Candid, people photography
This was taken at a market in Ubud, Bali. Interestingly, Balinese women are experts at carrying burden on their heads literally, which is similar to what many African women do. People have speculated on how this culture may have developed. Previous theories have suggested that head-carrying may be beneficial to human posture. Recent research suggests however that the behaviour might cause undue stress and pain on the neck.
I remember seeing a boy walking to school on my way to Lake Batur during my trip to Bali in 2010. The same boy was still walking on the road to school when we made our way back from the lake after two hours of photography! I think we should consider ourselves lucky in Singapore where relatively cheap and accessible public transport is considered a basic right. These two girls were a little luckier compared to the boy we saw last year — at least they managed to hitch a ride to school shortly after this picture was taken 🙂
One of the intimidating things about candid photography is summoning one’s courage to unabashedly point the camera at the subject of interest. Depending on the culture of the local society, you might be rewarded by unwelcome stares, or worse still, swears and curses from the subjects involved. One thing about the Balinese is that they are often quite happy to have their pictures taken, to the extent that the mother in the above scene was even able to breastfeed comfortably in public, and despite knowing that our cameras were trained on her and her child. Taken at a traditional market in the Bedugul area (click the geotag icon on the top left of the picture to see the location).