Potholes and Mosquitoes (1974) Photo

Photographer’s Note

This photo looks old and it is.

In October 1974 we bought a ride in a cabin of a truck between Maiduguri in eastern Nigeria and N'Djamena the capital of Chad - a distance of some 250 kms. The road passed across the extreme northern tip of the Cameroons. We were part of a convoy trucks but this was no fast journey - the dirt road had the biggest potholes imaginable. We were on the road for at least 3 days and 2 nights and each night we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. A journey never to be forgotten.

A scan from a kodachrome slide which required quite a bit of post-processing to get it to look as good and as old as it does.

rginer, mamcg, bukitgolfb301, fanni, macondo, jmdias, Curioso trouve(nt) cette note utile

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rginer (572) 2009-03-13 11:06 [Comment]

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mamcg (4556) 2009-03-13 20:18

Hi Marlene,
There is in a photo some elements that represent the culture and society so when I'll look to this as I'll find a road blocked, moist sun and high clouds then my idea turns that it is Africa.
many miss this opportunity and mix with the mood but I'll try to capture the time when it is boring or upset.
Well shot nice experience.
Regards.
TFS.

Muhammad.

delpeoples (6471) 2009-03-13 21:33

Hi Marlene, I really like the grainy effect from the film. It helps "heat" the photo up in my mind. Use of the vertical was a great idea, giving us even better angles and an idea of distance. Great job & TFS, Lisa.

liquid_sk (264) 2009-03-14 1:11

Hi!

Great retro shot... It's kind of moody.You sure traveled a lot back then.

Regards,
Slavko

bukitgolfb301 (4838) 2009-03-16 13:53

Hello my dear marlene

This photo is characteristic of scanned image, soft color and sharpness. But these are on the contrary good image indeed. I can imagine how tahgh that journey was.

Many thanks for sharing and best regards,
Takero

fanni (8737) 2009-03-17 0:54

Hello Marlene,
from the "historical" and "documentary" point of view this photo is a real treasure! I wonder how much has changed there since 1974?.. there are some places which seem to never change.
Very good PP work! But I wonder if this slight "dreamy" look - the haze - is the result of PP?
Interesting perspective view, and an impressive truck with all that stuff on it!
I wish I could take such an unforgettable trip one day... but so far I "travel" thanks to TE photos :)
Warm regards,
Elena

macondo (13207) 2009-03-18 3:32

Hi Marlene.
You've done a very good job of this. There's quite good sharpness in the foreground, quite enough to make this worthwhile. The colour is also not at all bad. This shot gives a very good idea of what you described in your note, and the long line of trucks ahead shows just how slow the journey must have been. You were lucky not to catch malaria by the sound of it. It looks like there were recent rains in this photo. Great work.
Regards,
Andrew

kschanna (6) 2009-03-19 4:57

Marlene this is unreal...truly a 'Photograph', its bespeaks of a vision captured on film...and the imperfection of the film is all the character in this picture.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

jmdias (19649) 2009-03-19 7:52

marlene

this looks like our roads when I was a child, nowadays this scenes are usual in northern areas of Brazil, in Amazon region. lots of trucks trying to go ahead. When I was a boy this was very usual here, old times were gone. Very nice image showing the scene, even the mist in the air is interesting like a trip in the time.

hugs

jorge

sigur (338) 2009-03-21 3:44

Hi Marlene,

A great travel shot. Wow, travelling through Africa in the 70's must have been pretty tough but highly adventurous. Nice capture. Thanks for sharing.

Regards Simon

holmertz (9869) 2009-04-20 9:28

Hello Marlene,
I didn't see this one before. Yes, it really looks old, and it has kept a lot of its old-time charm. Especially in the lower part the colours are excellent. Further up, towards the sky, you seem to have encountered the usual problem of noise which required a lot of cleaning. The slight blur this has caused actually adds to the charm of the picture.
When I see this I feel relieved that it's most unlikely that I will ever make a journey like that again. I have done similar things, but never again.
Best regards,
Gert

AKITA (5463) 2009-07-29 5:06

dear Mariene,
a picturesque shot of the timeless view.
only one point different from contemporary view is "the time passing a little slowly there, then".
anyway, nice perspective, nice composition, vivid colors, the landscape itself came into your camera, and just now it pops up from my monitor screen.
I feel wet soil of the earth and dry wind of the sky.
thank you,
Akihisa