I am rediscovering one of my hobbies - photography. Photography came my way through my now deceased paternal uncle who had the only camera in the village in which I grew up. With my new digital camera, fully loaded with unexplored functions, I am once again turning to an early fascination that got lost for a number of reasons (including the cost factor of processing films). I can now store my images, delete, select, and work editorial magic with much ease. My head is buzzing with ideas as to what I can do with these images.
One would think that with the advent of digital photography, photographers from the South would be better placed to present their own realities through their optics. But this is not necessarily the case. Photography is still largely controlled by the richer nations. Shahidul Alam writing in The New Internationalist (August 2007) noted that when he confronted the organisers of “Eight Ways to Change the World” exhibition as to why all the photographers were white and from the West he was told that photographers from his part of the world “didn’t have the eye”. What they actually meant is that the natives are unable to capture images that they want to make big dollars on!
Alam notes that yrears ago, when photographers from the Majority World had asked why they were not used by mainstream media and development agencies the answer then was that they did not exist - even though there were local photographers. In the eyes of the West they did not exist! Now the tune has changed: their presence cannot be denied, but now they have to prove they have the eye for the task. And it is the West that will determine that!
For me, what is disturbing about Alam’s essay is how Charities, bent on squeezing funds from the rich in their countries, tend to subscribe to the view that local photographers cannot be trusted to understand this in order to get the right image that will move the conscience of the rich westerners.
The good news is that that things seem changing, but for the wrong reasons. In those especially dangerous situations it is best to have the locals get the picture and run the risk of getting killed. They are expendable!
copyright jagessar
