Malekele: Street Photos 1

I’ve been a little preoccupied since school started. I haven’t been able to travel or hike much lately. To avoid going stir crazy I started taking an interest in street photos. The idea is to capture the daily life of the people in my community. I am always curious as to the settings people use in their photographs so I’ll include that information in the captions.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

28mm, 1/160 sec at f / 7.1, ISO 100

This was taken outside of a Chinese owned store on the main drag in Mokhotlong. The driver of the truck most likely owns his own shop further from town. Vehicles are constantly coming through and purchasing large bulk orders.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

99mm, 1/500 sec at f / 8, ISO 100

This is what happens when international aid runs dry. The building was built by the German Red Cross in the 1980’s but has since dilapidated and turned into a small shop.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

28mm, 1/400 sec at f 4, ISO 100

I really like the collection of tractors in this country. Some of them are 60 years old or more. I’ll take a compilation of all of the tractors I see one of these days. This photo was taken on the streets of Butha Buthe (Buta Butay).

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

35mm, 1/250 sec at f / 5.6, ISO 160

It’s difficult to watch an old disabled man struggle to his feet. I don’t know if you caught the running portion of the last olympics, but it seems to me that we’ve got advanced prosthetics down. What I have yet to see is a cheap and effective solution for the third world, where people are more susceptible to limb loss through injury and illness.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

32mm, 1/250 sec at f / 5.6, ISO 125

Just a really cool looking building. A chemist is sort of like a pharmacy.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

105mm, 1/250 sec at f / 5.6, ISO 100

The A1 is the main road that goes through every district in the country and forms a large “C” shape. The A1 is the main road running through Mokhotlong and it’s lined with all sorts of corrugated and galvanized tin structures. They sell everything from fake Nike apparel to coffins. I thought the stores would make a cool backdrop.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

85mm, 1/250 sec at f / 5.6, ISO 200

Couple of Bo-‘Me and an Ausi sitting outside a shop.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

105mm, 1/250 sec at f / 6.3, ISO 1000

A taxi driver checking his phone. Every Peace Corps volunteer is painfully familiar with the monotony of waiting for a taxi to fill up. The taxi drivers are very industrious people. They are constantly on their phones arranging deals and transporting goods. Almost every ride, the driver will slow down and someone will come running out of a house and meet the taxi, where a passenger will grab or drop off some item. In the more rural areas, the taxis are used to transport letters.

Camera: Canon 6D

Lens: 24-105mm F4

105mm, 1/250 sec at f / 6.3, ISO 500

Some of the larger shops hire security guards to stand outside. This guard is armed with a South African copy of a U.S. M3 grease gun, which was a cheap and mass produced submachine gun in WWII.