Photography students wanting to “give something back”

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Kathryn Burrington

Having worked for The Gambia Experience for over five years now I have noticed how the country really gets under peoples’ skin and inspires many visitors to want to give something back. Lorena Balbinot and Marina Codara, photography students in London, recently spent 10 days in The Gambia and have put together a book of their photographs. All profits (£10 from each sale) will be donated to Hart House, a school for children with learning difficulties – the only one of its kind in The Gambia. Here’s a sneak peak at a couple of Lorena’s photos. More can be seen on her blogsite and you can preview or purchase their book here.

“Gambia is a great place to visit: the sea is beautiful, there is plenty of wildlife, the river is amazing, a fervent local life, but what really made it special has been the spirit of the people! They are caring, willing to help, to share, to ensure you have a nice experience there. They are proud of their given attribute, which stand for ’The smiling Coast’ and they really make sure everyone gets it!” Lorena Balbinot

Jason Florio discusses The Gambia on Real Exposures

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Matt Smith

An in-depth interview with Jason Florio, discussing his affinity with The Gambia and how he came to photograph various of the country’s village chiefs and ultimately spend 2 months walking 930km around the entire country.

More Jason Florio on The Gambia Blog:
An interview with Jason and Helen Jones before they set off on their long walk.
Jason’s Gambia photographs.

Oscar May’s Gambia photography

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Matt Smith

Gambian children. Image by {link:http://oscarmay.com/#portfolio}Oscar May{/link}

Oscar May is a photographer from the Isle of Wight, now relocated to London. Last year he attended a wedding at the Ocean Bay Hotel in The Gambia and during his stay was able to get out and visit some local communities in Serrekunda, Talingding and Old Yumdum. Whilst he was there he took some incredible images, a few of which he’s kindly agreed to let us display here. Oscar is heading back to the Gambia in February as he says, ‘to give something back to The Gambia’ we’re hoping to be able to feature some of what he captures in the next edition of our Your Experience magazine.

For now, enjoy his work on our blog and visit Oscar’s website to see more of his great photographs.

Image by {link:http://oscarmay.com/#portfolio}Oscar May{/link}

A hyena at Abuko

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Matt Smith

Hyena at Abuko

Sally Bowe has added a wonderful new set of images to the Gambia Experience Flickr pool, including this gorgeous young hyena from the Abuko Nature Reserve. As Sally rightly says, the guys at Abuko are doing a great job with very minimal funds. Big cats and mammals in general aren’t a huge feature of The Gambia as there simply isn’t the space for them to roam freely; but at places like Abuko animals are rescued and safely reared and often released into the wild in neighbouring Senegal. All power to them and the excellent work they do.

To see more of Sally’s photography, please visit her Flickr page.

A morning’s bird watching at Abuko with Chris Packham.

Jason Florio’s Gambia photographs

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Matt Smith

We’ve featured Jason Florio’s brilliant Gambia photography on the blog before now, and followed closely the progress of the walk he undertook with Helen Jones and the 700Miles team on their epic circumnavigation of The Gambia back in November and December of last year.

Well now the fruits of that walk are starting to appear – aside from calf muscles the size of small principality, there is a new suite of photographs taken during the walk now available to view on Jason’s site. And as you can see from the examples below there are some dazzling images. Jason’s style is unique – his use of the black screen has at once something of a distancing effect, yet the images become like naked singularities, events almost. They’re quite something. The first picture below is of Acting Alkalo Herouna Tonkara from Suduwole. He’s a member of the Serra Houle tribe who are renowned in the area as great traders. The couple are Salafo & Penda Bah from Tuba Dabbo. Mr Bah is a marabout and a cattle farmer. You can view the complete set here. (And you can also see their Flickr photos and follow the guys on Twitter too. Plus, don’t forget you can follow us on Flickr, Twitter and Facebook as well!)