India
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Testing the Minolta SR-T-101
Awhile back, I posted about the Petri 7S, Â one of two cameras my mother-in-law had passed along to me. Â This post is on the other camera, a Minolta SR-T-101. Â This Minolta is an SLR that first appeared on the market in 1966 and continued to be manufactured until 1975. Â From this website you can figure
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Stranger No. 94
This is Raul – we were walking along the ghats of Varanasi and he made some small talk with us in an effort to try and lure us to his silk shop. We didn’t fall for it of course, but I did ask him if he would pose for this portrait.
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Stranger No. 93
Another no-name stranger. I was at the beach in Chennai, during Ganesha Chaturthi, a festival in which idols of Lord Ganesh are immersed in the sea, and this guy was hanging around, looking for a few rupees to buy some tea. I asked to take a few pictures and he immediately went into this posing
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Stranger No. 81
This is Indrani, who was buying something at this shop on a busy street. Â I wanted to photograph her against this shop, without the shopkeeper necessarily in the background, but sometimes it’s awkward asking people to move. Â So this is what I ended up with.
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Stranger No. 79
We met this fellow at Elliot Beach, close to our home in Chennai. He was just watching the ocean when I asked for his photo: After I snapped his picture with an old film camera (not that old – a 90’s era Ricoh) he followed us around from a distance as we spent the next
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Stranger No. 78
A. Rajendran sells small fruits locally known as “sapota” or “chickoo” – which actually originated in the Americas (sapodillas)! He works in the fruit market at Koyambedu in Chennai, India.
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Stranger No. 74
Rajasel was stringing flowers for sale near the entrance of the flower market at Koyambedu. All the guys were asking for photos, and when I asked her she initially refused but eventually agreed to let me take her photo. Â Check out the reflection in the mirror, bottom right!
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Stranger No. 73
Rajendran seemed like the quiet type – he had a small cart outside the fruit market with half a dozen jackfruits on it, which he was painstakingly cutting into usable portions for sale. Apparently cutting these things into portions so that they can be eaten is quite a labor-intensive operation that takes some practice –
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Stranger No. 71
Like many of the people I’ve photographed in India, this sweet lime seller in the fruit market was all smiles until he was posing for his picture. Because getting your picture taken is serious business! His name is Subranyam, and he is joined in this second photo by a friend, whose name I did not
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Stranger No. 70
This is Muthukumar, whose moustache caught my attention. Â He was at the flower market in Koyambedu, in Chennai. Â After I snapped his photograph, his friends were joking that he was the “king of Koyambedu”. Â It must have been some kind of inside joke, I’m not sure!
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Stranger No. 68
We were buying 5 kilograms of sweet limes, and this guy was loading them up for us. Â With his striking white hair, I had to ask him for a photograph, and had him stand in front of this blue door. Â I didn’t get his name – what, with the limes and all…
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Stranger No. 67
I didn’t get this fellow’s name. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind posing for a photo and indicated the open doorway and asked if he might face that direction for the light. He immediately assumed the position in the photo and held still until I got this shot.
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Stranger No. 64
This is “Vera” – he was working in a banana wholesale shop and asked to have his photo taken. Technically I shouldn’t count this because this “100 strangers” thing is all about me approaching strangers and asking them to photograph them – but I put a bit of effort into having him pose with the
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Stranger No. 63
This is Kris – he was walking around Koyambedu flower market and I thought he had the coolest beard. Said he was from Pondicherry. He really wanted a copy of the photo but there was no way to get him one.
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Stranger No. 62
Ramalingam works at the flower market at Koyambedu, in western Chennai. Here he is again with his colleague Androsh.
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Stranger No. 61
I think this is one of the best portraits I’ve done for this project. His name is Arjun, he’s a rickshaw driver (but was on break), and he was also happy with the result. This is one of those times I felt converting to black and white improved the image; I sometimes shoot in black
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Stranger No. 60
Farida was walking around a neighborhood where we were doing a photowalk – she was carrying a plastic bag with some sort of treasures all her own. She must have been 5 or 6 – but behaved like she was going on 25. I asked to take her photo and asked her name – when
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Stranger No. 51
Here is a photo of Bala, stranger number 51. He’s on his cell phone, but I “asked” him for a photo using hand gestures and we talked only elsewhere. He sells flowers at the flower market near Parry’s Corner, in north-central Chennai.
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Strangers Nos. 44 and 45
I ran into this family at the local “fair” – which appears to run the better part of the year, at the “Island Grounds” in Chennai. I asked father if I could photograph him and his young daughter with her big, gorgeous eyes. He had his other daughter and friend’s daughter step into the photo
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Stranger No. 42
Ramaswamy is a jolly guy I ran into at the Mylapore Festival. I asked him if I could take his picture and he agreed. Then he asked for 20 rupees for a cup of coffee, presumably in exchange. I assume the gesture he is making with his hands means something, and there was a booth
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Stranger No. 35
Salabuddin (sp?) was conducting a transaction in his clothing shop with a customer when I walked by and snapped a few shots without asking. One of his colleagues, perhaps his son, nudged him and said smilingly that I was snapping photos. So at this point I decided to make it official and ask him to
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Stranger No. 31
This is “Momo”, who was helping his father at a stand in the fruit and vegetable market. They were selling the strangest thing, which looked like very ornate lichens or mushrooms of some sort. With the language barrier they were unable to convey what they were selling, but “can I take your / your son’s
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Stranger No. 29
This gentleman has a shop selling colorful shawls and scarves. The best I could make out for his name was “Mabipahn.” “I am Muslim,” he clarified. So I shook his hand and said “salaam aleikum.” Then I took his picture and continued on my way…
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Stranger No. 28
Stranger No. 28 is Gantesh. Gantesh sells what we initially thought was multicolored pasta, but what turns out to be made of rice flour instead of wheat flour. Instead of boiling it like you would pasta, you fry it in oil to soften it. He must have had 25 or 30 different shapes. When I
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Stranger No. 27
I unfortunately didn’t remember to write down his name – but this fruit and vegetable seller has an interesting look. Like the other fruit and vegetable vendors we photographed, he seemed to find it very curious to see two foreigners wandering around the packed market with cameras. The attention we attracted was unanimously positive, and