Having somebody stare at you everywhere you go would really get old fast, would it not? I live in China, and certainly receive my fair share of “socket lock”, especially since my wife and I live in a rural town. I would imagine, though, anyone who travels enough endures the same treatment (depending completely on where you travel). So, I have a little homebrew photographic psychology to help prevent unnecessary mental anguish.
Sometimes the staring really gets on my nerves, sure, but yesterday, I noticed it did not. Why? What changed? It certainly was not because they had stopped staring.
I was in the local market with my wife, and even though everybody there has seen us both dozens of times, they still stare. And why does staring get on my nerves. Well, I guess it probably depends on the situation, but here, it is definitely because I feel more like a thing instead of a person. I feel as if I am here for their personal enjoyment. I just want to be treated like a “normal person”…but I guess I am living in the wrong place. That is asking too much.
Well, yesterday, I was carrying my camera with me. I really do not have much to add to my wife’s choice of vegetables and am only there to carry those vegetables home. So, I took the camera along to divert my mind a little.
Anyway, everybody is staring away at the local gringo (well, here, that would be “laowai”), but I did not think much of it. One, if I am carrying a big, fat camera, I almost expect locals to stare. I am not trying to be normal. And somehow, expecting them to stare made me feel so much better.
And two, even the few fleeting thoughts of annoyance were were pushed out of my mind by more photographic thoughts. I simply did not have time to be offended. I have more important things to think about.
There is always a fine line in our reactions to others, I guess, and our choice of how to react could easily make us bitter and offended. A slightly different choice, however, maybe the choice to laugh or smile, can lead us down a completely different path where we can almost forget the offense. In this case, I unintetionally changed the situation by carrying my camera, and all the sudden, I felt so much better.
Anyway, this entry is only marginally about photography, I know, but if you are travelling, getting annoyed by those stares, whip out that camera and make some art or just document the world around you. Maybe you will feel a lot better too. At the very least, you will have taken more photos of that long-awaited trip. And who could not use more of those?
