Nearly 4 years ago, just after i had volunteered in Kenya, myself and the others who had volunteered had a couple weeks free time before our flights home. Naturally one of the places we all wanted to stop off at was Zanzibar. Zanzibar, a little island just off the coast of Tanzania and birth place of Freddie Mercury, is stunning. No other way to put it. The whole island is just, wow. The capital of the island, located on the west, is full of beautiful, winding, cobbled roads that all lead back to the harbour which is surrounded by crystal blue waters. As you travel out of the city in any direction you are guaranteed large stretches of green forest with the blue of the ocean peeking through. Anywhere you go you'll end up on a stretch of golden sand. Definitely the closest thing to paradise i've seen.
As a large group of around 13 of us all ended up at the far north of the island in a place called Kendwa. Little cabins situated on the beach front (with a bar on the beach) made it hard for anyone to leave. The one thing i remember most clearly about my time on Zanzibar though, wasn't the green forests, or the brightness of the ocean, or even the great food, it was the sunset. Every night it would fall directly in front of you and make everything a gorgeous orange hue. In the middle of the beach, just off from the water were two palm trees. Hanging in between was a large hammock. I can honestly say one of my favourite memories was sitting in that hammock with my girlfriend and watching the sunset. (Probably why to this day i love hammocks).
I wanted to show a couple more photographs i took while i was in Kenya. These photos were taken at the school that i was volunteering at. I've probably mentioned it before but the kids there are just so inquisitive and want to know everything about you and all the things you have. (Such as my camera). This made it a lot easier to capture some portraits, which was made EVEN EASIER by the beautiful natural light seeping in through every gap in the building. While i was there i was teaching P.E and creative arts to some of the older kids, but the teachers were more than happy to let you take over a younger class.
I took my camera in to try and get some more natural shots of the students and teachers at school going about their business, but when you're one of the first white people they've seen and have this thing that can take their pictures then all relaxed students learning pictures go out the window. I honestly wish i had a wider angled lens at the time as the kids were wanting to get as close as they could.
The company i went with, AV (www.aventure.co.uk), were absolutely amazing. This was the first time i had been away without knowing anyone before i went, but i think that's part of what made it so special. The way i would describe volunteering with AV is like bungee jumping. The jump itself is you having the freedom to do exactly what you want to do in a new environment without having someone constantly there, and immersing your self within a new culture with new people. AV is like the bungee rope. If you need advice, help organising anything, or just a chat, there is always someone on the end of the phone, or someone who can come and visit to make sure everything is ok. If you are ever planning something like this i would highly recommend AV. Without them some of the best things in my life wouldn't have happened.
Once again just a reminder to visit my Instagram page, peterboothphotography, and give it a follow! I'll be uploading some new stuff very shortly so keep an eye out!
Lately i've been going through my photos from my trip to the Masai Mara and editing some. Some are available to view through peterboothphotography and would love more people to follow and like. The more followers i get, the more people i can share my work with.
The image bellow is a portrait of a family of elephants. They were so friendly and definitely not camera shy! I have more portraits and landscape photographs in monochrome to share so please follow peterboothphotography and leave me lots of lovely comments!
My latest post on my Instagram page is of a giraffe i saw whilst in the Masai Mara. Giraffes are not a rare sight, but they are still beautiful to watch. As this lone giraffe was walking across this plain landscape the photo framed itself. Click here to view my page, peterboothphotography.
