Pieter Hugo

"Pieter Hugo, who documented Nigerian men who stroll the streets of Lagos with hyenas and other wild animals. Nigerian newspapers usually claim that these men are bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, and debt collectors.

He eventually traveled to Benin City in Nigeria, and met with the Gadawan Kura as they are known in Hausa (a rough translation: 'hyena handlers/guides'). After a while, he discovered that these people were essentially itinerant minstrels, performers who used the animals to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines. They also hold permits from the Nigerian government to keep these animals.

Pieter writes this in his interesting background essay: "Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalized. Or why Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray.." taken from here

HYENA'S! holy calamity! Look at those things-SO HUGE!

Wow... amazing. Photos by Pieter Hugo I just read about this photographer on this great blog I discovered this morning here

Sometimes I think that a person can take a great pic because they have great subjects to photograph. I also think that the true test is to take a great photo with a boring subject and make it interesting/beautiful. It seems so easy to take a pic of a war ravaged area or diff cultures and have people go wow. But fuck it. I guess whatever works for you. I'd jump on the chance to travel to a far off place to take photos. Sometimes I find it hard to photograph people tho-I get intimidated. Plus, I really can be shy.

All in all I do like this guys work-pretty great and interesting.