“Africa” is a first in many ways for this popular series. It is the first book to be shot and produced digitally and it is the first book to have all proceeds donated to charity. Olympus helped make this happen by becoming the project’s underwriter and sole camera provider. Not all of the photographer¹s have “gone digital” and to make sure that they would be comfortable with the cameras in Africa, Olympus provided extensive training before the shoot date as well as on-site support.

“A Day in the Life of Africa” was developed to help bring global awareness about Africa and its fight against AIDS. Because more than 25 million men, women and children are HIV positive, David Cohen (the director) and Lee Liberman (the producer) banned together to get enough sponsorship so that all publishing profits will go to support AIDS education programs throughout Africa.

Programs will be selected in collaboration with advisors from The Harvard AIDS Institute, South Africa's Soul City Foundation, and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs.

On February 28, 2002, 100 photographers were assigned to photograph in their own styles so that the rest of the world could catch a glimpse of the diversity and beauty throughout this vibrant continent.

“A Day in the Life of Africa” draws you in immediately with a few images depicting the range of the African landscape. For example, Dilip Mehta has depicted the pyramids at Giza, an area of the world that is known to most of us through pictures, in an unusually sensuous light. Vast landscapes lead you in to an introduction by Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations and a foreword by Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The viewer is now ready to be surprised by what Africa has to offer.

My favorite layout is the spread on pages 72 and 73.  Most people would have come in close to the colorful umbrellas lined up on a patch of dirt, but Peter Bialonrzeski juxtaposed a woman dressed in white against the busy patterns. On the opposite page John Isaac photographed two women shopping in a market in Chad. Isaac¹s image is the opposite in color tones to Bialonrzeski¹s. In this market, the women are dressed in colorful clothing and the wares being sold are all white.  These images work together on several levels, but the most interesting to me is the way the women in Isaac’s photograph are covered up so that the viewer can not see any personal feature, but yet they are shopping for bras freely hanging in a market place.

This book will enthrall you and inspire you. It will make you see how different one continent can be from one street to the next, by just turning a page. From offices with the newest flat-screen computers to a market scene straight out of the history books, Africa has it all and it is captured in the pages of the latest “A Day in the Life of Africa” series.