When I saw this Sumatran father steering his three sons through a Harau Valley village in a motorcycle sidecar I knew I’d have to flag him down and ask for a picture. The above photo was the result.
Twenty years ago, when I was first traveling through Asia, I’d reckon this photo would have yielded a different result – an image as no-nonsense and stoical as this father and his sons looked when I first noticed them on the motorcycle.
Which is to say that back in the day of film cameras, when photography was a slower and more expensive process, travel photos in this part of the world were more of a one-way endeavor, and rural villagers like these (who would likely never see the image that was taken) made little effort to “pose” for pictures.
If this shot is any indication, that old photo-dynamic has changed – in part because so many of the local folks you meet in a place like Sumatra now have phone-cameras of their own. Instead of impassively gazing into your lens, everyone mugs for the camera – just like they do when they pose with each other on their own phones.
As a result, my 2019 people-photos have been less “naturalistic”-looking than my 1999 people-photos…yet somehow more natural – in part because the people I photograph tend to laugh, flash the peace-sign, and then insist that I pose for their cameras as well.
Note: “Dispatches” are short vignettes, profiles, and mini-essays written and posted from the road, often in tandem with my Instagram account. For more full-formed writing, check out my book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, or the Essays or Stories archives on this site. I don’t host a “comments” section, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts via my Contact page.
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