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Travel photography, conflict of
cultures and the `camera cannot lie' fallacy
At this particular moment, at this particular place, there is
a conflict. 
The girl has moved away from her family to smoke her cigarette because they almost certainly disapprove of women smoking in public. (continued on the right)
Paul Gooch Images
Travel photography
Travel photography and the mistaken belief that `the camera cannot lie'
Travel photography often portrays people who are naturally part of
their surroundings.A classic example of this is a photograph of a local
woman selling something in a local market place, or a local fisherman
working on his fishing nets or boat. But photos of people who aren't
naturally part of their surroundings are more interesting.The man herding a donkey across a highway in Syria isn't naturally a part of his surroundings, travel by donkey has mostly been replaced by bus travel. The travelers or hippies boarding the truck in Afghanistan aren't naturally part of their surroundings and the Westerner in a business suit isn't naturally part of his surroundings, it mostly consists of people in African national dress (continued below.)
Conflict of culture
(click on the photo to enlarge it)An Asian girl smokes a cigarette on a British beach. She was with her family but moved some distance away from them to smoke, probably because she knew they would disapprove of her smoking in public.
It's often said that `the camera always tells the truth', meaning that a photograph always tells the truth. But this isn't always true. Travel photography can tell the truth as it is at a certain location and at a certain time, but it can't always tell the complete truth.
The man with the donkey and the bus might conflict at this location, but in other parts of Syria and the middle east where there are no highways it's quite normal to travel by donkey, because there are no buses.
The Westerner in a business suit might appear to conflict with the people in African national dress, but they are wearing Western clothes under their African robes, so in reality they just apppear to conflict. Also, although he is white and they are black, it's quite possible that they are all citizens of the same African country.
The photo of the travelers boarding a truck in Afghanistan might not seem to be part of their surroundings, but in reality they are or rather were part of their surroundings, because in that location and at that particular time (before the current war in Afghanistan) this was a common sight.
The important thing is, the travel photographer has captured these situations, these particular moments in particular locations, by taking a photograph of them. If there were no travel photography, there would be no record of these situations.
(continued from the left)
But the picture doesn't tell the entire truth. She is Asian but she isn't typical of British Asians. instead she is typical of people from south east Asia.
Although British Asian people almost certainly disapprove of women smoking in public, this photograph doesn't tell that truth.It tells a different truth instead. It tells the truth that people from south east Asia, as well as British Asians, disapprove of women smoking in public.