article_snippet: Photographer Leonard Pongo Photographer Leonard Pongo had different plans.
article_snippet: I could have focused on the election, but I chose to follow people around,Photographer Leonard Pongo Photographer Leonard Pongo said.
article_snippet: It was Pongo's burning personal quest that brings us "The Uncanny," a black-and-white series that helps us experience the Congo in flesh and blood.
article_snippet: These rich portraitures and compositions of Pongo's family members give us a vivid emotion of what it is like to be human as the Congo spirals into chaos.
article_snippet: War is something only experienced marginally by Pongo, who was born and raised in Belgium to a Belgian mother and a Congolese father.
article_snippet: While feeling the warm welcome of his family, Pongo still felt a certain reticence when Pongo looked at the camera.
article_snippet: Pongo trust was not always unshakable, and that state of awareness become synonymous with the Congo.
article_snippet: I find that photo a little disturbing, because all the gazes are going into different directions," Pongo said.
article_snippet: Working with the approach of an artisan, Pongo plays with light to create a certain magic in the aura of the people Pongo portrays.
article_snippet: I like to remain loyal to the principles of film development and darkrooms," said Pongo, who shot "The Uncanny" on a digital camera.
article_snippet: Pongo went back in 2013 and said Pongo journey through the country is not over yet.
article_snippet: I think I reached my objective, to embed into the daily life in the Congo, which clearly transformed me," Pongo said.
article_snippet: Pongo is a photographer from Belgium.
article_snippet: You can follow Pongo on Tumblr.
highlights_snippet: Photographer Leonard Pongo documented daily life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
  