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March 2013

Photography, Travels

Colours in Rio

Inspired by the photos and articles in National Geographic, one of my goals on my trip to South America was to document the favelas in Rio. A favela is a pretty much a shanty town that were built in the late 19th century by people that had no where else to live.

I found that there are actually more a two dozen of these tight communities, the largest being Rocinha, housing over 70,000 people. However, I adventured into the second largest one called Complexo do Alemao. This favela is considered very safe by the BBC. One could not ask for a more safe, sophisticated and modern cable car system for such as community. It is almost awkward, but is a way for locals to get from their homes to work in the city. Otherwise it would take people ages to travel outside of the town.

The government imposed aggressive measures in the “pacification” strategy. The plan was to get all of the drug lords and gangs out of the favelas to boost the safety of Rio because the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.

Despite being homes for the poor, the housing structures are just so colorful and when bunched up together like they are, it just makes for an epic photograph. If you plan on traveling to Rio de Janeiro, I highly recommend that you visit a “pacified” favela. It really opens your eyes to the real Rio experience in my honest opinion.

FULL PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY FROM RIO.

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Inspirational, Photography

Omo Child and Steve McCurry

My all-time favourite photographer Steve McCurry was at it again, making stunning images of different cultures. This time, Steve helped out Omo Child by documenting their lifestyle, clothing and spirit.

From their website:

“OMO CHILD’s mission is to provide a safe, nurturing shelter and education for rescued children in the Omo River Valley of Southwest Ethiopia who were declared Mingi. These children will be future leaders in their tribes and communities. Our immediate goal is to raise money to care for our children. Operating our shelter is costly and is dependent on supporters just like you.

Mingi is the ritualistic killing of infants and children in the Omo River Valley of Ethiopia. We work to raise awareness about Mingi and hope to see it eliminated.”

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