Our corner of the island is pretty dry, but still very fertile. The big rio Yaque del Norte ends its trek to the ocean in Monte Cristi, and along the way it supplies a seemingly endless number of irrigation canals, which in turn floods countless rice-paddies, and water millions of banana plants.
All these farms require workers, and they live in the midst of all this farmland in small villages called bateyes. Historically temporary homes for seasonal workers in the sugar industry were called bateyes. Today, bateyes are most often permanent settlements, and often are not the “slave labor” camps that many people believe them to be. They are just remote villages that are mostly really really poor. I go out to these different bateyes almost every day. It’s an experience in so many ways, but the people out there have been really great to me. So after talking to them I have decided to do portraits of those who wanted them.
So yesterday I was a regular campo spectacle with umbrellas, flashes and softboxes trying to combat the bright sunlight and create some nice photos for the people there. I have been waiting a long time to do photography with them as I didn’t want to seem invasive. But it turned out to be a really great experience, with lots of chaos, laughing and pointing at the camera screen.
Not sure when I will get them printed and hand them back to the Haitians as there is no where close to here that prints photos. But hopefully it won’t be too long and the people in the bateyes will all have some photos within the next month or so.