The OU Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture

Africa
photo fragents of a continent
faces of the people

Nothing is more interesting than a human face, and nothing is easier to photograph. I hold the camera near the subject's nose and click the shutter. That's it. The result is an enduring image of a face, taken in an instant of time that will never be repeated. Like George W. Bush who looked into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and said he could see his soul, we all sometimes look into the eyes of a person and feel we see their soul. We don't, of course. We only see ourselves reflected back. Our interpretation of a face is entirely a reflection of our own life experiences. These experiences, different for each of us, are the basis for how we make sense of the faces we see.

In these photos you will see people you know, even though you have never met them.

rodger randle: africa series: page one
On the beach fronting the town of Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A university student.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
Music on the beach.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
Music on the beach.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Fujifilm X-Pro1 / Fujinon XF55-200mm
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Canon EOS 5D MarkII / Canon EF 70-300
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

Nothing to me is more interesting than a human face to look at, and nothing is easier to photograph. I hold the camera near the subject nose and click the shutter. That's it. The result is an enduring image of a face, taken in an instant of time that will never be repeated. Like George W. Bush who looked into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and said he could see his soul, we all sometimes look into the eyes of a person and feel we see their soul. We don't, of course. We only see ourselves reflected back. Our interpretation of a face is entirely (involuntarily and unconsciously) a reflection of our own life experiences. This is the context in which we find meaning in what we see.

In these photos you will see people you know, even though you never met them.

Canon EOS 5D MarkII / Canon EF 70-300
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Canon EOS 5D MarkII / Canon EF 70-300
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Canon EOS 5D MarkII / Canon EF 70-300
A shopkeeper in Maxixe.

I is a pronoun. we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy to think of the people in the tragic scenes as simply inhabitants of a place that is distant and unrelated to us, a place of faceless "victims" of a horrible event. In fact, they are people just like us. Yes, they dress differntly, they speak a different language, and they eat different food than we do, but they are people like us: they have the same hopes, the same dreams, and we all share the smae common humanity.

15 years ago, in a happier time for Urfa, I visited the city. It is one of the nicest places I have been ...the kind of city where I would enjoy living.

When we follow news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, it is easy

Canon EOS 5D MarkII / Canon EF 70-300

The photographs of Mozambique on these pages were made on two separate trips. Neither of the trips were made for the purpose photography, but I was able to explore with my camera during periods of free time. The first trip was to participate in a series of seminars on journalism and politics that were sponsored and organized by the United States Embassy in Maputo. The second set were made during a brief exchange program with a private college in the town of Maxixe in the province of Inhambane. The photographs taken on each of the two trips are identifiable in the camera details footnoted following the caption/comments that accompany each photo. The first group were made using a Canon 5D DSLR, and on the second trip I used a Fujifilm X-Pro1 camera. Both cameras do excellent work, but the Fujifilm is a mirrorless camera and was much smaller and easier to carry around than the large Canon.


Prof. Rodger Randle
The photos on this page are © Rodger Randle .

OU Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture

Prof. Rodger A. Randle, Director
The University of Oklahoma Tulsa
4502 East 41st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74135
E-mail: randle@ou.edu

Click here to visit our homepage.