A Glimpse of the Indian Streets with Stories - Any better yet?(Pic Heavy-D100)

[Raj_55555]

I didn't think I would get any time at all to post these before the weekend, but somehow collected enough to make a thread about. Let me know if these are any good, and more importantly any better than my last street pics?
Oh! And it's my birthday today, so everyone's invited! :Joker:Free beer for anyone who can make it.. :cheers: :greenpbl: :lmao:

#1. Father-Daughter moment, I first thought I missed this shot as the lady came half way into the picture. But I kind of like how it turned out at the end.

#2. The Cyclist: This kid stared at me for taking his picture, came up to me and asked me why i was photographing him. I told him I was a reporter, his answer was he wanted to be one too. And then he sat by my side and tried to understand how my camera functions and everything and even offered to accompany me to a street fair nearby. He was a very sharp kid. I just wish I hadn't chopped off the tyres.

#3. Jalebiwallah: These round sweets are called jalebis, and are very famous sweets in India. Not sure if they are made elsewhere. You can see they are being made fresh at the back (the old man).

#4. Child labour: Although Illegal, is blatantly ignored in India. It's unfortunate, but can't really be helped. I didn't get to talk to him, he looked very shy.

#5. The Welder: This man was welding these metal rods, sitting without any safety at a considerable height (at least 10 to 12 feet).

#6. The Student Hawker: Granted this isn't the best of shots(very dark, ISO 1600), I still really like this one. This kid is selling happiness to other kids, while merely surviving himself. He's selling those bubble maker toys at a local street fair. I had another good one of him, but I liked this one better for the bubbles.

Later on I invited him to the jalebiwallah's shop (#3) and started chatting with him. He's 12 years old, goes to a govt. school in the morning and cycles 10 kms in the evening from his home to this place to sell these toys. I asked him about his parents, and he said his mother works as a maidservant and his father doesn't do much so he has to earn for the family. I know many such kids who are forced into manual labour while their father is busy being a drunk. Unfortunately, again not much that can be done about this; but at least the situation is improving in my state as compared to a few others.

#7. The Fish Bazaar: Something very funny happened here, these markets are actually illegally built and the govt. is trying to get rid of them. Noticing that I was photographing them, they thought I was a police inspector and actually tried to bribe me from taking any pictures. Even though I told them I was not one, they didn't believe me and were literally begging me to stop photographing them. They thought I would use these as evidence, and just couldn't understand why anyone would want to photograph markets without any reason.
Things improved once a local person (who knew me) came over and confirmed what I said, most of the shopkeepers started posing for the camera after that :lmao:..
I have a few more I haven't edited yet.

P.S. I hope these pics and stories were interesting enough for you guys, let me know if you'd like to see anything specific and I'll try my best; no promises though!

 

[mmaria]

I'm there in a second

 

[baturn]

Great pics, Raj. If I could be there it would be my pleasure and honour to buy you a beer for your birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

[mmaria]

- Happy bday! Make sure you enjoy fully in this period of your life! Those are the most interesting years and exploit them properly, so you always have something good to remember when you become old (31 let's say )



pics...
- yes, these are better than the last ones
- #1 favorite of the batch
- #2 great expression on the boy's face... everything is good except chopping of the tires
- #3 I would like to see more of the scene. It's because you described what that other person in bg is doing, and I wanna see
- #4 again, I would like it to be a bit wider (you cut off those buckets) and I would like to see the boy's face
- #5 again, wider would be better. You explained to us what is he doing, but you didn't show us that in the picture. you have to find something in the scene that would help us see how high is he up there, something I could see instantly that he sits there without any protection. This way I have no idea how highthe spot he's sitting on is
- #6 the picture is noisy and slightly oof (I could be completely wrong,so don't take me seriously, crappy computer at work)
- #7 I like very much



I enjoyed in words as well as in pictures and looking forward to see and learn more. You're doing a good job and improvements are evident.

anyway... jmo

 

[pjaye]

Happy Birthday Raj!!!!!

I love the one with the bike and the child. Great pictures.

 

[pgriz]

Happy Birthday Raj! You have given US a present with your images. Thank you also for the words - they create a context in which we can understand what we're seeing.

 

[tirediron]

Happy Birthday indeed! Thanks for the great images.

 

[SnappingShark]

Love the bike image.

If you really wanted the tires in, you could always PS them - I think it would be easy to do!

Happy birthday!

 

[oldhippy]

Happy Birthday, hope you life is filled with joy. Loved the pictures. Please keep at it. Ed

 

[JacaRanda]

Janmadina mubāraka Raj.

 

[Raj_55555]

I'm there in a second ;-)

Are you there yet? I'm still waiting on you before I cut the cake! :waiting:

- Happy bday! Make sure you enjoy fully in this period of your life! Those are the most interesting years and exploit them properly, so you always have something good to remember when you become old (31 let's say ;-))

Thank you so much for the lovely wishes :sillysmi: , I've had so many people call me up today, but good wishes from you guys are always the most special for me. Oh! And I received my TPF birthday gift well in advance :mrgreen:.
And just so you know I've decided never to age past 25

pics...
- yes, these are better than the last ones
- #1 favorite of the batch
- #2 great expression on the boy's face... everything is good except chopping of the tires
- #3 I would like to see more of the scene. It's because you described what that other person in bg is doing, and I wanna see
- #4 again, I would like it to be a bit wider (you cut off those buckets) and I would like to see the boy's face
- #5 again, wider would be better. You explained to us what is he doing, but you didn't show us that in the picture. you have to find something in the scene that would help us see how high is he up there, something I could see instantly that he sits there without any protection. This way I have no idea how highthe spot he's sitting on is
- #6 the picture is noisy and slightly oof (I could be completely wrong,so don't take me seriously, crappy computer at work)
- #7 I like very much

I enjoyed in words as well as in pictures and looking forward to see and learn more. You're doing a good job and improvements are evident.

-thanks
-#1. mine too
-#2. sorry for chopping off the tires, I regretted that immediately I took the pic but just couldn't get a natural emotion in the other pictures.
-#3. Hmm.. I'll see what I can do about it, I may have a few more of these
-#4. I wouldn't have noticed the buckets had you not pointed it out. It's funny how we(I ) ignore things when taking pictures, and yet spot the same things when we aren't behind the camera.
-#5. I had a longer version of this one, but the welding sparks were just not visible in the taller one.. I tried many times, but he got off!
-#6. yes it is.. totally crappy capture. I shared it just for the story, I may have a relatively better picture of him, but not nearly as interesting.
-#7. Thank you

I am so grateful to your detailed responses, it really did help. Specially I'll keep point about the buckets in mind. Thanks Maria

 

[Raj_55555]

Great pics, Raj. If I could be there it would be my pleasure and honour to buy you a beer for your birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thank you so much Brian.. It would be an honour for me too, who knows, may be next birthday

Happy Birthday Raj!!!!!

I love the one with the bike and the child. Great pictures.

Yes, that was a unique kid for sure. Thanks for the good wishes

Happy Birthday Raj! You have given US a present with your images. Thank you also for the words - they create a context in which we can understand what we're seeing.

Oh, thank you so much Paul. It's an honour for me that you even think like that, I'm so glad you like the stories. Mediocre pictures with good stories can be fun too

Happy Birthday indeed! Thanks for the great images.

Thanks a lot John, for both the good wishes and the compliment; it means a lot.

Love the bike image.

If you really wanted the tires in, you could always PS them - I think it would be easy to do!

Happy birthday!

Thanks brb, I wonder how I may do that. It's certainly not going to happen with my current skill-set, please feel free to give it a go if you do find some time in the future.. And thanks for the wishes

Janmadina mubāraka Raj.

Bohut shukriya janaab :lmao:

Happy Birthday, hope you life is filled with joy. Loved the pictures. Please keep at it. Ed

Thank you so much for the kind wishes Ed, I'm glad you like my pics.. Funny thing is one of my very old friends called me up today(birthday business). She said most of my photographs are "okayish", they are not very good and definitely not "great" and warned me not take the exaggerated praise of a few Facebook fans seriously. I know her enough to know that she meant well, and I definitely don't treat Facebook comments as feedback on my work. What she said was not necessarily untrue but definitely made me do a reality check..

 

[pixmedic]

Did I miss your birthday? Damn...I'll have to send you a belated birthday present.

 

[Derrel]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, man! Yeah, always interesting to read a bit about the people involved in street photos...the background information REALLY does help viewers.

 

[IzzieK]

I love...I love this post very much...You have done very well indeed with your stories and descriptions and the shots of course. Happy birthday.......May you get your promotion soon.......