My Whites, laundry on the line on my rooftop terraces, downtown Granada, Spain, photo © 1987-2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
The first time I got on a plane I was 17. Mom said to dress up for the occasion; she normally wore a skirt and heels for plane rides, and she sometimes took a Valium right before the flight. I wore jeans and clogs and acted like I’d been flying all my life.
The travel bug bit me on that trip. I was like the kid whose parents never let her eat candy. Awake for the first time to its pleasures, I couldn’t get my fill. I vowed I would become a world traveler.
At 26 I moved to Granada with $6,000 cash and two suitcases. I trusted everyone and made friends easily. Within weeks I was heading out with Teresa and Alicia to see the country. I became fond of saying, “I’m taking a vacation from my vacation.”
Within a year I’d been all over Spain and Portugal, plus France, Germany, and Denmark. And nary a picture to show for it. I had Dad’s old Kodak yet I brought home exactly seven photos—all grainy and dark. I do, however, have four filled notebooks. And a handful of postcards I never sent.
Yesterday we walked to El Torcal, an eerie rock mountain, and we got a ride down with a busload of little boys. They were singing songs and clapping.
When it comes to traveling abroad, I have a mental block about cameras. For as long as I can remember, I believed that a photograph could never do justice to reality. Cameras proved a poor attempt to capture something that defied ownership—the experience itself.
I also saw cameras, like maps, as the domain of tourists. (I have spent hours wandering lost in foreign cities, unable to ask for directions and too proud to consult a map.) In Spain I was ashamed of the loud, nasally, jogging-suit-wearing Americans who stood in front of cathedrals, snapping shot after shot, and then bothering passersby to take that final picture that contained the entire family.
I was a traveler. A world citizen, not a visitor.
And so my arrogance accompanied me to every place I visited (and every experience had) since. Standing amidst throngs of Vietnamese peering up at a Virgin Mary as tall as a building to see if we could tell whether it was rain or tears running down her cheeks. At the train station in Delhi, searching my purse to find change for an old woman with an open trachea cavity. Walking at dawn through an entryway that opened onto gardens and pools, the white marble of the Taj Mahal shimmering like an oasis.
I’ve been to Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua. Costa Rica, Mexico, and China several times each. Singapore, Ireland, Israel, South Africa. Most of the photos I have from those trips (if I have any) were taken by friends or co-workers. There I am, the only white person in a pub in Soweto. (I even took my camera to South Africa, pulled it out during a safari then put it away whenever people were around.)
I missed my opportunity to capture the phenomenon of “the Jeepni”—those long, open-air Jeep-buses—that dominate the streets of Manila, even though they captured me.
Only 7am yet it seems as though the city has been alive for hours. Everything is coated with a gray dust that goes from black at street level up to the color of light gray in the sky. Signs: U Want 2 B Rich? and Fish-Head Pet Store & Tire Repair. A man is cooking roadside and another bathing himself. People adorn their Jeepni’s: Gemini, Godspeed, Lady Rowena, The Born Winner, Something Special, Jesus the Provider, Jesus the Savior, Jesus Love, Holy Jesus. Jesus has a corner on Jeepni names.
Poverty looks the same in all the places I go. Too narrow roads lined with shacks selling snacks, fruits, peanuts, corn. Children and animals too close to the cars and buses and motorbikes that go careening through the streets. All things for sale, recycled, old mufflers, tires, plants. The Jeepnis choke out black smoke as they wind their way through the streets. Cheaper than buses, but to ride them you have to hold a handkerchief over your nose.
It’s been more than two years since I’ve traveled abroad. I’ve enjoyed the time off. I went to too many places. I hardly remember most of what I saw. It’s been good to stay home as my girls have gotten older.
But finally, it’s time to start up again. In less than two weeks, I’ll take a trip to Vietnam. It’s part of an assignment that will probably take me there at least one more time, maybe more, in the coming six months. I have zero photos from my prior two visits. This time I intend to whip out my camera, whether people notice or not.
I know what’s changed. It’s this blog and the opportunity to publish my photos and write about my trips. (I fear I’ve exchanged one form of arrogance for another.) But no matter the motivation, I aim to make up for lost time.
How about you? Do you do photos or do you just do?
(The top six photos were all taken by me in 1987-88 while living in Spain. I scanned them for use in this post. The four images at the bottom of the post are postcards I purchased that same period in Spain.)
Thank You! Please take photographs.
I took a little point and shoot to Turkey, and came home with 173 photos which fit on my memory card. Each one had to be chosen, I could have taken a gigabyte or more. I am grateful I was able to capture it unobtrusively, mostly, and still thrilled with the memories I can stream from looking at the images. How exciting for you! And yes, what an opportunity to share your experience you have now.
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wow. i’m in awe of all the travelling you did. i definitely used to be more of a photograph taker. it’s tricky because often i find that when i have my camera i don’t really enjoy the moment as much but get caught up in taking the best shots.
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I never took photographs when traveling until lately. I agree with lissa about enjoying the moment rather than capturing moments in time on film or digitally. Having said that, I took a 2 week driving trip through the Southwest and came home with 378 digital photos and a head full of memories of beautiful scenery. Maybe the key is moderation in all things. I was never good at that.
Vietnam? What a fascinating place to go. I will be very interested in your reports on what you see there. Keep us posted if you have time.
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How exciting! I am looking forward to your photos and your stories about your trip!
I do take photographs. I enjoy looking at them again, and I use them for paintings.
I love the clothesline image! I have a clothesline at the island..I so enjoy the whole ritual of hanging and removing the laundry. Do you realize that some young people have never experienced that?
Well, not sure how I got off on that subject. 🙂 Keep us informed about your trip!!
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Great photos! I look forward to seeing more! I was never as good a photographer as you and QM are. I do manage to take a few, though.
What works best for me, as far as “making memories” while traveling, is being very strict about writing EVERY night, about that day! Before I did that, the trips would blur and I lost much detail. Now, when I read my travel journals, I recall events that I didn’t remember until the written words were there before me.
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OHhhhh Man…If you don’t take me with you…then at least take me some photos to peruse! Vietnam is definitely on my list to shoot yb…
It’s gonna to be hot and humid girl so bring some sandals…and don’t eat any pink eggs! ….and definitely try the dragon fruit. That’s the American name…I can’t begin to pronounce the real one. It has a thick bright fushia colored skin with big curly scales on the outside and it’s white inside with black seeds. Kinda like a Kiwi…but not 😉 It’s the most BEAUTIFUL fruit I’ve ever seen.
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Definitely bring back photographs. I seem to actually see more when I have my camera in my hands. I give everything a look and find my curiosity piqued with the most unusual. And the capsule writing at the end of every day is a great summary. The best of all worlds – photos and words together.
And what a globe trotter you have been. While I have seen the US and Canada in great detail, and have sampled Mexico and the Caribbean, there are soooooo many places on my life list that I want to visit. Vietnam–definitely one of them. Though my list seems endless.
What a wonderful opportunity, ybonesy. I’d be jumping out of my shoes with excitement.
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I’m pretty thrilled. Maybe it’s the two-year hiatus from international travel that has me especially excited. Absence (from traveling) makes the heart grow fonder.
lissa and Bob, I carried around the myth that if I were busy taking shots, I’d miss just living the shot. But I think this past year, where I’ve taken more photos than ever before, I see that it does make me pay more attention to what’s around me (kind of like what you say, Bo.
Also, having the images to stream back through, as lil and Bob and Suz mention, is very important to me. When I reflect on Vietnam, I start to get confused with scenes from northern China, because I went to both countries in close timeframe. I mean, not the people part or the countryside, but for example, the hotel. Maybe that’s not a big deal, but I want to remember everything about each place.
oliverowl, good tip on the writing. I tend to mostly write while I’m in transit — on the plane, in a cab. Instead of coming back to my hotel and turning on the TV, something I do to keep me from feeling lonely, I’ll just write instead. I have a different discipline now that I did even two years ago.
Yes, sandals, Heather. I won’t have thousands of pairs to choose from, as you do, and mine will be awfully plain, unless I take my espadrilles and my pink strappy sandals, both of which I want to write odes to, btw. 8)
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Suz, regarding the clothesline: a friend and I were just talking this past Sunday about how hard they are to find. You can’t just go to a hardware or Big Box store anywhere and find them. Definitely out of use/fashion/whathaveyou, and yet with gas/electric prices as they are, you’d think people would be clamoring for them. Maybe we’re on the verge of a revival.
We have an old one, 40+ years old, and use it every week. I love my sheets especially after they’ve hung to dry outside. Yum.
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Heather, I’ve seen that exotic fruit. See, that would make a great photo! They’re so outrageous looking.
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yb, you must take photos! Gosh, you make me so jealous writing about all of your worldly travels! I love the laundry photo & the view from your bathroom window. But, Vietnam, how exciting. My ex had many photos that he took during the conflict there as he did 2 tours of duty there. They were remarkable! Looking forward to your potos & writings of your experience. Have a great time & share with us! D
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Great post, ybonesy. One thing that struck me — how poverty looks the same everywhere. Powerful statement. I thought of it often on the trip South where there are many rural poor areas, different than what you see in Minnesota. I mean very poor. It can be stunning. I see those places in New Mexico, too.
And you can see in the Beijing shots of the local areas that there are so many poor people on the outskirts of the Olympics. We aren’t seeing the half of it. That’s really something to take note of in our travels. How fortunate many of us are to live the lives we live.
My grandmother’s side of the family grew up in poverty, too. And we met with one of my second cousins in South Carolina a few weeks ago who grew up that way. She has had an extremely difficult life. It’s really eye opening. There are many people living in poverty in our own country.
About the photography — I can’t wait to see your shots of Vietnam. I guess it goes without saying, I take a lot of photographs. I am visual and it really helps to jog my memory about what was happening at the moment I took it. I find it a great way to jog memory details for my writing. For me, it’s an invaluable writing tool.
And for me, photographing each day has become a Practice, much like Writing Practice. So I look at it differently now than I used to. Like you said, it keeps me more present to the moment. Noticing things I wouldn’t ordinarily notice.
Three things about photographing that help with all the things you mention about it in this post:
1) Become comfortable being one with the camera. People then don’t notice that you are taking a photograph. And the self-consciousness goes away. This takes practice though. You have to get out and photograph a lot.
2) Make photography a daily practice, a spiritual practice. It will ensure respect for others when you are photographing them. And at the same time, allow you to capture all the amazing details that can only be captured in a photograph.
3) Set aside times when you don’t take photographs — just be. Make it a conscious choice. It’s true it is different behind a camera than it is simply walking in the world. So sometimes, I make a choice not to take my camera along. Or I take it along, and just don’t get it out at certain junctions. And when that amazing shot comes up, I tell myself — “Nope. This is your time to just enjoy. No photograph.” I had to do that several times on the trip to Georgia. It’s hard but it works.
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ybonesy – I am jealous of your opportunity to travel in VietNam, but not of your upcoming plane -flight. i hate planes, so if -tele-porting were an option I’d try and get around the world.
The kind of visitor i am is not the one who views the world through a camera. Rather a stroller, sitter, starer, listener, smeller. The written journal is my main tool for embedding experience; photographs always have a distancing feel, whereas words and details connect me strongly.
I hope you have time daily to keep a journal. Bon Voyage! G
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diddy, on my first trip there, I did some shopping among the smaller shops downtown. I saw old Zippo lighters for sale all over, and watches, many I presume taken from dead soldiers and/or exchanged. I bought Jim a gorgeous pocket watch from a vendor, but Jim never uses it. He thinks it might have come from someone who died in conflict. I thought of that, too, and while it has so much history, baggage, morbidity, I think I was struck more by its beauty.
QM, what a rich comment. Yes, I imagine the poverty you saw in the South, and what we see in NM, are very similar. NM trades places with some Southern states as being the poorest in the nation. One year it will be NM, another year a Southern state.
I love your tips about photography, and especially keeping in mind photography as a practice. Also, being one with the camera. Well, and setting aside time to take photographs, just as one might set aside time to write. Thanks for all of those.
I do think it will help me in my writing. In fact, just pulling out my few photos from Spain brought back so much in an instant. You’re right — photography is an invaluable tool for writing.
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G, sounds like you and I are similar types of travelers. I dread the plane ride, especially this one because I made it late (the trip/assignment came up unexpectedly) and so the best seats were taken. We’re on the upgrade list, but those were also taken. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed, though.
However, as far as being there, I love just hanging. I remember the last trip I took there, which was a fast turnaround trip, the moment I hit the cab at the airport (arriving at night) and could just sit back and see the motorbikes and the rickshaw drivers asleep in their vehicles, I felt so at home and at peace. Ahhh, what an amazing thing, suddenly being in a totally different world.
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Oh, I have such a love/hate relationship with photography. When I carry the camera, I feel obligated to use it which often feels like an intrusion in actually *being* wherever you are. So mostly I spontaneously take it out, shoot a ton, then put it away and forget it. Other times,in the proper patient mood, I will explore with an eye for a picture. That’s about 15% of the time though 😉
I can’t wait to read about your trip!
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I like to live the moment rather than take photos, but there is a balance. Photos can be really useful memory aids.
I have memories of some of my times in Malawi that are vivid for being there rather than taking photos. I also have photos from that time that I’m really glad to have (especially of my students, the school, the village, the trees, the lake) I also have a lost film of photos of friends that I really regret losing, and also there are things that I now wish i had photographed – the exotic fruits for example, the whip spider, the beautiful butterflies, the weaver bird nests,
Enjoy your travels and I look forward to seeing your photos.
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Thanks, tpgoddess and Crafty. I also think it is a balance. And I tend to go for the detailed items, too, that seem so exotic to me. And nature.
For some reason, I always key in on vehicles, too. I guess because that’s what I see as I’m traveling around plus I notice what the locals are driving versus what I’m in.
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