When Sarjo Baldeh was 20, she was given a Canon T6 as a birthday present. She was thrilled to have her own camera after spending her teenage years practising with borrowed equipment.
“Cameras are expensive in my country and are often imported from abroad, so you have to save for years to be able to buy your own,” says Baldeh.
Nearly three years later, she was one of the few African female photographers at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast.
Baldeh accompanied the Gambia national team to the football tournament, her biggest assignment yet. At pitchside during all their matches in Yamoussoukro, the Ivory Coast capital, and Bouaké, she posted photos on her social media, often giving live updates during the games.
But Baldeh herself captured plenty of attention. In bright colours with a pale-pink headscarf, she stood out during matches.
“Some of the photos of the Scorpions [the Gambia team nickname] that you see on social media were taken by this young woman – Thumbs up to Sarjo!!,” posted African Hub on X. Africa Archives also highlighted her.
Baldeh grew up in Lamin, a village in west Gambia, with her father, a police officer, and her mother who is a firefighter. She was introduced to photography in her early teens, on a summer programme run by Starfish International, a non-profit organisation empowering girls in the Gambia. It was pure chance that she was put into the media class, she says, while her classmates learned skills such as sewing. Starfish loaned her a camera, which she used to capture daily chores.