Comments on: Travel Photography Subjects: Poor

By: ian paul

ian paul — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:48:26 +0000

http://jad212.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Streets_of_Cebu#photo=5

I went back home to Cebu and it always break my heart to see really destitute people but then again, it is a choice and you can blame it on the very core of human nature.

By: Sohel

Sohel — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 15:35:03 +0000

This is pretty interesting to me. I always wonder, when it comes to talk of poor, mostly, people talk or shot the poor in Africa and Asia. I am not trying to bring up an issue here, but just trying to understand the mentality. I have been lucky to be in Europe (UK and Germany), America (the USA only), Africa (DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya) and Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Qatar). Not a widely travelled person as many of you. During my those travelling days, I found poor are universal; living in an unbelievable condition — even in the US!! But no poor from the US or Europe appears in the photo posts. Why?

By: Rick Wilhelmsen

Rick Wilhelmsen — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:11:06 +0000

Joining in late. I’m not sure if this fits – While it certainly seems like poor living conditions to us, the Datoga Tribe in Tanzania don’t necessarily consider themselves poor. :

By: chris

chris — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:48:22 +0000

“She’s got the whole world on her back”-a grandmother with seven grandchildren to feed, a son in prison and a daughter-in-law in the hospital. shot taken in the Philippines.

By: George Anderson

George Anderson — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:08:40 +0000

This is a photo I took in Paris at the “World’s biggest” flea market.
These people may be poorer still because of the wealth that surrounds them.

By: Robert Dingwall

Robert Dingwall — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:46:33 +0000

This is a small boy who lives in the World Heritage Site of Petra in Jordan.

By: Roopesh Sheth

Roopesh Sheth — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:43:57 +0000

This man was selling his homemade wares in Mazatlan this past May.

By: ian paul

ian paul — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:26:56 +0000

I was driving by the market in Bohol, Philippines and saw this man washing carrots to sell in the market. Saving water, yes probably or not having enough water to wash his carrots and anyone who did not see this will never know how clean it is. Life is such in this impoverished but happy people. Always finding ways to smile and laugh which is good.

By: J.D.

J.D. — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Back in the 80s, as I was well into my second decade as a newspaper photographer, I met a guy all full of himself who was just out of college and wanted to “get into photojournalism.” He had the right equipment for sure. He had money to travel to “third world” (I hate that term) countries. He went to Nicaragua on a free-lance trip to shoot “war images” for his portfolio. Turns out, whenever there was gunfire in the streets, he ran back to the safety of his hotel. But he did return with lots of images. They all pretty much looked the same: People in ragged clothing, gaunt and hungry, staring straight into his camera, almost without expression. He found great significance in this. He thought he had revealed for the world some profound truth. After about the 10th such image, the editor asked him, “is there anything else?” He was dumbfounded. Wasn’t that enough?

No. It’s not enough. As far as we were concerned, where he saw profundity in the “human condition” what he actually revealed was his own prejudice and feeling of entitlement to rob these people of what little dignity they had by walking up on them like they were zoo animals, snap their puzzled, weary expressions and move on down the street to the next house and the next house. He had no real feeling for these people. He was just there to exploit them for images he could sell.

My editor called his work “firing squad pictures.” Indeed, looking at them, they all had that feeling of people standing there flat-footed, staring at him as he was staring at them.

As some other people have said in the comments section here: Get to know the people. Move among them with humility and respect. The images you make will reflect what is in your heart and mind as well as what is in front of your camera.

By: Guy Prives

Guy Prives — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:56:03 +0000

This was taken in Israel
i called it “stardust”
you can see more at my facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/guypr