Yonoféré, Senegal (Swiss Stories 2013, by Christian Bobst) - Swiss Press Award

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Christian Bobst

Photo / Swiss Stories

2013

Yonoféré, Senegal

Christian Bobst

In April 2012, I traveled to the Ferlo Desert in Senegal on behalf of the Swiss aid organization HEKS (Heks) to document various aid projects. The Ferlo Desert is part of the Sahel zone and has very sparse vegetation. The people live largely from livestock farming and live in rudimentary huts. Water is essential for survival in this inhospitable, arid zone and is particularly scarce during the dry season. For this reason, HEKS has co-financed irrigation projects in the area. This was one of them in Yonoféré, where water is pumped from great depths using a borehole. We visited this village on the last day of my assignment. Around midday, the sky became saturated with sand from the Sahara, bathing the landscape in a soft, sepia-toned light. The atmosphere had a surreal quality; the people and their dwellings seemed like they came from a bygone era, the water tower like a giant object from a science fiction film. I worked all afternoon in almost 50 degrees Celsius without a break until sunset to capture this magical atmosphere in a series of painting-like photographs.

Yonoféré, Senegal

Die Südostschweiz am Sonntag

Photo / Swiss Stories

2013

Christian Bobst

In April 2012, I traveled to the Ferlo Desert in Senegal on behalf of the Swiss aid organization HEKS (Heks) to document various aid projects. The Ferlo Desert is part of the Sahel zone and has very sparse vegetation. The people live largely from livestock farming and live in rudimentary huts. Water is essential for survival in this inhospitable, arid zone and is particularly scarce during the dry season. For this reason, HEKS has co-financed irrigation projects in the area. This was one of them in Yonoféré, where water is pumped from great depths using a borehole. We visited this village on the last day of my assignment. Around midday, the sky became saturated with sand from the Sahara, bathing the landscape in a soft, sepia-toned light. The atmosphere had a surreal quality; the people and their dwellings seemed like they came from a bygone era, the water tower like a giant object from a science fiction film. I worked all afternoon in almost 50 degrees Celsius without a break until sunset to capture this magical atmosphere in a series of painting-like photographs.

Author

Christian Bobst / Swiss Press Award

Christian Bobst

Fotograf, Zürich, 1971

Christian Bobst studierte Graphic Design und arbeitete während 15 Jahren als Art- und Creative-Director für verschiedene Werbeagenturen in der Schweiz und Deutschland. 2010 machte er sich selbständig und begann mit der Dokumentarfotografie. Bis heute hat er Reportagen für Zeitungen, Zeitschriften und Hilfsorganisationen in über 20 Ländern realisiert. Seine Bilder erschienen in Publikationen wie «NZZ», «Die Zeit», «Huffington Post» und «New York Review of Books». Seit 2014 ist Christian Bobst Mitglied der Agentur «13Photo» in Zürich.