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ABOUT BILL |
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Bill Wisecup is a freelance photojournalist living in Braddock Heights, Maryland. He has degrees from Kansas State University and The University of California, Berkeley. His childhood interests were in many of the things that he surrounds himself with today, and led to a career as a veterinarian, an officer in the US Air Force, a biomedical consultant to several national and international agencies, and now to photography.
Combining his interests in anthropology and travel, he specializes in photographing in the remote corners of the globe and the cultures that inhabit them. He has traveled to over 95 countries to sample the many different cultures, religions and ethnicity’s. His photographs and articles have appeared in several exhibitions.
NEW INFORMATION
With increasing frequency I'm coming across the word "global". Used by some travel writers it seems to imply that no matter where they go, no matter how remote, they are struck by the similarity of what they find-golden arches in Islamabad, video clubs in Bangkok, pizza parlors in Lo Monthang. The message seems to be that the world is becoming a much smaller place with the clear implication that its peoples are becoming more and more alike, generally more American. According to some gloomy predictions it will soon be hard to tell a Sherpa in the Himalayas from a shepherd in Niger.
If I thought this really true I'd seriously consider giving up going anywhere. I grew up on travel literature that stressed the sheer romance and variety of unfamiliar places, especially Africa and Asia. A favorite resource in my early days was the National Geographic. In due time, with determination and lot of luck, I have gone to many of the places that fueled my dreams.
I admit that reality was not always quite as exotic as the Geographic and other magazines and books had led me to expect. This was most evident in certain superficial aspects that are part of lasting impressions. Traffic jams in New Delhi, Tokyo, and Bangkok not unlike New York City and Paris. The popularity of "washed" blue jeans and T-shirts. Caterpillar caps and Air Jordan shoes. TV in Brazilian fishing villages and Mali camps. But every time I arrive at a new destination I'm aware that I am in a different world.
The difference, I believe, comes from the people rather than the surrounding facades. Whatever the setting-a windswept plateau, a bustling market, a noisy schoolyard, a family gathering, there are people of extraordinary variety. Change is inevitable, but hopefully cultures will not blend into homogeneity. There is much to learn from diversity!
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