I just got back from a cruise in the Caribbean, and my brief experiences of life on the islands made me realize what I like to shoot, at least when it comes to people and the social world. I begin with what put me off. You arrive in a port on a big cruise ship that is really a floating resort. You walk down the gangway to the pier, and exit into the street or the area beyond customs. You are assailed by fifteen to twenty taxi drivers offering personal tours, or trips downtown for X dollars. The shops immediately around the pier are aimed at the well-to-do. In many cases, they are the brand names, the multinational corporations that are geared to those with lots of disposable income. There is a tedious sameness about the glass and chrome establishments, often aimed at women’s fashion or make-up. Some of your fellow travelers are clearly interested in shopping there, and going to the bars and restaurants meant for the same clientele. Why would anyone travel so far, and spend any time in something they could find at the local mall?
What is most objectionable about all this? I think it is the insular character of it, the sameness, the tediousness of consumption, the middle-class self-limitation. The multinationals, through media and their commercial power, are homogenizing culture, making every place a location for a Wendy’s or a Dolce&Gabbana. The truly local, individual, “mom & pop” retail world is receding. Everyone wants to look like an Instagram “influencer.” Etc.
Over time on the islands, I also saw a fair amount of poverty, usually in one or two-room shacks with a sheet for a front door, and so forth. I have to admit that grinding poverty and obvious demoralization can be as boring and dissatisfying, aesthetically and in other ways, as upper-middle-class consumerism.
So what do I like to shoot? Some things can be pleasing in some ways, but also be contrived “local color,” prepared for visual consumption by tourists. I may shoot it because my eye sees a composition that works, no matter the subject, as I did for the image below. But that’s it. Though the mural draws me in, the cliché wagon wheel and the brightly painted restaurant leave me cold.
I realize that I’m searching for “authenticity.” The elements in the image below were not carefully arranged, but they appealed to my eye in any case: the color, the shapes, the worn rubber and the painted and rusted metal — everything works because it is not curated for me, it is not part of an attempt to get me to buy something, or to make an impression. It is not arranged like this to “look pretty.” It just looks like real life.
It’s the same difference I seek when I photograph people. I want them to get beyond the nervous smile for the camera. If I’m shooting a portrait, I want the subject to be a little bored, or at least beyond any initial self-consciousness. My wife (below) has posed for me many times, sometimes under protest. She was agreeable this time, and I got what I think is a great image, with its juxtaposition of color and leading lines, among other features.
I am not saying that people shouldn’t smile. But they shouldn’t smile for the camera. Joking around can generate a smile that lights up the eyes, as opposed to the smile that only shows in the mouth. Sometimes, someone takes up the challenge of the camera to defy it. John (below) and I talked quite a while before he went back to his stand and gave me this answer to a request for a photo. Ha!
I met a fellow by the name of Borden as I wandered around the port town of Castries, St. Lucia. Note the gesture again.
Borden had worked on the cruise lines in the past, and he is working now “in the hospitality industry.” Since tourism is the main source of income for the people of the islands, he has a job that will meet his needs. He warned me not to continue in his neighborhood, as it was a haunt for thieves and robbers. He himself had a knife, just to frighten away would-be attackers. The area is called “the graveyard,” and he says that the police don’t go there; they stay in the downtown core where the tourists are. He understood my desire to capture images in the rougher areas, but he said that the robbers would take my camera, my camera bag with all its lenses, and even my shoes. They would use a knife if I demurred. He walked me along the border of “the graveyard” and we chatted. An interesting guy. I told him I couldn’t pay him (as I was running low on cash, and lots of people ask for handouts), but he said he didn’t want money; he was just happy to escort me. Eventually we said good-bye and went our separate ways, but not before I got this shot of him. Again, an expressive gesture. This is what people do when they don’t know what else to do. I understand.
So what do I find most appealing in photographing people and the human environment? I like things that show individuality, but without the horrible self-consciousness of “expressive individualism.” In the islands, it is often color that does it.
It is not the very wealthy who decorate their homes with individual style, nor the very poor, who could never afford it. It is the “middle class,” who often take pride in what is theirs, and what they have done with it. I find that pleasing. For example:
So much for the human and social world! There is also, of course, the natural world. In it you often find great beauty. Here’s a landscape shot of the port of Castries in St. Lucia. As Paul Johnson noted, landscapes are often really about the sky.
The color of the human and social world of the Caribbean reflects the color of the flowers and plant leaves of the region. Flowers are everywhere! It takes a tourist to see their beauty; residents seem to take them for granted.
