été parfaite.
Amicalement
Christian

eleparc (24063) 2007-03-30 18:24

j'avais raté celle ci.. ces images d'ombres en contrejour sont tjrs tres belles...
amicalement
Eric

MichaelTrezzi (3374) 2007-04-09 16:14

Hi Steven, great shot of the local fisherman. Like the sharpness of the silhouette and the monochrome presentation. Well done. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Michael

Dis_Account (0) 2007-04-09 16:14

Excellent shot Steven. Very sharp silhouette against a beautiful yelow/orange light.

...tim

Albrecht (11283) 2007-04-10 6:30

Hi Steven
Beautiful compo;the silhouet and the beautiful sunlight and colour are beautiful!!
greetings Albrecht

bwiti (402) 2007-04-22 7:07

Superbe jeu d'ombres et lumiere ! La point de vue est parfait... Felicitations...

koker (267) 2007-05-28 15:49

Bonjour Steven,
Fascinating! Great colours and silhouettes. Well done.
Regards.
Huseyin

fiedziu (1764) 2007-05-28 17:00

excellent monochrome composition
well done
best regards

marine-coeur (1072) 2007-07-30 11:43 [Comment]

Show Comment

nivaldo (15417) 2007-08-05 20:31

Hi Steven,
An awesome composition. No more words!
Just beautiful!
Cheers,
Nivaldo

MadraRua (887) 2007-08-08 17:26

Steven,
this is stunning in its simplicity!
What a delicate and well composed image.
It would have been nice to include all of the man's reflection though.
All the best,
Hauke

xramm (1831) 2007-09-03 2:42

Hi Steven
Very good ambiance with compatible silhouettes inside. I liked it

Hakki

Dyerco (10185) 2007-10-18 9:14

Wonderful composition with the light just right. Well done.
Phil

Wandering_Dan (3449) 2007-10-18 9:19

A beautiful mood shot - lovely silhouette, great positioning. The monochrome casting is excellent.

dinkar (196) 2007-10-18 9:57

Hi Steven,
A fantastic shot. Excellent composition, exposure and colors.
Great atmosphere.
Regards
Dinkar

manu82 (2) 2007-10-19 15:40

Hello Steven,

Excellent shot. Great colour and composition.

Regards,

Manuel

chinky (10) 2008-02-19 12:15

hi
nice or the lover of wall arts. well done

clarkzor (379) 2008-04-20 9:01

Nice and clean! good composition!

Well done!

Daniel

MLINES (12516) 2008-05-07 0:09

Hi Steven, A very fine, beautifully coloured composition. The accompanying notes are most interesting as it is such a remote part of Africa. TFS. Murray.

Dworkin (81) 2008-05-07 0:49

Hi Steven

Your composition is amazing. The contrast, the colors, the sharpness ... Outstanding.

Your POV adds a feeling of quietness and peace, very poetic composition.

A masterpiece, no doubt about it.

Regards

Sam

picardo (2459) 2008-05-10 18:25

Wooow... fantastic capture!. Excellent golden colors and the silouette of the man and his boat looks incredible!. May be you should include the reflection of the man too.. but I think it is a fantastic shot anyways.
TFS
Picardo

manojtnair (435) 2008-05-10 18:51

hi steven,
superb shot. excellent composition. silhouette of this man and his boat in golden colour with reflection in water is look very good. tfs.
manoj

D4hu (98) 2008-08-26 12:38

Hello, tres jolie photo. ce monochrome respire la serenite.
merci de nous faire decouvrir ces paysages.
Seb

zumoduvas (2069) 2008-08-29 16:26

Hello Steven.

Excellent image, nice compoition and colors.

Regards.
Jose Luis.

Aglaea (59) 2008-10-27 9:28

hi there steven!what a picture!the light and the colours are amazing,and what a great composition!I really like it!
-Kathrine

zahoor_salmi (1053) 2008-10-27 10:05 [Comment]

Show Comment

vmukherjee (614) 2008-12-08 21:34

Great shot! The colours and silhouettes look beautiful. Also good composition. Nice simple geometrical patterns mame the image even more evocative. But I really feel the absence of the head of the person in the reflections. Anyways, thanks for sharing.

coco (30439) 2009-02-15 3:45

Hi Steven.

I love the way you used the light on this photo. It's really great, but I think you shouldn't cut the shadow in this way.

Well done.

baladeva (252) 2009-06-14 21:35

pretty, would not change or add anything to it, :)
TFS,
N.

Kurioso (134) 2009-06-20 14:48 [Comment]