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In 1996 I had the honor of being able to study in Kenya for a semester during my last year at Pratt Institute. During my stay there I lived in 4 different communities, one of them being in the capitol city of Nairobi. Nairobi at the time was not the safest city and taking pictures there was quite difficult. For years at this point, my photography style had been what photographers refer to as “shooting from the hip”. This means keeping the camera at waist level and taking pictures without ever raising the camera to your eye. Even using this style in Nairobi I was concerned not only for my own safety but the safety of my camera.
What I came up with as a solution was a sports bag that went around my waist, “fanny pack” if you will. I cut a hole in the front of the bag, and then used a small square piece of fabric cut from my bandana and sewed one side of it above the hole to make a flap. Then I put the camera inside the bag, perfectly propped up so the lens would meet up with the hole. When it was time for me to take a picture, I would lift the flap with my left hand then with my right hand I would find the roundness of the shutter though the top of the bag and then take the picture. Oh did I think I was clever! Well, it worked for a lot of situations. But what is always hysterical to me no matter where in the world you are, is that you can’t ever fool the kids! Especially street smart kids!
In this particular photograph I was walking to take a bus into the main part of the city. The kids in Kenya enjoy foreigners and love walking with you to wherever you may be going. I was surrounded by a mass of children at the bus stop and used my secret camera to take this photograph. It was so interesting for me to get this image back from the lab (yes- film days) and see exactly what the children were seeing. From the perspective of my eyes at my height, I only saw the tops of their heads or their faces when they looked up at me. But it was the lens of the camera that was on their level that really captured their wonder, curiosity and yes, even their knowledge that they knew exactly what I was doing! Smart kids!
