The Spell of Magic
Northern Togo 2003
We were driving to Lome zigzagging through the landscape to see as many traditional African customs as possible. We arrived in this village after dark. A fire blazed brightly. Villagers milled about in the shadows staring at us. We were the entertainment until the real show started.
When the head shaman declared the fire was ready, this young man stepped up and grabbed a blazing piece of wood. He began to gnaw on it…not really taking a chunk in his mouth, but digging his beautiful, even, white teeth into the glowing ash.
I don’t know which was more horrifying, him biting red hot coals or me having to use my flash. I could see well enough to attach the thing, but deciphering the numbers and dials were beyond the capabilities of my middle-aged eyes. Nevermind, I fired. The scene lit up as if Shango himself had thrown a bolt of lightning. I knew not to do that again after hisses and dirty looks from our guide.
I remembered an old flash-taming trick that I learned in photography class. Put a Kleenex over the flash and it will bring down the output. So I did. I only had pink tissues. A soft pink glow suffused the voodoo-doers. When I got my slides back from the lab, I wasn’t too unhappy with the pink color but again, with Photoshop, I can get the true colors. The only thing is that I may have removed any flames that flickered on that stick of wood.
Moral: Know your equipment. Get the shot when you are at the scene. Don’t rely on Photoshop to fix your mistakes.
I can’t tell you more about the meaning of the voodoo fire-eating. The men who ‘ate’ the fire were in a trance from a voodoo spirit. There were several men all of them young like this man. Perhaps eating fire meant that they were special in the eyes of the voodoo spirit?
Note to self: Buy white tissues in the future.