Stranger-local interaction in photography

The common attitude toward travel photography leans heavily towards objects, mainly places and people, which the traveler sees and records during a journey. This article illuminates a different angle of photography-the interaction between a stranger and the inhabitants of a local community. The article examines and compares a variety of issues involved in that interaction in three completely different cultural and geographical settings (the Holy Land during the nineteenth century, contemporary Africa, and Thailand) where the role of the stranger is fulfilled by travelers, anthropologists, and tourists, respectively. Its theoretical framework takes its cues from phenomenology, exchange theory, and the sociology of strangers.