ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The Surma tribe of the Omo Valley, Ethiopia...a place where mankind probably began. The children and teens appear innocent and beautiful, with their ornate body paint work and exotic head decorations made of flowers. The place appears peaceful and untouched, but in reality, life here is harsh with the tribespeople at frequent wars with neighbouring tribes over cattle grazing rights. The line between peace and war is very fine and very blurred. They can be so near to each other, yet at times appear so far from each other...
The photo is part of my "Flowers of Ethiopia" series.
As a respect to the tribal people of Ethiopia, no flash, artificial lighting or reflectors were used. The tribespeople believe that each time a flash goes off, blood energy is being sucked out of their bodies.
The photos are all taken on site at their villages or surroundings.
03.2016
OmoValley, Ethiopia
AUTHOR
Robin Yong is a multi-award winning Travel Photographer. He enjoys traveling to exotic destinations to befriend and photograph the locals. He is best known for his work on the Omo Valley tribes in Ethiopia, the Venetian Masked models in Venice, the Bokator boxers of Cambodia and the Maikos of Kyoto. He calls these works his Travel Portraits, his Art of Travel Medicine. For most of his works, he does not use flash, reflectors or artificial lighting, depending solely on natural lighting alone. The photos are often dramatic, colourful and extremely beautiful. For Robin, every photo must look like a movie poster...
Over the past few years, Robin has quickly become one of the most popular and influential photographers at the Venice Carnevale and within the past few months, Flowers of Ethiopia alone has gathered numerous awards, finalist status and honourable mentions in many International photography competitions, including Alfred Fried Awards, Australia's Top Emerging Photographers, International Photography Awards, Istanbul Photo Awards, Moscow International Foto Awards, Sienna International Photo Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards, Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) Awards etc. In less than 3 years, Robin's travel photos have gathered more than 200 awards worldwide...
As of June 2018, Robin is now an Accredited Professional Photographer with the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography).
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