“Maybe we will die. The river keeps us alive.” A Kwegu tribesman from Ehiopia’s Lower Omo Valley asks disconcertingly, “If the fish are gone, what will we feed the children?”
To say the heritage and livelihood of one Africa’s richest cultures is under threat is not an exaggeration. It’s a stark reality.
A friend of mine, Belgian photographer Piet Van den Eynde (pronounced Pete Van-then-ainde), recently returned from the Omo Valley. He said it had been a long time dream of his to “photograph the colors, textures, and the environment of these ancient peoples before they vanish forever.”
It’s something I’ve dreamed of myself. So I sent Piet a bunch of questions on these topics:
- Tribes Under Threat: Damming of The Omo
- The Ethics of Tribal Photography
- Setting the Scene: Piet’s Creative Process
- Why Gear Matters: The Fujifilm GFX 50R
- Making The Shot: Brenizer Method Explained
- Piet’s Post Processing Workflow in Lightroom
- How You Can Help
Before I share our Q&A, let’s take a look at what’s happening in the Omo.
Tribes Under Threat: Damming of The Omo
The Lower Valley of the Omo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in south-western Ethiopia that borders Kenya, has been called the cradle of civilization and one of the last frontiers of Africa.
The Ethiopian government is building a series of hydroelectric dams along the Omo River. Sadly, the project also threatens the way of life for the tribal communities in the valley.
To make matters worse, the hydropower from the dam is said to be primarily for export, not domestic use.
In her Nat Geo article, See a Massive Dam’s Big Impacts on Tribal Communities, Laura Parker reports: “Starting in 2008, construction of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam on the river upended that life for subsistence farmers, cattle herders, and fishermen, who depended on the Omo’s natural flow to sustain their livelihoods. Now they face a severe shortage of food and government-sponsored modernization that is encroaching on their tribal lands.”
Thousands from other ethnic groups across Ethiopia have already been forced from their land. The government’s villigisation plan calls for resettling displaced indigenous peoples into artificial communities.
The Ethics of Tribal Photography
How did you arrange to photograph the tribes? Did you pay money to do it?
It’s almost impossible to photograph the tribes without paying. And frankly, for them, it’s a source of income. In a way, it seems fair to pay, too. After all, we pay our models here, too, don’t we? Or, we work on a TFCD (Trade For CD) basis, in which case our photographs are payment.
Normally, photographers pay per click when taking pictures of the Omo tribes. However, we had our guide negotiate a fee per model. Paying per click would make me too nervous and also, it becomes a bit too much of a transaction that way.
Logistically, it’s quite challenging to get to some of the tribes which makes visiting them on a guided workshop, like the workshop Matt Brandon and I will run in November 2019, an interesting option.
Q: Even though the models are being paid, critics say they are being exploited. There have been complaints of a human-zoo-like atmosphere. Is tourism ruining or preserving the tribal cultures of the Omo? How can photographers act in a way that is not only sustainable but respectful to the tribes?
I think it’s still a long way from what is happening in Venice, Dubrovnik or Barcelona, to name but a couple of cities closer to where I live. Just to say that the debate of responsible tourism isn’t limited to the Omo valley.
There’s a system in place of paying an entrance fee to the village as well, so the villages benefit from that, too. What I chose to do, for example, but that’s up to each photographer in person and I’m only telling this because you ask about it, is that I donated money to a Belgian NGO that does medical missions in Ethiopia.
That way, I feel like I’m doing something back on a more structural level rather than (or in addition to) just handing out money to the people I photograph. Now those same critics will probably say I’m doing that to buy peace of mind.
Q: Some argue that staging tribal photographs is unethical. Just look at the criticism Jimmy Nelson got for his project Before They Pass Away. Is authenticity a concern for you? In other words, what responsibility do you have to the viewer, if any, when presenting your images?
I would trade my portfolio (and probably my bank account) with Jimmy Nelson in a heartbeat. Honestly, I don’t get the flack he’s gotten. He makes beautifully composed, beautifully lit and beautifully edited images of ancient cultures. He’s in many ways more like a painter than a photographer.
He focuses on the tradition (and his interpretation thereof) of these tribes. Other photographers might focus on the struggle between tradition and modern life. That’s fine, too. I think there is no unbiased photography.
Merely by choosing your crop, you’re already leading the viewer one way or another. Add to that your choice of color versus black and white, or your choice of focal length and you’re distorting reality even more.
If you say Jimmy Nelson shouldn’t photograph the tribes the way he did you should also say landscape photographers shouldn’t use wide angle lenses anymore to exaggerate perspective and create leading lines because ‘reality does not look like that’.
Setting the Scene: Piet’s Creative Process
Q: The American photographer Arnold Newman (he actually coined the phrase environmental portrait) famously quipped, “Photography is 1% talent and 99% moving furniture.” He placed his subjects in carefully controlled settings that would best tell the story of that person. What was your creative process for setting up your scenes?
I would agree. My main concern was ‘how do I bring order into this chaos’. I can assure you the first time you stand face to face, still jetlagged, with a member of the Mursi tribe, is quite intimidating. Especially if there’s a whole village surrounding you.
That’s why I also liked to use the 110 mm and the Brenizer technique so much. The best illustration of Newman’s quote is probably the ‘studio portraits’ I wanted to make. I had a Studio Assets PXB X-Frame collapsible background with me and I wanted to make some studio-like photos of people on a dark background.
Before I left, my idea had been to set up this backdrop in a hut – because obviously I wanted to make it as dark as possible so I could make life easier on my flashes. However, when I got there it turned out that those huts are way lower than the background system. So much for my idea.
I had to improvise on the spot. We were there at noon, so the sun was at its harshest. Luckily, we came across the village’s water tower and under that, there was about nine square meters of relative shade.
So we set up our highly improvised field studio under that water tower, as you can see towards the end of the video I made about the trip. While my subjects were in the shade, I standing in the blistering sun with a half-circle of villagers around me. It was an impressive experience.
Q: What’s the deal with the guns Piet? Are they props? Do the locals really walk around with loaded AK-47s?
Ha, the guns. I guess there’s a little bit of both. Villagers will often propose to pose with guns because let’s face it, they are photogenic. They’re a great prop and you can create interesting lines with it. But, they also serve a purpose in real life.
We drove along deserted sand tracks and saw herders with AK-47s that weren’t lugging them around as a prop for a photoshoot they weren’t expecting in the first place. They really just used those guns as protection for themselves and their herds, not only from human but also from animal aggressors. Just in the months before we visited, crocodiles had attacked and killed villagers.
Why Gear Matters: The Fujifilm GFX 50R Medium Format Mirrorless Camera
Q: When you got back from Ethiopia you told me, “The Fuji GFX 50R made me a better photographer.” That surprised me (in spite of you being a Fuji Ambassador). Photographers always say, ‘Gear doesn’t matter’. How did the GFX enable you to make better images?
Well, very often, the ones saying that gear does not matter are the ones holding a Leica or a Hasselblad or a Phase One in their hand while saying so. Obviously, the photographer is still the most important part of the equation, but given that, I’ll take a better camera any time I can.
For me specifically, having such a great camera means I have no more excuses if I come up with crappy shots because it’s certainly not the camera’s fault. So, in a roundabout way, this motivates me to do my best.
High-resolution cameras like the Fujifilm GFX 50R can produce stunning images, but they are also less forgiving if you make focusing mistakes. This has led me to work slower and also use a tripod more, which in turn has led me to think more about my composition. Also, by working on a tripod, I can use compositing techniques in which I build and light two parts of a frame separately.
Other than that, what I probably even like more about the GFX than its resolution is its dynamic range. I can do pretty much anything with my images in postproduction and Lord knows I like to process my images.
Q: Which lenses did you use?
I had three lenses with me: two primes and a zoom. The Fujinon GF 23mm f4 (18 mm full-frame equivalent) hardly left the bag. Normally, my staple lens is Fujinon GF 32-64mm f4 which translates into a 25-50 but for this trip, I did 75 percent of my shots (including the one above) with the Fujinon GF 110 f/2, which is like an 85 f/1.4. That lens is a must-buy for anyone getting into the GFX system.
Q: You use a mini printer in your video. Which one is it? Any tips for using it in the field?
Yes, I use the Fujifilm Instax SP-2. It’s a great tool for saying thanks and opening doors. You can print directly to it with most of the Fujifilm cameras but even if you have another camera, it could still be useful as you can also print to it from your smartphone using the Instax Share App. I love that little printer!
Making The Shot: Brenizer Method Explained
Q: You shot many of your portraits using the Brenizer Method. Could you explain what that is and why you use it? Why not just shoot a typical single-exposure portrait at at a shallow depth of field like f/1.8?
This method is named after wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer. I don’t know if he invented it, but he sure popularised it. I like to make environmental portraits: including a subject in his or her environment.
[5 Environmental Portrait Tips Every Photographer Should Know]
For that, you need a rather wide lens, but the problem is that wide lenses are generally have smaller maximum lens openings which means sometimes the background will be disturbingly sharp. I want the background to inform the image, not dominate it.
Enter the Brenizer method. Here, you use a telephoto lens wide open and capture a number of frames, for example a 3 x 3 matrix around your subject and then stitch that into a panorama using Lightroom, Photoshop or any other pano app. The result is an image with a wide angle of view (because of the panorama you made) but also with an – often almost surreal – shallow depth of field, because of the wide open aperture on the telephoto lens.
Q: What does your Brenizer panorama workflow look like Piet?
My process for shooting environmental portraits using the Brenizer method is:
- First, I make a vertical shot in which my subject almost completely fills the frame and then I take a couple to the left, a couple to the right, and one row above and one row below.
- Next, I try to make them overlap by at least 30 percent. The bigger your matrix becomes, the more difficult it becomes to keep track of what you’ve covered and what you haven’t yet.
- I would also suggest working in Manual Exposure mode and manual White Balance as to avoid inconsistencies in exposure and white balance.
- Finally, I also focus manually to avoid focus shifts.
Remember, the more you open up your aperture and the closer you get to your subject, the more pronounced the effect can be (warning, it can also be too much, like a fake tilt-sift effect). But the closer you get, the more shots you also will need to make.
Piet’s Post Processing Workflow In Lightroom
Q: In addition to being an accomplished photographer, you’re also a passionate photography instructor and Adobe Lightroom Certified Expert. Would you agree that Lightroom played an integral part in the execution of your Omo project? If yes, how so?
Absolutely. Lightroom is my favorite tool and I try to do as much as possible in it. I will generally set up a mood or ‘grade’ for my project and I love to use the new Creative Profiles for that, of which I’ve created a set of my own. I like the fact that you can tweak the effect between 0 and 200 percent.
Using Creative Profiles lets me get a consistent look really quickly and the time they help me save is time I can reinvest in some dodging and burning. I try to do this as much as possible with Radial Filters. That way, if I have edited one image, I can simply sync the edits with similar images and all I have to do is reposition the Radial Filters and I’m done.
How You Can Help
“The government will take the water out of the river and pour it on the land outside,” says a Kwegu tribeswoman. “Where are we going to go? We will all be finished.”
I sincerely hope that the people of the Omo will be able to live on as they have for centuries, and that Piet’s photos won’t become a digital time capsule of what once was.
During my research for this article I came across an organization called Survival. In their words, Survival is a “global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. We’re the only organization that champions tribal peoples around the world. We help them defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures.” Here’s how you can help the Omo Valley tribes.
Further Reading:
- Visiting an African Tribe: What You Need To Know (Helen In Wanderlust)
- Lip-plates and The People Who Take Photographs: (Anthropology Today)
- Ethiopia’s renewable energy revolution shouldn’t fail to empower its poor (The Guardian)
[Disclaimer: I do not endorse or receive compensation from any brand or organization mentioned in this article. The article may contain affiliate links to photography gear or courses, of which support this site.]
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