What can I say ...
I'm sorry if you missed it.
A veritable cornucopia of interesting shots (I'm a bit concerned about the goats though)
this was a photographic tour of Bangladesh by Veronica.
She took the tour with a religious festival in mind, and while she found this particular bit of the tour a bit tame, the rest was a stunning set of the everyday working life of ordinary citizens of this young country.
From people working the tourists, we set out on a river trip. And the river was like one of our shopping malls. Hoards of people going about their everyday life, always ready to stop and look at the strangers and furnish them with huge smiles. We continue on the river and see labourers whose job it is to load huge logs onto rivercraft by rolling them up two other logs resting on the side of the vessel. All the time passing fishermen eking out a living, boats going past laden so heavily that the gunwales are barely above the water, children in their brightly coloured clothes, fascinated by the foreigners, all wanting their photos taken or wanting to be photographed with said outsiders.
A stop at a brickworks where all day long they put a clay/straw mix into moulds to bake in the hot sun. A claim that they start at three in the morning and work through 'til seven at night is right scary.
One of the hopes of the tour was to photograph tigers and other wildlife in their natural habitats, however, apart from a paw print on the sea shore, there was little to see. The inclusion of a smartly dressed, armed police/Army officer to protect the tourists/tigers and the historical chars was a nice touch too. Old buildings abounded with some only found because of the unusual shape of the bushes. Unlike our city council, when they find something of interest, they don't immediately knock it flat, putting a concrete and glass slab on it, nah, they celebrate the history, (even if it is from a different religious sect) by protecting it.
A tour of the shipyards where the tourists were able to go about freely, watching and photographing the workers using hammers to chip off the rust and an ordinary roller brush to paint on the new coats. Similarly a tour of the tea plantations with a Veronica photo simulating the PG Tips box very effectively. Another outing took a look at the clothing industry, with a man proudly showing off his skills in selecting the right shades for the colour, totally ignoring the fact that his hands and feet were a different colour to the rest of his body. Then into the mills where men and women worked happily alongside each other on machines that wouldn't be allowed in this country. Health & Safety would take care of that. Back to the river where merchants sell rice by the sack full, and in the background, the youthful girls spend days just turning the rice so it dries quicker.
The overall picture of the place was a happy, smartly dressed nation with a simple view of life, if you don't work, you don't eat.
I have to say, Veronica's portraits were fabulous, I just wish I had some of her skills!