Writing Travel

NaBloPoMo, daily blogging, and other priorities

On November 8, the score was 8 for 8. Then I got tired of keeping score and looked at other priorities.

The real question is why I maintain this so-called travel blog. And the real answer: for fun and challenge and interaction and learning and sharing with a (presumed) audience. The false answer: for fame and fortune and Google PageRank.

When did blog posting become a burden? I think it goes back to the travel blogging advice about posting frequency that began appearing in the last couple of years. You've got to post every day, some bloggers exhorted, or if not every day, at least three days a week, on a regular schedule.

Well, as much as I hate to reveal this personal detail, I don't do much of anything on a regular schedule, neither privately nor publicly. That's just the way I roll, the rules of my game. I'd love to be one of those regular folks. I admire them. They always put their keys in the same place, their dresser drawers are replenished regularly with clean folded laundry, and nothing rotten has ever gotten lost in their crisper drawers. They have never traveled anywhere with more than two pair of shoes.

I don't live in that world. I'm stuck in an alternative universe. So when I heard that I had to blog every day if I wanted to be a success at travel blogging, my contrarian self staged a rebellion. I went on a blogging strike of sorts.

Somehow, I thought a public commitment to NaBloPoMo would shake things up. And it did, until I realized I was churning out that daily blog post at the last possible moment.

So I took a break, but I'm back for the important stuff.

Passports with Purpose 2011 is coming up, beginning on November 30, and that's a true priority for me. I've got posts to write about two fabulous prizes from great sponsors. Beyond that, we'll see what develops between now and then. I'll try not to bore you or blather on about my personal limitations or make false promises about my lofty goals.

Blogging is optional.

 

Regrets, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Plaque on tomb in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris: "Regrets."

Passports With Purpose November 15 deadline reminder for travel bloggers

A reminder to all my fellow travel bloggers that it's not too late to sign on to participate in the 4th annual Passports With Purpose fundraiser.The deadline for registration and confirming prize procurement is November 15.

I'm excited that I received confirmation today of two, count 'em two, prizes from great sponsors. Can't say yet who they are, but I'm stoked they have agreed to support Passports With Purpose's fundraising efforts. This year, Passports With Purpose will be aiming to raise $80,000, enabling Room to Read to build two libraries in Zambia.

Even if you don't offer a prize, you can support Passports With Purpose by hosting an ad or widget on your site and spreading the word to your family, friends, and fellow bloggers. Heck, last year my husband read my Passports With Purpose 2010 wish list and made tax deductible donations in hope of winning my holiday gifts. He didn't win, but I still got a gift from the list  And we both got another gift at tax time.

On another topic: yesterday's photo post received some nice compliments and helpful comments, most notably from Jack Norell, a world-class photographer who runs the travel blog Eyeflare.

Jack called me out on something I need to remedy in my writing practice. Simply said, he advised that my words should "put the photographs in context" rather than talk about what is happening in the pictures. I'm taking this criticism to heart.

So I'm reneging on my promise to write today about the issues I hinted at yesterday in my conclusion.Instead, I'm working to revise the post to make it a true photoessay, incorporating my research on the effects of tourism on women and children in Cuzco as well as my feelings about my photographic subjects.

Photographs of Quechua women and children in Cuzco, Peru

These faces have haunted me since the day I captured their images in Cuzco. I have decided to present them in black and white so they are not so overwhelmed by the vivid colors surrounding them.

This small girl with a bit of a runny nose, featured in yesterday's post, is with her mother and two other women and their children. After several shots, she managed only a half-smile, which you can see here.

Below, she looks away after having engaged with brief eye contact.

Here is a portrait of the child and her mother. You may see now why the child's sweater is closed with a safety pin. The mother's left arm is paralyzed and withered, making it difficult for her to manage buttons.

The women below are dressed more resplendently and seem better fed. They engage actively with the camera. The older child is dressed like a doll and clearly would rather be doing something else.

This bright-eyed little one is taking everything in.

Below is another mother working the fiesta crowd. Rather than selling photo opportunities, she is selling dolls, not at all shy about approaching anyone who looks like a tourist and is probably carrying dollar bills from the United States.

I have more photos of Peruvian women and children and more to say about the experience of photographing them, but i'm saving that for tomorrow's post. I will pose a few questions now in the name of research.

Have you ever paid to photograph a local person? If so, do you have ethical concerns about the practice?

Aside from the obvious economic gain to the photographic subject, have you seen or posited any other effects, good or bad, on the local individuals and their community?

 

Quechua child in Cuzco, Peru