Fisheye Life Portrait
A young campesina girl studies English with a coloring book at her simple home in Costa Rica. The house, considered old at about 50 years, is a simple wooden structure without windows and with garden fence covering as room dividers. The photo is composed in the style of Emmit Gowin series that was shot in the early ’70s depicting home life in Danville Virginia that he shot with an 8×10 camera with a 4×5 lens that gave a strong fisheye effect. Lighting was natural for this photograph, and the girl was unaware that I was shooting her as the camera was pointed in the center of the room. She looks so calm, and it is easy to imagine her in any setting no matter how modern or urban. The house is located very far off the beaten path on a mountain near Playa Negra, and the family commutes primarily on horseback. These people are truly the salt of the earth, and possess a morality and simplicity that is graceful and lacking in our modern connected world. Studying English is the best way for her to insure a prosperous future with the strong demands of multicultural tourism just miles away. That being said, the photo depicts a subject and setting that is universal, despite the simple and impoverished surroundings.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Costa Rica, Editorial, People, Travel and tagged with costa rica, fisheye effect, life portrait, photographer, playa negra, studying english, tourism, travel.
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Nice photos! About the text, how about using “a young girl”? Using the word “campesina” has a bad connotation in most Latin American countries, and perpetuates the stereotype of poor and uneducated.
Good comment Otman, I get what you are saying.
I have 2 points however. You mention “perpetuates the stereotype of poor and uneducated”, well she is poor and undereducated, that is the point of the photograph. She is also studying above and beyond what is required, and advancing past her parents and peers, past being a campesina. She is rising up, and that is the inspiration. We can all relate to that, no matter where we are from.
The second point is a problem with the internet. When you write “young girl” and follow it with a Latin American country, you get people looking for photos that have nothing to do with education and everything to do with exploitation. It is sad but true, and not something that I want attached to this kid which I have a great respect for. It is a sick world man, and as a photographer I get some gnarly spam.
Thanks for the response Otman.