Historical Pictures and Research

Since last week, I've been doing more research about coastal and beach erosion in Africa. A lot is going to have to wait because people are gone and institutions are closed for the holidays. I've made the rounds on foot and through e-mails to get to the bottom of the historical picture that I've become semi-obsessed with. I finally was able to find out the photographer of the picture taken in 1929 showing the old Práia da Maputo where the Marginal is now. It's changed incredibly and that's why I find it important. But most importantly, with the Clube Naval, the yacht club build by the Portuguese in 1913, it puts the area in context with an existing historical landmark.

The photographer's name is José Santos dos Rufino and he is dead. A project by three Portuguese universities through a joint foundation called Memorias de Africa posted Mr. Rufino's volumes of postcard books of photographs of Lorenço Marqués, the colonial Portuguese name that changed to Maputo after the Portuguese left in 1975, online along with similar projects from other former Luso-African colonies. It's incredibly interesting. I've found several old pictures of the Marginal, but this works the best for my purposes. Here is the response that I got from one a member of the group:

Dear Sir

Rufino is dead for long time.

As far as I know there is no problem of using the photo the way you describe.

We just put it on line, because they where already on line in the site of Companhia de Ferro de Moçambique.

But I can not give you authorization to do the same. I have not such power. You do what you want on your own.

Sincerely

Carlos Sangreman

CEsA

I also had a meeting with the management of Clube Naval who have this picture on their website as well as on their wall with other historical pictures but had no idea of who had taken it. They said, it was from an old postcard and gave me permission to use it and are going to make me a copy of theirs'. The casualness about giving me permission of a photo that they don't own rights to was a bit funny, but the main groups using it all share the same attitude. The copyright law in Mozambique and Portugal is the life of the artist plus 70 years which is similar to most of the world. It's clearly not up, but people have sort of taken a public domain attitude with it. I would like to ultimately get my work into a book form and would like to include Mr. Rufino's picture along with an updated photo, so I'll continue with this a bit more (Tt's a sort of caution that came from working at a newspaper-people loved to sue us.)

On the other front regarding this photo, I've been trying to find a location to repeat the picture. It's impossible so far because the hillside in which it was shot is now either developed or filled with trees and shrubbery. I've gone on sort of nerve-wracking little hikes through some areas on the hillside where homeless people and bandits live dodging garbage and human waste. It was quickly apparent that I could not get the photo I wanted. My other solution was getting in the air–I'm afraid of heights and hate flying.

A Portuguese photographer friend of mine has a buddy who is part of an air club that has access to a plane for $100 USD. He's going to see if he can help arrange for me to go up.