Portrait: Honorable Mention 2014 (professional)
ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The photograph was made during my volunteer job with an aid association in Ngorongoro Tanzania. That day i was attending at Masai tribe ceremony in Aljanemalok village and after the ceremony i was in the hut with the Masai chief sharing some food, at one moment i saw this boy standing in the rain like hypnotised, i'm still not sure was it about the food or about the white man in the village. The Masai chief would not let me to share my food with the kid, he told me the kids need to show respect to the older one, so i grab my camera i made the photograph.
AUTHOR
Documentary photography challenge started in 2011 during my first visit to Tanzania. While living and volunteering among members of the tribes in National Park Ngorongoro I could easily reach into their moments and capture truthful and objective photography of Maasai people and their culture.
Having experienced life of African tribes I decided to take a step further and dive into the unknown. Amazonian rainforests seemed as a perfect choice due to the fact that its depths hide one of the most isolated tribes in the world Wuaruni. Living with a Wuaruni family gave me opportunity to document the most delicate moments of their everyday life such as hunting or family reminiscing small talk over the fire.
In 2013 I sought for a double challenge and decided to document complete opposites when it comes to dismantling cultures and human emotions through photography. January was reserved for Ethiopia and its indigenous tribes where I found myself in the midst of significant cultural moment – a wedding ceremony which defies all the glitter of modern world and is based on sacrifice and pain. In July, my time and skills were focused solely on making a unique reportage about the forbidden Kingdom of Lo in Nepal.
In 2014, I packed my equipment to explore the wilderness of Indonesian archipelago, more precisely Siberut island and it was a somewhat of a curved ball in my documentary photography style. Living with Mentawai and documenting their lifestyle was a kind of a revelation – photographers sometimes only document life without knowing it. Mentawai changed it for me, that is why there may be a lot of sympathy and affection in my Mentawai photography.
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