Photographer Grants '4x6 Print Miracles' in Remote Ecuadorian Village
June 23, 2009
The last time Doug Henderson led a group of photographers deep into the Amazon rainforest, he left behind a few hundred “4x6 print miracles” in a remote Ecuadorian village along the Rio Arajuno. “For the people who live there, having their own photos to treasure for years to come is nothing short of miraculous,” said Henderson, an Oklahoma-based photographer who has traveled the world.
Many people living in indigenous communities like Santa Barbara, on the banks of an Amazon tributary in southeast Ecuador, have never even held a photo of themselves or their families. Adults and children alike were soon crowding around Henderson as he photographed them and gave them on-the-spot prints from a small battery-powered printer called the Epson PictureMate® DashTM.
Known for his travel photography and widely published photos of the Oklahoma City bombing, Henderson also teaches digital photography, leads photo safaris, and writes instructional books like Digital Photography Now. Although he’s always enjoyed sharing photos from his camera’s LCD screen, he had yet to find an easy way to print images in faraway places like the Amazon jungle. “No matter what remote region I leave, my photos all go with me,” he said. “For years, I’ve wanted to leave something behind for the people who let me photograph them in far-off places.”
Packing PictureMate for the Jungle
Just before his latest trip to Ecuador, the inspiration suddenly came to pack an Epson PictureMate Dash, a compact photo printer. “At first, I didn’t expect to get much out of a battery-operated printer that probably wasn’t made for trips to the Amazon jungle,” he said. “But I was pleasantly surprised that PictureMate performed perfectly in a brutal environment of tropical heat and humidity.”
Packing PictureMate for the Jungle
Just before his latest trip to Ecuador, the inspiration suddenly came to pack an Epson PictureMate Dash, a compact photo printer. “At first, I didn’t expect to get much out of a battery-operated printer that probably wasn’t made for trips to the Amazon jungle,” he said. “But I was pleasantly surprised that PictureMate performed perfectly in a brutal environment of tropical heat and humidity.”
His group of 10 photo students and their heavy gear traveled for long hours by bus from the capital city of Quito, traversing washed-out gravel roads, down the steep eastern slope of the Andes Mountain Range. “The beauty of the scenery, with so many rivers and unbelievably spectacular waterfalls, made up for the rough ride,” said Henderson.
The group was soon on the other side of the Andes in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, which comprises half of Ecuador’s land but only five percent of its population. The hilly rainforest was lush with enormous trees like cinnamon, jacaranda and ceibo, some rising over 200 feet. The photographers documented the incredible wildlife, including colorful parrots, macaws, toucans, clever wooley monkeys, capybara water pigs, sleek ocelots, huge pythons, sleepy sloths, crocodilian reptiles and 8-inch insects.
“But the real stories are the people in the remote places along the river, “ said Henderson. “Their stories and pictures tear at your heart.” After a few days at a river lodge owned by a former Peace Corps volunteer, the group arrived on the banks of the small village of Santa Barbara on the Rio Arajuno. As the canoes pulled up, squealing little children eagerly greeted their visitors from the shore. Santa Barbara is a poor river village of stick huts, where about 100 people survive on subsistence farming, without stores, running water or electricity. “And there was definitely nowhere to plug in a printer,” said Henderson.
Prints by the River
Because he’d visited Santa Barbara before, Henderson had already photographed and come to know several who lived there. But this time, the men, women and children who gathered around him could hold his photos and take them home. He focused his lens on the mothers with babies, giggling little children and proud-looking men of the village, while one of his students operated the battery-powered PictureMate.
“I’d take a few pictures and hand him my flash card,” said Henderson. “Then, he’d give me the flash card that he just pulled out of the printer. We just kept swapping back and forth.” He also could quickly preview the photos on the large, 3.5-inch LCD photo viewer, and use PC-free photo editing features to crop, remove red eye or enhance the image. After pressing the Print button, they could get a 4x6 photo in as fast as 37 seconds.
Because he’d visited Santa Barbara before, Henderson had already photographed and come to know several who lived there. But this time, the men, women and children who gathered around him could hold his photos and take them home. He focused his lens on the mothers with babies, giggling little children and proud-looking men of the village, while one of his students operated the battery-powered PictureMate.
“I’d take a few pictures and hand him my flash card,” said Henderson. “Then, he’d give me the flash card that he just pulled out of the printer. We just kept swapping back and forth.” He also could quickly preview the photos on the large, 3.5-inch LCD photo viewer, and use PC-free photo editing features to crop, remove red eye or enhance the image. After pressing the Print button, they could get a 4x6 photo in as fast as 37 seconds.
About 25 people gathered around the small PictureMate printer, waiting for the next print to come out. They laughed and called out to their family and friends, holding the photos close to their chests. Many prints would become especially meaningful to some parents, in a region where the mortality rate for very young children is about 60 percent.
“Of all the crazy things that the human race has made, the photo is as close as we’ve got to a miracle,” said Henderson.
A Legacy of Durable Impressions
Henderson was amazed at how well PictureMate printed despite the punishing heat and humidity. “It seemed incredible that such a small-format printer could produce that kind of print quality, color and detail in the middle of a jungle,” he said. As soon as the prints left the printer, they were dry, smudge, scratch and water resistant, despite all the hands reaching out to hold them. He also had the option of using the built-in CD burner to archive photos without a computer.
Henderson was amazed at how well PictureMate printed despite the punishing heat and humidity. “It seemed incredible that such a small-format printer could produce that kind of print quality, color and detail in the middle of a jungle,” he said. As soon as the prints left the printer, they were dry, smudge, scratch and water resistant, despite all the hands reaching out to hold them. He also had the option of using the built-in CD burner to archive photos without a computer.
The PictureMate prints that Henderson left behind were also fade resistant, lasting up to four times longer than traditional photo lab prints. “It would be nice to think that somewhere down there in the Amazon jungle, decades from now, someone is pointing at an old 4x6 print,” said Henderson. “He is saying, ‘That was your great grandmother.’
My life in far-off places like the Amazon has been all about taking pictures, but with the Epson PictureMate, it’s been about giving pictures back.”
