When the greater good dictates not to take the photo, no matter how perfect it appears.

I thought that I would spend some of my Christmas Day in Luang Prabang taking photos. I certainly have not taken many since being in Laos and definitely not on my Rollei SL66.
For those of you who have no idea what that is, it is a large studio camera that is 30 years old, bulky as hell and due to a lifetime of work, no longer the reliable machine it probably once was. Sort of the opposite of me, at least in some ways. This has not been helped by the fact that since I have owned it, it has found itself thrown into a helicopter in the Himilayas, carried in numerous backpacks on treks in places such as Nepal and New Zealand, strapped to a camel in Rajasthan that promptly sat on it at the first opportunity and then more recently attached to the back of a motorbike as I rode on dirt tracks firstly around Asutralia and now here in Laos. Why do I even carry something that is unreliable, cumbersome, requires a seperate light meter and as one person pointed out "does not even have a zoom lens", not to mention that it is now near impossible to buy film for it anymore? Because it takes photos that digital cameras cannot match. Well, unless you have a spare $40,000 that is. Alas it will probably be the last trip I use it on before I succumb to buying a digital SLR.
But that is not what I really wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about were some of the issues, dilemas, moral difficulties if you will, that are faced with taking photos in places like this.
The problem starts with the fact that this is a UNESCO town. That does not mean you can't take photos, it is actually quite the opposite. The problem is that everyone is taking photos. So when this happens locals become savy to it and will not let you take their photo unless you pay them or buy something from them. You can take a photo without permission, but as far as I am concerned that is like "borrowing someones wife without permission", if you get what I mean. So permission must be sough else problems with trust arise.
But what if they want money? I do believe that in some instances something should be given, after all I am taking something of theirs. I am against giving money as I believe it creates an unhealthy environment. In the good old days when film was the prefered medium of photographers, I use to carry polaroid film and give my subjects a photo of themselves. For a lot of people I shot that had never seen a photo of themselves, the value, both financially and sentimentally, was far greater than that cash I would have given them, particularly when you bear in mind that a single polaroid would cost around $3 compared to the cash that they would have wanted of about $0.50. Sometimes buying services from them, such as produce, is a way to gain permission without either party feeling ripped off. That is what happened this morning when a street vendor initially refused to let me take their photo unless I bought some of their food, which incidentally was very good.
My dilema today was when I was coming down the steps of a temple in the middle of the town. Here were traders selling their wares and goods. There was a hunched old lady selling small raten cages with baby birds for visitors to set free at the top of the temple. It would have made one of the finest photos of the trip, but I could not take the photo. This goes back to the dilema. I would have had to ask permission (my personal belief) and she would have said no - she was there to make money. If I offered her money for her photo then I would be setting a precedent that she would harrass other passers for the same. If I had offered to pay for her birds I would be encouraging a trade growth in something that I believe is wrong - the birds will probably not survive at their age without their mother, let alone a belief that birds should not be caged. So it was with some disappointment that I had to walk on as she harassed another passer by on his way up to the temple to buy her birds. But I do believe that it was the right decision.
It is hard taking photos in these sorts of towns where they are use to tourists. They want money, and why not? For me though it is back to the remote villages where I can trade some interaction and conversation for a photo and everyone feels that they have gained a lot more than in these towns.