Since being in India I have found one thing unique to Indians… they love to have their picture taken! Asians seem to be good about this in general and if you ask permission first or spend a few minutes talking and getting to know them, odds are you’ll be granted permission easily. Some don’t even care and go on about their daily business; others will smile big when they see your camera.
I’ve been to places though, like Ecuador, where the locals don’t like their photograph being captured no matter what. Indigenous people there will turn their backs to you if they see you hold up a large camera. I have had them run off as well, to just flat out screaming “No foto senior!” Now not all Ecuadorians are like that but there is a stark difference between them and say Asians.
Back on topic, India has been one place where people actually request I take photographs of them. So much that I have had people ask, I complied, showed them the LCD screen on the back of the camera, to even a few write down their address and ask me to mail them a copy. I’ll be honest I never do and it’s not because I don’t want to, it’s just impossible for me to. I can’t even get myself together to send a few postcards home let alone print photos and mail copies. I wish I had a small portable printer I could use to print one out, but from what I have read from others they aren’t really practical and it would be another asset I would have to carry in my overweight bag already.
One thing though I love about Indians is that they just want their photo taken and to see it. Especially kids! If you want to make an Indian kid smile, take his or her photo and show them the LCD screen afterwards on your camera, as I have yet to not be given a smile back when I have done this.
The one draw back I have found though are large groups of kids here in India get too excited.
Case-In-Point
A French friend and an American girl I met in Hampi decided we wanted to just ride around on motorbikes for the day. We had no plans, we weren’t driving to a certain spot and we had all the time in the world. All we wanted to do was ride and see the countryside, explore and chill. We rode out of Hampi and just kept making rights and lefts; trying to remember which ones we had taken.
We came upon a river that went into a water reservoir and saw a Hindu Temple across the banks from it. We decided to stop and go explore the temple. Along the banks of the river were women washing clothes and a lot of kids swimming and playing. 
When we stopped all attention went straight to us in seconds and before we could get off the bikes each one of us had 10 kids apiece surrounding us. This little village was quite far from the tourist town of Hampi and I really doubt many tourists ever make it out this far. The kids were yelling, “What is your good name sir?” to asking us where we were from. A few wanted pens to anything we had.
We got off the bikes and Xavier (the French guy) started playing with the kids. The little girls seem to flock to Elizabeth (the American girl) and were asking her all kinds of questions. Myself I just pulled out my camera and started snapping photos.
This sent the kids in a flurry of emotions and everyone started yelling “Sir, sir, take my picture please!” I was in photographer’s heaven and started filling my memory chip. It’s not everyday you get people screaming for their photos and when you do, you take advantage of it.
At first I was a taking group pictures but this got out of hand quickly. After I took the picture I turned the camera around to show them the results but there was so many of them that they almost ripped the camera right out of my hands. They weren’t being mean but they were just excited. I had visions of my $3,500 set-up busting on the ground and I quickly formed a new plan.
“Hey who wants a special picture?” I yelled! I told them to line up and that I would take a single picture of them all and show them individually the results. Yeah you had a few fighting with each other on who was going to be first but that’s just kids being kids and can’t stop that.
And you know what, it worked! The bonus was that the photos came out better too! I spent the next 10 minutes working through them all till they seemed happy. By this time Xavier and Elizabeth decided to go swimming in the river with the kids and now I wasn’t the focus of attention. They swam for about 20 minutes and cooled off, while I stayed hot and dry, while photographing it all.
Afterwards we went into the temple with an army of 30 kids behind us. I’m not sure what the guy running the place thought when we walked in but he was very kind and showed us around, from top to bottom. Afterwards, the man came up to me later and asked where I was from. He was so excited that we came to the temple and thanked me over and over because so. I could tell they don’t get many outsiders there and it was a special feeling knowing we got the grand tour.
In the end we had to leave and the kids were still stalking us, to the point I had five little boys grabbing the rack on the back of the bike. Between them I wasn’t able to take off and I guess it shows you how weak those motorbikes are.
We finally got them to let go and rode out back to Hampi. It was one of the craziest moments for me photographing a group but I think the end results were worth it.
Xavier jumps into the river in nothing but his boxer briefs. This is the typical swimsuit of most Indian men anyways, so he fit right in.
Elizabeth does a running jump into the river, fully clothed. All the mothers that were washing clothes along the banks thought she was crazy for doing this and were laughing hard. The kids went even more crazy when she did it as well.
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Hampi |
