Imaging Brazil 198: Children along the Highway in Alagoas, AL (2008)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

198. Children along the highway 

JULY 2008: Children along the highway

It’s no secret that there is much poverty in the large northeastern region of Brazil. There have recently been intense attempts by the federal government to eradicate absolute poverty of the regional population, with visible results. Nonetheless, poverty is still clearly visible there, even to the eyes of tourists and travelers who use the highways. At some locations, houses and huts have been built not far from the highway, and the local people seem to be undisturbed about the speeding fast traffic. A few people try to take advantage of the raised bumps at the city limits, and then try to sell vegetables, fruit, sweets or handicraft to drivers and passengers. Children also seem to have grown up with life along the highway. These children enthusiastically waved to us when our bus passed by their little house.

 

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2008, 2016

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Imaging Brazil 183: Mirroring the Highway in Bahia, BA (2008)

A personal selection of photographs with their stories.

183. Highway mirror 

JULY 2008: Highway mirror

In July 2008, I undertook an adventurous bus trip to Maceio, capital of the state of Alagoas. A bus trip that took more than thirty-six hours. From Belo Horizonte, it took about twelve hours to reach the border of Minas Gerais with Bahia. And it took another twelve hours to reach the city limits of Bahia’s capital, Salvador. As we left in the night, we were sleeping during the journey through Minas Gerais. The following day, the bus drove along the diverse but somewhat barren landscape of Bahia. The highway was anything but straight, but had countless turns  that followed the slopes of the hills and mountains. As I sat right behind a large bus window, I could conveniently use the mirror effect of that window. After some experimenting and playing with the camera, I managed to photograph some nice reflections of the highway. One of them showed the effect that we were apparently approaching a T-junction.

 

© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2008, 2016