Lessons From Jamaica

I’m not very pleased as I continue to review and edit all the non-wedding photographs I took in Jamaica. Rather than waste time and energy crying about it, I focus on what I can do in the future to overcome similar photographic challenges. What lesson(s) did I learn? First, a little background: staying at resort, all of our needs, wants, and more, were met inside the resort compound. For economic and safety reasons, the resort promoted their internal and external activities. “Tagged” with a red resort wrist band, one was instantly identified as a resort guest, AKA “tourist.” Once, while attempting to walk past the resort gates to stores across the street, there were locals coming straight at us, eager to sell us their goods and services…that is until we were intercepted by resort employees. We capitulated to the wasting of gasoline as we were transported less than a quarter of a mile. After being carefully watched, cajoled, and manipulated by resort approved merchants, we were then driven back across the street and neatly deposited at the resort door. It did not take me long to feel like a prisoner with little inspiration to photograph the commercial environment that surrounded me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ungrateful for the experience, but my photographic life was unfulfilled with what could have been a great photographic opportunity. I wanted to photograph the real Jamaica and I was far from that reality. I photographed what I could and it did help that my wife and I were able to travel far into the mountain areas. The tourist industry in Jamaica caused me to further solidify my contempt for the “color” of commercialism. Sure, I could have brought back perfect color shots of tourist sites and other idyllic items but that would have been too easy for me. The bottom line is that I was in Jamaica to celebrate our wedding anniversary and attend my god-daughters wedding…photography was a luxury.