Feb. 26, part 2

Verrettes, Haiti February 26, 2011

Taking photos of people here is a most interesting event. Starting way back when, at the Montreal airport, when I wanted to take a photo of Mme Clement and her mother, I remember her mother took off her hat for the photo- when in fact, I loved the image of her in her hat.

I was taking photos of the girls who live in the room next to mine- they’re real hams for the camera now! when a beautiful woman in a striking orange dress and headscarf came by to get water. She was curious about the camera, so I showed her the digital image of the girls. The girls urged me to take a photo of the woman, so I asked her if she would like her photo taken, and she was quite pleased. She smoothed down her dress and stood patiently as I tried several times to take a shot, but my darned batteries weren’t working- so at some point, very politely, because we had already spent several minutes trying, she said oh well, and I suggested we could try it another time. I hope we get that opportunity- she was so keen to have her photo taken!

When we were scouting out possible locations for composting toilets the other day, we met up with Ospri’s brothers, and were discussing the plaster they had used on their building (they tried earthen plaster). I asked if I could take photos of the house, and they said yes, and then the kids wanted their photos taken, so I showed them and their mother the digital image. The mother had been sitting in the shade, and was quite lovely just as she was- I asked her if she would like her photo taken, and she jumped up and said yes, but first she wanted to change into some nice clothes and put on a hat. The kids giggled, and she came out looking just lovely.

He's just adorable.

My favourite photo, bar none. They arranged themselves thus.

And today, Sano was cooking our lunch, and I hung out with him, speaking in my broken creole. I took photos of the house, and then I asked if he’d like his photo taken- he said yes, but not right then, as he wanted to put on some nicer clothes. Very interesting, indeed. I suppose if you hardly ever have a photo taken, you want to look your best. In our social networking age, we casually take and post photos at every whim!