Ladies – and I guess in this day and age gents too – not everybody with a camera is your friend. Especially at Carnival time. Don’t get caught up with the heady combination of sun shining, music playing and alcohol flowing to let go of the little security codes we all follow in our normal lives. Yes, you may be looking beautiful and yes, you may be getting lots of attention but none of this changes the fact that there are some disreputable people waiting to seize the opportunity that your half naked body and relaxed guard presents. Let me share with you an experience I had. A few carnivals ago I had to rescue a friend of mine who was being photographed by a man. She preened and posed and thought nothing of the fact that he was asking her for increasingly sexy shots. She didn’t realise that the man was working for an adult website – it said so on his photo id. What was amazing – and a bit sad – was that in the time it took for me to pull her away and explain this, half a dozen other women had taken over and were eagerly lifting up their legs and bending over to be photographed. Listen. All photographers and filmographers are required by law to carry professional ID for the Carnival. If they don’t, they not official – either the film is for personal i.e. home use or they were denied permission. Interestingly enough, when I’d called several authorities to ask about the company they expressed surprise that they had been granted a license in the first place. They’d promised an investigation and had offered the suggestion that the application for the license had perhaps been made under a different company name. Whether this is true or not the fact remains that the authorities can only do so much and commonsense must be on high at ALL times on BOTH days. When I posted on another blog about women “skinning up” and flashing their breasts for carnival I was blasted by a commenter and accused of lying. As much as we would like to believe so, I am not. The photographic libraries of all the local media houses – and I’m not just talking about Punch the Love Paper here but Express, Guardian etc – are full of images that could be classified as pornographic. I have a number of friends who are photographers who show me pictures they’ve taken over the season and it always makes me feel very ashamed to be a woman. As one photographer told me, from the moment some women see a camera they’re willing to do anything to have their photo taken. I have seen enough photos of vaginas and breasts to know that this is true. Professionalism dictates that these photos cannot be used – but they have to be stored. I would feel very uncomfortable at the thought that somewhere there is a photo of my private parts stored in a library vault, even if it was never used. But this only applies to local photographers. International press could do whatever the hell they want. Do not forget the Darlene Beddoe case a few years back where her face was lifted from a carnival website and put on someone else’s naked body for an adult website. If they could do this without her permission, think how much more they could do with a photo you’ve willing posed for.
Here is a link to an interesting article.
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22 comments:
Hottie Hottie that is so true! And the person that said you were lying don't know what she talking about. Everybody know there are women who does be flashing for the camera for carnival. Some people will do anything for attention.
I know that adult site you wrote about, I was so shocked when I saw the photos! Some of the women he caught unawares, some were posing sexy and others were downright disgusting!!!I went through all the pics to make sure he had no photos of anyone I knew.
What is the website address
In NY there was a group of sleezy guys crouched down low videotaping some gyrls from underneath & you know that wasen't for a reputable paper/mag/show! What I was most unimpressed with was they were putting on a show for them. I guess some ppl want their bit of fame, no matter how seedy. Eventually "security came & carried them out".
I am one of those that run from the cameras because I don't want no evidence of me popping up running around half naked in Trinidad. Sometimes it seems to me to be a losing battle because the more you try to avoid the cameras they will somehow still manage to find you and capture when you least suspect.
One year I was 3 months pregnant and I was carrying in my chest. Lawd, that year my poor boobies showed up everywhere in the press.(ah still shame) In fact, it is true about them keeping the old pictures on file because they were running an ad in the Express with one of my pictures from a couple years ago for the carnival magazine. You would think I got a free magazine seeing they used one of my picture's for the ad. Yeah right. Only in sweet T&T. LOL
The media stalkers have gottne crazy during carnival. The crap some folks do and get carried away when they see the cameras rolling. (yuck another reason for me to run in the opposite direction) Oh gosh and don't talk about when we reach the Savannah. Some of them does run yuh over just to push up themselves infront the folks camera.
Hottie girl good article i foward it to all my friends who does think every camera man they see they have to pose up? I notice this year every party I went to there were these young guys with camcorders recording or taking pic. I had an altercation with one of them. I dancing and enjoying myself and here comes these boys with camcords up in meh face, I stop them want time, my sisters & friends where shock to see me pushing them off and meh hand in they camera shoving them away. I told them don't let them tape allyuh cause yuh never now what they will do with it.
nicely said :)
Hottie can you update my link on your page http://trinidadcarnival2007.blogspot.com/
thanks so much
damn.. perverts everywhere!!
Thats true i try to avoid the cameras all together for the most i'll pose (very discreetly) for the video cameras on the big stage because i know that's for Channel 4 or 6 and i want my fammily to see me but te one on the side of the road you can only take a shot of me standing up vertically and looking very lady like.
Then too its not only those who playing mas because last year i didnt play mas but i was in town on tuesday in a short pants with my friends. And there was this rasta man with a video camera on the other side of the road video taping us. one of my friends walked across the road to look at what he was taping and he was zooming in on us down my our crotch. Since we couldnt stop him from doing anything we just moved and went down the road. It really is disgusting to know that people do these kinds of things
Karabana, girl, I does feel so shame sometimes. Everybody does be on kicks and everybody does give a lil pose and smile and thing but some women go overboard. I remember a photographer friend of mine once was liming in Nuts - back when Nuts was a "it" club. When some girls - not baddest, so called decent girls - found out he was a photographer they gladly indulged in several "interesting" poses and begged him to take their photo. When they found out he wasn't working for the Punch but instead a daily they were upset! Imagine that!
Alexia girl, that is a fairly new thing and I think there should be some means of monitoring it but I'm not sure how. Soon you won't be able to go to a fete and get on ad because you'll be afraid that somebody will be wanking off to footage they took of you!
Anon, yes, some of these photographers does get out of hand, asking you to pose sexy and thing. But they're not forcing anybody. They can only take pictures of women skinning up if the women skin up in the first place! Sadly, for every woman that says no, seems like four say yes.
Soca, it's against the law to film people against their consent but who's going to enforce that? The police? The have tehir hands full on those days already and they can't even deal with the soca pirates who passing with they bootleg copies right in front of them!!!!!
It's a crying shame that Carnival is really coming to this.
I used to pose but not in any sexy way, just show off the costume. It USED to be like that back in the days. Now it seems these "boys" want to take pics of all kind of crotch and stuff whether the girl wants to or not. It makes me mad, but more upset when I see the girls willingly skin out for the camera thinking it's cute. They need to know it's not cute to be on some porno website wrongly portraying what carnival in T&T is all about.
EXACTLY! Come Ash Wednesday yuh does fuhget all yuh do. You don't want a permanant reminder floating in cyberspace.
It's exactly like you wrote HH, you get caught up in the one-of-a-kind amazing vibe, finally enjoying THE BEST day of the year, you look & feel sexy... so all these camera guys asking to take your pic just goes along w it... I get asked to have my pic taken (from a lot of tourists! LOL!), but it would never occur to me to do anything more than smile. I'm way too suspicious & wary of the many ways women are exploited.
Girl! It not easy out here nuh. I remember some friends and I posing for Notting Hill carnival (yawn) last year with some bystanders and they just got so rough and demanding after a while - pulling you and trying to force you into assuming all sorts of sexy positions. Not me!
really, eh? Some tourist guys put their arm around my waist for pics like they know me & I'm not into even that... I guess some guys treat masqueraders like "beauty queens" & want their pic w them. But for others who see all the provocative wining & their mind gets to working, they go many steps further & ask for porn poses... & as long as there's women out there posing like that, they'll continue to ask!
I eh know if yuh "eh" is de Trini or the Canadian in yuh girl! LOL!
There will always be people who jus' have no broughtupsy or class (to put it mildly), alcohol or no alcohol, and who will try to get as much attention as possible - positive or negative - regardless of how much they debase themselves in the process. Wha' we go do? Not everybody mama raised them right.
Broughtupcy - yuh know how long I eh hear dat?! Thankfully, these women are for the most part in the minority. Ah tink.
it's Canadian. ;-)
eh!
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