A Somali woman waves to a friend as she comes out of the tent they share at Hal Far Tent Village open centre for migrants at Hal Far outside Valletta, June 6, 2007. Many asylum seekers who are granted protection are released from detention into one of the open centres. Some opt to move to the community right away.
I had spent some time sitting with this woman in her tent, taking pictures as the French journalist from Le Monde newspaper I was accompanying interviewed her. When I saw she was going to go outside to call a friend, I slipped out ahead of her, knowing the late afternoon light was ideal for pictures. I crouched low to lose the cluttered background and just used the sky instead. I think what I’ve always liked about this picture is that there is no way one would guess it was taken in Malta if unaware of the circumstances around it. Most people would think it was in some refugee camp in Africa.
Canon EOS-1D MkII
Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Focal length 16mm
Manual exposure
Aperture f/8
Shutter 1/250 sec
ISO 200
Islelanders 