A question about the 'Woman in green buying charcoal'

One of our regular readers sent me this question today:
Question: In the photos of Mali, please would you tell us what the woman in the beautiful long green frock is doing? Is she gathering coal or what is it that she is walking beside and through? Surely she's not doing laundry in a stream dressed so beautifully ... or is she?

Somebody else commented that he was surprised that I had photoshopped one of my photographs as I am so dead against photoshopping.

Well, the answer is : No I most certainly did not photoshop the picture -- I do not even have photoshop or any other photo-doctoring/enhancing/fixing program on my little note book -- and in fact, because everyone here is completely and unequivocally against having their photographs taken, almost all my pics are taken with the camera clutched next to the strap of my shoulderbag so I have absolutely NO idea what will be the result -- did I even get half of what I wanted to photograph into the picture, or is it going to be another skew picture of a car wheel or a piece of the blue sky? Every night when I get home, it is a total surprise what I managed to capture with my sly sneaky aiming-at-being-inconspicious photography.

I would love nothing more than to be able to photograph openly and freely -- the colours and the moments and the incredible light and intensity of it all here are so photographable, and not being allowed to use ones camera is the biggest torture ever! For instance, the day I took the photograph of the woman in question here, Suzanne and I had walked to the markets to buy provisions for the dinner we were to cook that night. It was a very long and very dusty walk in the early morning heat -- which was already searing at 9am in the morning. We had been told the markets were behind the mosque, but between us and the actual mosque behind which the markets are, there were about five other mosques; it was a loooooong way and very very hot. By the time we arrived at the markets, we were ready to find what was available and get back to the campsite as quickly as possible. But then: The market took my breath away!

I know! I know! all markets take my breath away! But this one was something else. This entire market --- the 'smaller' one on the right bank of the river -- Niger River) -- is a very large area -- as far as the eye could see and well beyond that, was situated under the very dark and low corrugated iron roofs so that everyone and everything was in a deep black and cool shade. The overall effect was one of blackness. But -- every here and there, in between the stalls and at the end of rows, it was open to the sky and there, like magic, the light poured in -- streamed in -- flowed in like a golden liquid and lit up the colours of the green and red and orange and white and yellow and indigo blue. The vegetables lying on the wooden planks took on a life of its own and the fabrics of the women's dresses and head scarves became animated in the sunlight-- seeming to glow luminescent in the dark shadows of the stalls. The women are garrulous and loud and their voices and laughter riccochet off the iron ceilings and bounce back off the soft dark soil under their feet. It is a joyous scene and you feel the compulsion to touch everything to feel if it is real, to feel the textures, to savour the pleasure of its freshness. I find myself buying beans - simply because they look so crisp and crunchy and green. I buy 12 small capsicums instead of the four we need, just to enjoy the shiny roundness of these bright green and red gems in the palm of my hand. I ask about the colour of the squash and the woman cuts one open with a single slice of her large rusty knife to reveal its moist white softness inside, and I cannot resist playing with an okra while chatting to the woman, remembering the okra angels a friend had made for us once, a very long time ago, for christmas tree decorations.

So, to answer the first question: All the women dress this beautifully all the time -- whether they walk in the dusty roads for miles, whether they sit in the searing sun selling their wares, whether they go to the Jet7 nightclub on a Saturday night!

(One is so tempted to go out and buy a whole wardrobe of these beautiful dresses, but then you have to pull in the reins and remember that the reason they look so beautiful is because the fabrics and colours have a rich, glowing dark brown skin as a backdrop. Put those same dresses on a white skin and it will probably look like nothing at all.) The particular woman in this photograph I simply HAD to capture -- again a shot from the hip and, in this case, a lucky one! That vibrant green bean green and beautiful intense fuschia cloth in which to wrap her purchases against the black black background of the charcoal and charcoal seller -- really did look like a picture that had already been photoshopped -- the background turned to B/W and only the foreground in colour. But as I said -- no fixing -- this is the way the picture came out -- and I was thrilled -- so much so that I simply had to share it with you!