Well, bronze in this case. Walking through the Gwangju bus terminal last weekend I ran into a nice collection of photographs of local people and places. Turns out they were entries in a photography contest that was held last fall (2008 광주관광전국사진공모전). One of the top entries was a picture of two foreign women gushing over kimchi at the 2008 Gwangju Kimchi Festival. I had seen these two women many times before, as their pictures ended up on a lot of the news sites. See this post for a small collection.
I wonder if they knew about the photo contest, or about their pictures turning up on all those news sites back in October. One woman I know had pictures of her used for Kimchi Festival promotional material without her permission or even her knowledge. Though we do often get preferential treatment at smaller festivals, I long for the day when foreign visitors to them stop being such novelties. One can't expect privacy at a festival, I know, but one should be able to expect an afternoon without big camera lenses stuck in your face. It's a tricky issue: you've got Korean privacy rules, regulations, and norms on one hand against the tradition of public performance and hamming it up for the cameras on the other.
Japanese monkeys enjoying a dip in a hot spring. Same thing.
Anyway, foreigners making kimchi is one of the most remarkable sights you're likely to find in Korea, and hence it never fails to draw photographers. Can you think of anything more curious than non-Koreans making a traditional Korean dish? I can't, either. I know the one thing I'm missing from my flickr page are some good shots of foreigners awkwardly fumbling with my country's representative dish. Xenu knows it, too, which is why he blessed us with the Hamburger Festival in Gangwon-do's Yeongwol county this coming weekend. What a hoot! I swear, if I see an Asian person wearing our blue jeans or a traditional sweatshirt I'm going to poop my pants.
So I'm curious, how do you feel about being photographed at things like this? I don't care for it, but my girlfriend thinks I'm way too uptight about it. I guess I'm hung up about the novelty factor, for one, and also that you never know how your likeness will be used or where your face will end up. For those of you who have strong feelings one way or another, how do you deal with photographing other people? I mean, a woman at a market, a man in costume at a parade, a protestor shouting something at a rally. Off limits?
12 comments:
I've actually screamed "annyeong!" to Koreans on the streets and started stamping my feet and laughing. You'd be surprised how much better this fish in a fishbowl situation becomes when you do start doing things like that.
So, no, I don't mind getting my photo taken.
I've been photographed many times while in Korea: while dancing at Cheonggyecheon (a stream that runs through downtown Seoul), while ice skating at City Hall Plaza... I've been stopped at a temple by high school students who were supposed to ask questions of foreigners. It does make me wonder where all this data goes, but I suppose I have nothing to worry about... Heck, for my blog I take tons of pictures - usually with at least a few of them showing identifiable Koreans. In most cases I'll try to crop them out or select other pictures, but in other cases, they are the subject - yet I've never been given a hard time. As long as there's a balance, I'm ok.
If I see myself in a photo contest, I may call up the photographer and request a nice print as 'compensation', however. That way, I got something for my 'image', and the photographer (hopefully) feels honored that a person he shot likes his work.
A co-worker and I had this discussion a few Saturdays ago after she graciously accepted my offer to photograph her...she received a DVD that also included web friendly images she could send her family. I will not photograph someone whose facial features are easily recognizable unless I have received their permission. All of my work of people/figure models that I've exhibited in galleries and purchased by clients and entered into competitions has been a collaboration. I don't think I would make it as a photojournalist since my skin literally crawls when I think of 'ambush photography.' It really does have that kind of physical reaction for me.
I have the face made for radio, and I've rarely enjoyed composing self-portraits. However, years ago I came to the realization that I have no control over being photographed in an editorial/photojournalism situation or surreptitiously by a student. It doesn't bother me now, and that is a good thing since I am photographed regularly while I'm at school. I even had a very young lady show me her short video she made of me during a class. How she did it I can only surmise...so I now wonder if there is some sort of YouTube page featuring the "English Teacher at My Hagwon" to show off to other students.
Additionally, I have come to realize how pervasive CCTV and surveillance cameras are in the different societies, and this has forced me to let go of whatever issues I've had of being photographed by non-professionals. Being hard of hearing, American Sign Language is my second language, hence I do have my rebellious moments in public areas. Subtle, but it's my stand against the machine.
The 'black helicopter' crowd would be driven insane living in South Korea with the amount of CCTV in the country. Yes, Britain and the US are bad, too, though I haven't lived in those countries for a while.
I HATE getting my photo taken but that goes for family photos as well so it is not Korea specific.
The husband though is a different story.We actually get stopped on the street semi regularily by girls (usually young)who want to take his photo because they think he's hot and on occasion he has been mistaken for some movie actor. I'm sure quite a few dont ask for permission either.
For some reason he doesnt seem to mind these girls gushing, giggling and taking his photo. I wonder where THOSE photos end up ;)
I really don't care about it. I've shown up on the cover of Daejeon magazine and I'm currently being shown on Arirang in their commercial for their new format and shows. (I can be seen in all my chubby glory at: http://www.spunangel.com/2009/02/i-are-ubiquitous.html where I show up about 45 seconds in)
I do think it is rather silly, however and the crazed focus on any foreigner who shows up at an "international" festival only goes to show how NON-international the things really are..
I've largely become desensitized to it, but I do protest somewhat loudly when people stick their telephoto lenses in my son's face. I don't even really mind if they do so from a distance, it's more an issue of personal space than privacy. I don't think that we really have that any more...and I've largely given it up to blogs, web pages, Facebook, and Twitter :)
I dont really care if they take my picture or not. However, I am not the kind of person...like those two women....who is going to ham it up for the camera so that every Korean who sees how much that foreigner loves the world's #1 best thing (whatever it is that Korea has) so that every Korean is going to get moist and hum Arirang all day long.But I do know a guy who was quite put off that Starbucks used him in their ads.
I don't care if it's photos for personal memories, like touring around somewhere and getting your photo taken.
I HATE the "white monkey" type photos, though; the stuff they take to use in whatever media company they work for (newspaper, magazine, commercial website)... those are never taken with my permission. I won't allow it. One hagwon chain took my photo without my permission (and without so much as paying me a plug nickle) and started using it in their marketing ads... it took me filing a lawsuit to get them to stop using it.
Personal stuff with students and friends, no problem. For-profit marketing and look-at-the-foreigner tourism campaigns do not get my permission.
As an aside, after being misquoted once and completely misrepresented a second time, I no longer give interviews with any sort of Korean media.
for me, i noticed some people are conceited. If you're a nobody and you photo starts appearing in media, then you should be flattered. I guess the media is using your photo not to invade your privacy but to create a "false" impression which i think is also wrong (on their part). The reason why they are using your photo for some sort of ads is not because of your personal identity but because of your nationality ( you look different).
They dont even care about your name or your interests. Its a different case though if you are a celebrity, and some people starts using your photo eating a hamburger and implying it as an endorsement. As long as the use of your photo would not lead to something detrimental to you and your family, then any reaction is an over reaction.
Very late reply, but I just dug up this thread again. Thanks for all the interesting responses. Last year at the Kimchi Festival I opted out of making kimchi---I regret that a little---because I was afraid of having photographers in my face.
I know this is an old thread-- but I thought I'd let you know I'm one of the women in the Kimchi Festival pictures (Our names are Lori and Sandy) and they actually just made a Gwangju tourist guide with us on the cover. We didn't mind it, in fact, it's pretty fun to take home to our families and friends. Anyways, just thought I'd share that with you!
-Lori
Cool, Lori, thanks for the update. You probably know you and Sandy dominate the coverage of the kimchi festival that year. I'll bet it does make a nice souvenir.
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