restrain me

Somewhere on facebook is a certain wall post which reads, "... are you staying a little longer to get pictures?i m thinking of staying till the 22nd or 23rd and going tothe slums/squatter like places to get a few shots;it'll be really interesting!"

and it's a furious trembling inside.

So you're going to the philippines to participate in their ultimate frisbee tournament. But "the slums/ squatter like places" are .not. bits of tin and wood tacked together for you to take pictures of.
These sites of depravation and poverty are .not. your camera's playground to whore out.
These spaces where mothers and fathers despair of earning even a pittance are .not. for your whim and fancy to "get a few shots"
to upload into your flicker account to show off your photography skills.

They are not. exotic lesser humans whose homes you can vouyuer. snoop around with the 18-200 VR you borrowed. Their lives are not for you to romanticise into blank-and-white stills or monochromes.

They don't choose to live in a slum. They don't decide that the best they can afford will be corragated iron situation beside a river of filth. They aren't living in rickety structures that might collapse soon for want of a few pesos for you with the 18-200 VR. No, not you.

These are homes of pain borne out of man's corruption and they are real. They suffer because of corpulent, abhorrent government officials who siphon money. These are actual families and they are real. Mothers who borrow desperately to make ends meet, fathers who drink and gamble, wide-eyed children in rags- Because of man's evil and not placed there for you to take artistic photos.

Are you going to change their lives?
Are you taking "a few shots" to champion their cause?
Are you doing this because you plan to make a difference?

"i m thinking of staying till the 22nd or 23rd and going tothe slums/squatter like places to get a few shots;it'll be really interesting!"