Today I went to the supermarket with another volunteer and while we were leaving one part of the store, we turned around to a women holding an iphone up to snap our picture. Being one of very few foreigners in Tra Vinh (when we see white people we also stare) I've adjusted to getting a lot of looks and a lot of "hellos" but this women did neither. She just held up her phone in our faces, didn't make eye contact, didn't smile and didn't say anything, she just snapped a photo. In our shock and also lack of Vietnamese my reaction was something of a mix of a glare and a arm waving of "what the heck" as we walked away but the whole experience felt rather degrading. I am already conscience of not snapping photos of people without their permission but this really made me reflect how people must feel when someone sticks a camera in their face like their in the zoo.
Hi Robin
ReplyDeleteOnce when my son, Alex, was about 18 months old, and had very white skin and very blond hair, I was wheeling him in his stroller through the Ottawa airport. A group of Japanese tourists stopped us, and excitedly pointed at Alex. The groups' tour guide asked if they could take his picture, I said sure, and knelt down beside Alex, ready for them to take their photos. 20+ tourists pulled out their cameras and aim, but then paused. I though maybe Alex had spit up, or was about to cry, and was turning to check him out and then the tour guide is at my side telling me it was just the cute baby they wanted a picture of, and could I please move off to the side! Anyhow, we often think how there must be photos of Alex in many albums across Japan, and had permission not been asked, it might have been an entirely different experence for us.
Enjoying your blog, and hoping things are going well for you in Viet Nam,
Lynn Wilson(Ottawa)
Hey Lynn,
DeleteThat is a funny story! There is a fascination with babies here in Vietnam... people sell giant posters of babies for people to put in their houses and many people also take photos to have giant pictures of their babies in their homes...