Young men dig holes to plant tobacco near Zomba, Malawi. They start work before sunrise to avoid the heat. Women follow them, carrying pipes of water to irrigate the plants. Planting tobacco is thirsty work; it takes around 20 litres to secure each plant in the soil. I'm drawn to photographing silhouettes, and the combination of early morning sunlight and the clouds of dust made for a good source of backlighting. This photograph is currently exhibited at Casa Saraceni Gallery in Bologna, Italy as part of the Syngenta Photography Award international tour. It was also featured in a column written by Bill Gates for the South African daily newspaper Die Burger about the future of Africa. He probably wrote it pro bono. Work from my project "I Need You More Than You Need Me" is currently exhibited at Casa Saraceni Gallery in Bologna, Italy as part of the Syngenta Photography Award international tour. The show runs from 21 June to 10 September. Details here.
It's the perfect time to go to Italy - it's summer and you'll get the two-for-one ItalIAN Culture Special: one exhibition in Bologna, one exhibition in Rome! What a deal! A shepherd stands beneath a sky gestating with a storm in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Cappadocia has the most spectacular scenery I have seen. Sitting on the crunchy white earth, surrounded by bizarre Dr Seuss-esque landscapes – bristling with limestone turrets and peppered with bygone homes of troglodytes – will have you wondering if you’re still on planet Earth. Few photographs convey how perplexing the terrain is in person (DISCLAIMER: this photo isn’t an attempt to), making it best experienced first-hand with 360 degrees to gawk at. |
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May 2018
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