Visiting Algeria With My Olympus XA

I took a trip back to Algeria to see my grandfather. Packed my faithful Olympus XA. Needed a camera I could easily hide for some street shots.

Wikipedia moment: Algeria, the biggest country in Africa. Mostly Muslim population. They went through a hellish civil war in the 90s, fighting off terrorism. Since then, it’s been a slow recovery. A lot of the youth are disillusioned, some desperate enough to risk crossing the Mediterranean for a shot at Europe.

These shots are from Oran, my birthplace on the western edge of Algeria. It’s damn cool to shoot street photos in the old streets of the city. People interact, hug each other like long-lost friends. It’s a world apart from my daily grind in Paris. Oran’s like a big village where everyone seems to know each other. Mdin’jdida is the heart of the city, the place where euros turn into dinars, where the latest knock-off sneakers are sold, where fruits and veggies are bartered.

With an Olympus XA in hand, it’s easy to shoot without aiming. The 35mm lens is wide enough to give you a rough idea of the frame without having to lift the camera to your eye.

I love the Olympus XA. It’s a sneaky little thing, that camera. Zone Focus mode. You can snap shots in a church and no one would hear a damn thing. It’s stealth, pure and simple. But yeah, it’s got that plastic feel, feels like it might shatter if you so much as sneeze on it. Slide the door open, slide it shut, and you wonder if it’ll survive the trip. But man, it’s light as a feather. Who cares, the plastic’s got this retro vibe, cool in its own way.

What to say about the XA? Everything’s been said. From its origins (Thanks, Maitani) to its descendants (XA-1, what a joke). More efficient than an Olympus Mju, the lens is a real gem. Why did the Olympus engineers go so hard on this one? Blows my mind how such a tiny lens can produce such sharp images! Sometimes, I slip another camera into my pocket for a bit of street photography, but I always end up regretting it. This little thing never leaves my jacket now.

The real hassle about this camera is advancing the film. It’s like using one of those disposable ones. It eats up precious time when you’re trying to grab another shot in a hurry. A real pain, but that’s the way it goes.

Then there’s the vignetting. Sometimes, when the sun hits just right, the lens throws a colour shift that’s hard to describe. But I dig the look it gives the photos.

As for the trip? Not much to say. Maybe just a shot of my grandfather.

Thanks for reading.

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