The culture of a pose...

[BertieTBE]

A thought I had while looking though my image bank this morning.

I travel to Laos a few time a year, and always enjoy taking portraits of people I meet during my visits.

Although I don't like to generalise about these things, Lao people do tend to be very laid-back, and not take life too seriously. That is, until you get your camera out, at which point they to go into a stiff, ultra-formal, almost militaristic pose (mostly the older generation).

It's not that people I meet dislike being photographed...the opposite is often true. I've been asked to photograph married couples, their children, the grandparents, the house, the dog, the chickens, the garden,....the list goes on!). Certainly in rural areas people are much less familiar with the concept of photography, although this seems less and less true every time I visit.

Perhaps a camera lens brings back memories of military rule (the last of many wars officially ended in 1975), a time when portraits might have been taken for very different reasons. The younger Iphone generation have the opposite reaction- and tend to favour the 'V' sign - whatever that means??

Another thing I've noticed is that many Lao people consider a good portrait to include the full length of the body (feet to top of the head). Cropping of any kind is just not the done thing. Intimate portraits (filling the frame with a face) are considered strange, too close and therefore unattractive.

Over the border in Thailand, although the culture is very similar, the reaction is completely different (not hugely different from what you'd expect in the UK)...although the V sign still prevails

These are just my thoughts, having spent a lot of time there and after talking to local people about being photographed. I don't have any concrete answers...so over to you.

Have you noticed any interesting reactions to the camera anywhere in the world?

Do you think what makes a good picture (in a non-technical sense) is sometimes specific to each culture?

Do you think the way people respond to the camera can tell a story about their culture, history and/or way of life?

Look forward to reading your thoughts.

Many thanks.

BertieTBE

 

[mid_gen]

Try pointing a lens at a Hong Konger and getting a picture without the bloody V sign....

 

[Jayst84]

My girlfriend is Vietnamese, her parents prefer formal photos to commemorate occasions - everyone dressed 'nicely' and posed fairly 'old fashionedly' (new word). I guess that would be true of the older generation in many many cultures though.

Cutting heads is something I learnt a couple of years ago when there was a new addition to the family. I always chop the top of heads on my portraits, so I was shooting the kid crawling around, and took a lot of tight shots to show off his bright eyes. Main reason was to send them over to family in Vietnam, but grandma wouldn't send most of them when she saw them, as cutting off the top of someone's head in a photo is bad luck / means something bad will happen to the subject.

No idea how these things come about, as they must be fairly modern 'traditions' relating to photography.

 

[beyond the blue]

Me and the wife recently visited China and went to a few places off the beaten track. Wherever we went on the streets we noticed that the locals were always taking photo's of one another but it was always a very hectic affair, with lots of running around, gesturing, and re-positioning going on. After a couple of days it twigged as to what they were doing, they were positioning themselves so that we were on the shot as well (we being white faced Brits). So from then on we used to volunteer to have our photograph taken with them..... Bad move!.. you would have thought we were some kind of celebrities, we couldn't get away, they were chasing us up the street to be on their family snaps. They were lovely people.

 

[jacob12_1993]

The issue about full length portraits is pretty prevalent across the whole of Asia. They also dislike shots with dramatic lighting. I tend to shoot a simple shot first for the subject and then try to work on what I want to produce afterwards that way everyone is happy.

With regards to the stiffness of the subject that is more universal. If a stranger came up to me and asked for a photo, I think I would be pretty stiff too. The easiest way to overcome this is to talk to them or have someone talking to them or ask them to continue doing what they were doing (I.e weaving, cooking etc). The V sign is a very East Asian thing and sometimes you will just have to ask them for one without after shooting one with, again make the subject happy and you will give yourself more time to work

 

[vikwaters]

My wife is a Filipina, and I have found that for Filipinos they prefer pictures with people in, as opposed to landscape or objects. A favourite pose is with a 'V' under the chin formed by the thumb and index finger. This is a sign of being good looking 'Guapo'.

I find that young children are very coy and shy, this I guess is mainly to do with a big nosed white skinned person pointing a camera at them. Older girls and some women will often cover their mouths which is a shame because most of them have very good teeth.

Another generally Asian thing is to take pictures of your food if you are in a restaurant or function, I've got into that habit myself as well now!

 

[Steve]

What a fascinating thread. Not something I had considered before, but very interesting. Nothing to add except love to read some more experiences.