Photograph from “Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press” found HERE.
On Wednesday I start a five day contract with an NGO to follow them around and take photographs of what they’re doing. I’ve been working in Haiti for 6 months, and take a lot of pictures, and I think I know some of the basic rules of photography in this context. Mainly, ask permission. If the person is unsure of why you want to take their photograph, explain why as clearly and honestly as possible. Don’t get in the way. Try and focus on new stories, not old ones. There are plenty of photographs of amputees. My goal is not to add to that reservoir; my goal is tell new stories with my camera. However, I’m also getting paid to take photographs, and need to take in to account my employers interests.
So, I ask you, what advice, tips, dos and don’ts, can you share? I’ve never been paid to take photographs before, it’s always just been a hobby, or an extra “bonus” I bring with me to the other “real” job I’m doing. For five days, taking photographs is my real job. My instinct is to be invisible. To have the people I’m following not really “think” about me: to document both the obvious stuff as well as the moments that escape them because they’re focused on the things right in front of them, rightfully so. Don’t objectify. Don’t sensationalize.
What else? What are the nuances, you photographers out there? Please comment here on other things to think about.
Gabion was transformed, early on after the earthquake, from a soccer stadium to an IDP (internally-displaced peoples) camp. When I think of “camps”, images of miles and miles of refugees, dirt, makeshift housing, and generally unsanitary conditions come to mind. I’ve been conditioned to associate camps with terrible living conditions. Gabion is definitely not terrible. It’s not ideal—none of the people there want to live there—but it’s clean and relatively well managed. There is an organized food program, that we’ve been contributing to, and there’s a water supply on the premises. Really, it’s the heat more than anything else that makes life in Gabion hard. That, and the pain brought to the camp from Port au Prince. The IDPs living in Gabion are the minority of people who have traveled to the south who don’t have any family or friends to help support them. They’ve got nowhere else to go. And while there’s “only” around 150 people living there, they’re perhaps the 150 loneliest people in Les Cayes. No family. No friends. No familiar surroundings to find comfort in. During the day, the heat makes staying in the tents unbearable, and people shrink next to the tiny slivers of shade. I’ve been trying to record as many stories from Gabion as I can, trying to preserve them, so that we don’t forget what they went through, what they’re still going through.
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There’s no shortage of mapping going on here, that’s for sure.
Haiti: WFP food distribution points Index Map (as of 4 Feb 2010)
Haiti: Port-au-Prince Road Conditions (as of 28 Jan 2010)
Haiti Departments: Average population covered, per hospital (as of 04 Feb 2010)
Haiti – WFP Food Distribution Update (as of 2 February 2010)
Yesterday we got a delivery of 40 tons of food, and massive UNICEF tent donated by someone. Up at 6 (on superbowl sunday no less!), done by 12:30. Much better than I thought. Keep reading for some photos a little video (if you listen closely you can hear Uruguayan soldier say hi to his wife!)
I was inspired after reading an article Foto8 about how all the pictures coming out of Haiti looked the same. And I remembered Binyavanga Wainaina’s article, “How to Write About Africa“, in which he writes:
Describe, in detail, naked breasts (young, old, conservative, recently raped, big, small) or mutilated genitals, or enhanced genitals. Or any kind of genitals. And dead bodies. Or, better, naked dead bodies. And especially rotting naked dead bodies. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the ‘real Africa’, and you want that on your dust jacket. Do not feel queasy about this: you are trying to help them to get aid from the West. The biggest taboo in writing about Africa is to describe or show dead or suffering white people.
So, I thought I’d upload some pictures I took on Wednesday to a trip to the countryside, where a colleague and I were seeing how the waves of IDPs leaving Port au Prince were affecting rural communities. What we found was, in a sense, typical: we found problems, people who were frustrated, people who seemed to still be in shock. We also found families back together for the first time in a long time. We found parents taking in children, and children taking back their parents.
I get a lot of emails asking me which organizations they should give money to for the Haiti disaster relief. While I have my personal preferences, this should really be a personal decision.
But you’re the expert! You know better than I who is doing good work and who isn’t!
Well, yes and no, but that’s besides the point. While I am on the ground here, certainly, and do have both positive and negative experiences with various aid agencies, giving money is a personal act, and if you’re serious about helping Haiti, you must be prepared to do a little work.
But I just want to give money. It’s not realistic to expect everyone to do research about which organizations are bad and which ones are good! People don’t have time for that.
I would argue that’s precisely one of the problems with international development today: donors have not yet demanded the kind of transparency and rigor from the organizations they donate money to, thus eliminating any incentive for an organization to be transparent and rigorous in its efforts.
I know I just posted “The Best and Worst Ways to Help Haiti“, but this is also worth reading. It’s by Alanna Shaikh, who writes for the blog Blood and Milk.
Nobody Wants Your Old Shoes: How Not to Help Haiti (PS: the comments at the bottom are as interesting as the article itself)
Some people like to donate goods instead of cash because they worry that cash won’t be used in a way that helps the needy. If that’s you, I have two points. 1) Why are you donating to an organization you don’t trust? 2) What’s to stop them from selling your donated item and using the money for whatever they want?
Whether you agree or not, more opinions, not less, are needed on the subjects.
USAID makes some nice maps.
Link to Hospital and Field Medical Locations-Port au Prince (as of Jan. 26)
Link to Health Cluster Maps-Functioning Health Facilities and Priorities (as of Jan. 25)
