All the pictures are taken by the children of Brufut, The Gambia
2014
2012
When I was going to Africa everyone asked, will you make a film? Are you taking your camera? Yes I said I am taking my camera, but I was not planning to document my travels in the form of film nor photos, feeling uncomfortable to point my camera in peoples faces,,, The aim of this book is not to show The Gambia to foreigners, it’s to introduce little Gambian artists, so hopefully we can help them flourish more.
Kids in The Gambia are not hungry for food they are hungry to learn, they gather around you , grab any tool in your hand and try to so things your doing and work out how things work, I never forget the concentration in the eyes of a 6 year old girl sawing a piece of wood,,,
I started to give my camera to kids letting them taking pictures, soon I found my self in a situation where I had to wait for a few hours till they come back from their Jolly around the village,,,
It was interesting to see how they see the environment around them, to see what is interesting for them.
They were mostly too young to have the patience to listen to any technical instruction, it would only make them confused, I have soon realized it’s better to let them go with their own instinct, the result was stunning, I ended up with thousands and thousands of amazing pictures,
The high number of very well framed pictures ensures the fact that they are not accidental, also some have messed around with colors, black and white/color or different white balance settings. Yes they have done it by randomly pressing bottoms, but they have changed it again (or came and asked me to change it back to normal) if they didn’t like it.
The way that kids pose in front of a camera hold by a friends makes the pictures more lively, they are more comfortable and ‘try to be cool’ in a different way they would do for a grown up/foreigner/outsider.
Grown ups felt comfortable if they saw a kid taking photos of them, carrying on doing what they were doing they let the kids capture the real essence of their everyday life.
Photos are for sale. Please get in touch for sizes and prises.
Team Playground 