Cotonou by the sea, a photo from Littoral, South

Photographer's Note

Today's three photos were taken in Cotonou, the major city of Benin and the country's economic centre. It is by no means a beautiful and scenic city with lots of interesting buildings, but it is nicely situated by the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Actually, the city is basically surrounded by water. Cotonou is built on two peninsulas, separated by a rather narrow canal. To the south of the city is the ocean, to the north is a large lagoon (Lac Nokoué).

Unfortunately my memories of the layout and directions of the city are rather hazy, so I am not sure if this photo and WS #1 were taken from the canal or maybe a bay of the lagoon.

Never mind. Both photos show small boats used for fishing. WS #2 shows a big boat used for nothing at all.

What I do remember is that after taking these and other photos I had to load my camera with a new film. According to my diary I had taken six photos, mainly of villagers I met in a beach area, before I got back into the city. I arrived in a decayed industrial area, where I took the seventh photo of a street with an old church and a narrow gauge railway line that looked like it had not been used for many years.

A policeman saw me and claimed this was a protected strategic area. He ordered me to take out the film. I refused, referring to the tourist office where the staff had assured me that apart from military installations there were no specific photo restrictions.

The policeman patted his gun and said that he couldn't care less what they told me at the tourist office.

I gave him the film. You can't argue with armed men.

Today's three photos that I managed to save were all scanned from Kodachrome slides.

papagolf21, Fis2, pajaran, jean113, Royaldevon, ikeharel, PaulVDV, pierrefonds, jhm, dale54, PiotrF ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

papagolf21 (152605) 2020-08-11 0:29

Bonjour, cher Gert,
Outre les prises de vue, j'ai beaucoup apprécié votre note et les déboires rencontrés pour photographier !
Ces anecdotes participent à l'intérêt du sujet.
J'aime !
Amitiés.
Philippe

Fis2 (169567) 2020-08-11 0:41

Witaj Gert my neighbour today :)
Next excellent reportage.
Very curious place, nice scene from daily life.
I like framing, colors and light.
Well done.
Good morning.
Krzysztof

SteveH (8220) 2020-08-11 0:41

Hi Gert, another good series of scans from the analogue past. It looks like a pleasant spot and a pleasant afternoon to be fishing. Sound practice, not arguing with armed men! cheers, Steve

pajaran (114755) 2020-08-11 1:16

Greeting.
Nice traditional fishing boat, well shown with nice colors, contrast and captured moment, good text.
Good work with nice photos in the workshop.
Beautiful photos and memories.
I wish you a nice day, all the best.
Paja.

jean113 (27585) 2020-08-11 1:58

Hello Gert, life is so much easier now with digital cameras. When these shots were taken, the number of shots had to be carefully considered, so how annoying to have to give the policeman a valuable roll of film! But it was something that you just had to do.

The boats are interesting in their style, long and low and with an unusual sail.
There are dwellings in amongst the trees, in fact the trees make a nice green frame for the water.
I wonder why the large ship in the W/ s picture was abandoned? Just left to go rusty!
Very interesting notes to accompany your three excellent scanned pictures.
Kind regards, Jean.

Royaldevon (85546) 2020-08-11 2:38

Hello Gert,

Reading your notes, it made me wonder how you prepared for such a trip. Did you take a huge stock of films with you or did you work on the assumption that there would be places to buy new films, in Western Africa?

I always find your photographs interesting for you give us an insight into the everyday lives of the different nationalities. There are always some little snippets of danger, too. I agree, don't argue with a man pointing a gun at you!

This long boat, with a single sail is well shown on on the water. As a fishing boat, it will not deplete stocks as modern trawlers manage to do! We get a feeling of 'place' from the b/g of palm trees, small dwellings and beached boats.

My favourite is actually the abandoned boat, from a purely artistic point of view but it tells us mothing of the life of the people.

Have a lovely day,
Bev :-)

PaulVDV (62720) 2020-08-11 3:16

Hello Gert,
Your main photo shows a fairly idyllic view of this seaside place.
Nicely taken with both boats in line with each other and with tropical vegetation, banana trees and palm trees along the coast. The sail of the first boat is nicely bulging with the wind.
The story in the note tells us that it is not so idyllic for visitors after all.
I once had to hand over a film to a soldier in Syria, but asked to speak to a superior first. In the meantime I was locked up in a small barrack where I could replace my film with an empty one. No superior came and the soldier unsuspectingly settled for the blank film ...
The soldier claimed that I was on military territory. The site did not even have a fence ...
Later I thought I should be more careful in the future.
Best regards, Paul

Silvio1953 (220417) 2020-08-11 3:53

Ciao Gert, lovely composition with nice boat and beautiful trees in BG, wonderful natural colors, excellent clarity and splendid light, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

pierrefonds (113458) 2020-08-11 4:35

Hi Gert,

You have captured well the movement of the boat. The wideness of the bay is giving depth to the composition. The point of view is showing the details of the boat and of the sailors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

jhm (211734) 2020-08-11 5:28

Hello Gert,

Pleasant panorama image with the boat in foreground and village in background
Absolutely a nice composition and good presentation
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

dale54 (17750) 2020-08-11 7:42

well good evening gert and hello ..what a great looking shot from a scan!nice work and all around job here too! tfs dale

Miguel82 (47110) 2020-08-11 11:04

Gert, the two pirogues don't use engine, one of them has a sail. The fishermen are working not far from the coast with lines and nets. It is a typical tropical landscape in the background, it includes coconut trees and banana trees. The workshops present another view of the coastline and a ship wreck. Fine colors, good sharpness, regards.

jmdias (114126) 2020-08-11 13:01

gert

nice note. a brazilian, an argentinian, or a mexican could have bribed him easily...
nice views the angle of the boat is surreal. curious the boat with the sail in a strange aspect, like a simple blanket..

take care

jorge

Tue (91440) 2020-08-11 13:37

Hej Gert,
En smuk udsigt på det blå vand med den lille båd der kom forbi meget godt fanget i billedets højre side. Også de grønne palmetræer dannede en smuk baggrund på denne solrige dag.
Lars

GyurMaster (24668) 2020-08-11 14:10

Dear Gert,

I'm glad you saved these frames, which portrait top secret military zones... In my opinion the officer over-dimension-ed his importance. But, why should I be surprised? Even in the 21th Century Europe it happens that some over-estimate their role.
But, enough of politics, its an excellent photograph!

Nevertheless, I saw this (of topic) video and I wanted to show it to you.
https://www.facebook.com/manta.anamaria.18/videos/10159713628119115/

Best Wishes,
Gy,

lousat (138505) 2020-08-11 14:41

Hi Gert,really a bad end for your camera roll, but it was better than making things worse with the local police, avoiding bad trouble. These photos remain, however beautiful and interesting, and the abandoned wreck could not be missed. Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

PiotrF (54246) 2020-08-11 16:17

Hello Gert
An interesting picture from Benin, nice scene.
I like good composition and wonderful colours.
Interesting photos in WS.
Fine presentation
Regards
Piotr

jemaflor (146156) 2020-08-11 23:37

Hi Gert,
nice composition well balanced with a photogenic focal point with this traditional boat with original sail, nice landscape and blue water, well presented, tfs.

emka (157280) 2020-08-12 0:10

hello Gert, Wonderful view of this small boat with quite a big sail in the big river. Charming palms on the shore. Fantastic colours and sharpness. The Workshop pictures are nice too. The wreck in the Workshop reminds me of Sceleton Coast in Namibia.

Have a nice day

MAlgo

ifege (46851) 2020-08-12 0:14

Hi Gert
Another good trio from Benin and of a city I've never heard of. The main photo of the men fishing is particularly good.
cheers
Ian

rychem (72187) 2020-08-12 0:58

A very nice photo, the small boat is very well placed in the photo, beautiful greenery in the BG, although we associate Africa more with a desert landscape
regards Ryszard

ikeharel (112391) 2020-08-13 9:43

Good evening Gert,
Seeing the map of this place on Google-Maps I guess the sight on the main picture taken in the big lagoon area, while the abandoned ship is most probably out on the ocean shore.
Anyway, a documents from past era, showing daily-life in this remote country. A well scanned - as always.
My best regards,
Ike

kasianowak (17646) 2020-08-15 9:26

Hi Gert
There may be no interesting buildings but the boats and the turquoise water more than make up for it. But I don't think they compensate for the rudeness of the local officialdom. At least you only lost one exposed frame, but it's a shame he wasted a whole roll of your film.
I may have told you (or you may have read in my KKH diary) that a Chinese soldier deleted the only photo I took at the border crossing in Khunjerab Pass. It was annoying but at least he didn't confiscate the whole memory card.
Must make a mental note that Cotonou is NOT the capital of Benin for the next Capitals of the World quiz... ;-)
Best wishes
Kasia