In part four of his Via PanAm project – a personal mission to travel the Pan-American Highway from Chile to Alaska – photojournalist and Nikon user Kadir van Lohuizen details his journey through Ecuador, as he crosses the border to Colombia.
I enter from Peru and find Ecuador is just like I imagined it to be: a Latin American country that is unspoiled and pure, with high mountain peaks.
My plan is to work on a story about Peruvians working on the banana plantations in Ecuador. While in the past there have been many issues with the big banana multinationals regarding labour and the environment, my focus (this time) is to show the daily life of a Peruvian worker. I don’t, therefore, expect many problems. How wrong I was! Access is denied. Nada, zip, zero.
I manage to speak to one Peruvian worker, but he trembles like a straw speaking to me: the plantation owner is sitting next to him.
If I had time on my hands, I would push it to the extreme to get the story: if you are patient enough and you have good contacts you usually get there. But time is not on my hands so I change gear. I decide to shift my focus to Peruvians in the rice plantations instead, as in this industry there are also many migrant workers. An unexpected change, but still an interesting story.
Nikon D3s, Lens: 17-35mm f2.8 at 22mm, 1/60, f2.8, ISO 12800
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
I am getting close now to Colombia, the country with the world’s highest population of internal refugees as people flee conflict areas to “safe” areas. Some of the Colombian refugees also cross the border into Ecuador, where I decide to go. I want to show that that the problems still persists in Colombia and isn’t just something from the past. I want to focus on one family to highlight the personal stories that are representative of many refugees. It is not easy because people are scared to talk; armed groups from Colombia are even doing cross border operations into Ecuador. Again good contacts are crucial; the UNHCR (UN refugees agency) is a great help to introduce me to people. After that, it’s still up to me to make it work: be well informed when you speak to people, show interest and take your time and you will gain the trust.
I meet Amalia. She is only 15 years old and beautiful, but you can see the hardship in her face, probably that is why she looks much older. I am happy with the image as I feel like I have really captured her emotion:
Nikon D700, Lens: 17-35mm f2.8 at 25mm, f2.8, 1/2000, ISO 800
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
I have been to Colombia a few times before so I am curious what I will find. I want to tell the story about people who have recently arrived in the country, so I decide to travel to Neiva, a city in the south which has seen a large influx of refugees lately.
Nikon D700, 50mm f1.4 at 1/1250, f4.5, ISO 320
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
I meet the Torres family; they fled very recently when their village was attacked by FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army) guerillas. Lucas, the father, was wounded and his son Herminson (on the right in the picture above) was shot in the leg. The family fled with fourteen other families to Neiva.
Colombia is beautiful country with beautiful people, but it is confusing: people who are not affected have an attitude that everything is fine – and the people who are affected struggle with their trauma and to rebuild their lives.
The toughest part as a documentary photographer is to give the viewer the feel that he/she is looking at a natural image: an image where you seem to have been invisible. To achieve this, it requires time. When I meet the family in Neiva I take my time to explain who I am, what am I doing and to ask permission to shoot. I will always tell people that the images will be published and if I know, where.
It often takes quite some time before I start using my camera and I basically wait until awareness of my presence is fading and I become part of the furniture, so to say. Patience is everything.
It is a personal preference of mine to shoot in black and white, but I do shoot in colour when I think it will add to the story. In the case of these images in Ecuador and Colombia, I wanted the stories to be about the people and I thought colour may distract from the people themselves.
Central America is next! I will leave South America and will arrive in the migration corridor, which should bring a lot of interesting stories!
Kadir’s Via PanAm project is 10-month, 15-country trip looking at migration in the Americas, and the role it has played in climate change, war and conflict, and economical issues. What do you think of Kadir’s fascinating journey? Do you have any first hand experiences of the countries he’s visited? Make sure you continue to check the blog for updates from his epic journey, featuring still images and videos from this fascinating project. The ‘Via PanAm’ app for the iPad is available in the app store here.
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