I have been discovering several things since my arrival in Eritrea three months ago. The first is that the light is very bright and when I am out in the country side it is always during those difficult hours for photgraphy. As our security guidelines tells us that we are not supposed to be out in the field after six (not in Asmara, the capital)and not beore 8 am it has been difficult to catch those perfect moments of the light. The second, is that I think that the world can also be shown by its people ,and this have been slightly easier to capture. The third is that I am not satisfied with my camera and I will upgrdae my self to aniko D-80. I definitelly agree with John (happypoppeye) that a good photo is 95% the photographer and 5% the camera but I think that this upgrade will for sure help to reach that 95%.

About the photgraphy...a Tigre man from the village of Sheib in the arid Province of Northern Red Sea. These guys are really scary when they decide to look thourg your soul.
Cheers

After two hours travel east of the city of Keren, driving across rivers and uphill sinuous gravel roads we finally arrive to the little village of Marat at 2700 meters above sea level. This area hosts the Tigre people a mixture of African and Arab people. For a while I thought I had arrived in Afghanistan, but I was still in Eritrea. The water is very scarce, and the geology of the area is amazing, huge outcrops of granites, granodiorites and gneisses make the area unsuitable for underwater reservoirs. The only hand dug well collapsed a week before due two heavy rains; today they collect water from a small fissure in the bedrock. A villager told me that it was almost four months ago since the last time he took a bath. Water is a precious treasure and its use is strictly for consumption. Twenty years ago this area was green and water was scarce but not as it is today. The climatic changes are felt everywhere…nobody escapes.

The picture was taken outside the village office and this man is one of the village leader

I think this will be the last photo to post from my old Lumix. The tigers meet is a picture that follow up my serie of this beautyful ethinc group in Eritrea. The Tigers meet depicts one of those cultural moments, of course women where not part of it but I believe and I wish that in a different way from our (western) they do have something to say, I don't know the reason for this gathering but I could feel the laid back atmosphere, the heat of the Northern Red Sea Province and the dust almost covering my face.

After a two hours trip east of Keren, in the middle of the Roara Mountains (middle of nowhere)the fog appeared out of nowhere. The rainy season have been the best in Eritrea for the last three years, something good for this arid country.
I took this one from the car. The original is a colour one, I converted it to B&W and applied a red filter effect.

Rolando
Eritrea is a very young country. The long war of independence from Ethiopia is just over a decade ago and right now the country is in the throws of a major upgrade in infastructure.

Eritrea was part of the Italian empire built by Mussolini in the early days of the facists. He saw it as the African Riviera and spent vast amounts of money building up the capital, Asmara, and a spectacular rail line to the coastal port of Masawa.

Keren is Eritrea's third city. It is ringed with mountains and still boasts much of the art deco inspired architecture of the Italians. The hotel from which this photo is taken may be a fading beauty, but one can imagine what it was once like.

Keren has been the scene of two famous battles - one between the British and the Italians in the '40s that was particularly savage and a second, much quicker battle when the Eritreans defeated the Ethiopians.

This pic was taken early morning with my little 2MP snapper. Wish I had my CP5700 back then!

While on the bus in Eritrea, a few people got off in what seemed the middle of nowhere. It was windy and one of them was dressing up. With her dress flying in the wind, I just had to take this picture.