Innocent

I went for a walk along the riverside in Olongapo Subic Bay, Philippines. I had seen the strip of puzzle like homes from the bridge and wanted to shoot there but I never imagined how I would feel actually being there. The structures often just bits and pieces of wood, plastic or tin leaning against one another housed entire families. A single brush with even a slight typhoon would wipe them out and I’m told has done so many times but the people rebuild and carry on, their strength and resilience hidden beneath beautiful smiling eyes and timid waves. I felt a profound sense of guilt standing there in my brand named tennis shoes holding my fancy camera and handing children the coins in my pocket know I would just as likely find themselves a discarded souvenir on a shelf somewhere in my home. I thought of the correspondents working in Syria, Yemen and Haiti right now and I wonder how do they do it? Do they shut off their humanity the way doctors seem to do or does the camera act as a sort of shield distancing them from the reality of where they are and what they are witnessing? I’ve taken pictures like this before in India, Bangladesh and parts of Africa and it always hits me the same way yet I think it’s a visual story that needs to be told to remind myself and people living in abundance how little their troubles mean, how lucky they are and maybe enticing them to be kinder or think more about the World outside of their Facebook pages and Starbucks. Perhaps I am wrong.
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