Smile

Photography captures people's emotions.

Nothing is greater than a smile.

When you are around the right people at the right time, your dentures tend to shine.

But for some, the smile is brushed away when a lens is aims at their face.

This cute little girl was our neighbor in Agogo. Every day she and her little sister would follow us along trails and (with little english) say... 

"Hi"-big sis   'hi' -little sis

"Hi" -big sis  'hi' -little sis

"Hi" -big sis  'hi' -little sis

The siblings were the cutest and nicest little girls. Always smiling. But when I pulled out my camera, shining smile  transformed to a lightless pose.

In fact, I noticed many people shy away their smiles.

It wasn't until my sisters decided to give the little girls a parting gift before we left.

Did it make a difference?

You betcha. 

She has my favorite smile. The Victory Smile.

Cheese.

Let There Be Light

We all cross bridges in our lives...

I for one have driven across the Golden Gate Bridge in California, marched the Rio Grande Gorge in New Mexico...

...but nothing beats the Fun Cut Bridge in Agogo

The Fun Cut Bridge consists of two worn down planks preventing runoff sewage between your toes. 

-Efficiency in its prime-

Its called the Fun Cut Bridge because it was a lot more fun crossing the bridge to the Tro Tro station than the normal (boring) route.

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One of the biggest challenges I faced in Africa was comparing their environment to my own.

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The guide who introduced the Fun Cut Bridge casted the most light on this challenge...

Meet Prince Boamka. I call him Prince because when I asked him to write his name, he wrote Prince Boamka. 

It beats his English name, Terrance...

That got me thinking what the definition of a Prince is. I (sadly) first think of Disney's version of a handsome prince with silk pants on a white horse with an english accent. 

Thanks Walt...

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How cool is that? A boy who speaks almost no english announces himself as a form of royalty!

-Pride in its prime-

So I quickly changed my definition of a prince.

Prince: An heir to a future throne of society

-A diplomat in its prime-

Well if he is a prince, then I am a prince! I will be a diplomat for my hood!

So what could a foreign diplomat share with this young prince?

 What kind of light could I shed?

Ironically, the electricity went out in our town giving me an opportunity to present the power of photography.

PHOTO=light

GRAPHY=the art of

Most children (adults for that matter) think a camera is quite simple: aim the box, snap, photograph...

-technology in its prime-

-But imagine a child in Africa grasping the power of photography. Many children don't know how to spell the numbers 1-10!

 Prince Boamka and I might have had a language barrier but we both shared some common grounds...

Prince showing off his mad ninja skills.

Fortunanty, Prince has a MUCH better chance of graduating from high school and continue his education elsewhere in the universe...

The sky is the limit

Prince Boamka made me realize something...

We are all heirs to the throne of the future. We all have family who create the playgrounds for generations to come. What you do for YOUR people is what makes the gears of society rotate.

Your staring at a future king.

Bow down please.

What State you from? -State of Conciseness

Tattoos are scars with specific meanings... Like a best friend, they stay with you until the end.

For many people in Africa, scars are equivalent to a form of identity like a passport. Tribes from certain areas uniquily brand their children on the face usually around the age of one. That way they always know where they are from.

Sometimes they are symbols/tattoos with significant meanings...

...Or just a tiny little mark on your cheek

Wear your scars with pride.

Star-no-bucks

Obsessing over coffee and currently sitting in a cafe, its only necessary to tell a quick tale of an African Farmer.

Ghana and Togo are two countries nicely placed in Sub-Saharan Africa = Prime for coffee...



...But as previously stated, Nestle has monopolized the drink with NESCAFÉ®.
-No Triple Venti Sugar free, Non fat, No foam, extra caramel, with whip caramel macchiato for you!



Rather, most coffee farmers transferred to growing these...

Cocoa is one of Ghana and Togo's primary export.



One of the reasons is because of these...

Exporting giant turd-like pods was much easier and time/cost efficient when harvesting from mother nature.
-You don't need to pick cocoa by hand, you just need a stick.






I was losing all hope for some real coffee until...

Far up in the Togolese mountains is an isolated coffee bean farmer.

Passionate about his job, Mr. Kuma has started from the grassroots on farming coffee beans.

He also collects honey from the bees placed on his land.
-Circle of Life has never sounded so sweet!

Thanks to organizations such as Peace Core and Fair Trade, Mr. Kuma is able to export his coffee and honey outside of Togo while making a 'fair' profit.

Thats some good f***ing coffee

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So we have a choice

Either we can be bulls-eyed by target marketing...

or

begin to assist independent entrepreneurs in developing countries to make a buck...or two

The Door has always been open to you

Faces of Africa

Here's some more grubbage for your retinas

To whom it may concern...

I took a lot of pictures on this short trip and will only present a few for your eyes to feast on. 

I spent a lot of time choosing photographs that told a story....

So please,

take your time when scrolling through my photographs

 Meet Akos. I would buy bread and other nick-nacks from her in the town of Agogo.

 This pretty lady snuck into our tour and acted like she was part of our group. She patiently waited until we were alone to say, "I'm hungry."

Hey, when you have lemons...

 Meet DJ Confidence

Meet the future