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"Oh give me a nice smile now". The photographer, Mayola Amici, points his index finger towards the sky and look at his model with anticipation. The model on the other hand, laughs a little embarrassed as friends and relatives gather around and finds it all quite amusing. The photographer, who lives in a small village outside Stanleyville in Belgian Congo has no studio. He lives in a small hut of sun dried bricks just like the rest of the people there. The only thing that singles out his place is his "shop window", leaned up against a palm outside his hut. He does his work outside by the country road leading to Stanley Falls. The lack of a studio doesn’t seam to bother him at all, on the contrary. As it is now, everyone can see him working with his camera, and that gives him a lot of prestige. He is a great man about the village, a magician.. and he preferred this work, which started as a hobby, above his ordinary work, traveling the countryside, visiting villages as a health inspector.
"Sit still now". Mayole ducks beneath the black cloth, and the whole village holds their breath in anticipation. Mayola Amici’s "shop window" is the the village’s greatest landmark. The quality of the images may vary, but the main thing for the models is to look as good as possible. |
Kumbi Elisabeth are about to have her picture taken and Mayola suggests a romantic pose. Almost there, but Mayola is not quite happy with the way she holds her feet yet. The camera set Mayola Amici back 2400 francs when he started up a few years back. It has become slightly expensive to run by now as after several repairs with staniol paper, paper tape and varnish it still lets in some "fresh air". But usually the pictures gets quite good and his customers are not all that critical. The main thing is that their faces doesn’t get too dark on the photos. The whiter he can make the models look on the photos, the greater his reputation as a master photographer.
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