100 Strangers
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Stranger No. 72
I’m not exactly sure which photo is better – they both have some flaws. The one has a greenish glow on the face which is caused by the reflection from the flowers seen in the second photo; and the flowers in both photos seem distracting. Anyway, this is Sovan Babu. He’s got one arm and
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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. 69
I wish I could remember his name. This guy was selling fruit in the market and I was so impressed by the sheer spotless whiteness of his clothes and the twinkle in his eye. Unlike most of the others in the market, he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about being photographed – merely tolerant.
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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. 66
This is Drakesh, who helps his mom run a small drinks stand at Marina Beach, near the lighthouse. Â We bought a couple of sodas from them, but Drakesh was really interested in a camera. Â Hopefully he can get one eventually.
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Stranger No. 65
Another vendor at the fruit and vegetable market at Koyambedu. Â This is Nainar. Â I chose the light/orientation, and he chose this particular pose.
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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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Strangers Nos. 58 and 59
Santosh and Victor were passing by as we walked down the path, looking at all the boats that were being patched up, or built from scratch. They liked having their picture taken. Santosh is the one holding the bicycle.
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Stranger No. 57
Gopinath was sitting with another man, and as we walked by, I asked if I could take a picture of them, with the boat shown in the background. They didn’t speak a word of English, but with sign language, they understood what I wanted. His friend wanted nothing to do with being photographed, but Gopinath
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Stranger No. 56
At the time, I thought he said his name was “Sachchil”, but it may have been “Sachin.” In any case, he was operating an odd little gear machine on the ground behind the ship repair yards at Kasimedu fishing harbor in Chennai, that was being used to wind long nylon fibers into a rope. He
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Stranger No. 55
Illamalli (spelled phonetically as I heard it) is one of the thousands of (mostly) women who weave flowers into long chains using the fibers of banana leaves. They are sold for about 40 rupees (65 US cents) for a length from the tip of the fingers to the elbow. Indian women commonly wear such flowers
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Strangers Nos. 53 and 54
“Duray” and “D. Gajenthiran” sell flowers on Badrian Street near Parry’s corner in Chennai. (for more info on that market, see this post on my other blog).  I’m not completely sure if Duray is the name of the guy on the left, or if it’s just the first name of the guy on the right.  We
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Stranger No. 52
Chandaran is a Hindu priest working in a small temple near Parry’s Corner, in Chennai. My wife got a much better shot of him (in my opinion), which she has agreed to share:
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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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Stranger No. 50
Arun sells bulk flowers at “Parry’s”, a neighborhood in Chennai where flowers are sold along the entire length of the street. Not much else to say about him, other than I’m halfway done with this project! Thanks for helping me out, Arun.
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Stranger No. 49
Selvam was hanging out at the Kolam Contest in Mylapore I blogged about a few months ago.  He was interested in the Kodak Jiffy camera I was carrying around, so I snapped his photo in front of this green background.  I decided to hold his photo for posting until I reached number 49….
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Stranger No. 48
To those of us who have lived in colder climes, it always seems odd to think that people in Chennai are ever cold. But it’s quite common to see people covering their ears, especially, during these “cold” months, when the temperature rarely drops below 70 Fahrenheit. People can be seen wearing thin earmuffs, thick wool
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Stranger No. 47
Andre (or Andrei) I met at the Saturday Night Market in Goa, a weekly happening that brings in tourists and locals alike. Â Andre and the friend he was talking to are from Belarus, and they both spend the tourist season here in Goa, and then go back for the rest of the year. Â Presumably that
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Stranger No. 46
Normally I start with the photo. But Stranger No. 46 is difficult, and I wanted to give the background first. Where I live, the sight of poverty is common. In photography, I think it’s a subject that requires care. I try not to take advantage of human suffering just to “get a good shot” –