I arrived at this remote Cambodian temple late in the afternoon and was immediately descended upon by about a dozen children, all offering me locally made goods for $1.
"One dollar sir! One dollar sir!" they all whined, offering me baskets full of beads.
"You are so handsome!" they all screamed. I asked them if I could pay them $1 to follow me around all day and yell that aloud. I thought that would be a real bargain to bring them into meetings with me and have them in the corner constantly commenting on how good-looking I am.
I happened to be sitting there for several minutes trying to swap out my lens, and these two girls were the most persistant and the best salespeople. I asked if I could give them each a dollar, pick out a few bracelets, and take their photograph. They (obviously) happily agreed!
July 12th, 2007 10:10 | Susan
Great story and photo Trey! They look like they were having fun!
July 12th, 2007 14:52 | Debo Hobo
Great story. They have to be enterprising at such a young age just to servive. So sad.
July 12th, 2007 18:45 | Anonymous
Stuck in Customs: Gorgeous Photographer’s Blog…
BY FAR the most amazing photography blog I have ever seen. The artist is a professional photographer who travels around the world and posts his best for fun and profit. This site is a personal favorite, so of course I had to share it with Sk*rt….
July 13th, 2007 16:34 | Ryan (bone)
Seems to me they are quite pleased with their marketing tactic. “Silly man, he actually believes us. How preposterous!”
July 14th, 2007 00:38 | Dave
That picture is magic.
July 14th, 2007 06:00 | Takefive
what a amazing photo! but i’m sad to think of the poor children in spite of their bright laughter.
July 17th, 2007 18:46 | Karl
What a great moment and a perfect photo.
July 19th, 2007 16:23 | ~summer~
This photo is SO beautiful!
July 20th, 2007 05:13 | Dar
Beautiful…..!!!!!!!!
August 16th, 2007 14:10 | Taylor
Wow! Its amazing how universal a smile is. It does not matter what language you speak or what culture you are from. Everyone knows a real smile! Your work has inspired me to explore my interest in photography to a new level. Thanks!
November 22nd, 2007 18:37 | D
The kids there have amazing spirit even though they face great difficulties in life. This is an amazing photo, wonder what made them laugh like that! so endearing and beautiful.
Also think you were in luck that no other kids spotted you buying the bracelets for them or you would have been in big trouble! (somehow i was always surrounded by no less than 5 kids at each temple. Resorted to hiding behind trees and bushes at 1 point to take candid photos and let my friend walk ahead and for him to take their attention)
*definitely bookmarking you.
December 7th, 2007 07:32 | Fast Payday Loans
Fast Payday Loans…
We found out that policy development managers who visit Olathe often encourage payday loan advances…
February 27th, 2008 17:30 | ylva
You’ve got a lot of great pictures! Love thatone. It made me cheer up
Thanks, I needed it!