Big Dreams: Life Built on Gold
Image by: Nii Obodai Provencal
Notes from the Field, Ghana
“Trust doesn’t come easily in the gold mines. To have people allow me into their fragile and desperate lives demands a reconsideration of the photographer’s role.
So often I have been asked why I want to photograph them and what will I do with the pictures. They often assume that I am taking their images for profit, to grow rich. To ease things and to give back in a way that allows our often brief encounters to resonate into the future, I have started using a Polaroid Land 320 Automatic camera loaded with Fuji FP 100c, in addition to my usual Leica M6. With Ghana’s power supply becoming more unstable everyday, instant film is re-emerging.
I began to use this camera to make portraits of the people that Yiting Sun, my journalist collaborator, and I wanted to talk to. It helps break the ice when they find out that I can give them a photograph that will be theirs to keep. Individuals who were first aggressive to my presence would begin to demand that I also photograph them.”
This exchange is not a one-sided emotional experience, it also leaves me feeling as if I am not justing taking from them but also giving back. The sense of gratitude flows both ways.”
Big Dreams: Life Built on Gold