Omo Valley photography tour to Ethiopias Suri Tribe

A photographers delight and an adventurers dream…the Suri tribe are incredible in so many ways and are part of the collective Surma tribe of Ethiopia.

Having times when it is clear it is “photo time” on this Africa photo tour meant that all the rest of the time the children knew they didn’t need to try to get my attention for photos. They could relax, have fun and play games with us. They definitely love having their photo taken and they love being creative and modelling. I spoke to them about tourists visiting and they told me they love it very much. They especially love it when visitors spend time with them and play with them. It is a great change for them from their normal daily lives.

Whilst most of my days with the Suri tribe were relaxed and without my camera, I also had certain “photo sessions” where my aim was to create amazing images of this wonderful tribe. Taking portraits of the remote Suri Tribe in Ethiopias Upper Omo Valley is a photographers delight!

This particular afternoon I set up a black sheet so I could create some close up portraits. I keep a large black sheet and a reflector in Ethiopia for my photo tours. On this occasion I hung the black sheet on a branch of a tree and put a blanket behind it so the light wasn’t coming through the sheet. A reflector was handy when I needed a bit of extra light.

Before the “photo session” these creative souls went to the river and I watched as they put new body paint on their faces and bodies. Whilst I love the black and white photos I also have some favourites in colour…

Some of the photos I love equally in colour and black and white so I’ve done edits in both! Having a black sheet as a background means that there are no distracting elements in the portraits. Whilst I also love environmental portraits, I mostly love to capture a varied selection of styles of portraits. Black backgrounds, white backgrounds, natural backgrounds and both close ups and wide angle environmental portraits.

Many people in the Omo Valley tribes see a camera and stare with serious faces…no smiling. Most photographers don’t like smiling as it doesn’t win awards. I won’t put my thoughts on this in this blog post, but you can tell by my style of photography that I love capturing happy faces and reflecting the moment and who they are. Showing their fun and friendly side was sometimes hard work, but crucial to my vision. They soon realised that they didn’t need to be “serious” in front of my camera.

For this reason taking portraits of the tribes in Ethiopias Omo Valley is wonderful regardless of how experienced you are at taking portraits. They are wonderful models and they absolutely love it. However, if you want to break down that “model” mode and get some natural images it takes a lot more experience and effort. Being a wedding photographer for so many years I am quite used to getting people to feel comfortable in front of my lens and capturing moments that reflect the personality of who I am photographing.

They also love taking photos themselves, so it’s great if you can bring a spare camera for them to share the joy of photography.

They try hard not to laugh during the photo shoot - but I’ll always get them laughing!! lol!!

After I’d taken portraits with the black background I then took photos of them in the natural surroundings. The sun had broken through the clouds, so I tried to take most of them under the shade of the beautiful trees in camp.

I can’t wait until my next Africa photo tour especially to this Ethiopian tribe in the Omo Valley! Interested in joining me? Click on the link below and express your interest.