Ed Kashi - AP documentary

Delta Force

Delta Force - Ed Kashi

As the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shocked the world, petroleum exploitation in the Niger Delta has been devastating the local environment for 50 years. Photojournalist Ed Kashi tells Jeff Meyer how he gets the access to tell a story few other journalists have told.



A boy carries a freshly killed goat through the smoke and haze of burning tyres

Oil dependency It might be the most under-reported story of modern times. The Age of Oil has filled our tanks and bellies with the energy and wherewithal to expand our cities and populations. It has kept us warm and informed, and made tycoons out of poor dirt farmers. It has globalised trade. But this dependence has also fed the flames of many of the world’s recent conflicts, and increasingly it is blamed for harsh changes to our environment. As the mammoth oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico now places our petroleum consumption under closer scrutiny, it’s somewhat serendipitous that photojournalist Ed Kashi’s book exposing one of the longest running oil disasters in history should go into second print.

In making Curse of the Black Gold, the award-winning photographer traces 50 years of devastation in Nigeria’s impoverished Niger Delta region. From charred landscapes and contaminated water to disease and political instability, Nigeria’s much-heralded role as one of the world’s top oil suppliers has a dark underbelly that isn’t often reported. In what should have been a boon for local Nigerians, Ed sought to reveal the devastating impact of the scramble for African oil.

Having spent some time working in Iraq, Ed was between projects when he was approached in 2004 by Professor Michael Watts (who edited Curse of the Black Gold), of the University of California, Berkeley, who had seen Ed’s work and wanted him to photograph the disaster in the Niger Delta.

‘Michael has been going to the Niger Delta for 30 years,’ says Ed. ‘He invited me to work with him on a project he was doing there based on what he’d seen of my work in Iraq. The idea interested me straightaway, but I was more like, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” It’s nice enough when a magazine or foundation presents a new project, but when an individual professor comes to you you’re a little more sceptical about how it’s going to work.’

Blazing Fires

Blazing Fires

Villagers in Kpean monitor blazing fires caused by a leaking Shell oil wellhead. The local people await the company’s arrival to extinguish the flames

The trip was successful, though. Ed then made subsequent visits, spending in total about five months in the Niger Delta over parts of 2004-2006, photographing villages where crops fail to grow under acid rain caused by gas flares, inside the homes of local leaders, amid large open-air abattoirs and within the ranks of armed militants enraged by years of oil companies operating without supervision.

Despite having been in Iraq, Ed counts the Niger Delta as one of the most difficult places he was ever worked. His style is to get up close to his subjects when he photographs them, but the Niger Delta is not a very trusting environment. ‘People assume that any foreigner is with the oil companies – because often they are,’ he says. ‘As a result, there’s definitely a paranoia and a dislike of the camera there. People see you and think, “What’s that for? Will this bring trouble?”’



Trans Amaldi Slaughterhouse, the main abattoir of Port Harcourt, reveals deplorable conditions

The only saving grace, he adds, is that people and things don’t spontaneously explode like they do in Iraq and Afghanistan. ‘Terrorism is a real mindbender,’ says the former World Press Photo winner. ‘It’s very, very hard to work in that sort of environment. At least in the Niger Delta I knew that if I were to be kidnapped or taken by militants they wouldn’t hurt me, unlike al-Qaeda. So while it was stressful and intimidating at times, I felt safe knowing that people weren’t out to kill me.

‘I hope that aspect never changes in the Niger Delta, but there are already some worrying signs. By the time I was concluding my project, my contacts wouldn’t allow me to go out after dark, not even to get food. Security was starting to become a big issue.’

As well as a general suspicion of outsiders, the region’s terrain also made work difficult. Many oil sites and other points of interest are remote and can only be reached by boats or dangerous roads. Getting access to these places (and the people within them) was also a major obstacle, not to mention the inherent dangers of the locations themselves.



In the village of Oporoza, three of nine fighters from MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) killed in a military attack are laid to rest. MEND militants had just negotiated the release of a Shell worker taken hostage. While on the way back through the creeks to deliver the worker to freedom, Nigerian military boats ambushed the group and killed all nine MEND members as well as the Shell worker

Working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Ed was able to resolve many of his access problems in advance. His contacts at a number of NGOs (working on everything from environmental issues and human rights to the redistribution of oil wealth) knew people on the ground who were supportive of what Ed was trying to do and introduced him to drivers, translators, gatekeepers and potential subjects in the Niger Delta region.

‘I was able to vector in at this high level,’ Ed recalls. ‘Anywhere else in the world I would have been jailed or deported in a week without these contacts. Any time you go below the surface and talk to militants and investigate the oil companies, you’re going to meet resistance on a number of fronts. You rely on your contacts – and especially the contacts of your contacts.’

Everybody’s got to survive

Everybody’s got to survive

A boy selling drinks at the slaughterhouse. Nearly all the workers there, especially the meat handlers, are Hausa and Yoruba Muslims

Many times, however, even getting access through his contacts wasn’t straightforward. Intense corruption in the region also contributed to making this project one of Ed’s most difficult endeavours to date. Many sources and subjects demanded payment before they would speak with him. ‘I’m pretty hardcore about not paying sources or subjects,’ Ed says. ‘I tried to handle it in as graceful a way as possible. On reflection I realised that for hundreds of years people have been taking things from these people. So when I want access to their village, their attitude is that you have to give me something. It’s not so much the amount, but the principle.’



Workers push heavy barrels from the waterfront into the main market of Yenagoa, capital of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa

However, Ed did set a rule that he didn’t want to exchange the money physically.

To get around this he gave his guide or fixer the equivalent of about $10 (around £6) to hand over if asked so it wouldn’t get in the way of what he had to do.

Even the guy working at the gate of the compound where Ed stayed wanted money, he recalls. ‘I’d be working and my energy would run out and have to ask him to turn on the generator.

It’s his job, of course, but he wanted cash to do it. It was frustrating, but then these are all people who are very poor, so one shouldn’t judge. Everybody’s got to survive. As I get older and see more, I realise this. If it’s a scam that works for them, who am I to question that? The world is a murky place.’

The future of still Images

The future of still images

Oil pipelines create a walkway for this young woman through Okrika Town

Ed has worked with video technology for the past ten years, and now he regularly shoots videos on his Canon EOS 5D Mark II at the same time as he takes stills. While there is much debate about the merits of both media, Ed believes both have a solid place in the future of news reporting.

‘The fact is that the impact of still images has become stronger because people want to read less,’ he says. ‘There’s an enduring power with still imagery that isn’t simply going to go away just because this other new medium arises.

‘The main by-product of the rise of video is that we’re now moving away from the sanctity of the decisive moment,’ he adds. ‘We now look more to build and grow on past work, and tell more complete stories. I don’t reject the decisive moment entirely in my photography, but I do try to come up with new ways of presenting ideas.‘

Getting Close

Getting Close

Unlike other photographers who rely on long lenses to bring them close to their subjects, Ed likes the effect of being physically close. To this end, he carries just one camera, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and a few lenses. His mainstay is a 24-105mm zoom, which lets him get right up close to a person or situation, or allow him to fall back to a comfortable distance if necessary.

‘The key to getting close to people is that you don’t appear aggressive,’ says Ed. ‘I’m not an aggressive person, and I think people see that in the way I move and treat people. Also, I do a lot of shooting from the hip because there are times when you can’t bring your camera up to your eye.

‘There’s no exact prescription because every situation is different. Generally, I try not to speak to people or draw attention to myself because they immediately change their behaviour, but neither do I try to be sneaky or deceptive.

‘Most of the time, when I’m following my subjects I’m looking at the world from multiple planes of composition: foreground, middle and back, as well as left to right. As a journalist, I’m constantly asking myself what the elements are that I need in the frame, and what the relationship is between those elements so the image can have power. A lot of times I have to figure this out in a matter of seconds.’

To see more of Ed Kashi's work please visit his website www.edkashi.com