Pictures around Azua

chuckuindy

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Mar 8, 2004
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Here are some pics taken by Mirador around the Azua area:

Flickr: Photos from dominican_pics

These are wonderful photos. They give a real prospective on normal Dominican life; something that is never seen by the 1000?s who stay in AI?s for their entire visit.

I wish we had a spot in the Media Gallery to show more of what life is really like for the average Dominican family.

Chuckuindy
 

leromero

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May 30, 2004
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Hmmm..... interesting thought. What I would like to do is make a little "Day in the life" type of documentary. Maybe a mixture of photos and videos. Add a little narration. Thats a thought for my next trip.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Steve, the photos were for your own personal attention, not for posting in DR1. The photos were taken for a specific purpose, and are part of a set taken at the request of our cousin Ang?lica, for use by her NGO, the Fundaci?n Dominicana de Infectolog?a. Also, the photos do not show the ?average? Dominican setting, they were taken in a backwoods (no electricity, no running water...) community of San Juan de la Maguana. Steve, you also know that most of the people photographed are your own relatives (albeit remote) and share your own surname?
 

chuckuindy

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Mar 8, 2004
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We do, Paul Gerace takes great pictures of everyday life and people

http://www.dr1.com/media/showgallery.php/cat/505

also look under culture, Santo Domingo, beaches etc.

Paul takes some very striking photos; however they do not in fact represent the hardships and sufferings of many of the Dominican populous. What I am talking about is the 1000?s of open area dumping sites where you find poor people searching for anything of value. Beggars in every metropolitan city, the guy who cuts cane everyday for less than we spend on a movie ticket. Someone needs to show photos of the thousands of kitchens with only a 2 burner stove and no refrigeration, houses without lights and running water. Mothers without the ability to buy milk or pampers for their babies, the real Dominican Republic.

Chuckuindy
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Paul takes some very striking photos; however they do not in fact represent the hardships and sufferings of many of the Dominican populous. What I am talking about is the 1000?s of open area dumping sites where you find poor people searching for anything of value. Beggars in every metropolitan city, the guy who cuts cane everyday for less than we spend on a movie ticket. Someone needs to show photos of the thousands of kitchens with only a 2 burner stove and no refrigeration, houses without lights and running water. Mothers without the ability to buy milk or pampers for their babies, the real Dominican Republic.

Chuckuindy
Chuckuindy,

Are you under the impression that there not enough photos out there showing the misery, hopeless, backward side of the Dominican Republic?

If you are, I'll suggest you do a simple search to see how well documented such side of the Dominican Republic has been photographed, posted on the net, published in books, etc for the world to see. Those are the predominant and almost only images of the DR that are on display about this country.

The other side that is shown by amateurs and professional photographers is the all-inclusive side of the Dominican Republic or the Casa de Campo type holiday retreat side of the country.

If there is a version of the Dominican Republic that is often ignored, perhaps intentionally from the part of amateurs and professionals is the progressive side of the Dominican Republic. You should see the faces people make the moment I show them pictures of shopping malls, modern areas of Santo Domingo, modern supermarkets, middle class neighborhoods. They make faces of shock that I think they should not be making.

I have even had people ask me questions about the DR as if it everyone in the DR is living in the stone age! Asking me if anyone has running water or if they have paved roads in the DR.

That is the side that should be given more attention, because as much as many amateur and professional photographers may dislike or try to belittle the existence of a modern Dominican Republic, it none the less exist and is a part of the reality of the DR.

Those were "great" photos presented there, but I often question myself if taking photos of such people and then posting them on a public medium for all to see is ok. For example, in one of the photos there is a poor woman who has uncombed hair, raggy clothes, etc.

I often wonder if the photographer made it clear to her that the photographs he/she took of her were going to be posted on a medium for the whole world to see and if so, I wonder if she truly knew what that actually meant.

What I am for certain sure of is that if she would have been a member of the Dominican middle class or upper class, or even part of the typical lower class Dominicans (who, btw, live in conditions superior enough that they do take care of the appearance more so than the woman in that photo); I'm sure the photographer would had been clear as to whether he was allowed to take a picture of them and what his intent were of doing such.

But, I guess such humaine treatment of people is something that the dirt poor are not entitled to.

Perhaps I'm wrong in my assessment here, but very often I see pictures taken of the poorest of the poorest and I often ask myself if such photographer took those pictures responsibly or if he/she views these poor people as uneducated children who should not be made aware what will be done of a photograph of themselves.

Like I said before, perhaps I'm wrong in my assessment of the OP, but I still think the other side of the DR needs to be presented more often as well. The rich and middle class areas are as much a Dominican experience as the lower class and poor areas of the country. Sure, they are different and perhaps not as exotic, but they are none the less Dominican areas inhabited by Dominicans people and anyone who truly wants to present the "real" Dominican Republic, needs to give those areas some attention as well.

-NALs
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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.....The rich and middle class areas are as much a Dominican experience as the lower class and poor areas of the country....-NALs


Too bad they are actually a small minority...
Your feelings are understandable, poverty and misery can be quite obscene for certain people.

Keep up the good work, Nahls...;)
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Too bad they are actually a small minority...
Your feelings are understandable, poverty and misery can be quite obscene for certain people.

Keep up the good work, Nahls...;)
Being a minority is different from not existing especially when its a minority of 30% to 40% of the population.

-NALs
 

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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What I am talking about is the 1000?s of open area dumping sites where you find poor people searching for anything of value. Beggars in every metropolitan city, the guy who cuts cane everyday for less than we spend on a movie ticket. Someone needs to show photos of the thousands of kitchens with only a 2 burner stove and no refrigeration, houses without lights and running water. Mothers without the ability to buy milk or pampers for their babies, the real Dominican Republic.

Chuckuindy

Pehaps you could make that your mission next time you go to the DR ;)
 

gv0928

New member
Jan 10, 2007
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Am I the only one slightly offended by these pictures being taken as representation of Dominicans?

Excuse me, but my family is from Azua, and I can tell you that the pictures here were very carefully selected for a particular image. I do not for one minute deny that this is present - but this is not all that is there. To give off that impression is ridiculous.

And before I get criticized with "no, but you're in America, so you choose what to see" - no. I spend my time in the Dominican Republic in the small town of Estebania, outside of Azua, where I see poverty and wealth alike. And you know what, this is the extreme poverty that is being showcased.

And sorry to potentially upset anyone, but isn't it mildly curious that the people in these pictures are all dark? Way to project an accurate image of what things are really like. I'm not saying that we don't have mulattoes and those who are of Haitian descent and the like, but we have more than enough Dominicans who are light-skinned.

The pictures look good - but they don't represent what things are really like.
 

gv0928

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Jan 10, 2007
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Steve, the photos were for your own personal attention, not for posting in DR1. The photos were taken for a specific purpose, and are part of a set taken at the request of our cousin Ang?lica, for use by her NGO, the Fundaci?n Dominicana de Infectolog?a. Also, the photos do not show the ?average? Dominican setting, they were taken in a backwoods (no electricity, no running water...) community of San Juan de la Maguana. Steve, you also know that most of the people photographed are your own relatives (albeit remote) and share your own surname?

Excuse my previous post. I did not see this.

I apologize.
 

Don Juan

Living Brain Donor
Dec 5, 2003
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Not a pretty sight.......

....And one that's not too hard to imagine in today's DR. ...Still, it seemed these people weren't starving. You noticed? They, as a matter of fact, seem robust-- in spite of the obviously poor surroundings!-- How's that possible?
I'm not saying being fat in a poor country is a measure of true health, but do they look hungry? No!
If this is as poor as people get in DR, Then, My conscience won't bother me as much tonight, knowing the poorest children can still be provided with food. Que bueno!
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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....And one that's not too hard to imagine in today's DR. ...Still, it seemed these people weren't starving. You noticed? They, as a matter of fact, seem robust-- in spite of the obviously poor surroundings!-- How's that possible?
I'm not saying being fat in a poor country is a measure of true health, but do they look hungry? No!
If this is as poor as people get in DR, Then, My conscience won't bother me as much tonight, knowing the poorest children can still be provided with food. Que bueno!

I'm happy for your conscience, mine does not seem to keep still... ;-). In the DR Southwest, children will rarely go hungry, since it is customary to provide food for your own as well as any other visiting child. When it comes to food, in most communities in the DR Southwest, there seems to be no discrimination between yoiur own children and those of others when it comes to dinner. I've seen grown children and young men taking advantage of this custom, which I surmise is a tradition that goes back to the Taino.