TWO ASPECTS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

CAPTURING 'PEOPLE' IN INDIA/3rd WORLD COUNTRIES & WESTERN WORLD

This blog is going to be different from my usual ones as I try to put across a point about which there can be arguments.The subject of discussion  is :  A photographer need take permission of his/her subject before clicking.

The answer is : YES, Specially before capturing private moments. But, otherwise, if  a part of  a street scene ? Secondly, should a photographer ask target/s pose and show-case the same as the as candid photo/s ?

This is a law in many Western countries regarding the 1st point.  I have glanced through some of the discussions in the Internet - mostly questions & answers - regarding this topic. Also, some street photographs - old and new . I conclude : this is a norm which is highly 'respected'  when in , say, France or UK.Volume of candid photographs is , therefore,  shrinking.

When tourists and photographers from  Western world  visit India, how  they conduct themselves ? Do they obtain permission of the beggars, old people in the streets,so-called 'sadhus' in popular temples and other places of worship ?

My observation - based on several incidents in Hampi,Karnataka, Konark, Orissa and Udaipur , Rajasthan - is that  this is often done. Yet, there is a big 'BUT'!!

Young boys and girls, appearing to be from families of lower income group  are offered toffees or cheap pens, beggars and 'sadhus' are given tenner to pose for photos. This conscious behaviour of photographers from the Western hemisphere has changed the habit of  good no of Indians living in places of tourist attractions. I have been repeatedly pestered for pens and/or small gifts , even if I am not  interested in clicking his/her photo and I hardly look like a Westerner.In fact, I rarely took photos of passers-bys' faces , whether in Cities, Towns,temples or other places of  tourist attractions ! ( Only now I am changing my habit) .

I believe, this process of obtaining concurrence by INFLUENCING the subject/s is not at all commendable.I kept some photos and mental notes of incidents to write down my feelings , to which my friends may OR may not agree.

The above brings into light two sides of this 'concurrence before click' arrangement:

• Overdone in streets of Western hemisphere ? Pl view the photographs below. Not only VM - who is much older than the current generation - but others have projected shadows in staircases, feet below knees, faces obscured by opaque glass-pane in their portfolio. Very often, the spontaneity is just not there.Instead, we find conscious posing   as seen the TL's photo here.
• Photos taken in 3rd World that often portraits,poverty,misery,mal-nutrition and chaos.

 A photo from Vivian Maier Collection

A photo from Thomas Leuthard Collection

Photo taken during my Konrk ( Orissa) visit in 2012.

NOTE :This boy pestered me nos of times for money in exchange of  taking his photograph I was NOT interested in.He walked parallel to me just to annoy !!

I eventually clicked his photo & made a mental note  for  use in a Blog  on this subject.

A photo of a Somalian in distress , picked up from Internet.

Was concurrence taken ?

Photo taken during my Hampi visit in 2011.

NOTE :On the LH side of the road leading to Hampi, we stopped to click details of a parked chariot. This group kept on pestering me for taking their photos & rewards like pens or chocolates.. I clicked this photo without any 'rewards' and they went away happy  after seeing their faces on Camera's screen.

I shall end by requesting friends from Western World visiting  India - and other 3rd World countries - not to 'influence' people, at least the young boys and girls for posing for photographs which are posted boastfully in their Social Circle pages.

FALLAKULLAN KOTIELAINTILA

ANIMAL FARM WE VISITED ON 20/09/2015

View from the car-park.

The main building is at a small elevation.

 A nice spot to visit , very close to where we were staying - i.e. Puistola. It was 20/09/15  - afternoon of a bright Sunday Reached in 5 minutes by car. Passed by Malmi Airport where many families gathered, very likely, to watch some show as we noted cars parked around the Airport's entry.

Another view of the Main Building.

 A sprawling farm it is - just on the outskirt of Helsinki, off Malminkaari . We reached there nearly at the time of closing. We found horses and cows grazing outside  in areas earmarked  and separately fenced off. A near-by lane ran towards a big Flat-complex on rear side of the Farm - presumably the people around just strolled from there only with their kids just to enjoy the sun and facilities.

Horses and a pony graze in the area earmarked for them

Among the facilities, remarkable are a wooden horse for the children to climb, a long-bodied wooden dashound to sit down upon , log benches & tables  for having coffee & snacks.The penns are open to visitors on Sundays.

We found horses,cows,pigs,goats,lambs, ducks and hens ,rabbit (!) . The pig sty is very clean - little odour . Over-all standard of  neatness is amazing. Typically Scandinavian. Young girls were in-charge of managing the animals, probably a good part of house-keeping too.

This horse is fond of human contact !

On a dashound bench !

we took several photos sitting on this dashound -shaped bench . But, it was quite a popular spot. Though we were at this Farm quite late and stayed behind after the establishment closed, we had to wait quite a good amount of time for our turn. Among the persons who used this 'seat' for photography,two old ladies were oblivious to expectation of others. I sat there and called out my wife in Bengali to take my photograph, with the intention of disturbing the ladies- but without any success.

Our family photos are for restricted circulation - thus, stopping here without sharing some of the fun-moments we had at this spot.

EVERYDAY VIEW OF NEW YORK , TWEAKED.....

ASPIRATION

Morning sky @ Hackensack,

 juxtaposed with scenes from New York. 

Time to say 'good-bye' to the current phase of our stay in the USA. Our stays here have so far been underlined by  serious events. When we reached  here in 2010, soon after our elder son's marriage, father of our daughter-in-law expired. This time - it was just the opposite - we were here to witness arrival of our grand-daughter. A girl for the 1st time in our family's lineage after two generations.

IN THE SHADOWS

(Street scene ,Broadway)

We were mostly indoors during the first part of our stay. Going out was either for shopping or to  hospital. During the later phase of our stay, went around to various locations for photography, the last one being a night  through streets and avenues of New York. Here is a collection of  my photos tweaked by Photoshop.

TOWARDS THE LAST LAP

(Street scene ,Broadway)

It is difficult to photograph street scenes in night. From moving cars, hindered by traffic ahead. And... without tripod. And... when one section of the frame is very bright, the other is not. Another problem I faced was garbage on footpath and vehicles for their  removal parked here & there.  

 CITY REFLECTS....

View across Hudson river ,from North Bergen

MONOCHROME SKY , GREEN EARTH ........

@ POCONO  STATE PARK, PENNSYLVANIA 

 Earth covered with green grass, wild flowers blooming. 

Sky covered with slate-coloured cloud.

This park on top of Camelback Mountain, Pennsylvania is at about 1980 ft height. The view reminded me of Mahabaleshwar, though the height of this hill resort of India is more than twice that of Camelback mountain.

Sun-set's splendour we missed.

An orange glow lit up the gap between the mountain range and cloud.

The observation point offers nearly 300 degree view, with Rim road, clearing at the top,walk-arounds. The observation point is a good picnic spot too, which benches and tables placed  facing both the visible ranges of hills on western and eastern sides.

View of mountain ranges,  winding road at a distance and 

a few glimpse of the Water Park among the trees near by

 This 'Mountain Back' is about 1 hour 45 minutes drive from our residence @ Hackensack - 82 miles or 145 Km. We drove along I-80, sometimes quite free, clogged with traffic occasionally. Crossed Delaware water gap - difficult to photograph while the car was speeding .The road up the hill was winding, as expected. We had little traffic during our climb up. There were traces of rain during the evening and many car owners started descending one after the other.

 Cars descending the winding path 

as the evening cloud threatens shower.

An arch-shaped cross-over seen from I-80, 

captured @ 65 mph (and PSed !).

OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD @ HACKENSACK ( NJ )

Sun rises above  eastern horizon while  neighbourhood at Passaic Street sleeps

View of south east horizon

View from our balcony here is awesome . Specially, when the sun rises in the morning. Again when the sun is near the western horizon , a part of Hackensack is sunlit, yet in the distant south-western horizon, the tall and very tall buildings are under part shadow, part lit-up.

 A closer view of our neighbourhood.

Greenery spreads  till the horizon.

Our block has Prospect Avenue in its front -cannot be viewed from  our balcony. What we find is a slice of Passaic Street and nice cottages along its eastern edge. Then lot of greenery till the eastern horizon. Not many buildings can be viewed surpassing the green canopy of trees.

  For a few minutes every clear evening, buildings acquire a blazing tint 

The western horizon is blocked by the neighbouring buildings. The south-western horizon has a completely different 'personality. Trees, buildings, cars running along Expressway 80 ( connects Hackensack to  George Washington Bridge ) . Still further away are the sky-scrappers of Manhattan.  Different at different hours of the day. Different under different conditions of the sky.

Manhattan as the sky pours over. 

Neighbouring buildings in RH side block the Western sky

Lighted buildings in the south western horizon 

on a clear evening/night is a view beyond description.

( Courtesy - Ruby Chatterji)

This sky-line looks so wonderful at night. Can be hardly captured in my DSLR camera, as we do not have a tripod here.Miss a  binocular very much.

Rain-soaked neighbourhood.Bad photograph- re-touched

Wonderful was the day (11th August) when it rained since morning.The sky was covered with thick cloud. Manhattan often invisible. The very 1st few photos were spoiled because I messed up the 'Focus'( AF) setting .

Neighbourhood under canopy of cloud.

A CAR-RIDE THROUGH HELSINKI

A GLIMPSE OF A SCANDINAVIAN CAPITAL - HELSINKI

Dome of Helsinki cathedral, designed by a German Architect, Carl Ludviq Engel.

Opened in 1852 AD. 

Belongs to Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki.

A family situation took my wife, Ruby Chatterji, and me to Helsinki in April,2015. We stayed in a sunlit suburb of  Helsinki . Bright , long days welcomed us . The neighbourhood was having small and large living quarters, roads and footpaths nearly empty. Trees  green with young leaves. Lots and lots of flowers - so very different from a typical Kolkata neighbourhood.

Memory of Finland's past . 

Kept at Helsinki's South harbour area

During the only weekend we had, when the sun was in the Western part of the horizon, we were taken around for a couple of hours, which include a stop at a strolling area around back-water of the sea. We  visited  Helsinki Cathedral and the drove past  Kauppatori - the market was closed at that hour,  Central Business district neighbouring Rauttatientori ( railway Station)  etc.

[ Note - Rautatientori (Rauta = Iron, Tie = Road, Tori = Market/Station. Literal meaning: Iron-Road-Station aka Railway Station )].

A street scene - 13/06/15. Helsinki

A not-so-large Helsinki 'eye'

Remarkable were the cobbled roads and trams. We may visit Helsinki once more during September-October,15 when I plan to enjoy couple of tram rides and at least one ferry ride. I feel attracted by cobbled roads of Europe.The one etched in my memory is a lane with cobbled surface of Geneva and photos of those of Vienna.


                            Looking forward to  a tram-ride along the cobbled roads of Helsinki !

                                                          & a walk along this cobbled road.

Here are some photographs Ruby and I took during the car-ride and the stop-over at the water-front. The day was so bright, people enjoying the scenery and the environment - words cannot capture the spirit.

Walk along (back)water-front of Helsinki.
Sibelius Park.

Summer bloom.

Flowers in bushes of neighbourhood of where we stayed in Helsinki.

'OUTDOOR GALLERY' OF PAINTINGS OF SHEKHAWATI REGION OF RAJASTHAN

FROM MY RAJASTHAN VISIT DIARY - NOVEMBER,2014.

       Ladla Street , Manadwa

For a year or so, we were planning a trip to the Shekhawati region - to savour the display of paintings on buildings of this region - under current Jhunjhunu district. Mandawa and Nawalgarh were our choice for visit and photography. In the internet, what I found about Dr Ramnath Poddar Haveli Museum of Nawalgarh  impressed me a lot ! It was, however, built in 1920s, therefore, not old enough from my point of view. Later, during the visit,   we  found Goenka Haveli of Dundlod contain excellent examples of Shekhawati paintings .

 Adorned corridor, 

Dr Ramnath Poddar Haveli Museum of Nawalgarh  

Stylised painting of Krsna, Goenka Haveli, Dundlod.

Owners of the painted buildings  were mostly rich traders. 19th  and early-20th centuries saw proliferation of this practice numerous examples of which stand out to-day. As the owners have shifted out of Jhunjhunu district, building maintenance has become costlier by-the-day, many of the buildings lost the charming paintings on the external walls. I noticed that some owners raise  a portion of the expenditure for maintenance by selling tickets for viewing the courtyards and occasionally,  a specially painted room . Example - a room which has paintings done with gold. Owner of one building ( presently called 'Khemani House' - earlier owned by Laxmi Narayan Ladia)  at Mandawa allowed us to enter the inner courtyard and photograph the well-maintained paintings - but such welcomes are rare and not expected either ,specially if the 'haveli' is inhabited.

 Khemka's Haveli, Mandawa

Initially, I wanted to capture as many scenes from Ramayana , Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana as possible. When in the location itself, I found many interesting subjects beyond traditional mythological scenes .

 Krsna & Radha in kite flying contest !

Dr Ramnath Poddar Haveli Museum of Nawalgarh  

 The Raghunatha temple in middle of Mandawa town has fine examples of paintings in Shekhawati style. This temple may not be very old  , but, a must-visit for those love paintings. Here. I shall add that quite a few hotels here - transformed from old havelis - have decorated both  the exterior and the interior  with paintings in Shekhawati style , thus adding colour to this town's ambiance.

 Vishnu & His Avataras. 

Raghunatha temple, Mandawa.

War scene from Ramayana .

Raghunatha temple, Mandawa.

Painting from Hotel Shekhawati , Mandawa.