Am facing a bit of resistance in the dump. Today two of the OFFICIAL types who have a connection to the nearby Thai garbage plant asked me not take photos. One was a girl on a motorbike and the other a heavy machinery operator. This is a common thing in social documentary photography. People are always trying to get you to stop making pics. When your making photos in worlds that want to keep things hidden. Official management type people that are embarrassed by the reality do not want others to know about it, no advertising please. When I was doing the sex worker portraits people were always warning me not to photograph, not to do this or that. Usually it was people profiting form that scene. They did not want any thing to cut into their cash cow.
The officials at the dump probably feel that photos of the garbage picking area reflect badly on Thailand. I do, not see it as a Thai national thing at all but a human story, that has to be told. What I am photographing goes on in Cambodia, India, all over Africa, South America etc. My making pictures is not about making Thailand look bad, that is NOT my goal. It is about making the reality the workers face look bad. Telling their story in an accurate and compassionate, empathetic way. Showing our shared humanity, raising funds to help those here and in other places.
My strategy over the next few days is to back off and then later change the times I go to the picking area, from mornings to nights. I will make some 8x10 photos over the next few days with dads camera. I also contacted Fred after delaying on it for a while, sent him an email this morning. Will see where that leads.
The officials at the dump probably feel that photos of the garbage picking area reflect badly on Thailand. I do, not see it as a Thai national thing at all but a human story, that has to be told. What I am photographing goes on in Cambodia, India, all over Africa, South America etc. My making pictures is not about making Thailand look bad, that is NOT my goal. It is about making the reality the workers face look bad. Telling their story in an accurate and compassionate, empathetic way. Showing our shared humanity, raising funds to help those here and in other places.
My strategy over the next few days is to back off and then later change the times I go to the picking area, from mornings to nights. I will make some 8x10 photos over the next few days with dads camera. I also contacted Fred after delaying on it for a while, sent him an email this morning. Will see where that leads.
