Young
girl waits at the well. Cannon D60, 70-200mm @ 200.0mm,
1/750 sec, f/5.6, ISO: 100, Flash: Off
Thursday, 30 January, 2003 Khartoum, Sudan
Three
hours north of the capital city of Khartoum lay a
well that is 45 meters deep and is used by nomads
living in the area to water their animals. For the
past 18 months I have wanted to find the time to head
out there and camp by the well for a night. I was
eager to shoot nomads using the well in the wonderful
early evening and early morning light, and finally
that day arrived.
Shepherd
waters his flock at the well. 20mm L , 1/200 sec,
f/5.6, ISO: 100, Flash: External E-TTL
I
need to be out of the city by 2:30 pm if we are to
make it to the well by 5:30 pm and catch good light.
I leave the office early, at 2:00 pm, and pick up
Isam our guide and my wife, who dislikes camping.
I pack our (my) camping gear, a D60, lenses, laptop,
1 gig worth of Lexar memory cards, 8 peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches, Coke, water, a bag of dates,
a bag of local string cheese, and 3 Kit Kats
.
and at long last we leave the city. Isam our guide
and a trusted friend whom I have known for some time
helped to secure travel permits the week before and
will also help to make friendly with the nomads while
I take pictures.
Nomad
on camel returning from well, 28-135mm @ 28.0mm, 1/200
sec, f/11, ISO: 100, Flash: External E-TTL
Although
the well is 3 hours north of the city and the civil
war is hundreds of km to the south, any travel by
foreigners requires a lengthy travel permit process
which entails many rubber stamps and official looking
signatures.
Nomadic
woman returning from the well. 28-135mm @ 28.0mm,
Subject dist: 0.47m, 1/200 sec, f/8.0 ISO: 100, ,
Flash: External E-TTL
Thirty
minutes out of the city we approach the military checkpoint
and Isam presents our travel permits. The soldiers
are polite and smile, take down our registration number
and the time, and wave us through. In front of us
is 160 km of fairly smooth paved road. The first 160
km would be fairly easy, except for the buses and
trucks which frequently and mind numbingly pass and
merge into oncoming traffic, then we take a hard right
into the desert. The scenery along the tarmac road,
that parallels the Nile one kilometer to the east,
is magnificent with green farms on the side closest
to the Nile and all sand and mud homes on the other.
At the 160 km mark we veer off onto desert tracks.
We begin to see mountains to the north and goats dotting
the landscape all around. Twenty minutes on the desert
tracks and we see a small group of nomads returning
to their huts after visiting the well. We veer off
the sandy track and head out to meet them. After a
few minutes of Salam ma Lakum (may God
grant you peace) and other friendly greetings, Isam
gives me the green light to start taking photos. I
take about 20 shots of the women and children on their
donkeys and the men on their camels but am anxious
to get to the well as it is approaching 5 pm.
Young
nomadic girl at the well. 20.0 mm, Subject dist: 0.55m,
1/90 sec, f/5.6, ISO: 100, Flash: Off
Finally
at the well and the smell of camel dung is overpowering,
yet the light is good, the heat is bearable, and the
D60 batteries are fully charged. My goal in situations
like this is to shoot so much that the novelty of
a strange guy taking pictures of them will wear off.
Hopefully then they will become less self-conscious,
continue working, and begin treating me only as an
annoying pest or at best invisible. Generally, I will
start with my 70 - 200L on a tripod, then move closer
with the 28 -135 IS, and finally by the time they
are truly bored with me I'll use my 20mm. I try my
best to stay out of the way for there is much work
to be done at the well.
Bringing
water up at the well. 2003.01.30 17:47:52 - 20.0 mm,
Subject dist: 0.55m, 1/125 sec, f/6.7, ISO: 100, Flash:
Off
Typically
the head of the household will bring his own rope
and pulley to the well, two of the very few possessions
the family owns. He will drop an animal hide bag down
into the well and after he hears it splash in the
water he will jostle it until if fills completely.
A rope is tied to their camel or donkey and the animal,
with a small boy or girl guiding it, will walk the
equivalent depth horizontally in order to pull the
water-filled bag out of the well. They then begin
to fill their containers to take home and alternately
fill troughs for watering the animals.
Using
his camel to help bring up water at the well. 70-200mm
@ 180.0mm, Subject dist: 5.12m, 1/500 sec, f/4.5,
ISO: 100, Flash: Off
The
sun is beginning to set, my wife is looking bored,
and I have filled all my memory cards, so we hop back
in the Toyota and take off to make camp before we
loose all available light. We search for a campsite
where the sand is not too deep and the trees are near
enough to use in moments of required privacy, but
far enough away so that moment of privacy is truly
private. In search of this perfect spot we only get
stuck in the sand once, and a quick hub lock and shift
into 4 wheel drive and we are out again.
70-200mm
@ 200.0mm, Subject dist: 23m, 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO:
100, Flash: Off
We make camp and put up the tents as darkness descends.
After we are settled, I strap on my headlamp and start
downloading images from the memory cards onto the
laptop. I am aware that with the headlamp, laptop,
fumbling with Lexar cards, and mumbling to myself
in the middle of the desert I must really look like
a geek, but I am in the middle of nowhere so I am
confident no one will notice. When all is downloaded
correctly, there were several scares in trying to
write images to the laptop, but in the end the Lexar
media cards preformed well. I set up the laptop on
a chair and show my wife and the guide a slide show
of the days photos and then after peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches we call it a night.
During
the night, the desert winds really pick up, causing
the tent to flap so violently that it is impossible
to sleep. My wife continues her grumble about the
wind, the lack of toilet facilities, and her belief
that there is a tremendous likelihood that we will
be carried off by nomadic thieving bandits, never
to be seen again. In an attempt to block the wind
I get up, move the truck in front of the tent and
settle back in the tent for a long uncomfortable night.
The
next morning we rise at 7 am hoping to catch a beautiful
sunrise and are rewarded with a great one. Not long
after I begin to shoot the sunrise, two 7-year oldish
girls appear out of nowhere. Through our translator
they request us to fill the small jugs they are carrying
with diesel fuel from our fuel tank. I can only imagine
that the diesel fuel would be used for some sort of
cooking device, but really do not know for sure.
These
young girls approach us in the early morning to request
diesel fuel. 70-200mm @ 200.0mm, Subject dist: 5.12m,
1/20 sec, f/2.8, ISO: 100, Flash: Off
Word
travels remarkably fast in the middle of the desert.
During the night nomads for miles around probably
heard that some hwadja's (white men) were camping
out in the area. Very early that morning these young
girls were likely sent off to get fuel from the hwadja's.
Ultimately we did not have any fuel to give as we
had no external fuel containers and no hose long enough
to reach the internal tank.
Around
8 am, after packing up, we head off to the well to
try to catch nomads using the well in the early morning
light. No luck, we arrive at a well with no one there!
As some of the worlds most outstanding ruins
are only 100 yards away, we spend the next few hours
examining the ruins (always with an eye on the well)
and taking photos. The ruins are the remnants of the
ancient Merowotic kingdom from 400-300 BC.
Our
guide and friend Isam at the ancient ruins
Around
10 am, with no nomads at the well, we drive off in
search off nomadic camps
any place we can still
get great photos while the light is still good. Six
kilometers down the sandy track we approach a homestead
..
3 or 4 huts that make for a nomads home. Isam does
his routine and makes friendly with everyone. Thankfully,
they give us the OK to visit with them.
In
the first hut we come across an older woman, her 20-year-old
daughter, and her 3-month-old baby. As we enter their
hut there is that initial moment of awkwardness caused
by entering uninvited into a family's most private
space.
Elderly
women in home. 28-135mm @ 100.0mm, Subject dist: 1.60m,
1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO: 100, Flash: External E-TTL
However,
I am very aware that opportunities like this are rare
for amateur photographers
to be in a nomads
hut in the middle of the desert armed with a D60.
This is a one in a million opportunity, so I try to
be as pleasant and kind as possible. I know that the
first few shots are critical, and if I should play
it wrong and snap away too quickly in all likelihood
I could cross some line that I am not aware of and
be immediately kicked out of the home. I am acutely
aware that I am in a Muslim male dominated society
where it is likely that I should not even be in the
same room with a female of their clan, never mind
taking photos. My aim in these cramped quarters is
to smile a lot, try one or two harmless shots, turn
the camera around quickly so that they see the photo
just taken on the LCD screen, watch their face light
up as they see their tiny photo at the back of the
camera (thank God for digital), and then start shooting
in a much more relaxed environment. It works. After
they see themselves, they smile, relax and really
begin to enjoy the experience.
New
mom in her traditional home and attire. 28-135mm @
85.0mm, Subject dist: 0.71m, 1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO:
100, Flash: External E-TTL
As the mom
and her 20-year-old daughter begin to warm up to the
lens, a small kink occurs as I try to take photos
of the small 3-month-old infant lying in a bundle
at the end of the bed. As I direct my camera toward
the young child, both the grandmother and the mom
get excited and place their hands in such a way that
an idiot knows they are saying dont do
that. When asked the reason, it is explained
as the evil eye syndrome. I have come
across it occasionally and have never been able to
completely make sense of it. In this instance it means
that the camera could give the evil eye to the baby,
and that in any culture is not considered good. I
certainly do not want to cause a new mom any undue
stress, so I do not even attempt a shot of the infant.
As
we are exiting the hut the clans old, kind,
fragile leader approaches us and asks us to please
stay for tea.
Clan
leader
For
Arabs, especially nomadic Arabs, one would not even
think about refusing hospitality, EVER. The thought
that someone might be in too much of a hurry and refuse
an offer of tea is incomprehensible to a nomad. Without
any hesitation we sit down outside the hut for tea.
The first few minutes of discussion always revolve
around the amount of sugar one needs and why we only
want a teaspoon of sugar rather than the accustomed
half a glass. (On occasion, at tea rest stops along
the road I have refused sugar and they happily oblige
and serve the tea, but refuse to charge someone for
a tea without sugar). The discussion continues around
the weather, the land, their crops, and the condition
of their animals.
Woman
with her young child. 28-135mm @ 135.0mm, Subject
dist: 1.60m, 1/90 sec, f/5.6, ISO: 100, Flash: External
E-TTL
After
50 minutes, 50 more raw files, and two cups of tea
later, we beg leave and take off. Three hours later
we arrive in Khartoum and I of course bee line it
for the computer and begin the magic of Fred Mirandas
actions.
Thanks.
Feel
free to email Mark at [email protected]
with your questions or comments or visit his website
at markpelletierphotography.com
Mark,
along with his wife who hates camping, resides in
Khartoum