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Finding Realism in Atlantis
Street photography during a resort holiday
Photography is a documentary medium. Street photography seeks to capture the decisive moment. Even portrait photography, staged as it is, tries to capture the ephemeral essence and character of its subjects. My dad, too, was obsessed with authenticity. He would drag our family all over the world to show me what life looks like. When we stayed in hotels, he would march us for hours to a nearby village or nature spot — lest we get caught with the package deal crowd. I choose rangefinder photography mainly because I want to capture the unscripted, fleeting events unfolding before me; their significance is to be revealed only after the film is developed. I live for happy coincidences.
This year, my family rebelled! They wanted a resort vacation. “I should leave my Leica at home,” they said so I would not drag them off the beaten and very convenient path. I did not leave my camera at home. We booked ourselves for a week within the confines of a tropical resort. I thought I would suffocate from the lack of genuine authenticity.
In a resort, nothing is real.
A resort feels like very much like Disneyland. Everything is staged, and you are living in it. In a resort, everything has been photographed a hundred times. Here, it is not worth the…
