Blind Photography in Phnom Penh.


I needed a bit of help with this one. I have been travelling for the last 9 months, and have taken the blindfolded challenge twice, in Thailand and Cambodia. My experience in a market in Phnom Penh was the more interesting and personally challenging of the two; here are a few notes:

I stayed with a great couple while in Phmon Penh, Bec Cook and Ben Heath. I asked Bec to accompany me to the market one afternoon, to help guide me through it, blindfolded and camera at the ready.

We choose a good time of day; pre-dusk, when the sun is a little less harsh and the heat had loosened some if its rein on the day. But it was still hot, and with a scarf around my eyes, I was sweating

I’ve been into plenty of markets while on my travels, but this was the first one in Phnom Penh. Every market is different. Each with their own unique haphazard layouts and arrangements, and always dense with things you don’t expect. Walking around with eyes wide open can be tricky enough, so with eyes wide shut it is both tricky and a little unsettling.

Approaching the market, I started to get nervous. I already stand out- they whitey that I am, but with a blindfold, I was looking ever so slightly mad. As I put the blindfold on, the local people started to react. Some laughed. One approached, ‘What are you doing? Bec replied for me, ‘She is crazy’. Thanks for the confirmation there Bec!

I could hear lots of banter around me. I could almost feel the chaos. Bec was beside me, probing, joking, looking after me. She really was my eyes, and I know that I would not have been brave enough to venture in alone. Good job she was there, because within a minute I walked into a scooter. Good start Clare. Down a step I go, into the market. The air was heavy. I knew, even though I could not see, that were are a myriad eye watching. ‘No eyes, No see’, I heard someone say. I was treading a fine line between amusement and tainting the entire white race with a broad stroke of insanity. Opps, I walked into a table.

We were passing though narrow isles. I lost my orientation. Bec was telling me to walk straight, but even with that, I was bumping into things, and I hadn’t even been drinking. It felt like we are walking quickly. By then though, I didn’t mind that I knew people were staring. It was part of the amusement.

Bec’s hands were on my shoulders. There was a particular puddle that I seemed to like. She told me it is small, but for some reason I kee tstepping into it. I was wearing a pair of sandals and my feet are wet by now and feel a bit grimy. Yuk!

‘Straight’ she told me. ‘Don’t bump into the boy’. ‘Mind the eggs’. Don’t pick up the machete’. ‘You are quite the spectacle Clare’. ‘Mind your step’. ‘Watch the rubbish’. ‘Walk quickly through the meat section, I’ll blame you for this later, I hate the meat section’
True enough, the meat section did stink.

At some areas of the market, I could feel the heat more intense. I could hear things cooking around me. The sounds were a swirl of activity I couldn’t quite differentiate.

We came to a junction. I needed Bec’s help here.
‘If you go right it’s dark’, she told me. ‘If you go straight it is boring’
‘Left it is then’

Left took us through some narrow spaces. We reached one place. I was about to saunder through but Bec told me that is way to dangerous. Good job there was trust between us. I saw later what she meant- a row a people with woks boiling and charcoals burners looking very hot and very dangerous. We took another route.

The exit is coming up she told me. ‘Good, I’m getting tired of this blind business’, I respond. I meant it. It was draining. I was dependent, at risk, vulnerable, disorientated. Taking the blindfold off I was relieved. For one it was cooler and two it was a lot easier to find my way around.

Afterwards we walked back through the market, retracing my steps. The layout was not what I imagined. The aisles a little wider. The puddles a little smaller. Then the diversity of fruit, and veg, and shoes, and bags, and people and options, which when blindfolded I just did not engage with. Some people seemed relieved when they saw me again, fully sighted, while others looked a little angry, as if I had tricked them… opps.

When finished, I felt enriched. A new experience. New exposure. And a whole new way of looking at trust.

Thanks Bec, my guiding star. Thanks Tony for setting the challenge.