Another West African market, a photo from Bolama, Coast

Photographer's Note

This is from the island of Bubaque in the Bijagos (or Bissagos) archipelago of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. To me almost every market in Africa is a very special place, but as a photo I suppose this is really nothing special at all. It was not a place where I could arrange anything or make a clever composition. It was just a matter of getting inside the crowd and aiming the camera in a reasonably free direction with reasonably good light. In the few seconds I needed to check sharpness and exposure the woman to the left happened to step into the view. It is a bit disturbing to have cut off half of her baby hanging from her back, but I guess this illustrates the ever changing flow of people in a place like this.

As far as I can see this is the first photo on TE from Bubaque. I spent a couple of days there in 1990 to get away from the capital. I went there by boat, which was a journey of several hours, but returned to Bissau by plane.

The Bijagos islands are partly autonomous and the inhabitants speak their own language, Bijago. The relative lack of government control - and an extremely weak and corrupt government generally - seems to have been one reason why Latin American drug cartels have been able to use the islands in recent years as a stepping-stone for smuggling mainly cocaine into Europe.

26 years ago this was a very quiet place.

You can see two workshop photos, showing my boat and my plane. The Map:view gives you an approximate location of this photo. The three photos were all scanned from Kodachrome slides.

Here is a larger version of the main photo.

danos, ikeharel, dta, jhm, Fis2, ourania, jean113, alvaraalto, adramad, gildasjan, Cricri, saxo042, Royaldevon, ChrisJ, cornejo, Graal, macjake, PiotrF, COSTANTINO, mcmtanyel, PaulVDV heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

danos (110407) 2016-04-13 1:14

Hello Gert,
nice the view of all this colourful crowd of the natives in this open air market of the island of Bubaque.As i see the most of the people are as always women.The excellent light and colour maangement enhance even more the beauty of this photo coming from '90's.

Regards,Danos

rbassin (27472) 2016-04-13 1:42

hello Gert
une belle photo d'archive, un marché plein de couleurs,de vie et de détails croustillants.
J'aime bien voir les attitudes de chacun.
Bonne journée
Roland

Nicou (193806) 2016-04-13 2:16

Hlelo

Fantastique image et compo quelle vue de marché quelle animation et scène colorées ces
dames en beau costume et pane ce homme le tissus superbe vue de marché et compo.
Nicou

ikeharel (106389) 2016-04-13 3:07

Hello Gert,
Vibrant action on the outdoor market, vivid in multi-colors scenery. All 3 photos show daily-life there, par-excellence, and can only imagine the tummult that went on.
My best regards,
Ike

pajaran (103697) 2016-04-13 3:21

Dobar dan.
Lepa fotografija i secanje ...
Dobar rad sa fotografijama u radionici, lepo pokazano, dobar kontrast i ostrina, lepe boje.
Lepo pokazani trenuci.
Imajte lep i uspesan dan, sve najbolje.
Paja.

Good day.
Beautiful photos and memories ...
Good work with photographs in the workshop, shown a nice, good contrast and sharpness, beautiful colors.
Beautifully displayed moments.
Have a nice and successful day, all the best.
Paja.

dta (98564) 2016-04-13 3:45

Hello Gert ,
A superb documentary shot , so typical of the african markets , so colorful .
Regards

lousat (130627) 2016-04-13 3:51

Hi Gert,it's always lovely to read your interesting note about your adventures of 90th. A remote place not visited by the tourist,it's a pity to know that now is a place used for the drugs commerce. An excellent pic from the colorful market despite the lady on the left,and very curious post in the 2nd WS,needs to be brave to fly with airplanes like that...ehehe....have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

jhm (204011) 2016-04-13 4:33

Hello Gert,

What an activity on the market with the seller and the different ladies.
Perfect scanned and pleasant of colours.
Sharpness and clarity are excellent done
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

papagolf21 (152603) 2016-04-13 6:33

Bonjour, cher Gert,
Une image de 1990 qui n'a rien perdu de sa force. L'ambiance y est fort bien présentée. Nous sommes plongés au coeur de l'action.
Merci pour la note d'accompagnement.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Fis2 (156772) 2016-04-13 6:50

Witaj Gert!
Next interesting scene from daily life.
Good frame, colors and light.
I am closer exotic countries,thank you.
Warm regards.
Krzysztof

rychem (72179) 2016-04-13 7:15

Excellent documentary photo of great worth, after so many years you can see differences in this society in Guinea Bissau, very interesting market scene, colorful and lively, very well captured

BennyV (32612) 2016-04-13 10:25

Hej Gert

Another great oldie getting its second life here. Very colourful, excellent framing and fileld with great details, like the smoking man on the right and the guy with nr 16 on his back. Applause!

Benny

sabermonajati (11533) 2016-04-13 10:28

hi
interesting frame from daily life you captured.
regard
saber

Tue (83032) 2016-04-13 11:25

Hello Gert,
A great impression of this market place and the daily life going on here. The clothing of the people add some great and bright colours. Perfect composition too.
Lars

kasianowak (15984) 2016-04-13 12:02

Hi Gert
Another West African market... and another fascinating photo full of details to look at. The woman walking into the frame creates a dynamic element of what otherwise would have been a fairly static composition. You didn't cut half of the baby off, just half of her (I think) head, but quite a recognisable and colourful part is already in the photo.
Together with the WS images this is a fascinating reportage that transports me 26 years back.
Best wishes
Kasia

ourania (51103) 2016-04-13 12:55

Hello Gert,
what a colourful and lively market and how many people and scenes you managed to include in this frame! Everyone is serious and seems to be there for a specific reason, the energy of so many people and transactions is great. The lady with the red scarf is a fine addition and it's a good thing that her baby looked the other way so the abrupt cut doesn't matter. I like very much the colours and the flow of people and stories. Your boat and plane, as well as the scenes around them, are interesting too. Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a good night,
Ourania

jean113 (22585) 2016-04-13 13:30

Hello Gert, thank you for the map as I had no idea where this place was at all!
I like your spontaneous pictures, they give a real impression of the places that you have visited.
There is so much to enjoy in the shot, with all the people about their everyday duties to the upside down table on that roof! (?)
Regards Jean.

carlo62 (81265) 2016-04-13 15:04

Ciao Gert
non credo che sia cambiato molto dal 1990 a oggi, i mercati sono sempre chiassosi e colorati e questa testimonianza non fa che confermarlo ancora una volta.
Saluti
Carlo

abmdsudi (89415) 2016-04-13 16:20

Hi Gert
A typical African market scene showing the hustle and bustle with some bright colours to draw attention portraying an insight into local daily life. Well seen and taken, Congrats
Best regards

berek (50518) 2016-04-13 22:34

Dear Gert
beautşful daily life scene of open market these colorful animation and colorfull
ladies nice suit and propane this man the beautiful fabrics to the market.
best regards
Burak

GyurMaster (21759) 2016-04-14 0:16

Dear Gert,

I don't consider lady with her child as disturbing element. On the contrary it illustrates the busy nature of the place and to an extent the direction of her movement makes my eyes move towards the main figure, the seller.

Excellent oldie as always!

Best Regards,
György

cristina1 (1165) 2016-04-14 0:32

Hello,

beautiful everyday life full of colours, movement and vivacity.
Good light and pov.
have a good day
Cristina

emka (153356) 2016-04-14 1:36

Hello Gert,

Nice all three pictures. The boat looks very good, much better that the one I went several hours to Mrauk U. Funny to see the plane just on the grass. Fascinating view of the African market. I have seen many beautiful markets, but not in black Africa. So for me (and for most of us) it is very special. I wonder it so many years ago the cloths there were Chinese. I like the composition, even with cut kid :). Interesting this big brown pack in the middle. Another gem from you garderobe.

WArm regard s Malgo

alvaraalto (42410) 2016-04-14 2:35

Hello Gert,
A very good close up picture of daily life. It is a pleasure to look at all that faces. A lovely bunch of colourful people. The workshops with the boat and the Dakota are a good appendix to your post.
I have to praise you for the fabulous qualities of the scans.
Groet Rob

mjw364 (1466) 2016-04-14 6:14

Hello Gert

a very colourful scene with facial expressions of the main protagonists in the foreground telling an imagined story of their interactions which brings the image to life.

Great image.

Yes - workshops - I didn't even know it was switched off as an option for me - I'll sort that out at some point.

Have a great day.

Mike

adramad (67604) 2016-04-14 7:56

Hello Gert.
Superb image; that captures the colorful motley costumes of many characters as we see in the market, it is an ideal place to capture images, also it conveys a great vitality in the daily work of all these people.
Sharpness, lighting, color, and the magnificent composition; are all factors perfectly made, in this beautiful image.
Well done. I like very much.
Have a nice day.
Best wishes.
Luis.

gildasjan (43826) 2016-04-14 9:41

Bonsoir Gert
Une scène de vie bien colorée qui j'imagine vous a donné du plaisir pour réaliser cette image.
Amicalement
Gildas

Cricri (176) 2016-04-14 11:12

Hi Gert
Belle scène de vie, pleine de couleurs et plein de monde sur le marché, c'est très beau a voir, superbe travail
PS) on ne peut pas dire jamais, mais pour l'instant je reste sur TE malgré les problèmes!!! il y a le contact avec les membres, ça fait beaucoup :-)
Amitiés
cricri

dkmurphys (78032) 2016-04-15 0:14

Hi Gert,
A lot of colors and dynamic in your scene, I like this peaceful chaos (who knows how much peace there is nowadays when the religious maniacs are getting crazy...).
Nice shot, enjoy a fine weekend.

Daniel

saxo042 (38078) 2016-04-15 1:41

Hej Gert,
Ett myller av folk och färger och en intressant text. Kartbilden uppskattas också.
Hälsningar
Gunnar

Royaldevon (76744) 2016-04-15 8:08

Hello Gert,

What a colourful and busy place this is; just as you would imagine a market to be! There are so many costumes, expressions and points of interest, I enjoyed perusing this for quite a while!
With regard to composition, I think it becomes quite natural to a competent photographer, though you may decide to do a close up or a wide angle.
It's a fine scan, the colours being vivid and the images sharp.

I am so curious about the upturned table on the tin roof! Is it there to keep the roof in place or just a convenient place to store it?

My warm regards,
Bev :-)
Thank you for your good wishes. I am so lucky to have two delightful granddaughters!

Silvio1953 (207031) 2016-04-15 9:27

Ciao Gert, interesting market scene, lovely composition with a lot of people, wonderful colors, splendid light and excellent clarity, very well done, my friend, have a good week end, ciso Silvio

serp2000 (47063) 2016-04-15 12:36

Hello, Gert, This is another interesting informative and picturesque photo from Africa. I like these bright colors of the clothes and I think they are not from China. Thanks again for so interesting and informative note about their life. Sorry, no time to see the WS photos. Maybe next time. Serghei

ChrisJ (161162) 2016-04-15 13:14

Hello Gert,

Striking warm cold color contrasts between the red blue and yellow colors of the people's apparel. A lively market scene with lots to look at. Good sharpness and excellent tight framing. Tfs!

jmdias (103924) 2016-04-15 16:39

gert

I liked this compo much more than the other in the market in the same country. here there are lots of colors and life is intense. nice job.

hugs

jorge

cornejo (61504) 2016-04-16 10:16

Hello Gert, very good picture of this interesting scene of daily life in the market, well captured in this interesting image with good sharpness, light, color and quality. A great job well done, congratulations my friend. Thanks for sharing this interesting work.

Good night and good Sunday.
All the best from southern Spain.
Angel.

Graal (103040) 2016-04-17 11:57

Hello Gert,
nice colorful image and slide. Good captured scene and theme about the daily life in Guinea Bissau. Photo here and complementary WS I like.
Have a nice evening.
Aleksander

macjake (96331) 2016-04-19 3:37

Hi Gert
Sorry for the late reply.
you commented about the busyness of this style of market, absolutely true, and your composition, or lack there of one shows that haha. As i'm looking at it, the scene is so full of people, people are cut in half or entering/leaving the scene, but thats just showing us how crowded and busy the market really is.

For someone like Me, who's always so composition focused, a place like this with so many moving parts/people, it would drive me insane haha

but honestly, there's so much to enjoy though. I like seeing the dirt road, the structure in the bg looks to me a makeshift construction, and I like the calmness of the teenage girl and her Mom in the middle whom are both looking at the pale blue top. lots to like here.

PS
I added alot of more info to my latest haunted house photo, you asked about more details. Hopefully you read through it to get the full story. please take a look if you havn't
cheers
Craig

mkamionka (62300) 2016-04-19 4:00

Hi Gert,
I am not that much into markets but I can see why you like this subject. There is so much color here, there is so much going on. Plenty of people faces, situations.
I suppose people do same activity in European countries just less often outdoor.
Amazing destination again, one which I will probably never get a chance to visit.
Nice to see it in your reportage.
Great scan as usually,
M

PiotrF (52330) 2016-04-19 16:38

Hello Gert,
interesting market scene, colorful picture from Guinea-Bissau.
I also like the picture airports and aircraft.Perfect exposure, fine composition and excellent colours.
Nice shot.
Regards
Piotr

claudeD (47754) 2016-04-21 9:42

Hello Gert,

that is a typical scenery for Africa which can be observed in many countries.Very good daily life picture with a perfect light management. Very well done.TFS.

With regards from Luxembourg

JC

COSTANTINO (105027) 2016-05-01 9:18

Hello dear Gert and have a nice time
and a happy new month May 2016
Sometimes I wonder how many photos
you have during your life
I believe thousands
this colorful one is fantastic
with colorful and impressive
details very well composed
26 years ago is a long long time
great experience indeed
thanks
regards
Costantino

fabianoleite (13575) 2016-06-03 7:28

Nice to see this market full of activities, full of colors and products and faces. Nice lively atmosphere, I like it, congratulations!

mcmtanyel (58860) 2017-12-01 22:34

Hello Gert,
I love those colorful attires. It's a lovely daily life scene from ~27 years ago.
Regards,
MT

Miguel82 (47110) 2020-06-27 12:20

Gert, that part of the market is dedicated to clothes. That picture shows the lively atmosphere, the vendors, the customers. There are many colors and details to observe. I like market photos. Fine colors, good sharpness, regards.

PaulVDV (55547) 2021-02-22 11:09

Hello Gert,
Today this older picture of yours is shown on the main page of TE in the theme 'Featured Destination: Bolama, Guinea-Bissau'.
Guinea-Bissau is rarely in the news these days but perhaps that is a good thing since Africa is usually in the news in a negative way.
I confess that I have never heard of Bubaque or of the Bijagos archipelago even while these islands enjoy partial autonomy.
The photo shows a nice, pleasant bustle where you have to be careful not to step on the merchandise.
Somewhere in the crowd someone's carrying a large pack on his/her head.
Funny with the upside-down table on top of a roof.
Best regards, Paul