BootsnAll Travel Community

Hola,
I wanted to know if there are any mayor real Tabus or etiquette I should know and follow, while taking pictures in the middle east. I don´t know, like something like "do not take pictures of women with children" or "not to pregnant women" etc...
First of all I don´t want to be rude, and second I don´t want ANY problem with locals
gracias

Women in general. It depends on the particular country and the situation, but you should generally (always) ask permission to photograph a woman, whether she is young, old, pregnant, or carrying a baby.
Exceptions I have found to this are that in Syria generally women seemed more open to being photographed (at least in the cities,) though you should still ask.
In Afghanistan (ok, not exactly the Middle East, but Muslim...) it was ok to photograph women in full bourkas, but don't photograph women who are unveiled.

Basically, don't expect to get alot of photographs of women in general during your middle east travels. Sure, you'll get some, but the vast majority will be men.

I lived in Mexico City for three years and two years in Damascus, Syria. I had far less problems taking pictures in Syria. Maybe it is because people in Mexico are sick of having cameras shoved into thier faces by Americans. Here is a link to some of my shots from those places......
http://public.fotki.com/mrKevinP/best_of/

quote:

Originally posted by sonofpatter:
I lived in Mexico City for three years and two years in Damascus, Syria

Can I ask you what you did for a living in Damascus? I loved it when I was travelling in Syria, and I've always thought that it would be a wonderful place to live for a time.