Nothing like a competition to focus the mind. Urban Picnic Street Photography organises an annual competition, with entrants allowed to submit three of their finest. I don’t fancy my chances, as I’m relatively new to this game. But if it generates any constructive criticism, then the £10 entry fee will have paid for itself.
Here is my submission. Photo descriptions are additional (not part of the UPSP entry).
A lucky shot, taken while in a small bus transporting us delegates back to our accommodation. Numerous street vendors selling all sorts of goods, including animals.
The brightly coloured vehicle is not so unusual in Kaduna, nor an observing passenger, nor a decal message. But put together, and particularly on these streets that has witnessed inter-ethnic violence, compelled me.
On our return from a rural neighbourhood that has been attacked by communal rivals. The relative poverty was acute. Like sectarian graffiti I’m used to seeing in the streets of Belfast, I was not surprised to see scrawls of “Death 2 America” in this Muslim-populated area.
Additional Information:
Part of a series, Kaduna Street, taken November 2013 during international conference of peace makers in Kaduna, Nigeria, a place of inter-ethnic conflict. Delegates were provided with 24-hour security from police and military services. Images taken during transport from local site visits. Worth noting that as we visitors came from other places of contested spaces (Forum for Cities in Transition), no one was fazed by the communal tensions or geopolitics; the abnormal becomes normal.