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Conservation
in Paradise:
1400 images from the Central African Republic
21 Days of photography by Hal Noss, in and around the Dzanga-Ndoki
National Park and the Dzanga-Sangha Special Dense Forest Reserve, near
the town of Bayanga, in the Central African Republic, December 1994.
Assignment (self made): to
document hunting practices being used in and around the Dzanga-Ndoki
National Park and Dzanga-Sangha Special Dense Forest Reserve.
Purposes:
-to raise awareness of, and help explain, the complex bushmeat crisis
that is systematically destroying all of Africa's last truly wild wildlife,
-to show some of Africa's incredible but disappearing forest wildlife,
-to document one of Africa's disappearing peoples.
* to help Africa
Funding: self funded (with
a little help from close friends and family)
Topics Documentated (primary):
1. "Net Hunting" by the Ba-Aka people of Mossapoula village
2. "Cable Snares" used by Gbaya people, inside Dzonga-Ndoki and
south of Bayanga. Cable Snares are the most common and most devastating
(and completely illegal everywhere) method used to harvest wildlife
in Africa.
| Images
of Hunting serve to document research underway at the time, by Mr.
Andrew Noss, my brother, who was completing a study of the hunting
practices being used in and around the national park. Andrew Noss'
research was published as a PHD degree dissertation for the University
of Florida, titled "Duikers, Cables, and Nets: A Cultural Ecology
of Hunting in a Central African Forest" copyright Andrew Noss 1995,
UMI Dissertation Services. Andrew Noss' research was assisted by a
grant from the Joint Committee on African Studies of the Social Sciences
Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies with
funds provided by the Ford, Mellon, and Rockefeller Foundations. Additional
funds were provided by two Grants-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi,
the Scientific Research Society; and by the World Wildlife Fund under
USDA Agreement No. 93-G-155. |
Topics Documented (secondary):
3. "Daily life in a Ba-Aka Village," these amazing people must
adapt to their rapidly changing social, political, economic, and geographical,
landscapes. The Ba-Aka have traditionally been semi-nomadic hunter/gatherers,
but their centuries-old way of life is coming to an end. Some believe
that the Ba-Aka will disappear completely, as a people, during the lives
of these individuals in my photographs. The malnourished children with
jigger infested feet and gorgeous innocent smiles are the children and
grand-children of the very individuals who have been the most powerful
beings in this wilderness, for centuries. If we cannot understand and
help to meet the very real needs of these humans, then we may have little
hope of protecting the wildlife in this wilderness that is: their home.
4. "Forest Elephants" are the main reason the Dzanga-Ndoki National
Park was established, and are the primary potential tourist attraction.
The forest clearings in these photographs are the only places in the
world where solitary and nomadic forest elephants can be seen almost
every day of the year. The experience of spending a day amongst these
gentle giants at Dzanga-Bai is an experience of a lifetime. But these
forest elephants, and all other animals in this forest, are being destroyed
systematically. Because very few photographers are able to understand,
photograph, and help to explain, the human challenges that these elephants
must face, I chose to concentrate my work during this assignment on
these human challenges. My photographs of elephants were made during
three half-days and two nights, while I was resting and recuperating
from my documentation of the most critical hunting and poaching activities.
5. "Miscellaneous" additional images created provide a more complete
photo-documentation of this part of the Central African Republic
Re: Image Quality
Hal Noss images are created with the
specific intention to create the sharpest images possible. Equipment
and films are selected based upon extensive first hand knowledge,
testing, and "real-world" application experiences. Some images in
this series have added "film grain," "motion blurr," or a shallow
depth-of-field, due to low-light and extremely low-light conditions.
Many of the images were made with the alternative: strobe lighting.
Allowing for some flexibility due to the prevailing rainforest conditions,
I trust that you will find my images to be of the highest quality
possible. __Hal Noss |
Technical Photography Info
35 mm Cameras: Nikon F3HP;
Nikon FM2; Nikon FE2.
Lenses: Nikkor 24 mm f2.8; Nikkor 35 mm f2; Nikkor 50 mm f1.2;
Nikkor 50 mm f1.8; Nikkor 55 mm f2.8 Micro; Nikkor 85 mm f1.8; Nikkor
180 mm f2.8; Nikkor 300 mm f 4.5;
Films (transparency) & exposures:
Fuji 100 ASA at 100 ASA (primary)
Fuji 400 ASA at 400 ASA
Fuji 400 ASA exposed at 800 ASA (forest elephants in low light)
Fuji 1600 ASA exposed at 1600 ASA (forest elephants in very low light)
Fuji 1600 ASA exposed at 3200 ASA (forest elephants in twilight)
Fuji 1600 ASA exposed at 12,500 ASA (forest elephants in: "first light"
twilight)
Large Format Camera (limited use for forest elephants and "elephant
paintings"): Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 inch Press
lenses: Rodenstock Ysarex 135 mm; Rodenstock Sironar-N 210 mm;
film: Fuji 4x5 inch transparency
Strobes: Metz 45 CT4, Vivitar 283
Text and Audio: available
Photographer’s Notes: hand written in the field. Audio recordings: of
interviews, personal photographer notes, sounds of net hunting, sounds
of the forest including elephants at Dzanga-Bai in the middle of the
night, made on a journalist’s mini-cassette recorder.
Please contact Hal Noss for additional
information.
Conservation
in Paradise
1400 images from the Central African Republic
Photographs & Text by Hal Noss
catalog of images printed January 2003
DO NOT REPRODUCE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
Images Copyright Hal Noss 1994
Text and Design Copyright Hal Noss 2003
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