[lbo-talk] writing about other people's suffering

[Wojtek S]

[WS:]  It is a mixed bag.  I had a similar experience in Cambodia - my
driver pointed to a woman with a terribly disfigured child begging at
a temple in the assumption that I would like to take a picture.  His
behavior was probably due to the fact that a bit earlier I paid $5 (a
considerable amount in that part of the world) to a boat woman for
letting me take a picture of her and her kids, and he was surprised
that I refused.  The difference however, was that the first scene
expressed certain stoic dignity (see for yourself
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1008046086569&set=a.1008043606507.2001216.1387451054&type=3&theater)
whereas the other one was just misery.

In any case, locals oftentimes use such "photo-ops" to earn some money
- they approach tourists offering to pose for a small fee.  In other
instances, they like to be photographed and pose for free, or simply
do not mind.  I like taking pictures of street scenes (e.g.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1008000165421&set=a.1007999525405.2001199.1387451054&type=3&theater)

 that show the character of the place and local people but I avoid
photographing scenes of misery.

Wojtek

On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 1:16 PM, Ismail Lagardien <ilagardien at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> I am actually working on an essay for peer review about photographs and memory. Part of the essay is about how I turned away from press photography after becoming quite disgusted by the "predatory voyeurism" of taking pictures of other people's suffering during the states of emergency in South Africa between 1985 - 1987.
>
> More recently I visited Guyana where, in the capital, Georgetown (in the La Penitence/Charlestown area) I saw a man, a dog and a cow foraging on a heap of smouldering garbage I raised my camera, caught them in the frame, then could not take the picture... As with writing about the poor, when we photograph poor people we impute our own values of what a poor person is meant to look like, into the image we capture.
>
>
>
> Ismail Lagardien
>
>
> Nihil humani a me alienum puto
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

-- 
Wojtek
http://wsokol.blogspot.com/