A photograph is not only what we can see. There is a long process behind it. That is what Chapter 6 talks about.
Behind every photo, there is an idea. Moments are captured with the intention that in the future when we look at those photographs, we can return to them and feel the same way. To do this, it is not enough to just press the button. You have to look at the placement of the elements and what each of them conveys. As the chapter says, this is not easy, because the camera captures reality and you can’t change it. Instead of changing the elements so that they adapt to what we want, we are the ones who have to adapt to the environment so that our photograph conveys what we have in mind.
When I was 18 years old, a friend and I were working for 3 months in Seleky, a small town in Senegal. It is not a tourist area so there were not many of the facilities we are used to. For example, there was no water, we were very hungry and hot, we didn’t understand their language… The adaptation was very hard. So, once a day, we would go for a walk and tell each other how we had felt during the day. Moreover, in Seleky it is frowned upon if a woman smokes, so when we went for a walk we took the opportunity to smoke. It was the time of the day that we dedicated ourselves and that we used to make ourselves at home.
When I took this photo, I wanted to convey that. My friend Laura is standing in the middle of the road. As you can see, a river flows by on both sides. The sun is right behind her head and that’s why there is that contrast between light and shadow. Also, the sun is going down so the sky is orange and blue colored. The water, the clouds, the cows behind…, make me feel like I am there. It takes me to the same peace and tranquility.
If I had to take this photo again, I think I would move farther away so you could see more of the background, and I would try to give the cows more prominence because you can hardly see them.