Goat Path Photography - Young Daasanach Woman - South-East Ethiopia

[Manfred M]

Goat Path photography; well I hesitate calling wandering through the village of a semi-nomadic tribe "street photography", so I have coined an more apt term, and yes, there were plenty of goats around.

I was not particularly happy with the colour images I had taken in this village; the lighting was poor, the background was often light coloured corragated steel sheets and I had left my flash back at the camp in our tent, so I didn't even have my fill light along to help.

I tried a B&W conversion and found that I liked this image far better than my coloured one. Pretty girl, even though I don't particularly like her taste in jewellry; that is a feather stuck through a piercing in her chin.

[juznobsrvr]

Yes, definitely better than your previous post. I can see why you are happy with this. Bravo.

The catch light on her eyes makes this image so alive. I also dig the tones and texture of her skin. Maybe the feather is a bit bright for my taste. But I do like her jewelries.

As for context, she speaks even though one cannot hear her. I speculate that she is a proud princess or someone of noble blood.

I like it a lot.

[Donald]

Wonderful portrait. Nothing constructive I can think of saying other than what Rob has said above. It's just a beauty.

[bnnrcn]

I loved it Manfred , the image pleases my eyes so much. Although I have no experience in shooting portraits, I think I 'm developing an eye for portrait shots because I have been watching portrait shots for a long time in CinC

[Mike Buckley]

Great image, Manfred.

The only problem I have with your term, goat path photography, is that every time I have been around goats there has also been a considerably large amount of droppings.

[MarieV]

Just beautiful Manfred - and concur with Rob's worthy comments...

[Manfred M]

The only problem I have with your term, goat path photography, is that every time I have been around goats there has also been a considerably large amount of droppings.

Exactly. I (we) spent a lot of time looking down and watching where we were stepping between shots.

[Manfred M]

Just for the sake of comparison, here is the orginal coloured version of the shot. Same PP work except for the B&W conversion.

[ajohnw]

I can't help wondering if this shot is a candidate for old fashioned hand coloured/tinted photography which is rather subdued and sometimes not applied in all places. It can be done digitally but unsure if techniques as it's not seen very often.

Good B&W shot.

John
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[Manfred M]

I can't help wondering if this shot is a candidate for old fashioned hand coloured/tinted photography which is rather subdued and sometimes not applied in all places. It can be done digitally but unsure if techniques as it's not seen very often.

Good B&W shot.

John
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There are a number of tutorials out there on the technique and I have played around with them a little. There is a Lynda.com one that covers exactly this subject, hand colouring an existing colour image. At this point, I don't have the time or patience to spend that much time on a single image.

[Shadowman]

nicely done, I prefer the B & W only because the background treatment is less distracting, with the color version I find myself wanting to know what's behind her.

[Manfred M]

Just to add a bit more background, here is a shot of the village where the picture was taken.





Dogs, chickens and goats...


And this is how we crossed the Omo River to get to the Daasanach village...

[Shadowman]

Great shot of the village.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred Although you uploaded the last two images to give further information , I just would like to say that I loved the last photo and I think it would make a better image by cropping from the top just a little bit to eliminate the bank of river.

[bnnrcn]

In addition , I find the boats very interesting in that photo. Are they made of big tree trunks ?

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred Although you uploaded the last two images to give further information , I just would like to say that I loved the last photo and I think it would make a better image by cropping from the top just a little bit to eliminate the bank of river.

I agree. but this image is more of a snapshot, so I didn't spend anytime working on it.

[Manfred M]

In addition , I find the boats very interesting in that photo. Are they made of big tree trunks ?

Yes, they are called dugout canoes. You see this in primative societies in many places in the world. We have traveled by dugout in both Africa and South America.

[truonda]

Great shot Manfred. I prefer the color version over the B&W.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful. B&W for me.