“Can I take your photograph?” This is a phrase we often utter when we want to take a photograph of somebody we do not know. Often on a street or in passing, we recognise the potential for an opportunistic capture that involves a one-way exchange. We ‘take’ the photo by pressing the shutter and then walk away with our prized image. This image economy of ‘taking’ has often left me feeling uncomfortable and I have tried to address this by offering to email or whats app the resulting image. Most of the time, that is not practical or is not the preference of those whose image I have ‘taken’. There are also times when I am in a place where a phone and use of email is a luxury and so I am left even more aware of the disparity in this one-way transaction. And so I decided to buy a polaroid camera to try and address this.
Below are some of the results of using a polaroid camera along side my ‘other’ camera during time spent in Nepal so that I can leave an image with the subject and go someway to not only ‘taking’ but ‘giving’.
