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3 of 3: Process the New Through the Old

Part three of a three part series on understanding a new culture through our own cultures

This article is a repost of a guest blog I did for Rear Curtain.  Rear Curtain is a great organization run by friends who are seriously passionate about telling stories.  Do yourself a favor and check them out here

This is the final part of a three part series on how we can learn to relate to other cultures as photographers by embracing aspects of our own culture. Many struggle to realize that our own unique cultures are a good tool that can help us communicate and understand cross culturally. There is a correlation between understanding oneís own culture and engaging in a new and different one. Through embracing, valuing, and understanding our culture first, we can recognize and appreciate cultures that are not our own.

PART 3: PROCESS THE NEW THROUGH THE OLD

One thing that I’ve touched on in my previous two posts (Part 1 Part 2) on understanding new cultures through our own, is focusing on commonality in humanity as opposed to our differences. When we dissect culture we discover there are commonalities that exist from culture to culture despite their vast and easily noticeable differences. Even if your home culture looks nothing like that of the culture you are intending to go and photograph, trying to find commonality proves helpful in thinking the right way about culture.

The uniqueness of culture is often wrapped up in the things that all people, despite their location, do – eating, shopping, playing, family life, etc. Before we enter a new culture its a good idea to sit down and analyze these things in our own home culture. Think about what we do daily and why we do it, and what this says about us. This gives us a frame of reference for then viewing a new culture – what’s different about the way we do common things? Why? We are seeking to learn about the new through the lens of what we already know from the old. This is similar to learning a new language. We learn a new language based on the information from the one we already know. This idea gives us some hope for learning a new culture based on our own. We all have culture but are rusty or unfamiliar with how to speak the ‘language’ of culture. The very basics of that ‘cultural language’ is wrapped up in our commonalities.

Listed below are a few cultural commonalities that are healthy for photographers to observer in their own culture before entering a new one.

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2 of 3: Downplaying your own culture

Part two of a three part series on understanding a new culture through our own cultures

This article is a repost of a guest blog I did for Rear Curtain.  Rear Curtain is a great organization run by friends who are seriously passionate about telling stories.  Do yourself a favor and check them out here

This is the second of a three part series on how we can learn to relate to other cultures as photographers by embracing aspects of our own culture. Many struggle to realize that our own unique cultures are a good tool that can help us communicate and understand cross culturally. There is a correlation between understanding one’s own culture and engaging in a new and different one. Through embracing, valuing, and understanding our culture first, we can recognize and appreciate cultures that are not our own.

Bias – The effects of downplaying the uniqueness, richness, & significance of our own culture

Our personal biases are worth understanding when entering, evaluating, and photographing new cultures. One’s bias is tricky to notice because it often masks itself as opinion or preference. As photographic story tellers we must be careful not to be one-sided. To prevent yourself from becoming an insensitive photographer, enter a new culture without partiality.

Many photographers have a bias against their own culture in comparison to the ones they want to photograph. This kind of bias is hard to notice and can be very harmful. Often people try to engage a culture without understanding or even liking their own first. Not only does this reduce our ability to share about our culture (Read: THE TWO SIDES OF EXPERIENCING CULTURE ), but it also contributes to a destructive view of culture in general.

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1 of 3: TWO SIDES OF EXPERIENCING CULTURE

A three part series on how we can better understand new cultures by understanding our own.

This article is a repost of a guest blog I did for Rear Curtain.  Rear Curtain is a great organization run by friends who are seriously passionate about telling stories.  Do yourself a favor and check them out here

This is the first part of a three part series on how we can learn to relate to other cultures as photographers by embracing aspects of our own culture. Many struggle to realize that our own unique cultures are a good tool that can help us communicate and understand cross culturally. There is a correlation between understanding one’s own culture and engaging in a new and different one. Through embracing, valuing, and understanding our culture first, we can recognize and appreciate cultures that are not our own.

One of my favorite things about my job leading tours in western China is that I get to watch people experience new cultures. I find it fascinating how people go about processing cultures, places, foods, and experiences for the first time – both the good and the bad. Looking at the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of cultural interaction can give us useful insights on ways to enrich our future photographic cross cultural experiences.

After living and traveling overseas, I’ve distinctly noticed that people, though undeniably unique, share a lot of the same wants, hopes, needs, and desires. These shared aspects sometimes reveal themselves in exotic and different looking ways, but rest assured, we do have something in common.

It’s amazing what we can learn when we focus on the commonality of the human race as opposed to what we more often focus on: the differences. It’s because of these common areas that I believe it’s important to have understanding and respect for our own culture when we enter into a new one.

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November Wallpaper: Drepung Monastery

A November wallpaper of one of Lhasa's main monasteries

(Download the November Wallpaper here – Right click, Save as)

Put your pitchforks and torches away, because here it is – November’s Wallpaper

This months calendar is a quick image of a few of the stupas at Drepung monastery outside of Lhasa.  It’s a fantastic location and one of our stops on our annual Lhasa, Everest, Nepal workshop.  In fact, it’s the image I used on our 2012 announcement.

Just to give you a context for some of the terms like stupa and Drepung, here are their wikipedia entries.

Drepung Monastery – (literally “Rice Heap” monastery[2][3]), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the “great three” Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Ganden and Sera.
Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries and is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, five kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa. (read more here)

A stupa (from Sanskrit: m.,stūpa, literally meaning “heap”) is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship.
After “stupa”, “chorten” is the most commonly encountered English term. The term “reliquary” is sometimes used, after a Roman Catholic functional equivalent. (read more here)

Enjoy

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OCTOBER WALLPAPER: EVEREST BASECAMP

An October wallpaper dedicated to the tallest mountain in the world

(Right Click to download the October wallpaper here)

I’m on the road for the next two weeks, so I’m posting October’s wallpaper while I still have a decent internet connection albeit a day earlier.

Last year we had a great time our or Lhasa, Everest, Nepal Overland tour.  I’ve been holding back this background for a few months now.  I love this image for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of the perspective it gives you of the valley leading up to Everest which brings back memories of what it’s like to experience Everest for the first time and how amazing it is to be able to drive up to it’s base.

Hope you enjoy!

You can check out last years workshop to Everest in the following links:

Days 1 – The art of observation
Days 2 – Postcard from the endless alleyways of Lhasa
Day 3 – Monk Debates at Sera Monastery
Days 4 & 5 – On the Friendship Highway
Days 6 – 9 – Lhasa, Everest, Nepal
Mount Everest
Faces of Nepal

Our sign up for 2011′s Lhasa, Everest, Nepal Workshop & Tour is here.

Enjoy!

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About Brian Hirschy

Brian Hirschy is an international award-winning commercial and travel portrait photographer currently based in Northwest Arkansas, but called Tibet home for almost five years.

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