It seems there isn’t a corner of the world, an experience or an image that hasn’t somehow been shown to people millions of miles away. With camera phones and social media, no moment is born and dies right there. It’s often spread all over the Internet within minutes. And due to this, we can are often caught up and forget what it means to the person standing right in front of us, who we are snapping a picture of, or whose home, children, pets, village–you name it–we are snapping away at, as though it’s public property. So, when you’re travelling, if you wish to start giving tourists a better name, keep this in mind.
1.) Always ask first. Events like parades, public performances and other places where people obviously know they’re being observed and photographed, are exceptions. However, if it’s just a regular moment (at least for the subject of your photo}, that is) ask the individual if you can take their picture, or even a picture of something that belongs to them. If you don’t speak the same language, usually just pointing to your camera and then at the subject of interest will get the point across.
2.) Don’t offer money. You do this out of kindness for an individual agreeing to be in your photo, but this sparks what some call some sort of prostitution. See, locals might become accustomed to offering to be in a photograph for money, and then they’ll pose or set up the photo in a manner that makes their life look more photogenic than it truly is. Put simply, you’ll start to get false portrayals of thing.
3.) Connect. Want real photos of what really occurs in a foreignl place? Attempt to develop a friendship with a local, or even a group of them. Once they know they are able to trust you not to exploit or misrepresent them, they’ll introduce you to authentic and amazing aspects of their world.
4.) Capture all of it. My buddy often travels and has become a photog. She’s a voice coach in Los Angeles of inner city kids, and posts the photos in her studio for her students to see at their singing lessons. She hopes to inspire her students to travel. But, she knows how impressionable kids are so she tries not to just capture, for example, the impoverished areas of a location, or only the wealthy, in order to not give a biased impression. Along with coming in to learn how to sing, she wants her students to learn about the world.
5.) Do NOT, under any circumstances, take pictures of something illegal happening. You could put yourself in danger.
