Ancestrial Shrine, a photo from Upper East, North

Photographer's Note

The picture was taken in the Chiefs Palace of Tengzugu in the Tongo Hills Area in Northern Ghana. The landscape up north here is simply stunning, but the main reason to come are the people and there still living traditions.
The people here still believe in traditional ghosts of their ancestors. Everywhere one can see such shrines as shown on this picture. The people sacrifice chicken, goats, donkeys and other animals to keep the ghosts happy and to pray for well-being e.g.

The Chiefs palace of Tengzugu is quite a big family compound where only members of the chiefs family are allowed to live in. In this compound around 300 family members are living. The chief itself has got 17 wifes.

The area around Tengzugu also houses the Ba'ar Tonna'ab Ya'nee shrine - one of the holiest religious places in the region.

ViktorVaughn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ViktorVaughn (1525) 2009-05-06 16:01

An interesting photo Mirko, with an equally interesting note to accompany it. As for the photo, I believe you have a good subject here, but the problem for me lies in your choice of focus. It is a bit strange having the subject of focus exactly in the centre of the frame. As well, there are too many distracting elements in the background to make your subject stand out. I found myself searching the photo to figure out where the intended subject was, as opposed to having my eye drawn to a place, or having it stand out.

Regards,
David