it takes so little to have them... Photo

Photographer’s Note

Sometimes I give my pictures titles that are somehow provoking.
that's the way I do. It's up to you to like or dislike them....it's up to your inteligence to understand the provocation or to show some disgust about it
(the intro is due to a comment to my picture "skip her before she gets you)

"It takes so little to have them" is the sad, bitter reality concerning the Cambodian kids.

Everybody knows Cambodia is one of the hottest destination for pedophiliac tourism (this is the technical definition for it....) since poverty and abandon drive those kids on the streets....providing those b...ds with easy preys

After visiting Phnon Penh Royal Palace I and my friends went for a short walk to the Mekong River to take so pictures. As soon as we took the cameras off we were "assaulted" by some kids.
They wanted to be "shooted" and see them in the camera screens...and they were so joyful.
A friend of us bought some biscuits for the kids....and they didn't want to go away..

it was funny and we were happy to see them happy too but - at the same time - we noticed some local adults were beholding us....and we realized we could be "bad people" to their eyes.
Soon after we left, greeting our little friends and our beholders cheered us with a smile....since they realized we were just "good tourists".

What I realized was that it really took a biscuit to have this kid on my hands...that a simple cheap toy, an ice-cream or something similar is the price to open the gate of hell for those children....and I felt a bit sick about it.

delkoo, papera, JanD, bobocortis, dareco, jbemmels has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

delkoo (34158) 2009-05-23 2:57

bonjour silvio,
ta note est tres interessante et malheureusement d'actualité, ce portrait est poignant et il complete bien la note.

didier

papera (5144) 2009-05-23 4:11

ciao Silvio,
il ritratto mi piace molto, ma la conversione in b/n mi sembra un po' scura - data l'espressione del bambino mi sono divertita a farti un WS, ho reso l'immagine un po' piu' vintage, stile anni '70...
cris

[workshop] [compare]

cobra112 (11350) 2009-05-23 5:00

Ciao Silvio. Tecnicamante concordo con Cristina (troppo grigio). In quanto a espressività: beh il discorso cambia radicalamente. Non lo so...io vedo. mio malgrado, la disperazione negli occhi di questo bimbo. E penso...

Roberto

JanD (14648) 2009-05-23 5:28

Howdy Jeppo!
Good scene. Nice boy. Original B&W work.
Regards.

jurek1951 (25896) 2009-05-23 6:05

Hi Silvio,
Nice details, great choice for B&W tones and good framing. Great as usual.
Georg

bobocortis (14140) 2009-05-23 7:05

Ciao Silvio.
A 1/30, per la strada, su un soggetto mobile come può essere un bimbo, hai fatto anche troppo. Istantanea simpatica ed efficace.
Ciao.
Bobo.

mkamionka (4272) 2009-05-23 11:33

Hi Silvio,
very good portrait and interesting documentary.
It seems a little bit sad: I think the B&W enhances the atmosphere. The child is so cute.
Good work,
M

faubry (32277) 2009-05-23 13:50

superbe portrait et ta note est dure!!!mais si réelle... la vie est ainsi pour beaucoup d enfants!
merci pour cette photo
francine

lestans (15448) 2009-05-23 14:50

Oh che meraviglioso ritratto in movimento! Bello, bellissimo.
Mandi!!

Livia

dareco (17104) 2009-05-23 16:24

I agree with you 100% !!! Such a sad truth. These children are the most vulnerable people in the world. It's a joy to give them food, take their pictures, etc. and allow them to be 'children' for those few minutes. A wonderful capture of your little friend. TFS

jbemmels (327) 2009-05-24 0:38

Hi Silvio,

I really liked your note for this photo; together they are quite thought-provoking. It is odd, after reading the photo it looks like the child's expression now seems somewhat sad to me, or disturbed about something... like he is looking at something he doesn't like to see, but is just repressing those memories and continuing with daily life, eating the biscuit, as he must.

Great job and story, and you picked a great photo to represent the story!

Cheers,
Jordan

Nolme (5290) 2009-06-01 5:06