Curious children long ago, a photo from Centre, East

Photographer's Note

Here's another photo of low technical quality, scanned from an old Kodachrome slide. The low afternoon sun was shining from the wrong direction when I met these children, most of whom were walking home from school, and it would have been difficult to line them up properly to catch the best light. But I like the slightly bewildered and innocent looks of these children, and the school bags carried on their heads, so I post this photo anyway.

This is from Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, in January 1982 when the country was known as Upper Volta (la Haute Volta). Ouagadougou was a hot and dusty city without any impressive major buildings, but it was a very nice and friendly and safe city, in fact the entire country was remarkably nice. I was so happy to hear a correspondent from Swedish public service radio report recently that the most remarkable experience he had in Burkina Faso was most people's amazing friendliness. Lots of things have changed in West Africa since the 1980's but Burkina Faso seems to remain a nice country.

Here is a larger version.

lousat, PaulVDV, danos, snunney, alvaraalto, ChrisJ, jhm, Cricri, Fis2, Royaldevon, ikeharel, papagolf21, COSTANTINO, rychem, worldcitizen, Lidka, cornejo, pierrefonds, PiotrF, adramad, macjake, CLODO ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

Tue (92328) 2017-12-03 1:46

Hello Gert,
Great portraits of these school children, who all look very keen on being in the photo. You captured the expressions on their faces so well and that's the most important thing, so it doesn't matter that the light may not be ideal. Nice to see how they carry their school bags on their heads.
Lars

lousat (139236) 2017-12-03 1:58

Hi Gert,no problem for the quality,that is stil good.The face expressions of childs are the winner element of this memory from Ouagadougou,a not common moment for the child to see a tourist with a camera,another great shot from your big archive. Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

PaulVDV (62886) 2017-12-03 2:04

Hello Gert,
I've always found the name Ouagadougou very appealing :)
The fact that Burkina Faso's capital is a dusty city can be derived from the background of the photo.
But the most beautiful of course are the curious and uninhibited faces of these children. Nice to see girls and boys together. And even better, they had the possibility to go to school.
Best regards, Paul

danos (110407) 2017-12-03 2:29

Hello Gert,
Nice the 'portait ' of these native children and young boys and girls that looks rather as students.I like the way that pose in front of your lens with light and colour management to be superb for a so old photo.

Regards,Danos

snunney (130967) 2017-12-03 2:30

Hello Gert,
A charming group composition with a mix of smiling and more quizzical faces. An age of innocence one might say; I wonder if you would meet with the same reaction some thirty-five years on. As always, one wonders what has become of these children now grown up.

alvaraalto (42804) 2017-12-03 2:56

Hello Gert
A long time ago, even before you took this picture we had a foster child in Burkina Faso, Opper Volta in that time. We lost contact, but you lovely picture do remember me the poor black and white photos we sometimes received from him.
Have a good Sunday. Groet Rob

ChrisJ (171822) 2017-12-03 3:07

Hello Gert,

Some of these old scans or scans of old slides rather, come out surprisingly good considering the non digital technology of the era. A good group portrait of the curious locals. In southern Nepal I went to Bhilwarra village near Janakpur not so often visited by foreigners, and everyone was coming out of the houses I was photographing to look at me! It's not often that I become a tourist attraction!

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/CRR82M/traditional-paintings-on-the-wall-of-a-house-in-a-village-nepal-CRR82M.jpg

jhm (211736) 2017-12-03 3:38

Hello, Gert,

The picture must not have high quality, the children make the picture so wonderful.
Indeed the faces are all, innocent 35 year ago!
Colours and sharpness are superb.
Pleasant composition and presentation
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice Sunday,
John.

pajaran (115861) 2017-12-03 3:41

Dobar dan.
Interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Dobar rad skeniranjem lepo pokazana deca, lepa fotografija i secanje.
Mnogo je godina proslo, gde su i sta rade danas.
Zelim vam lepo popodne, sve najbolje.
Paja.

Good day.
Interesting and good text ...
Good work by scanning beautifully shown children, beautiful photos and memories.
Many years passed, where are they and what they are doing today.
I wish you good afternoon, all the best.

Cricri (176) 2017-12-03 4:23

Hi Gert
Une belle photo de ce groupe d'enfants, leurs regards assez fixe vers l'objectif, leurs donne un air sérieux et intéresser
Ce sont des adultes maintenant...
bon travail
Beau dimanche
cricri

Silvio1953 (221563) 2017-12-03 5:02

Ciao Gert, lovely composition with a lot of cute children, fantastic smiles, splendid light and wonderful colors, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Fis2 (170717) 2017-12-03 5:51

Witaj Gert!
I am fascinated by your photos from the archive.
The coloring resembles old times.
Excellent reportage shot.
Good frame, children make impression.
Very well done.
Nice sunday afternoon.
Krzysztof

Royaldevon (85932) 2017-12-03 6:11

Hello Gert,

Another delightful shot.
Children are so honest, if they are curious and interested, you will know immediately!
These children were obviously fascinated by you and your camera!. What a mixture of expressions we can peruse, here.

It would have been very difficult for you to coax these children to face the opposite direction, to improve your photograph but, I wouldn't worry, for this photograph captures all that you wanted and it hasn't suffered greatly from shooting into the light.

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

ikeharel (113319) 2017-12-03 6:11

Amazing how you managed to get them all stand and pose for you, Gert, you must had pooled some magic charm on them. Great old stuff, never mind quality - its a time-machine scenery...
Good afternoon,
Ike

Sergiom (117241) 2017-12-03 6:34

Bonjour Gert,

Dire que maintenant, ils sont probablement parents ou encore grands parents et qu'il regardent du même oeil que toi leur progéniture grandir. J'espère pour eux que leur condition soit meilleure.

Amicalement

Serge

jmdias (115128) 2017-12-03 7:27

gert

each one has a different thought about your camera as we can see. only the girl has a monalisa smile to you, the others are so concerned about the event.. very nice flagrant. I hope school was good enough to improve their lives now they are adults.
take care

jorge

papagolf21 (152607) 2017-12-03 7:38

Bonjour, cher Gert,
En parcourant votre note d'accompagnement, je vous rejoins quant à la vie d'aujourd’hui, que de changements depuis cette prise de vue.
Les temps changent, les hommes aussi !
Ces archives sont précieuses.
Amitiés.
Philippe

COSTANTINO (116452) 2017-12-03 8:45

Hello dear Gert and have a nice time
and a happy new day and new week
great portrait of those children
so many years ago but it seems
so real your notes are useful
regards
Costantino

rychem (72187) 2017-12-03 9:00

Children are a grateful subject for a photographer, a very nice photo of the group, the faces show different expresions but they are not afraid, but rather they look with curiosity,
regards Ryszard

Nicou (193806) 2017-12-03 9:19

Hello

quelle compo et vue quelle iamge tous ce jeunes ils regardent tous dans notre direction tout étonnée et certaines aves leur sac sur la tête quelle scène et vue sueprbe.
Bravo et amitié
Nciou

BennyV (34748) 2017-12-03 11:46

Excellent group portrait from Ouagadougou, Gert. That is one of those places I absolutely want to visit one day.

Benny

kasianowak (17676) 2017-12-03 12:38

Another image of great documentary value. Quality of the scan? Who cares.
I found it amazing how much people can carry on their heads in Africa. And now I know - they train from school age... ;-)
Your note about friendly people made me add Burkina Faso to my travel wish list.
Have a nice week
Kasia

worldcitizen (16068) 2017-12-03 12:39

Hello Gert,
What a nice assortment of faces and expressions: curiosity, surprise, suspicion, etc. I like the spontaneity, and the way the children are carrying their school bags on their heads.

mesutilgim (0) 2017-12-03 13:00

Hello dear Gert,
Another topclass capture from your archive.
No need to say anything about the photographic qualifications but it's a great archival product.
TFS and best regards
MESUT ILGIM

carlo62 (81265) 2017-12-03 15:02

Ciao Gert
la curiosità dei bambini è nota, questi bambini probabilmente superano la curiosità di molti altri.
C'è molta differenza nei loro sguardi, ognuno esprime questo momento in modo diverso, basta osservarli attentamente, sembra che ci stiano parlando.
Saluti
Carlo

dkmurphys (79209) 2017-12-03 23:54

Good morning,
Nice group scene, you can see the curiosity on their faces. I wonder what happened to each every one...how great a group scene with the same individuals would be now!

D

Lidka (527) 2017-12-04 0:55

Dear Gert!
Amazing children. Wonderful children. Superb scene.
Excellent colours.
Good point of view. Perfect cut.
Very fine lightness.
Good exposure and capture, very good quality.
Fantastic shot from 1982!
Well done!

cornejo (61504) 2017-12-04 11:14

Hi Gert, very good picture of this interesting group of curious children, very well captured in this interesting image with good sharpness, light, color and quality. A great job perfectly done, my congratulations, my friend. Thanks for sharing this interesting work.

Good night and happy beginning of the week.
All the best from the south of Spain.
Angel.

gervaso (28177) 2017-12-04 13:13

Hello, Gert!

You've really been to different places we don't see so often here on TE, and it's a great capture of these kids of long time ago! What must be of them today? Very nice and curious expression on their faces! Great contribution to TE! Very well done!

pierrefonds (114422) 2017-12-04 14:59

Hi Gert,

Befor that country was call the Haute-Volta Republic. You nhave captured well the mixed expression of the children. The point of view is showing the details of their physionomy and of their clothings. The light is giving good colors rendering. Have a nice day.

Pierre

PiotrF (54636) 2017-12-04 15:48

Hello Gert,
Interesting scene from Burkina Faso.
Fine presentation from your archive.
Perfect captured,wonderful details, excellent clarity and good sharpness.
Fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

mcmtanyel (68479) 2017-12-04 21:38

Hello Gert,
They must be middle aged people today, I hope they are all enjoying middle aged life.
Regards,
MT

adramad (72978) 2017-12-05 4:54

Hello Gert.
A great portrait of this group of children, who look with attention at the camera, a novel object for them, in that place and time, a good image of the time in that hidden place of Africa.
Very good image quality for a photo with so many years.
Well done. I like very much.
You have a good day.
Very best regards.
Luis.

GyurMaster (24818) 2017-12-05 14:28

Hello again,

I wouldn't say its a low quality photo, indeed its rather OK. Though the colours are a bit brownish, they are more natural than on you next post. The facial expression of the children is exactly, what the title says. The photo itself is a nice genre.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

emka (158128) 2017-12-05 15:42

Hello Gert, I remember from school the name Upper Volta. This picture reminds me the children in Myanmar, they after run after me seeing I had a camera and wanted to be photographed. Then they had fun to see the view on the screen, what was impossible in 1982. Very nice picture, all look with an interest at you, only the girl with the red bag has a bit strange expression.

KInd regrads MAlgo

macjake (98454) 2017-12-09 1:42

Hi Gert
looks like you have the attention of many people here, you're the star attraction :)
I take it the local people here do not get to see many white people? is that even wrong to ask nowadays haha
but seriously, I wonder if they do or not.
its as if they don't know if they should smile or not, they look more curious than happy/smiling for the camera, i like this one alot. cheers
Craig

CLODO (45116) 2017-12-09 2:54

Hi Gert

They are surprised to see a white man with a strange apparatus in front of him!
Cheers
CLODO

Miguel82 (47110) 2019-12-25 2:02

Gert, the children just completed their school day and are going back to their homes. They were attracted by the camera. I like their clothing style adaptated to the hot weather. They carry their school bags on their heads. Good memory from Ouagadougou. Fine colors, good sharpness, interesting photo note, merry Christmas.