Words For My Pictures

The Covid 19 pandemic has changed a lot how we use public spaces for the past year. Some of the public spaces have been shut for more than a year now. Some are gradually reopening with limitations and precautions but they are not yet functioning as they were before the pandemic hit. One public space I miss as a photographer is the Seattle Central Library located in downtown Seattle. The library building is a huge 11 story glass and steel structure with an ultra-modern design.  Some might see the giant building as a grotesque modernist architecture and others like its functionality and futuristic look. Whatever opinions people have no one doubt that it is a unique iconic building. It attracts photographers and tourists alike from all over the world.  From the outside, it is hard to distinguish the shape of the library which may look like a big pile of glass and steel but once you are inside it transforms into a well-designed highly functional space.  Unlike traditional lib...

  What comes to your mind when you see a picture of a motorcycle? Mode of transportation, danger,   thrill, adventure, independence, rebel, and many words might come to you. Depending on which part of the world you live your view on motorcycles might be different from people in other parts of the world. For some, they are a necessity and for others, they are an indulgence.   Some people use motorcycles as means of transportation while others use them as a lifestyle choice. Motorcycles or motorbikes as some prefer to call them had been around since the late 1800s almost the same time as the motor car started to become a new way to move around. They are used in almost all parts of the world by people who use them for leisure or as their working tool. A lot has changed since the late 19 th century so has the design and capacity of the motorbike but what remains is the danger of motorcycles. I think the danger of riding a motorcycle is more or less the same if not more. Wi...

I have been photographing mannequins for many years now. Why do I do that? A simple answer would be because they look just like humans and what a great way to photograph the human form without bothering any living being. Another reason is they somehow reflect the people who dress them or for whom they are dressed for. Mannequins had been used for centuries by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and clothing retailers. Even though they were used for many things that need a human form they are mainly used and are still being used to show clothing. They had been for a long-time a copy of an imaginary perfect human figure that society envisions in an era. For this reason, mannequins look like the time, place, and people that use them, making them more interesting. It is as if mannequins have their own character shaped by their owners and their culture. I have photographed mannequins in two different parts of the world Africa and North America trying to capture their hidden unique characters...

  Another birthday around the corner to celebrate or commemorate. I think I am settling with a commemoration. Birthdays are low key for me. I rarely had birthday parties and don’t have a plan to have either on this birthday or any other birthday for that matter. I think birthdays are overrated. That doesn’t mean that I don’t mark the date or it is not important to me. It is an important date since my legal existence starts on the day I was born.  I had been fortunate to have people who made the day special for me. Family and friends went out of their way to surprise me with love and occasional birthday cakes and I am grateful to have them all in my life. Though I am not keen on celebrating my birthday I always try to do important things around this date. I am not a person who makes resolutions on a birthday or a new year but instead of making them I found that this time is a good time to self-reflect and see where I am as a person. Not as to what goals I have achieved or sho...

  I use a digital camera to take almost all of my pictures but I shoot film too every now and then. Why do I do that in the age of digital photography? A simple answer is It slows me down. It seemed that analog photography was going to die when digital cameras were becoming better and better every year. Our digital cameras are now more computers than just simple light sealed boxes. They can produce the sharpest images and almost shoot in the dark with their astronomical high ISOs. Don’t forget that you can take thousands and thousands of pictures. But all those qualities that I mentioned or didn’t make a great photographer or produce a great picture. Photography is not just a technical process it needs an artist behind the camera to create a captivating image. That is why slowing down is important which analog photography forces you to do. When I slow down I try to compose each picture so that it will be a meaningful one. I don’t just shoot thousands to come up with one or two ...

  On November 3, 2020, Americans will vote to elect a president to lead the United State of America for the next four years. It is the most important election in modern times and it seems Americans know it. They have turned out in numbers to cast their ballots in early voting and turn out for election day is expected to be big too. Voters have two major choices (don’t forget that there are other candidates on the blot), the incumbent President Donald Trump or the challenger former Vice President Joe Biden. Both candidates are in their 70s but they stand for different eras. Donald Trump wants to Make America Great Again and Joe Biden wants to see the country to become better than what it had been. Better for everyone including people which America never had been great for them. Whoever America chooses the United Stated will not be the same again. If Donald Trump is elected for the second term despite the polls predicting a Joe Biden win. America and the world will witness again th...

  The west coast of the United States had been covered in thick smoke for weeks due to forest fires in Californian, Oregon, and some parts of Washington States. For days we could hardly see the sky, air quality was the poorest in the world. These wildfires are becoming common due to global warming which caused extra dry summers for the region. Wildfires are becoming a common occurrence during the summer for many years and they are becoming more devastating each time. I hope politicians and policymakers will see that there is no alternative fact to global warming and act to stop it.  The smoke-filled air and the smoked covered skies reminded me of Ethiopia in the month of November. Each year in this month people deliberately burn whatever they can burn to create smoke that fills the sky. This ritual started during the Spanish flu pandemic which killed millions throughout the world and Ethiopia was not an exception. No one was spared from the flu which was highly contagious even...