The event of the day, a photo from Agadez, East

Photographer's Note

After spending a long time in the digital era I return temporarily to the slide period.

This is truly nothing special, but for the children watching the small truck being loaded (or unloaded) it may have been the event of the day.

This is from Agadez, a major town in the central part of Niger, on the southern outskirts of the Sahara desert. I had arrived here in December 1981 by truck from southern Algeria, a journey of three days through a roadless land.

In 1981 Agadez was a very quiet and peaceful town, which seemed totally safe. Since then it has been the centre of armed uprisings by the Tuareg people and become a hub for jihadist groups like the Al-Qaeda of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). In recent years it has been a major centre for smugglers of arms, drugs and people. Thousands of Africans from various countries have passed through Agadez on their very dangerous journey towards the Libyan desert and the even more dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. Much of that trafficking has stopped now, since the EU paid billions of Euros to several African governments to prevent the migrants from going north.

I scanned this from a Kodachrome slide. Here is a larger version.

Looking for additional photos I found two which I enclose as workshops. They are not good but maybe "culturally" interesting enough to be shown here. One is from the market, the other shows the head and neck of a dromedary ;-).

Today I used a different browser and actually managed to show the very approximate map coordinates the proper way.

ChrisJ, papagolf21, lousat, snunney, Fis2, cornejo, gervaso, jhm, worldcitizen, PaulVDV, Hansaphotos, pajaran, pierrefonds, mcmtanyel, danos, adramad, macjake, ikeharel, tyro, fritzi007, Gigidusud, Lidka ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

ChrisJ (171822) 2017-11-01 2:18

Hi Gert

I doubt if the standard of living has risen much in sub Saharan Africa since 1981. It would probably be possible to see similar scenes today. The red adobe brick houses with their wooden support poles remind me of how the ancient Hittite capital of Hatusa in Turkey may have once looked, although it had stone foundations. Good warm cold color contrasts against the blue sky. Tfs!

Silvio1953 (221525) 2017-11-01 2:18

Ciao Gert, nice scewne with lovely children, fine details, splendid light and wonderful colors , very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

papagolf21 (152607) 2017-11-01 2:19

Bonjour, cher Gert,
Vieille photo (à l'instar d'une chanson de Charles Trenet) qui a gardé la saveur de l'époque.
A la lecture de la note, tout cela a bien changé, et non en bien, hélas !
Belle numérisation.
Amitiés.
Philippe

BennyV (34748) 2017-11-01 2:24

Hej Gert

Great to see you delving into the analogues again. Superb light and colours in this revived shot. Lots of Niger colour locale. Impressive little piece of work! Thank you for sharing it.

Benny

PiotrF (54602) 2017-11-01 2:29

Hello Gert
A very nice capture from Niger. Beautiful daily life scene from your archive. Thank you for informative note. Food work, fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

dkmurphys (79209) 2017-11-01 2:30

Hello,
A fine everyday scene. How interesting the houses are! I guess there is not too much rain in that area considering the architecture and the building materials.

D

lousat (139220) 2017-11-01 2:30

Hi Gert. A welcome return to your historical archive. It takes longer to read the notes and understand the images, but post as these are really useful. Beautiful view of the children who attend the event of the day, how they reacted to the arrival of foreign people like you ... very nice also the two WS, I can see that 36 years ago there was fashion to put on sandals with white socks, typical of German tourists ... ahahah ... Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

snunney (130967) 2017-11-01 2:39

Hello Gert,
This is probably the event of the day for these kids, one imagines nothing much else happened at that time, though things now seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. The people are dotted about in an interesting manner and nicely animate the scene; the truck being unloaded supplies an interesting focal point. Agreeable warm/cool tonal contrasts and good sharpness.

dta (98848) 2017-11-01 2:52

Hello ,
Nothing special , but another great an interesting view of the typical african city with superb daily life scenes .
Regards

Fis2 (170693) 2017-11-01 3:54

Witaj Gert!
Nice scene from daily life, I like it.
Good frame and composition.
Nice colors and light.
Good reportage shot.
Nice day.
Greetings.
Krzysztof

Cricri (176) 2017-11-01 4:00

Hi Gert
Belles scènes a voir des adultes et des enfants, l'architecture particulière des habitations, le rendu des couleurs et des détails, excellente réalisation
Belle journée
cricri

cornejo (61504) 2017-11-01 4:27

Hello Gert, very good picture of this interesting scene of everyday life in this recondite place, 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 afternoon and happy rest of the week.
All the best from the south of Spain.
Angel.

gervaso (28177) 2017-11-01 5:03

Hello, Gert!

I really like to see these photos of the past, especially of places we don't usually see here so often. The strong colors of the ground and of the humble houses make the scene very interesting and attractive, and the children give life and interest to the image. Wonderful composition! Very nice contribution to TE!

Tue (92322) 2017-11-01 5:20

Hello Gert,
An excellent impression of daily life in this town so many years ago. The strong light was excellent, not only did it add some nice, long shadows, it brought out the colours at their very best too. The contrast of the warm tones with the blue sky is great too.
Lars

jhm (211736) 2017-11-01 6:00

Hello Gert,

1981, maybe were the people more happiness, than today in this area.
Everything is very well maintenance the street is perfect!.
Wonderful architecture with the house together.
But very excellent photographed.
Composition and presentation are superb.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

Sergiom (117241) 2017-11-01 6:41

Bonjour Gert,

Cette photo a de l'âge mais elle n'a pas pris une seule ride. Les couleurs sont encore très belles.Il ne devait pas se passer grand chose dans ce village pour que ce soit l'action de la journée.

Amicalement

Serge

alvaraalto (42804) 2017-11-01 7:46

Hello Gert
Excellent contribution in text and image. Three excellent digitised pictures from 36 years ago.
I think the peaceful atmosphere of these pictures is in striking contrast with the life today in this region. I’m just listening to the governmental declaration of our new government. How to prevent that to many of the nowadays fugitives from Africa will enter Europe is one of the themes.
Have a nice day. Groet Rob

carlo62 (81265) 2017-11-01 7:55

Ciao Gert
ogni tanto tiri fuori qualcosa di straordinario dal tuo cappello magico.
Queste foto significano storia, molta storia, i 35 anni non sono gli stessi, ogni nazione europea non ha avuto le stesse trasformazioni che ci sono state in queste nazioni, le differenze sono molto più evidenti.
Tre belle foto, tre momenti di vita. Mi piacerebbe vedere le stesse foto al giorno di oggi....
Saltui
Carlo

rychem (72187) 2017-11-01 9:22

A very nice photo from your archiv, a nice scene with curious children, a man with a camera was at the time a rarity in such a district, very well captured
regards Ryszard

worldcitizen (16048) 2017-11-01 11:31

Hello Gert,
The colors in this photo are so vivid, and the scene is very exotic. For those children this is daily life, for me it's something fascinating to examine from a land far away. I also like the WS photos, and I don't think the quality is bad at all. Documentary photos feel more authentic when they aren't so fancy.

PaulVDV (62880) 2017-11-01 11:36

Hello Gert,
A very attractive street scene with the people spread all over the place and with a good view of the attractive desert architecture. The colour of the adobe houses is so beautiful under the blue sky.
A very pretty shadow of the girl carrying the large bowl on her head.
The photos in the WS are beautiful additions of documentary value. You better watch out for the man with the sword :)
Best regards, Paul

Hansaphotos (11381) 2017-11-01 12:02

Hei Gert

Som du beskriver, er det en tragisk utvikling denne byen har gjennomgått. Fargene er utrolig fine, noe som kommer spesielt godt fram i dette hovedbildet. Kontrasten mot bakken og husene i bakgrunnen er slående. De to blå dørene er fantastiske. Det er lett å leve seg inn i din beskrivelse at dette var dagens dagens høydepunkt. Herlig bilde, nok en gang:)

Ha en fin kveld:)

Hilsen Erling

pajaran (115831) 2017-11-01 12:23

Dobro vece.
Lep pogled i trenutak, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Dobar rad sa lepim fotografijama u radionici, lepo pokazano mesto i trenutak.
Lepe fotografije dobijene skeniranjem slajda.
Zelim vam mirnu noc, sve najbolje.
Paja.

Good evening.
A nice look and a moment, interesting and good text ...
Good work with nice photos in the workshop, a nice place and a moment.
Nice photos obtained by scanning slides.
I wish you a quiet night, all the best.

pierrefonds (114395) 2017-11-01 16:11

Hi Gert,

You have captured wll the action of the children. The point of view is showing the details of the houses. The good luminosity is giving nice tints to the colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

mcmtanyel (68447) 2017-11-01 20:43

Hello Gert,
Even the digitized versions of slides have a certain warmth to them. I love the colors and the textures. I wonder what was so interesting about that truck being unloaded.
Regards,
MT
PS. The art gallery was originally built as a chapel.

jmdias (115100) 2017-11-02 2:31

gert

very beautiful daily scenery with the colorful children in FG and the blue sky contrasting with the architecture.the images of WS are very interesting too. why a man would use a sword in 1980?

hugs

jorge

Nicou (193806) 2017-11-02 5:07

Hlelo

quelle ancienne iamge et vue quelle sècne de rue avec ces enfantas cette animation et le belle maisons et ces tons cette luminosité fantastique compo et ensemble.
Bravo et amitié
Nciou

danos (110407) 2017-11-02 10:03

Hello Gert,
nice the view of this old snapshot coming from the '80's.I like the beautiful and well lighted scene from the daily life of the natives.Excellent the colour management of the image.

Regards,Danos

adramad (72970) 2017-11-02 10:55

Hello Gert.
A little known image, for me the first time I hear this place and I see an image, at that time the place seemed very quiet, with its curious geometric houses built with adobes, the color of children gives a nice touch.
Very nice color, which together with the good sharpness and optimal lighting, gives great quality to the image.
Well done. I like it.
You have a good day.
Very best regards
Luis.

macjake (98438) 2017-11-02 11:10

Hi Gert
First off, you were too quick to critique my photo before I was done haha. I added 2 WS, one of which i'm sure you'll like.

I have to say i really do like this photo. Niger, I don't know what it's like in today's world to travel there but i'm sure you have information on that. And after reading your note just now I have been educated on that :) Perhaps in the future this place will be travel approved once again. Lets hope so.

Funny how the 2 blue doors make such a strong statement even though they take up only a small portion of the photo. The homes here are amazing, so different than the 'western' world.

As mentioned in your note, who'd have thought a peaceful place like this would end up as it does today, so sad on so many levels. However, time seems to fix all of that, and i'm sure in the next couple of decades things will change. Look at how popular Colombia is right now! Who'd have thought that right?????

fine fine photo, very interesting. cheers
Craig

GyurMaster (24818) 2017-11-02 13:49

Dear Gert,

It is always a pleasure to see a Kodachrome slide, even if it is a nothing special, which means a nice a everyday scene, when it comes to you.

Have a nice evening!
Gy.

ikeharel (113291) 2017-11-03 5:41

Hello Gert,
Those mud-houses provided a unique backdrop to this street action photo from back in time.
A well kept and scanned photo, clear as nowadays taken.
Bravo and good afternoon,
Ike

*** Thanks for your supporting critique, will show more of the birds.

emka (158092) 2017-11-04 0:48

Hello Gert,

This picture is in the age of my son :). How can you tell it isnothing special. It is VERY special. Beautiful architecture of the adobe houses and so interesting scenes on the street. The kids in colourful dresses look with such curiosity what is going on. Fantastic quality for the picture and scan. I am so envious you could see such places.
Have a nice weekend

MAlgo

tyro (30513) 2017-11-04 5:22

Hello Gert,

As always, a fascinating and informative note and this time three lovely photographs scanned from Kodachrome slides and which, though perhaps not of fantastic technical quality, give a lovely insight into daily life in this African town when life was simple prior to the ravages of war.

Yes, there's something I find really magical about these and similar older photographs in your gallery - they may not always be of immaculate technical quality but they really do give me a feeling of "being there" and that, of course, must be the underlying purpose of any photograph. Perhaps it's something to do with the simple and bold compositions, I don't know, but it definitely works for me!

Excellent!

Kind Regards,

John.

fritzi007 (14698) 2017-11-06 12:19

Hallo Gert,
friedliche Strassenszene im Gegensatz zu heute, interessantes Foto und Reportage,
Grüße
Wolfgang

Gigidusud (21679) 2017-11-17 14:49

Hello Gert,
With the years the photo didn't lose these qualities. The colors and the light are beautiful. A daily life scene well captured. I like the other photos on the WS too.
Have a nice Weekend.
Gigi

Lidka (527) 2017-11-25 0:51

Dear Gert!
Picture from 1981?!
Amazing work.
Superb scene, excellent children.
Wonderful architecture in the background.
Fantastic brightness and colours.
Good sharpness.
Very good quality.
Great effect.
Well done!

Miguel82 (47110) 2020-01-13 12:44

Gert, this is a value archive presenting a country very rarely seen on Te, Niger. I like the local architecture, the clothes and the atmosphere. The ochre houses have the desert color. The children are watching a 404 Peugeot going to be loaded. Fine colors, good sharpness, absorbing photo note, regards.