An hour with ancient doors and alleyways in Stone Town, Zanzibar

Posted on 10 March 2011

Walking through Stone Town, Zanzibar is any photographer’s dream. Everywhere you look there’s texture, patterns, moods, carvings, people, alleys and inspiration. After finishing shooting two beautiful hotels on the island I was left with one hour to spend in the ancient town before hopping on a flight back to South Africa and so, I got out of the car, camera in one hand and a bottle of water in the other and set out midday in blistering heat to capture anything I saw.

I thought that an hour would merely give me the opportunity to see the town before I left and so my expectations weren’t high at all. Most of the time photographers will think of the types of images they want to get dreaming up scenes and compositions and things like where the sunlight will hit the subject. I certainly didn’t have to do any dreaming. Every corner I turned there was a new opportunity, a new alley with a new ancient door. Stonetown takes you back to a century ago where people were trading spices and coins. And you really feel like you have traveled back in time. The most amazing and inspiring thing for me to shoot there was the people. Just normal people going about their daily business; selling nuts and fruity sweets, batteries and soap blocks. The odd things about normal everyday life can be so beautiful.

I thought one hour would never be enough for the types of images I was hoping to get. All I’m thinking now is imagine I had three.

 






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