Young girl, Kampala slums, Uganda
Fujifilm X-H2, 56mm lens, f1.2 @ 1/1700 second, ISO 125

How do you react to this portrait? Is the young girl’s expression and pose incredibly cute? Or do you worry that her environment and location appears poor and is this another cliché photograph exploiting the condition of poverty?

There’s no doubt I was a privileged Westerner visiting a very poor part of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. There are lots of places in Kampala that are very ‘well-to-do’, but given they look pretty much like the streets at home, tourists and travellers are drawn to places of difference.

In the few true slums I’ve visited, I’ve found that despite their limited resources and abject poverty, the people are very house-proud and generally appear to be happy. Please don’t misinterpret this statement that I think they are actually okay, rather I see them as accepting for the meantime where they are and making the most of it. They certainly live in hope of better times.

Our visit to the Kampala slum was a paid event. We were shown around by the ‘mayor’ and attendant bodyguards. Our payment and tips helped the community. As we walked around, the initial response from the locals was astonishment, questioning and perhaps some resentment, but when the mayor came by and explained what was happening, there were big smiles and a much friendlier disposition from most.

So, as a privileged Westerner, I was sold the story that it was okay for me to poke my nose into other people’s private lives. Is this okay?

I can imagine some readers recoiling in disgust because I was obviously exploiting a situation for purely personal gratification. Agreed, but I’m not sure at whose expense? If people didn’t want to be photographed, I didn’t. The little girl’s mother was happy for her to pose – obviously I couldn’t obtain her considered consent, but I didn’t feel this was any different to photographing young kids walking around the streets anywhere in the world. And I don’t think it’s any different to photographing where people live anywhere in the world, from New York to Sydney. That’s what a traveller photographs.

So, here’s how I justify it to myself. Visiting a place and respectfully taking photographs does no harm. Photographs are so ubiquitous in our society that taking and presenting photos is just like eating and breathing. Sharing this photograph is in no way demeaning, but I acknowledge there is a huge difference in wealth and opportunity between me and my subjects. I can’t change that, but as a traveller, hopefully I can make small, positive differences along the way. If this community is also happy to capitalise on my passion for taking photographs, why not?