After awhile, it really got to be a drag. People wouldn't pay. People would lie. People would claim photos that weren't theirs saying that their cousin had sent them for their photo. Then the real owner would come by and I'd have to explain that I can't keep track of their intricate family groups and then develop a new photo the next time I was out of site. People I didn't even know would come by for their own photo shoot or ask me to hike to some remote locale to take photos of their family. I would greet people on the trail. "Good morning." "Where's my photo?" "Take my photo!" How about a hello?
Here they were with an engineer in the community and all they want me for is to take their photo. It's like using an electric generator merely for a bench.
In an effort to moderate the requests, I tried raising the price of the photos. I started charging $1 per photo, something I thought was astronomically high. For reference, if you earn $48,000/year in the US, it would be like charging $80 for a 4"x6" print. Still, they lined up. Like I said, my community loves photos.
Late last year, I started planning my exit strategy. I told them at a community meeting that I would no longer take photos, that their graduation and Mother's Day (both in December) events would be their last chance. I even said I would take the photos for free as part of it being the last time and all.
The last couple of months have been taking care of the strays, photos that were claimed by cousins or other excuses as to why I needed to reprint a photo. But overall, it's been much more manageable. People don't ask for photos as much. It's been hard to tell the people I like that I can't take their photo anymore, but I'm not too torn up considering they all have about twenty photos from the previous year anyway.
As annoying as the whole photo thing has been and, amazingly, photo taking really has been one of the most frustrating aspects of service, it's offered a lot of insight into the culture. I've learned a lot in the process. Here are some key takeaways:
1) Ngabes value photos a lot, even though they usually won't put them in a safe place in their home. I've seen a ton of the photos crumpled on the floor or in their front yard a week after they got them
2) Like the guy posing in front of his Ferrari, they like to have their stuff in the photo. They usually want their radio or animals in the photo as well.
3) Always take the photo of their whole body, including feet. If you crop in close, they'll think you're an idiot and ask for their money back
4) They hardly ever smile. They could be laughing before and after, and usually are, but you'd never guess from the solemn looks on their faces
5) They love to take a ton of iterations of photos with the same few people in different combinations or maybe with a different person holding the radio or livestock mentioned above
6) At some point, word spread among the muchachos that you should try to make your photo look like a rap or boy band music video. Gangsta mugs and river photo shoots highly encouraged
7) Many parents opt to have a photo of themselves without their children. Sometimes I would take photos only of the mother and not one photo of her kids
8) They would usually wear their Sunday best and break out the hair gel for their Sears family portrait. Photo shoots usually amounted to me going to their home and waiting 45 minutes for them to get ready
Author's Note: Just so you don't think I was pulling a modern day trinkets-for-gold deal, let me be clear. I put all photo profits into their water committee funds. It made for a good fundraiser. The Dollars-for-Oti's-Sanity drive.
