20 December 2010

Shire River, Malawi


Hippos yawned and snorted near the banks, jacanas stepped precisely over water hyacinth, an open-billed stork flew past carrying something unidentifiable. Well within the park boundary, we passed a man in ragged clothing; he stood baiting a line and looking nervous in a canoe that was little more than a crudely shaped and hollowed log. The skipper called out to him as we passed; he looked back at us but didn't reply. He wasn't the only one fishing.

[1 June 2007, Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 58 mm, ISO 200, 1/40s at f11] 

 
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

4 comments:

Relatively Retiring said...

I looked at the photograph, thinking that it could be of any river in any shire in England. Then I read your caption......

pohanginapete said...

Yes, rather different, RR.

"Shire" in this context is actually pronounced "SHEE-ray" — something I didn't discover until I got there.

leonie wise said...

Thanks for sharing the story behind the photograph. It feels more like I am involved in it, than were I simply looking at the photograph. Now I am imagining, the man in his hollowed out log, wondering what he was thinking and feeling; wondering how he would feed his family if he didn't catch any fish.

Marvellous

pohanginapete said...

Leonie, that's an interesting point. Finding ways for text and photos to work together can be very difficult, and a reasonably successful attempt can be far more satisfying than either a good photo or a piece of writing that 'works'. Perhaps the trick is to leave enough room for the viewer/reader to imagine; without that, a photo becomes mere illustration, text becomes merely a caption?