Adventure Travel Ecuador: Rapport and Respect
March 3, 2001 - Otavalo, Ecuador
Otavalo is a tourist center in Ecuador. The indigenous people of the region produce exquisite handicrafts, particularly textiles and clothing. Beautiful stuff that they just about give away, considering the time invested in each piece.
I didn’t have much fun in Otavalo. Even though the people are distinctive in their attire, customs and looks, I didn’t get many good photos. The people don’t want their picture taken; they just want too sell you something. Of course I am generalizing and of course the people outside of town tend to be much friendlier.
Saturday is Market day in Otavalo when everyone sets up shop on the streets in a certain section of town in anticipation of all the shoppers, tourist and resident. Very early Saturday morning is the animal market just outside of town. The attraction for tourists, me included, is the photo opportunity. The only things for sale there are farm animals and the occasional llama. To find the location I was told to look for someone on the street walking with their pig or cow; that’s where they’d be headed.
More willing subjects
It was an interesting scene, but I felt very separate from it all, with no business there but to gawk and take photos of people who didn’t want their picture taken. It’s not hard to understand how they feel. It’s not much different than celebrities who are hounded by the press and whose privacy is consistently under assault by the eye of a camera lens.
Why am I telling you this? This issue has been heightened for me by some email correspondence with someone writing a guide for photographers. He asked me about laws of regulations governing the photography of indigenous people. I’d never heard of such a thing and I told him so. Apparently something of the sort is happening in other parts of the world. If it is indeed happening, I think it is a good thing. Princess Di deserved respect and privacy, as does Arnold Schwarzenegger. And so too, indigenous people. People in general do not appreciate a camera in their face and not knowing what will become of their image.
I don’t like taking pictures of people who don’t want them taken. It drains me to try. It is not my nature or personality. It isn’t fun upsetting people and I wouldn’t want someone doing the same to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I have never taken a picture of an unknowing subject. I have and I do from time to time. But sneaking around and possibly upsetting people isn’t fun.
The San Blas Indians of Panama are another visually and culturally fascinating group. They have devised a commercially viable policy to deal with the influx of shutterbugs. A buck a click. And they are serious about it. If you took their picture, you OWE them a dollar! The picture sucks because they stood there like a statue earning their fee. But I think they are well within their rights to demand a dollar. More power to ‘em.
What about me and what I do? Would laws protecting the rights of indigenous people prevent me from doing what I like to do? I don’t think so. It’s about rapport and respect. Any such law would not prevent someone from allowing someone to take their picture, but hopefully prevent photos taken against their will.
There was actually someone in Otavalo who wanted me to take a picture. She was a very sweet older woman who ran the Los Angeles Pension. I liked her little place and she asked me to send my friends. A place with a drab gray entrance that opens up into bright and beautiful murals everywhere. Friendly, clean and secure. You can’t ask for much more for two dollars a night!
