These fascinating images of remote tribes in Africa were taken by a frontline nurse who says that the people there are the most caring on the planet.
American Cohan Zarnoch, 54, has worked and travelled with multiple non-profit organisations over the past 12 years, snapping breathtaking pictures of rural tribes in countries including Ethiopia, Rwanda, Namibia and Morocco.
Based in Colorado, Zarnoch is also a surgical nurse currently working in East Texas, where she’s caring for COVID patients.
Before being deployed to Covid-19 hot spots in the US, Zarnoch traveled with organizations such as Operation Walk, facilitating joint replacement to those in need, and Primo Filters International, a non-profit she runs with her family, bringing clean water to developing countries.
The photographer, said the continent has always been her calling and that it is home to the ‘most interesting and loving people on the planet’.
‘It is a place I go knowing that I am accepted not by conditions, but who I am in that moment. I do not have to explain, justify or defend because they have no judgement.
‘I have a long lens I use until I have spent a good amount of time with them. I carry two cameras, one long lens, one short lens and when I feel they are comfortable with the cameras, I begin to shoot with both.’
Cohan said she sometimes shows the children the photos she has taken, noting that many of them have never seen themselves before because there are no mirrors in the remote tribes.
The beautiful thing about Africa is that there is always something to shoot. I can walk away from a week-long trip with 5,000 photos of the purest human nature to exist.
The self-described overachiever says her dream is to shoot for National Geographic magazine someday.
Once the pandemic is under control, Zarnoch expects to head to Chad and South Sudan.
Images © Cohan Zarnoch
