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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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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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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. 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” –
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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” –
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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. 41
This is Yusury. Â I took his picture with an old film camera, the light is not that great and I only got a single shot because I was unsure how to read the situation. Â This is in a small village on the banks of the Kinabantangan River in Borneo, Malaysia. Â Yusury is a boatmaker –
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Strangers Nos. 38, 39 and 40
Dan, David and Paul were spotted walking by the restaurant where we were having lunch in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. Â Dan is American, and David and Paul are Scots. Â I ran after them and explained this project, and they all stiffened up for the photo. Â As I was trying to get the manual focus and exposure
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Strangers Nos. 36 and 37
You always see mothers and babies, but I think there can be something especially poignant about fathers and babies. Â I passed Saiful (father) and Ain (baby) in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, and was struck how they were in their own world, enjoying each others’ company without regard to what was going on
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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. 34
I ran into Zadar on Christmas day, during an impromptu photowalk to the one of the most crowded shopping districts in India – T. Nagar – on one of the busiest shopping days. Zadar was selling some sort of sweet fuzzy stuff in plastic bags, which resembles cotton candy in taste, but looked rather like
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Stranger No. 33
“Stranger No. 33” provided the most hilarious experience in this project to date. Â We were walking past a series of small shops, when I spotted this young man quietly reading a paper in front of a small book shop. Â I stopped for a moment and looked back at him, and nervously asked if he’d
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Stranger No. 32
This guy drove our rickshaw from the market in Hyderabad back to our hotel so we could catch our flight home. I think he was wearing a bit of eye makeup, but I thought it was an interesting look. He was a bit embarrassed when I asked if he would mind posing for a photo.
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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
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Stranger No. 25
Viresh sells garlic and ginger in the market. We didn’t chat long.