Ethiopia - Mercado, Addis Ababa

[Manfred M]

The Mercado (Market in Italian) is the largest open market in Africa and covers several square km (and miles) of space. It is crowded, busy, dirty and total mayhem. A perfect place to practice a bit of street photography. The vendors have arranged themselves into logical groupings, so you people selling similar products are clustered together. It's easy to get lost in and is a prime location for pick-pockets who prey on tourists and locals alike; so go with caution! I personally found it less attractive than the Souks found in the Mahgreb or the Middle-East, so photography there in the harsh mid-day sun was challanging. Many of the people there do not want to be photographed, and I do respect their wishes if they signal "no"; so one has to be a bit sneaky...

This was my first photographic outing after stepping off the plane, so jet-lag added to the shooting challange.

The area where you can buy pots and pans.



The recycling section

Discarded tires are made into shoes, large cans are turned into lamps and cookers and as the image shows, rebar (re-enforcing metal bars for concrete) are stripped and straightened out so that they can be reused in this part of the market. Here a man is bashing the long lengths of rebar with a hammer to straighted out the bends and kinks and prepare it for resale.






Butter seller, but not for eating. This butter is meant to be used for makeup.





Broom makers

This is the section of the market where you buy brooms. These broom makers are focused on something so I was able to get a quick shot of them. Some of their products can be seen beside them.





Injera is flatbread and is the national dish of Ethiopia and is made from Tef flour that has been fermented for several days, giving it a rather sour taste. Teff is stored in for several days in woven baskets, with their distinctive lids. The stacks of containers and lids are a great photographic subject.

[Mike Buckley]

I really like the photo of the lids. It's so good that you might want to consider changing the background on the right side to the background that is in the center and left side. I know you like spending your time that way.

[Ras lijji]

Beautiful photos

[Manfred M]

I really like the photo of the lids. It's so good that you might want to consider changing the background on the right side to the background that is in the center and left side. I know you like spending your time that way.

How's this Mike?

[Andrew76]

I think you're photos are fantastic, Manfred. I'm really enjoying the whole series. But, I love Injera, and I'm hungry. So now I've lost my train of thought.... I've just called the local African restaurant, but the kitchen's closed. Until tomorrow, I guess

[Mike Buckley]

How's this Mike?

Wonderful! And well worth whatever time you spent, even if it was a lot. (Notice how I'm so happy to allocate your time for you. )

[Manfred M]

Wonderful! And well worth whatever time you spent, even if it was a lot. (Notice how I'm so happy to allocate your time for you. )

I think it was a tad over 5 minutes Mike. Made a selection using Photoshop's Quick selection tool (this is the part that took longest) and then used Quick Mask to tune the selection and applied a 5 pixel feather, desaturated the selection and then applied an dark orange colour to match the background on the right side of the image.

[Mike Buckley]

If you have reviewed any of the tutorials presented by Adobe Digital Imaging Evangelist Julieanne Kost, you know that her response to your Photoshop skills would be one very simple word: excellent!

[Kaye Leggett]

Great photos - it just shows clutter can be photogenic. I love the third and fourth - put them together and she's not impressed with whatever the guys are !

[Shadowman]

Very nice series.