The event of the day, a photo from Kinshasa, South

Photographer's Note

This is a very uncomplicated photo, showing just a few kids living on the outskirts of Kinshasa getting a bit excited or startled by the arrival of a number of outsiders, Congolese and foreigners, to their quiet neighbourhood.

I was one of those utsiders who came here to visit a local democracy awareness campaign, a few days ahead of general elections in 2006. That was the first time in 46 years that the Congolese people had a chance to elect their representatives in a reasonably fair manner.

The elections, heavily assisted by the UN, went off comparatively smoothly. Unfortunately not much has happened since then. The war-torn country is still in a sad state and the Democratic Republic of Congo has as yet not lived up to its name.

You can see some of the participants of the democracy awareness campaign in workshops.

saxo042, ourania, fabbs99, jusninasirun, COSTANTINO, vagabondtravels, macjake, kato, Graal, bukitgolfb301, adores, bayno, Angshu, tyro, Cricri, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Nicou (193806) 2013-04-19 10:31

Hello

quelle belle sc鑞e sueprbe tous ces enfants et personne quelle vue color閑 anim閑 et mouvement閑 sueprbe image.
Bravo et amiti�
Nicou

saxo042 (38078) 2013-04-19 10:41

Hej Gert,
En bild ur det dagliga livet, enkelt och okomplicerat. Bilden f鰎medlar mycket v鋜me och en glad och positiv st鋗ning. M錸ga fina f鋜ger och en intressant byggnad i bakgrunden. Ocks� bra extrabilder.
H鋖sningar fr錸 Oslo (Leo fyller 錼 imorgon)
Gunnar

Fis2 (169589) 2013-04-19 11:19

Witaj Gert!
A very good reportorial shot.
Excellent colors and light.
I like this daily life shot.
For me it's exotic, it's nice to watch.
Have a nice weekend
Krzysztof

ourania (51103) 2013-04-19 12:17

Hello Gert,
the spontaneity and naturalness of this capture are most effective, your picture has great character and cultural interest. Excellent depth, clarity and colour definition make the scene very vivid and captivating. The light has been used superbly too. I like very much studying the different postures, expressions and attitudes as well as the group dynamics. You've really placed us in your shoes here, I think we're sharing impressions and feelings. The workshop pictures are wonderful too. Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a great weekend,
Ourania

Miguel82 (47110) 2013-04-19 12:21

Good document about village life Gert,
Very authentic and natural picture
Vivid colors of the clothes, I like the traditional houses
Best regards

mesutilgim (0) 2013-04-19 12:28

Hello dear Gert,
All those "oldies" are real gems ! Like this one from Kinsasha.
Those kids must be now around their twenties.
Taken with a digital camera but still has the taste of an analog capture.
TFS and have a nice weekend
MESUT ILGIM

fabbs99 (17179) 2013-04-19 13:53

Hello Gert,

Excellent street shot from Africa.Not so retro compared to your photographs from the eighties,
but great presentation.The kids seem to be all charged up.Well done.

Regards
Farhat

williewhistler (16606) 2013-04-19 14:28

Hello Gert,the excitement and apprehension of the small gathering is portrayed very well,the environment is also immediately apparent,a fine journalistic photograph.
Best regards,
Les.

jusninasirun (17529) 2013-04-19 18:04

Hello Gert.
I like the excitement in their faces seeing a goup of outsiders coming to their village. You have captured the shot well with adults overlooking the scene behind the excited children.
Thanks and kind regards.
Jusni

pajaran (114781) 2013-04-19 22:55

Dobar dan.
Dobar tekst o mestu i trenutku ...
Dobar trenutak snimka, kontrast, lepe boje.
Dobar rad sa lepom fotografijom u radionici.
Lepo secanje.
Imajte lep dan, sve najbolje za vikend.
Srecno.
Paja.

Good afternoon.
Good article on the place and time ...
A good time recording, contrast, beautiful colors.
Good work with a lovely photograph of the workshop.
Pleasant memory.
Have a great day, all the best for the weekend.
Good luck.
Paja.

dkmurphys (79209) 2013-04-20 1:51

Hi Gert,
Another scene spectacular through it's simplicity. I like it a lot, very well taken.

Daniel

COSTANTINO (115407) 2013-04-20 4:46

Hello
it is an impressive shot wth cultural
interest,I like the innocent faces
of those young children,the light
has been used superbly
have a nice evening
regards
Costantino

vagabondtravels (6511) 2013-04-20 5:41

Hi Gert,

Very sharp and vibrant capture of intricacies of daily life. I have a colleague who worked in Kinshasa for a number of years, what stories. Good work.
Ben

macjake (98256) 2013-04-20 7:03

Hi Gert
Isn't the Congo an unsafe country to visit! I know there are bad areas and good areas in EVERY country, but on a whole, I thought the Congo was a no-travel type of destination....just to be safe.
Perhaps things have become worse since 2006, infact a week ago i remember hearing on the radio about the same issue - how its important NOT to travel here.
its funny to see nobody wearing sneakers, one boy has shoes, and the rest use sandals.

and its funny how the young girl has the pot on her head because at first glance it looks like the pot is resting on the red structure in the bg, but on close observation its on her head!! :)

On a side note.....
getting back to sneakers/running shoes....
When i traveled to Poland and the Czech Rep last year I wore my running shoes bc we would be walking alot - just to be comfortable.
I was AMAZED, how many STRANGE looks i got because i was wearing sneakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember on SEVERAL occasions people actually turning around and POINTING at my feet!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me ask you something....is wearing sneakers just a NorthAmerican thing...?
Do Europeans look at me and think....yep, there's an American? (canadian)
just curious

cheers
craig

npecanhuk (79329) 2013-04-20 17:35

Hi Gert!
Interesting and attractive daily life photograph!
Sharpness, exposure, colors and composition really pleased me!
TFS - congrats,
Cheers,
Neyvan

ACL1978 (7511) 2013-04-20 21:07

Places like the Congo remind me that no matter how horrible events like this past weeks' can seem, there are people and places that experience worse every day. Maybe not as much in Kinshasa, though it has seen its share, but further out into the country. Here we have a great scene of these excited kids rushing to greet you. The adults in the BG are interesting though, seemingly a bit wary or uncertain.

Glad you were able to visit this sad place and do your part to try and help bring stability.

Andrew

wolf38 (30) 2013-04-20 22:08

Hello Gert. A beautiful and vivid pictures. Children are particularly curious, so the title is very well chosen. The photo shows many interesting details. I like the friendliness of the people. Informative text - as always. I like the photo.
Rgds, Wolfgang.

kato (11630) 2013-04-21 2:44

Hello Gert,

You're capturing well this scene by a good composition and excellent tone/clarity, so it's interesting and impressive to see the spectacle in which a local resident greets the Congolese and foreigners visit a village for the campaign of a democratic election. They are doing the countenance filled in curiosity. Although the building is poor, it is visible to the place of rich nature here. And in WS, it's impressive in the people gathering in a meeting for listening to election workers wear the best dress, sit on a chair and hear the talk.

Kind regards,
mikio

Graal (103040) 2013-04-21 7:45

Hi Gert,
another interesting 3 photos from your archive. Good reportage about the elections in 2006. Nice portraits and scenes. Also I like the colours and natural poses of childrens.
Have a nice evening.
Aleksander

rychem (72187) 2013-04-21 10:17

Photo report documenting a piece of African history, worldwide children are curious and the camere is an interstig thing, well done
regards
Ryszard

marabu61 (11587) 2013-04-21 13:20

Hej Gert
I bet the event of the day was you and your camera :-)
Such an iconic and typical every day scene that can be observed all over Africa in a similar manner.
The joy of live of these people is always amazing and makes one in good humor right away to.
Even though these are only hovels in the background they are very photogenic to.
hejd�
Daniel

bukitgolfb301 (54014) 2013-04-21 14:07

Hi dear Gert

Sorry for my late reply---.
Wow you went to Congo R. You are so brave man! But your effort could get wonderful fruit like this.
So lovely and fantastic image you present. Greatly sharp and clear presetnation at all! Thier lovely and dynamic expression makes me so happy under their hard life condistion.
Thanks a lot and have a good new week!

Takero from Tokyo

eldancer1 (36343) 2013-04-22 7:40

Very nice capture of those children who look happy enough but I wonder if life has improve for them as adults since you took this picture. You did a wonderful job scanning with wonderful colors. Well done, tfs.

adores (46979) 2013-04-25 13:40

Hi Gert!
Uncomplicated but really nice! I really like their expressions and the simple houses. Not everyday that they see foreiners there, I believe. They seem really excited, specially the little ones. I like the colourful scene. We rarely see photos of this country on TE!

agjika (3177) 2013-04-25 15:38

Hi Gert,

This is definitely yours!! You have definitely been everywhere! I remember following the news during the Cabila and war days.

A very good candid photo.

Regards

Aleks

bayno (18348) 2013-04-28 12:37

Ciao gert,
do not want to make a political speech about the situation of this country, but I think the work of the UN inefficient, but I believe that the interests of the filthy rich states of Europe have complicated the situation even caused the malaise of this country, good reportage, beautiful colors, excellent detail and exquisite light....
have a good evening...
Valter

Angshu (56760) 2013-04-30 22:37

Hello Gert
The kids seem to be all attention at the other people in the group with none looking at you....this makes it a candid shot! Simple yet nice daily life shot! Indeed its a pity that the countries in central Africa has not made much progress...interests of other developed countries and corruption will ensure that they remain poor. Hope that things change in the near future!
Thanks for the double WS posts...they add to the feel of the place

Best Regards
Angshu

abmdsudi (95869) 2013-05-05 10:17

Hi Gert
Good notes to guide us. Section of the crowd, mainly children look excited n great enthuasiasm welcoming the outsiders into their den while the adult dont show much interest it seems. But you have discovered the smalll area of photo opportunity there, this probably a split second shot but the result is real. I love all the natural happy faces given the children expression and the surroundings. A lovely natural street candid with great light and colors. Good doc shot, Well done.
Kind regards

tyro (30513) 2013-05-09 8:39

Hello Gert,

A very interesting note and a fine trio of photographs by way of illustration.

It never ceases to amaze me how poor people, particularly the younger ones, in places such as this always seem to be happy, smiling and laughing. Clearly the comparative wealth with which we are blessed in western Europe is not the definitive recipe for happiness.

The lighting in all of these pictures is lovely and your little digital camera, which is nowadays probably considered very dated, has rendered some lovely vibrant colours. Spot-on exposure and excellent details and sharpness in all of the images.

Excellent!

Kind Regards,

John.

emka (157280) 2015-12-30 15:35

Hej, I was curious if there are more your photos from Congo, I forgot about them. It seems I haven't see this one, maybe I was travelling somewhere that time.
I thought to all these exotic,dangerous African countries long time ago, but this is quite fresh photo, not long before your joining TE. Strange that you went there, probably as journalist and not just tourist,it is not holiday destination. Was it not dangerous?
Nice picture, kids are always kids, having fun whatever situation is.

I find the discussion with Craig about sneakers funny.

MAlgo

Cricri (176) 2018-09-07 8:01