Urban street photography is a favourite of many photographers. Catching a passing moment, finding a space which expresses and exposes a city’s sole, seeing the unseen and the mundane. Street photography needs to be approached with care, sensitivity and not a little boldness.
[Note: A selection of charcoal images is now available for purchase and download from the Image Market – HERE.]
Uganda and Ethiopia
I have added to my collection of images showing the impacts of the wide spread practice of charcoal making on the environment in Africa, which results in vast areas of deforestation. (See the images in the Season Images Gallery.) The use of charcoal as a cheap household energy source is just about the only option open to the ever increasing urban fringe populations where firewood has long since gone and other options such as LPG or electricity are either not available or are too expensive. For a more detailed comment on charcoaling, go to my blog entitled “Charcoal and deforestation“. On travels in Africa at the end of 2010, I captured images in Uganda and Ethiopia of urban charcoal markets – a key element in the supply chain.
Kigali – the cleanest city in Africa?
I also visited Kigali in Rwanda where there is a surprising initiative underway which has resulted in the cleanest African city I have ever seen – not a spot of garbage anywhere. A cooperative called Association for the Conservation of the Environment (ACEN) which makes briquettes from garbage as an alternative to charcoal. Garbage is brought in to several centers throughout the city and paid for – providing a marginal income for some of the poorest and resulting in the cleanest African city I have ever seen! The garbage is separated before the organics are shredded, dried and molded into briquettes – the inorganics are recycled. This results in less demand for charcoal and less pressure on rural environments, which, together with a cleaner city is a win – win for everyone.
In April a ‘skulk’ of four fox pups and their parents appeared in a den in woodlands not far from my home on the North Downs in Surrey. I came across them by accident on a walk with my Labrador pup – there in a field were a frolic of pups playing in the sun who scampered when they saw us but then could not resist peeking back at us. I took Toffee dog home and returned with my camera to start a series of watches which were each about 3 – 4 hours long – I did eight or nine watches over a period of 2 weeks and captured a great set of images. These images won the “Editor’s Choice” award in Amateur Photographer Magazine – see the Blog entry.Continue reading “A ‘skulk’ of fox pups – Putting in the time to capture wildlife images”