It usually starts out with a brave soul approaching us and asking “Hallo MiIister!! Foto Foto??” We smile broadly and nod emphatically. Yes, of course!
It begins slowly with a single mobile phone snapshot. Then another from the group slowly approaches, then another. With the ice broken and language barriers smashed the floodgates open. Suddenly you feel like you’re surrounded by Paparazzi, only instead of mega-expensive telephoto lenses it’s an orgy of mobile phones. You feel like a undeserving celebrity of sorts.
This is a new phenomenon for the Delos crew. Usually it’s us approaching locals and shyly asking permission to snap a few photos. But here in the less touristy islands of Eastern Indonesia the tables have turned and we find ourselves the subjects of many candid snapshots.
The girls especially get attention. Sure there are the guys with ear-splitting grins going for the opportunistic shot, obviously to show their friends the light skinned woman with blond hair from the other side of the world. But even more common are the girls that constantly giggle while touching our Western style clothes and hair, just utterly fascinated at the differences between cultures.
We have fun with it and often hand our camera to a local for a few shots. Here’s some of our favorites.
We arrive at the Raja Ampat Dive Lodge to find a dance ceremony for a government VIP. After the dance we got involved in a little photo shoot with the dancers!
Ternate at the pier.
Ternate Market
Music party at Raja Ampat Dive Lodge.
Sorong Market and Waisai.
Raja Ampat Dive Lodge and Bobolol.