Photography is a big thing. If I can't find it on your Tw*tter or your Inst*gram feed, I can pretty safely assume that the trip to the top of Mount Everest that you're telling me about didn't really happen.
But, there is a massive difference between taking a photo of our latest cup of coffee and trying to be the one* to document a short term trip.
*Yes. This should be one person, two if your team is huge or split up, who is in charge of taking all of the "nice" pictures. The rest of you, hand off your cameras. Let someone at your destination show you their world.
One Simple Rule:
Focus on the stories you have permission to tell.
If you are that person, take respectful, honoring photos of willing subjects by focusing on the story of your team.
Feel free to take pictures of your team eating meals, having devos, hanging out, or riding in a private vehicle. Document beautiful sunrises and incredible night skies. Point the camera at vast stretches of open road and the details of vegetation that make this place uniquely here.
Keep it pointed away from other people.
That kid on the corner may be cute, but, if none of you have gotten to know him, you don't need the picture.
Take pictures with and of people who know that you are taking their picture and have given you the go ahead. If you don't know the names of anyone not-on-your-team in the shot and neither do they, you probably shouldn't be taking it.
This especially applies to babies and small children. A two year old smiling at you is not permission. Getting a candid of one of your teammates chatting with mom and baby when mom knows that you have the camera out and pointed at her is.
Taking the time to talk to mom yourself, getting to know her, and then asking to take a picture to remember to pray, definitely is, so long as you actually mean it.
People are not props.
People's homes and belongings are not props.
Things that you don't understand are not automatically fair game. You're not here for People of WalM*rt or some sort of Fail Blog.
Take pictures of the things that you have been given permission to take pictures of.
Don't be the creepy foreign paparazzi with their cameras stuck out the window as they drive by. You would be sketched out to see someone doing it in your neighborhood. Don't do it in theirs.
A lackluster picture taken with integrity is a thousand times better than a beautiful photograph that treats people like animals in a zoo.
Use your camera to tell stories well.
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