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Clash of Cultures
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Clash of Cultures

by SandyRichardsBrown

Gallery: POP PhotosPosted July 8, 2014311 views5 comments
A back road of Botswana.
2014:05:21

The many poor in Africa are desperately poor. Countless families live in thatched shacks like these in the country many miles from any town, with no plumbing, one outhouse, no electricity, no running water, (and the solitary well is 10-30 mi away), and only cast-off clothing.
Many of the shacks have walls of cardboard or torn trash bags, and old rusty sheet metal roofs.

Still, look closely - see the absurdity here?

D800
80-400mm @ 92mm
1/640 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
Metering: Spot
ISO: 320
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Harley Goldman on July 10, 2014 at 5:35 PM
The sat dish looks so dang out of place there. Strange, given the other ways in which that money could be used. It reminds me of seeing dirt poor people drinking Cokes, when they money might buy something nutritious. The power of marketing.
Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments
Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on July 12, 2014 at 2:07 PM
Quite the dichotomy. This is a bit disturbing. I've seen similar things in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and the Philippines.

--P
Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on July 17, 2014 at 6:11 PM
Heavenly days! That do beat all!
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments
Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on July 27, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Sandy,
Wonderful shot and congratulations on ANOTHER photo of the week. Initially I thought the colorful clothes on the line and the huts represented the "Man" in this shot, but when I looked closely the SAT dish stood out like a sore thumb. We have to go 30 miles for water, but we get cable? Huh? Perhaps Mom needs a bigger "voice". :toast:
Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments
Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on August 4, 2014 at 5:55 PM
Funny how the dish looks so natural in a way, Sandy - almost like the abstract images of heads that you see in traditional African art. I guess the overall view also speaks of how traditional cultures inevitably evolve once they are exposed to outside influences. However you read this it's a fascinating image.
Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments