I love collecting faces in my camera and bringing them home with me.

Faces are like snowflakes: No two are alike.

I recently visited Côte d’Ivoire for the first time. Every new country has a learning curve for me since folks in faraway places react differently to cameras. After visiting for a while in the country, I noticed that Ivorians had resting faces that looked rather closed and stern. I wondered, Were they not happy to see me? But after a connection was made – maybe just eye contact ... wait for it ... beautiful smiles broke out again and again.

Why We Wrote This

Persistence and instant connection create lasting joy in our staff photographer's images of people from Côte d'Ivoire.

When I travel on assignment for the Monitor, one of the best parts of my job is peeking behind the curtain of a country. It’s not like being on vacation, because I get to meet and spend a little time with our subjects, sometimes visiting their homes or businesses. I see places not listed on tourist itineraries. Other times, I come across  people for just a quick impression, when I look out the window of our passing car or walk by them on my way to somewhere else. That’s what these images represent.

The twins! Of all the frames I shot in Côte d’Ivoire, the photos I took of these two wonderful men are my favorites. Our connection was instant.  They immediately gave me permission to snap their picture. They were thrilled. Their smiles, their joy, their love for each other – it was all there. They had been sitting together outside a tailor’s atelier that I was photographing. Did they live nearby? Did they always sit there? I don’t know. I don’t even know their names. But they made me smile when I met them, and they make me smile every time I look at their portrait.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

The children live in a tiny village near cocoa farms. We stopped our car for a moment on the way back to the capital. They were right outside my window. Click! In the photo one looks surprised, another not sure, one with a shy smile, and the boy, like little boys everywhere, has a gesture with a pose to match.

Later, looking out from a shop, I saw this football club warming up before a scrimmage. A couple of players spotted me with my long lens and reacted. Other players kept running, unaware. 

I never know what I’ll encounter on a photo shoot, but I try to be ready for anything. A cook was grilling fish for the lunchtime crowd at a small restaurant in the capital, Abidjan. While the Monitor reporter  was doing  an interview there, I kept going over to the cook to capture just the right moment. She laughed when I came back multiple times. I did get her name: Mariam Kone.

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As with all my work trips, I am tasked with illustrating stories through my lens that a writer is reporting. In addition, I’m always on the lookout for other images that move me. I don’t speak French, so in Côte d’Ivoire, I relied on our fluent correspondent and our local “fixer,” Albain, who helped us find what we needed. Still, there were many moments on my own and I interacted without language, using my smile and a slight lift of my camera that said, “Can I take your photo?” Usually, the answer was “Yes!”

– Melanie Stetson Freeman

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

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