For the generous and lovely hurleygurley, enough beauty to make one cry, & my current personal favorite of the Myanmar photos.
**Up for auction, a 16x20 signed print of this image for Katrina Relief Auction. Please be generous, and obtain a print you love in the process!
This photo was taken on November 23, 2004 using a Canon EOS 10D.
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Comments and faves
© Tatiana Cardeal, Joe Nixon, lightpainter, Digitally Angelic, and 375 other people added this photo to their favorites.
© Tatiana Cardeal (88 months ago | reply)
:......)
Joe Nixon (88 months ago | reply)
Great shot :D
lightpainter (88 months ago | reply)
my god, this series of portraits is astounding... sweetness without cloying.. the universe exists in these eyes.
tom de plume (88 months ago | reply)
Such a beautiful face. Rarely has symmetry seemed to my eye so gorgeously rendered, especially with the gradient of light and the slight tilt of the subject arguing so gracefully the other side of the question--the best case that can be made for our species, I think. (Perhaps this is your specialty.)
*L (88 months ago | reply)
beautuful
paulecci (88 months ago | reply)
Very-very beatiful portrait. Really a masterpiece!
Janusfinder (88 months ago | reply)
stunning
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
wow, thanks guys! fun to me, how some that I like so strike such a chord
she is a sweet girl too, shy, yet confident, gentle and simply lovely. she was smelling these incredibly fragrant flowers (same as those being gathered in this shot:
To me, these flowers are Burma distilled, that and the thanaka on their faces. Her little smile & the vibrant colors - can bring me back there in an instant.
selva (88 months ago | reply)
She's absolutely beautiful, sara. Thanks for sharing her with us. :)
hurleygurley (88 months ago | reply)
oh no! too beautiful. tanks. e. (lisabeth hurleygurley) p.s. i SWEAR i did not read your email until AFTER i wrote your testimonial!
Katie Poole (88 months ago | reply)
This is beautiful in its simplicity. You have such great colors and the expression is priceless.
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
selva, the pleasure is all mine
hg - you are too cute, and thank you so much
MissH, I love that smile sneaking up behind her flower
Spacecake (88 months ago | reply)
You've really got a way of capturing the innate beauty of everyone you take. Amazing.
Luminuscule (88 months ago | reply)
That smile sneaking up behind the flower already so apparent in her eyes, it's what makes this picture such a masterful portrait. You have such an amazing talent for capturing personalities, awfulsara!
Chris Lombardi (88 months ago | reply)
namaste..........
sara, sara....holding out on us. what wonders will she shake out of her sleeve?
dogsbody (88 months ago | reply)
Beauty indeed. Great one Sara!
Gideon Tsang (88 months ago | reply)
stunning
brocket jenny (88 months ago | reply)
beautiful portrait!
javajive (88 months ago | reply)
Without a doubt, that is one of the sweetest and most stunning portraits I've seen on flickr.
Professional quality sara - I'm completely captivated.
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
yay, thanks!
funny... these Burma images are getting such lukewarm reviews over at photosig, but then... my tolerance for that site is waning fast...
dogsbody (88 months ago | reply)
Wha? How is that even possible? They must be jealous. Bozos.
I'm with Brandon - your work is inspiring!
© Tatiana Cardeal (88 months ago | reply)
i'm always coming back to this one again, sara.... :)
shines as a sunflower in a green land
ra1000 (88 months ago | reply)
a book is in order
*Agnes (88 months ago | reply)
oh she is a beauty!
I don't know what is "hurleygurley"
somnambulant (88 months ago | reply)
:O
that's the cutest picture!
hurleygurley (88 months ago | reply)
I say "Off with their heads!" photosignites! Aren't they the ones that banned the baby in the pot by Mr.LF? They got no soul, no sense of humor and if they miss the beauty of these, I'd say there a bad crowd!
babasteve (88 months ago | reply)
this is a wonderful portrait! i love it!
mio_slowphoto (88 months ago | reply)
wonderful portrait! speechless!!!
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
They're also the ones who responded to recent questions of mine about the practicality, and therefore the necessity, of obtaining model releases for subjects who often can neither read nor write, and don't have an address or ID.
Their response was, "So, if they don't speak the same language as you, you think they don't deserve the same rights you would give a US subject? Just because they are poor and won't fight back, you think you should profit from their image without giving them what they deserve?" They basically suggested I was an exploitive ass for not paying/releasing everyone I photographed in Burma. Delightful discussion, it was. :|
k-girl (88 months ago | reply)
If they think you're an exploitive ass, they must not be looking at your pictures. I've not met any exploitive asses who could even vaguely approximate the sensitivity and affection for people that is so evident in your pictures!
It'd be great to be able to give something back, but is it practical or possible? If it's not practical or possible, that shouldn't stop you taking these pictures. I am very sure that the beauty of these photos could easily achieve as much good as a release form could.
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
I have such mixed feelings about payment for photographs. On one hand, I am so grateful for what these people have given me and never want to feel that anyone is being taken advantage of. On the other hand, practicality dictates that given the hundreds of people photographed and the fact that many (such as the children, who cannot sign releases, and those who cannot read their language or mine) couldn't sign a release if they wanted to, releases just aren't a reasonable expectation for these images.
Giving people money for photographs creates other problems too, especially where the children are concerned. You very quickly get a gang of them who mob any foreigner with a camera, most of whom are just tourists, pestering for "photo money." I don't want to teach people that essentially begging from tourists is fast and easy money. Let em take your picture, ask for a dollar, rinse and repeat. I wouldn't want the shot if I got in that fashion.
I much more strongly believe in actively participating in the local economy - buying my bottle of water from the person I shoot, eat lunch at their store, and give a portion of the proceeds of sales of the images to an aid organization that operates in their area. That does more for the people than tossing a few cents their way for something that came about from a much more human interaction than money motivated.
But I'm rambling... all fired up about these issues, so curious how others feel. Mayhap I will start a topic about it somewhere and poke deeper.
And thank you Miss K. :) Though I should have a much thicker skin, I couldn't help but be hurt and offended by such suggestions, though less so after I realized these people were just being trolls for the sake of being trolls, and it had little bearing on me at all.
javajive (88 months ago | reply)
Sara, you sound like me ;)
I've been dealing with the same thing here in Indonesia. People will randomly attack me with emails and comments asking whether I've followed the appropriate rules, asked permission, used releases, etc. I feel that often people simply like to debate and raise issues to maintain their own unhappiness.
I've learned to be kind to the people I capture, ask their permission, and like you said, somehow give back if I can. One of the most effective ways I've found of 'giving back' is to provide a print of them. Because I live here, I'm able to live up to my promises of providing them with a print when I return - even if it's months later they'll remember and are quite grateful.
Most often, those I've captured do not have sufficient funds to ever have their image taken - much less printed 8x10. I'm sure you encountered those I'm speaking of - people who have never seen a digital camera or themselves reflecting back from the LCD. The smiles and laughs are usually all the payment I need. ;)
I've worked with elder Javanese who have never once had a print of themselves. That's when I truly feel passionate about photography.
Money is such a difficult issue in developing countries and you're completely correct when you say that it can cause major problems.
Anyone that has viewed your body of work can quickly see that you've captured the essence and soul of a place and its people - not for exploitation but rather for love of humanity and the art of photography.
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (88 months ago | reply)
Brandon, thanks so much for your comments! I couldn't help but think that all the people so snarkily passing judgment on me had never traveled in places like this. All their ideas of what you should do were based so far out of the reality of the place, in self righteous, western-centric perceptions of what is right & wrong. I think Westerners (and Americans in particular) have such a sense of entitlement that they can't even imagine that others might not feel that way, might not even want to be paid for what they did not for money, but because they wanted it and they too valued our interaction.
It's easy to talk about what you should do, and utterly different when actually doing it. And the truth is, the 'rights' people like to slap you with aren't universal. We're not talking human rights issues here, but US civil law for lawsuit protection. For me, knowing how I treat people and knowing how I behave there matters much much more than a piece of paper meant for greedy American eyes.
I decided that on my next trip, the most valuable thing I could carry would be a polaroid camera and lotsa film. I so wanted to give them a print but, shy of actuallly returning to the same places, it often wasn't a possibility. Great that you can come through with that where others of us wouldn't be able to.
Still very curious how the question of releases from developing nations applies to those who di this for a living. Will have to dig deeper and see what I find!
Thanks again. You da man. ;)
my soul (88 months ago | reply)
awesome for sure!
swerve (88 months ago | reply)
WOW! Perfect portrait.
hurleygurley (88 months ago | reply)
Thanks, Java (Brandon), my thoughts exactly except I don't have any experience besides my fine acquaintance with Sara here and I see what I see in Sara's images. I'm fairly that the love in them (both ways) won't do harm and is already contagious. Everyone's heart dissolves when they get a look at these.
vodkamax (87 months ago | reply)
I was reading your comments about "paying" your models and i think it's a very interresting matter.
I had this dilemna especially with one picture of a baby I particularly like. I somehow would like to give her back what she gave me. - in burma too -
and I am really decided this summer to go back to Burma, I will try to go back to this place and I'm pretty confident I can find her again. I will bring her the picture in a nice frame...
I think it's something that her familly could appreciate.
All this to say I believe the important is that each one find his way to "do the right thing" and feel good about it, donating to a fund, coming back to the country,... whatever can helps.
by the way Sara, if you want to open a topic about this matter, feel free to do it on the group : visit the world
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (87 months ago | reply)
Max, you're going back? Excellent. I so loved Burma, so many places and things I didn't get to do while there. I would love to spend some real time, but don't have the money to do so for some time.
When I look through my pictures, I would say that I would have a good chance of finding maybe a quarter of the kids again, fewer of the adults. Those that were taken in front of their homes, I could probably find again - I have a pretty good memory. Where my memory fails, the photos themselves might often lead me to their door, as most of the other villagers will know who they are, I would think.
If/when I go back, Polaroids all the way. Thanks for your comments, Vodka. Good to know that I'm not alone in my conflicted thoughts on the matter.
Kalabird (87 months ago | reply)
I've spent a lot of time in SE Asia, and by far this is one of my favorite photographs. You have a way with your subjects and that is something that cannot be taught. Keep up the amazing photographs and may your heart stay pure and sweet! :)
floresita (87 months ago | reply)
so lovely
The Norwegian (86 months ago | reply)
i love this photo...
i just hate having it diluted by people who have this 'sue-every-person-possible-for-anything-imagi nable' attitude. while i wholly embrace the idea that you should make an effort to return something to people for partaking in your photos. i believe most of them, unlike their "seeppfai"-counterparts in the western world, would be more than delighted to just _watch_ their photo on your camera.
if you make a fortune of a specific photo i'd suggest making a particular effort, but let's stay realistic here...
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (86 months ago | reply)
amen, norwegian, thanks. I just can't help but feel that many of these people simply cannot see the world in anything but Western-centric ways. Since they would feel entitled to money, consider it their "right", then everyone must feel that way, and I must be mistreating those I don't offer what they would want to be offered. Realism didn't seem to enter into the equation.
So thanks again. :) Good to be reassured that this is not how everyone feels, that there are those that understand the complexities of the issue beyond knee jerk American reactionary judgment.
Peter In Shanghai (86 months ago | reply)
On Flickr is there a way for me to just say every single shot in a set is a favourite!!! Damn, these are amazing portraits.
Kalabird (85 months ago | reply)
Sara, I was just re-reading some of these comments and I also get similar comments from people who say I exploit subjects in developing countries. There is such a fine line though - I'm not trying to profit off of the image, but rather show sheltered people back home how others live.
When I spent a semester traveling around the world in college in a photo program, we took endless photos of people and refused to pay for them. I am surprised this issue never came up and I never considered it (exploitation).
Then 2 Summers ago I lived in Buenos Aires and spent a day in an indigenous village of the Guarani tribe. At first I went about my business, interacting with the children and people (as I typically do - I'm not a *snatch-that-photo-when-nobody's-looking* kind-a-girl), and then I saw 30+ tourists doing the same behind me. I felt immediately disgusted because the whole visit was set up like this - to be some exploitative experience so that the locals would make money when at the end of the tour we'd be lead into their makeshif "gift shop". They even got the children to perform music for us. I almost threw up it was so contrived.
Since then I always think twice when I shoot, whether I'm doing no harm, not exploiting people, and genuinely questioning my purpose. I do my best to have a relationship with my subject and like you said, buy water or postcards from them, play with them, give them food (as I did with some refugees in Turkey), but I continue to struggle with how to stay on the up-and-up in this process.
I love capturing human life, especially children, but have taken to landscapes and detail shots recently because I get so stressed out about the exploitation idea. Last weekend at Venice Beach I was shooting people walking around the boardwalk and took a photo of a little girl walking on the beach from afar. I heard someone yell out "Soul-stealer!". I knew this was for me and again a reminder about this inevitable fine-line.
A polaroid is a great idea, but I wish there was some other way to justify our craft instead of providing "payment" or arguing with "right-ests" who think anyone with a camera is evil.
Have you started this topic elsewhere yet?
Koninho [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
wow stunning portrait sara !!
Can't add anything more.... I've just been charmed !
*Sharif* (83 months ago | reply)
she is so lovely. hiding behind a flower. a wonderful portrait.
Jennifer Esperanza (82 months ago | reply)
Beautiful
Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara) (82 months ago | reply)
This print is now up for auction, a 16x20 signed print of this image for Katrina Relief Auction. Please be generous, and obtain a print you love in the process!
niseko_guide (80 months ago | reply)
good eye
Boris Earth (78 months ago | reply)
Great shots Sara. I absolutely agree with your comments on permissions & model releases.