The Gujri

It has been more than 10 years since I had visited that place and that was the first time. Vaguely I was remembering the gullies and the arrangements of the items that were placed then. Some weeks back suddenly decided to pay my second visit. This time with my camera!

***

I was making an image of a teenage boy from the window of his shop. His back was facing the window and he was oblivious to my presence. As I clicked few images a person passes by in front of the shop and tells to the boy -

" Abe, peeche mudke pose to de... tera photu aane wala hai!"

Boy:  "Abe! Kaun hai tu? Photu kyon kheech raha hai?"
me:   " Mein koi reporter nahin hun. Showk ke liye photo kheechta hun. Dont worry!"
Boy: " Deekha sare photo"

I showed.

Boy: " Delete kar usey"
me:   "Saare? Kuch to rakhun?"
Boy: "Han. Saare."

and he went off, not even bothering to see if I have deleted all or only few!

***

"Bhai sahab. Aapka ek photo le sakta hun? Ussi pose mein"
"han han. Le lo"
"!!"

I made some images.

"Reporter ho?"
"Nahin. Sirf photographer hun. Showk ka. Yaane ki Hobby photographer."
"Achcha achcha. Mera naam hain Hazi Jamsheed aur mein pehelwaan hun"
"Wah! kya bath hai!"
"Han. Pehelwaan jamsheed kehke bhi bulate hain. Aur mein National level ha kushti player raha tha. Mere videos YouTube mein hai. Dekh lena."
"Zaroor. Aap kitne saal se yahan pe hein?"
"Hum to 1958 mein paida hue the aur tab se yahin pe hai!"
"Tab se yahi karte aa rahe hai?"
"Han. Yahan pe ye business to 1940 se bhi pehle se hai! Bahut purana dhanda hai. Aap ka naam kya hai?"
"Ashwini Kumar"
"Achcha Ashwani aap kahin pe ye photo bhej rahe ho?"
"Mera ek blog hai. Wahan pe mein kuch likh ke photos daalta hun. Jo bhi cheez interesting lagey, woh blog karta hun"

"Achcha. Dekho Ashwani bahar ke log aur kuch media ke log iss jagah ko chor bazar wagaira wagaira kehke paper, TV mein daaley the. Lekin hakikat waisey nahin hai. Hum yeh cheezon ko neelami se leke aate hain. Auction karke. Yey insurance companies jo hoti hein aur ye banks aur police ye sabhi jo unke paas purane gaadi ya phir poori useless tareeke se tooti hui gaadi ko auction karte hain. Hum log uss auction mein jaake, bidding ke zariye unhe khareedke, un gaadiyon mein jo bhi usable parts hote hein unhe yahan pe bechte hain. Yahan ka koi bhi maal chori karke nahin aya hai. Mein sirf apne dukaan ki baat nahin kar raha. Iss poori area mein kahin bhi chori kia hua maal bechte nahin hai. Agar koi chori ka maal ata hai to hum turant police ko inform karte hain and jo banda ussey bech raha hai uski dukaan 3 mahine tak bandh kar diya jaata hai aur 5000 fine barvaya jaata hai, yahan ke association ke paas. Humara association bahut strong hai iss mamle mein."

"Achcha! Yeh jaanke khushi hui"
"Han Ashwani. Phir bhi log kabhi kabaar bahar jaake iss area ko badnaam kar dete hein. Hume bahut dard hota hai sunke."
"I can understand"
"Tum chai peeyoge? Oi munna do chai de. Mehmaan hai humaare!"
"Arrey arrey. iski kya jaroorat hai?"
"Arrey yar. Chai hi to pila raha hun. Ek din mere ghar ayitega, shaandaar khana khilaunga"
"hahaha. zaroor kisi din"

I drank tea. Made some more images.

"Achcha pehelwaanji. Mein thoda aage bhi jaata hun. Logon se milta hun. Aapse milke khushi hui."
"Achcha Ashwani. Chalo phir. Mera YouTube mein video dekhna mat bhoolna. Chalo. Phir se milte hain. Mere liye uss Eshwar se dua karna."
"Zaroor. Phir milenge."


***

I was making some wide angle images by standing along the main road.

Sound from some where. Not sure from where.
"Ooi...Kya photu nikaal raha hai?"
"Kuch nahin bhaai saab. Sirf eisey hi kheech raha tha"

I walked for few steps.
A man was sitting on his bullet, which was not having its rear wheel.
"What are you doing?"
"Just making some images of the place"
"Why?"
"Simply. I am a hobby photographer. I kind of liked the place. Become curious and hence made few images."
"Show them to me."

I showed.

"What would you do with these pictures?"
"I have a blog. I post them there."
"Are people here OK with you taking pictures?"
"That is the problem which I am facing now!"

Someone ushered from the background -
"Bhaai saab. Ye photographers humaari photu leke bahar foreign mein lakhon rupiyon ke liye beechte hein. Aur humein yahan kuch bhi nahin milta."

I smiled.

The man was standing for his rear tyre to arrive. It arrived and I was sure that he was a client at that place. His tone was very dominating and intimidating in the beginning. Later he was better.

"Why do you think these guys dont allow you to take the pictures?"
"I am trying to figure that out. Not very sure."
"Because all these are chori ka maal"
"Hmm!. I heard some other story few minutes back."
"Everyone has a story to tell!"
 I smiled.
"Need to see whom to believe."
"Carry on."

***

At a shop of shock absorbers. There was a young man selling.

"Bhai sahab. Aapka ek photo ley sakta hun?"
"Photo? Kitna rupay dega?"
"Hahaha. Chaliye ek dosa khilake ek chai pila doonga. Mujhe bhi bhook lag raha hai."
Smiles and says -
"Aajkal chai kaun peeta hai. Beer peete hein beer."
I smiled.

Two men from the shop in front -
"Kiske liye photu le rahe ho bhai saab?"
"Showk ka photographer hun ji. Hobby hai mera."

"Poor Indians kehke to nahin dalo ge na?"

I smiled.

*** 

Enter the Distagon!

There is a new companion for me in the field along with my wife and my new D810 and I am happy about it - Carl Zeiss 2/28 ZF.2!

Immaculately built all metal body feels like a piece of heavy rock in the hands. The unique Field Curvature that it exhibits when shot wide open and from close distance from the subject gives a different character to the image, which I have not seen in any other lenses. All this is of course with lovely rich color rendition and a fine micro contrast. The aspect that I personally like the most about this lens is the natural vignetting that this lens produces when shot at f/2. I have used the lens extensively in my recent Gujrat trip and I will be sharing the images soon in this space. Till then I have shared few other images made using this lens. 

Excited to hit the field again!

Cheers,

Ash

Before the curtain raises...

In continuation of my last post - Faces half done!, I just thought of showing a bit more inside the green room of Yakshagana artists.

The process of their make up is very fascinating. The myriad array of colors applied onto the faces with precise accuracy and the patience of each one of them to get those colors applied is truly commendable.

In the below set of images you will be seeing some of the glimpses of one such preparation before they are ready to go on stage.

 

 

 

  

  

 

Now they are all ready to go on stage!

Cheers,
Ash

Faces half done!

They are all budding artists in the art form - Yakshagana.

Some are very new and some are well versed.

I went to their green room couple of times in order to document the process of them getting ready. It is a fascinating place to be in. Both from observation point of view and from image making point of view.

Often the green rooms does not consist of large area. One has to work in small space under loads of constraints to capture the process of an artist undergoing the transformation from his earthly identity to the on stage avatar. 

The make up forms a huge part in this form of art and it takes quite a huge time to make one person ready to go on stage. All looks like a movie in the fast forward many a times inside the green room, yet everything has to be accurate and elegant. One thing I noticed was that they all look composed and calm during the complete duration of their make up. They try to take the character inside them which they are going to play on stage. Unlike any other play you almost never have a prescribed set of dialogues in Yakshagana. All the dialogues of all the characters have to be spontaneous and that is a challenge in itself. They have to have their presence of mind all the time along the course of the performance....and I need not mention that there is no room for any errors!

All the faces you see in this blog post were in the process of one such transformation. They were all on their way to completion. Of course for their performance that day and may be in their journey of mastering this wonderful form of art as well.

.... .... .... ....

And how did they look when they went on stage? You may have to wait for my next blog! :)



Cheers,
Ash 

Some faces which didn't quite make it!

Few days back we were called for a dinner to celebrate the launch of the coffee table book - "Daroji - An ecological destination", authored by Vijay Mohan Raj, Ganesh HS and Samad Kottur. We were called to hand over our contributor's copy of the book. I was excited to see the book.

It was in last year May that myself and my friend Shivakumar L made a trip to Daroji to make some images of the people around Daroji for this coffee table book. I had written some first hand account of my experience in my blog - "Faces from the land of mines". It was a wonderful on the field experience for both of us and the trip had yielded some nice images.

The book has come out nicely with some stunning images from authors. Some perspectives are brilliant and some are from rare angles. Though many of our images didn't make it to the final version of the book, I am quite happy about the overall experience that I had with respect to the approach towards people portraits.

The images shared in this blog post are the ones which were made during the trip and are unpublished.


Cheers,
Ash

Saffron,God and Ganga!

We were in Haridwar. The city where the sacred river is revered with utmost devotion. The city that holds the world famous aarti for the river Ganga, the river which is much more than just a river for the Hindus!  I was seeing her for the first time! I was excited and why not!

Though we didn't see much of the city, we had a glimpse of what is is like to live there.  I was attracted by the sheer life in it. You will see loads of Sadhus walking past on the roads. Some staying there from long time and some would be on their transit. We had a glimpse of few aghori sadhu's as well.

We went to the bank of Ganga in the early morning, but we missed the aarti in just a few minutes. The river had swelled, thanks to the heavy rains in the mountains. The water was brownish and the flow was full. The bank was occupied by men in saffron and normal devotees equally. Both were taking a dip in the cold water. I took the water in my hand and it was indeed very cold. We spent some time roaming on the banks.

   

There is something in that place which touched me. I saw some kind of a commonality in all the people who came there that morning irrespective of their ages and practice. But I could not clearly explain what that is. I felt it but couldn't express it. But I enjoyed it.

By the way, why we were at Haridwar?  We were on our way to Valley of Flowers!

Click on the images to view them bigger.


Cheers,
Ash

Let there be light....even when there is no flash!!

We often face the problem of having not enough light when we are shooting in the late evenings and during the night. I am not talking particularly about Nature Photography here but about general photography. But by applying little bit of thinking we can get some very good results which otherwise is not possible just by bumping up the ISO setting of the camera.

(Click on the image to see it bigger)

On my last trip to Kodai I was staying in a nice resort which was having a nice garden space with some very interesting lighting. When I shared my idea of making some images in that light my wife Sahana happily agreed to pose :). I had nothing but a camera fitted with 18-200mm lens. No external flash, no tripod and the max aperture rating of the lens is also poor for the low light. But I wanted to make some images under that light by some or the other means. I hate to use built-in flash as it makes images flat. I use it very very very rarely...almost never!

My cellphone Nokia E-63 came for my rescue! It has an LED torch on its back.Though the torch is not that great, it looked like it was quite ok if I use it properly to get some of the images that I had in mind. 

(Click on the image to see it bigger)

The series of images in this blog are shot using the torch light of my E-63 to lit the face and by keeping the camera on either a table or on the compound wall. All the images are made using very low shutter speed. The key here is to place the torch in such a way that it should lit the face properly and expose the frame for the light on the face so that everything else is rendered just like it is, the mood of night.

So the next time when you are out on any vacation or trip and want to make some images under the evening light then remember this trick. You dont have to have a DSLR to make these kinds of images. Any point and shoot would also give almost the same result if you apply this method. Just use your brain! :)

Without my mobile, in the below image, I could not have got both moon and Sahana in the same frame with this lighting.

No need to say that it is my image of the trip! An image in which I have both the moons
- one ruling my Sun-Sign (Cancer) and the other ruling my heart! :)


My first post after marriage! It took quite long to get back here.
Feeling good to be back!

Cheers,

Ash

Two men

When I heard them playing a harmonium and tabla along with the song, I was having my lunch. It was 2:15 on a Saturday afternoon and the heat was intense outside, very unlikely for a winter afternoon. I had come to home by taking a small break from a function and to take my mom.

The duo was going to each home in the street and singing a couple of lines of a song with a near perfect music from the equipment that they were carrying. I observed them for sometime and they seemed not bothered about how much money people were giving. They were hardly looking at the coin or a currency note. They were just stretching their hands, if at all anyone came outside the home to give them something. Otherwise they didn't bother to call anyone and were moving forward.

I couldn't resist myself from jumping out of my dining chair to grab my camera. I hate stopping people just to pose for me. When I am doing people photography or travel photography I prefer to work silently and do not prefer to ask people to pose for my photograph. Hence I wanted to be there near my gate before they get past my home.

When I went to the gate one of the guys with a blue face was just turning around from the home opposite to my home. A silent smile passed by on his face and he greeted me in an elegant manner and said "Namaskara". I dont know why but his smile and gesture touched me. It was very hot outside. The tar on the road was equally hot and here was a guy, in thick makeup and bare foot, who seems so oblivious to all these external uncomforts and smiling and greeting me in a dignified manner as if he was performing in a drama and I am his co-actor on stage! I was deeply moved!

By seeing a camera in my hand the other person also joined this guy and before I telling them anything they silently stood there. I clicked exactly 5 frames before I gave them some money and walked back to home. It was a silent affair. Within a minute everything was over and they were on their way ahead and so was I.

Back at home my mother told me that she has been seeing these kinds of makeup-men during some festival time and told me that doing such things are part of tradition in some community. She told that she will not get surprised even if they both were having a job or doing some business and doing this at this time of the year (around Sankranti) just to keep the tradition alive! I had heard stories of people going like this singing to keep their age old tradition during some particular time of the year but seeing someone fully dressed up as if he is about to go on stage was something which shook me completely. By looking at the way they were treating the people who came forward to give something, in fact, indicated that what my mother was telling may not be wrong. And she was confident about that!

Three days after the event when I looked back at those five photographs today and think, I really find some unknown feelings in myself. A little more thinking with their perspective of the whole act made me realize that what my mother was telling could actually be true. The two men were there to continue their tradition, which was not born out of any superstition but out of a sheer motive to beat the greatest enemy of man - the ego.

They were fighting a battle and I was seeing all the indications of them winning it!

Cheers,
Ash

Faces from the land of mines!

It was a hot summer month of May. I was in the district of Bellary, which is known for its super hot summers and as a land which is badly hit by the mining or rather over mining, to be specific!

I was there at Hospet, along with my friend Shivakumar L to shoot some of the people portraits and culture images of the people around Hospet, Hampi and Sandur. We were there on an assignment. It was almost a first of its kind for us. We both were excited. We both were used to shoot for the whole day when it is Nature or WIldlife Photography. But people photography was something which I had not done much for so long hours.

We were going around Hospet and Sandur along with our friend Samad Kottur who was helping us with talking to the people and convincing them to allow us to shoot. It was because of his immense energy and knowledge about the place and people which made the trip a success.

We visited the Lambani settlement around Sandur. Lambanis are known for their vibrant colored clothes and they make those clothes by hand, mostly at home itself. We had the privilege to visit a Lambani village and make some images of women making the clothes at their homes.

We met two young guys who were working in a nearby mining refinery. One of the guy's head was nicely bathed with the fine dust of the ore. They seemed kind of unknown about the cause of the over mining and what they were concerned about was their daily wage which was barely enough to live their life and ofcourse to recharge their mobile!!

People we met were interesting! It was a nice learning for me. Both photographically and personally.

Approach to this genre of photography demands a very different skill set.

I am happy that I am learning it!

Cheers,
Ash