Wash Day on the Niger River
Mopti…Niger River Town 1997
There weren’t any other camera toting tourists the afternoon I sat on the banks of the Niger recovering from my migraine. The women going about the business of washing the family’s laundry or bathing themselves took little notice of me. I kept my distance, though. Now and then young women, their sleek, wet bodies gleaming in the sun, would cut their eyes at me and laugh in a friendly way.
I cropped this photo to the square format. There was a lot of empty space on the right and it diminished the importance of the colorful figures marching toward me. I’ve read that you needn’t ever take a vertical shot…just crop your horizontals. I don’t like that idea but it has its merits. You’ll never have a lot of empty blank space at the top of your photo if you do that. I must admit that is a mistake I still make when I am in a hurry. But I’ve got the habit of shooting vertical if I have 3 or fewer figures as my subject. I’m not sure I could have gotten this same perspective in a vertical shot, though.