Long Neck tribe: portrait of young girl

[PAWNEESE]

I am told they technically illegal immigrants from Burma, but now tourist attraction near Chang Rai. They were very photogenic !

I Took loads of pics and not sure which was the best. Not hard to get this attractive photo given the colourful girl but least it is sharp (?) sun illuminates face, and background out of focus and softwared to be B and W. Cunning of me or what ?

They add another neck ring every so often and even sleep in the rings to stretch their necks. Longer the neck the more alluring they are considered. Well that is what us tourists are told. Some of the older ladies had very long necks but they not so photogenic.

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[PAWNEESE]

On reflection I should have carried on taking photos of her till she smiled. I bet lovely smile in there somewhere. Still, lesson learnt. It was late in day and she probably been posing for many hours in parents orders. Perhaps giving her a monetry tip would have got the desired smile.

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[AyG]

On reflection I should have carried on taking photos of her till she smiled.

Why should she smile? She has (or her parents have) been trafficked to Thailand and is held against her will in a human zoo. She's not allowed to leave, and receives a tiny fraction of the money her Thai captors make from tourists. The whole situation is a human rights abomination, and the Thai government does nothing about it.

[PAWNEESE]

Ok. Thanks for info.

Nearly all the other Long Neck ladies were smiling wonderfully but were much older. She just seemed bored and tired as it was late afternoon.

So it did not occur to me they were not as a group very happy. Many children playing happily and many teenage girls doing hand weaving smiling away.

But your info is noted.

[siberianwarcat]

I understood that the reality is that the neck is not in fact longer, rather the rings impair the bone development and push down the collar bones/shoulders.

I am not sure about the trafficking allegation. Surely anti-trafficking international NGO's can be informed?

[PAWNEESE]

Siberian .. Me thinks you are right about the pushing coller bone down etc. Here are some pix of happier Long Neck young girls. They all seemed happy enough and if trafficked it aint obvious. I have many more smiley pix ... I guess trying to say I did not suspect I was part of anything bad.

[PAWNEESE]

Oops sent same pic twice. I meant this one ..

[AyG]

I am not sure about the trafficking allegation. Surely anti-trafficking international NGO's can be informed?

It's a difficult situation. The United States in particular has agreed to take some of them as refugees who have fled the violence in Burma (which some undoubtedly have). Thailand has refused to recognise them as refugees, so won't allow them to be leave. This very much looks like a "commercial" decision by the Thai authorities for what ever reason.

Unlike other ethnic groups fleeing violence in Burma (non-long necked Karen, Shan, Mon, &c.) who are frequently turned back at the border, the long-necked Karen are welcomed and quickly find themselves in fake villages as a tourist attraction. If the other groups do make it into Thailand they end up in squalid refugee camps. Again, the long-necked Karen are seen as commercially valuable and the Thai authorities apparently complicit with what is going on.

[thephotoman]

Pawneese

You have asked for an evaluation of your image , as no one else seems to want to do it here goes …..

1) The crop is far too tight

2} Your camera obviously can not handle high iso , so you could do one of two things … a) lower the iso and use flash as a fill or use software to reduce the noise .

However if you are happy with your image the way it is , no problem .

[PAWNEESE]

Photoman ... Many thanks for comments. Very helpful.

I have only recently got in to trying to take a good photo and only just discovered this site. Many many hundreds of pix on here are amazing. I must check out some of yours and others pix and learn !

I am going through the calender and sunset topics at moment and wow .. many are amazing.

[thephotoman]

Pawneese

We all have to learn and start somewhere , forgive me for saying this but unless you learn from others your images will always be snaps , there is nothing wrong with snaps , as they make good memories .

I don't know everything and I can still learn from others , but I have been shooting for a long time ( 45 years / digital 14 years DSLR ) mainly action and sport .

I would be happy to help you learn and get better images , just ask .

[PAWNEESE]

Many thanks. I just discovered how to adjust the ISO on my camera and been experimenting what effect it has.. I knew about it but its importance went over my head. I always put camera on Auto but now will play with ISO, apperture and speed etc. Might upgrade my camera. Now I have given up work, I need a hobby or two. Thanks again.

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[phuketrichard]

you can take pictures

or

you can make photographs

one is simple and can be done with a phone camera or a high end dslr

the other......

My advice, look at others photos a LOT, and shoot shoot shoot