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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Part 2

Exploring the Limits
In Part 1 we covered the basics of street photography what it is, why its
important, when and how to practice it and how to go about it. This part deals
with some issues relating to these points but expands on them, besides covering

affiliated topics.
Life is an endless stream flowing past us and also carrying us along with it, so it
is obvious that we, too, are part of the overall picture. But as chroniclers,
recorders, commentators and interpreters of the seemingly confused jumble of
events that greet us at every turn, we need to mentally distance ourselves from it
while, paradoxically, being part of it at the same time.
Although opinions vary as to what exactly street photography is and what it is
not, I think there is a consensus that some things just do NOT apply to it :

Posed, pre-conceived, studio-type pictures

Coverage of stage or concert performances per se

Manipulation in software that alters an image drastically

Merging two or more different scenes to produce a composite
HDR
Trying to give meaning to meaningless snapshots, i.e., pseudo-street
photography
Things that fall within the domain of pictorial or news reportage
Landscape or nudes

I would include candid portraiture in street photography since candids are

neither posed nor contrived, but captured on the spur of the moment to reflect a
certain attitude, mindset or circumstance.
I would therefore also include pictures that are suggestive of these, even if
human existence and its concomitants are reflected only indirectly. A broom or a
bouquet, captured spontaneously, can equally reflect one or more human
attitudes and / or priorities.
If a biodegradable broom, made from locally available vegetative matter is
photographed in an artistic and poignant manner, it can be made to suggest the
importance society gives to protecting the environment by using articles that will

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degrade naturally without any harmful side effects to the environment. If lying
used and abandoned, it can speak of life cycles and the inevitable fate of all
physical objects including humans a heavy topic indeed.

On the other hand, away from the grimmer facts of life, a bouquet reminds us
that even if a beautiful flower blooms for only a day, it has succeeded in its
mission: to transfer the message of truth, light and beauty to all its admirers.
Human existence and social conventions are only
indirectly portrayed here, but they are of no less
consequence because of that. Yet there are as
many styles of street photography as there are
photographers, so restricting it by a definition is
not only futile but absurd as well.
This is its true strength, for anything that is hard
to define and lends itself to myriad
interpretations is going be really big and allpervasive, if not totally invasive. When one takes

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up street photography, one grabs a tiger by the tail. Its got you as surely as
youve got it.

SOME THOUGHTS ON GEAR

THE CAMERA
I think it is clear that a camera that is suitable for street photography has to be
small, fast, equipped with a good lens of adequate zoom range and a low light
capable sensor. Additionally, it must ideally have a sufficient number of external
controls to allow quick adjustments to things like aperture, ISO, shutter speed,
white balance, focus area mode, metering mode, etc.
To be quite honest with you, the ideal street camera is yet to be built, but two
compacts come close enough to being perfect for the purpose: the Sony RX100
and the Nikon Coolpix P7700. They are evenly matched, feature for feature, and
if the Sony wins by a whisker, that is not to say that overall performance-wise, the
P7700 is any less. In expert hands, either of them will do a great job.
BAGS
Do not carry a bag that shouts Photographers camera bag ! Study the types of
bag people are carrying nowadays (one or the other is always in vogue), and get
one that fits in. It will help you avoid the unwelcome attentions of thieves and
bag snatchers.
CLOTHES
I have a notion that ordinary street clothes that everyone wears is best for the job,
even jeans and T-shirt, if thats what everyones wearing. Try not to look
outlandish or worst of all a photographer !
STEALTH
I have never felt the need for stealth. On the contrary, I often talk to my would-be
subjects, and often quiz them till they take me for granted or even get bored by
my silly questions.
This is my favourite ploy to put people at ease and even to get them to consider
me a bit of a nuisance. When they have tuned me out, I can work the subject

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from different angles and no one even notices me. The picture of the cut fruit was
taken this way, as were dozens of others.

I do not subscribe to the school of thought that insists on avoiding eye contact.
What to speak of eye contact, I often engage future subjects in conversation, so
that they accept me as one of their own.

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The flower sellers
even guided me as to
the best angle to take
their picture, then
sat back trying to
look tough !
Below is a picture of
confidence: a foreign
tourist quite at ease

The vegetable seller lady below insisted I take her picture; it seems I had taken
everyone elses picture except hers, on a shooting spree at a rural vegetable
market. They were so flattered that I had taken time out for them !

I had to use flash,

for once, it being
very dimly lit in her
corner. The H70 has
a weak flash, typical
of
a
compact
camera.
I have done some
post processing on
the jpeg to burn in
the highlights and
dodge the shadows.
Beyond that, the
photo
is
unretouched.
Litigation is a fact of life. I was delighted to see that the vintage Godrej manual
typewriter was going strong despite 25 years of hard and constant use

A child sleeps soundly through the din and confusion of the marketplace

Some put their faith in steel, some in the binary code

and some in Sai Baba, here looking a bit perplexed as he sits in the bole of a
tree surveying the scene !

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The barber working next to a wall that might collapse any moment (near
Kashmere Gate, Delhi) has full faith that the Baba will keep him safe from any
harm ... he has not one but two pictures of the saint, for double protection.

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There is urban decay and

blatant neglect everywhere,
but there is also a spirit of
achievement, of hope, of a
better tomorrow brought
about by hard work and
good business sense.
And while ragpickers eke
out a miserable existence,
the city is on the move
the RITZ has been revived
and is back in business
after many years of closure.

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RECENT TRENDS IN SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS
AND A MISPLACED SUSPICION OF PHOTOGRAPHERS
There was a time when the erstwhile Soviet Union was the butt of jokes for its
restrictive approach to street photography. Today, many democracies the world
over look askance at street photographers. The reason cited is SECURITY, an
umbrella term meaning in effect an attempt to curb terrorism by restricting
photography at sensitive public places.
Yet the searches at airports and Metros are most casual and the instruments used
are rudimentary, so that on the off chance that a terrorist really did think it fit to
avoid Google Earth or the myriad other sources of information on the Metro and
other security sensitive installations, he would find it easy to get his picture. It
has yet to be proved that photography preceded any of the Mumbai or Delhi
bombings, or even the raid in Mumbai on the Oberoi Hotel.
There is a global trend to curb personal freedom, and restrictions on street
photography are just a part of the overall scenario. It is therefore best to avoid
such places and police in particular, and concentrate ones efforts elsewhere
places where people, in living their lives, provide the raw material of human
cultural, commercial or social interaction.
I am intrigued by the
fact that even as
government
gets
more
stultified,
paranoid and inward
looking,
Indian
society is evolving,
moving into a space
freer
and
less
restrictive than it had
ever enjoyed before,
no doubt driven by
western influences
and impact of the
media.

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We can respect the privacy of
individuals by a self-imposed
code, yet we must never forget
that it is our right, as
photographers, to document
anything that falls within or
occurs inside the public domain.
The very fact that something is
open to the public also means
that it is fair game for a
photographers lens.
To give my market subjects due
credit, only one or two expressed
concern and curiosity as to my
purpose in taking pictures of
their establishments.
I was able to disarm them by
explaining that I was making a
series of scenes on India for foreign friends who could not make a personal visit
due to age or infirmity. This was true, so my prompt reply and lack of furtiveness
convinced them. Yet the fact remains that the constant barrage of antiphotography messages on the Metro, railway stations, airports and other places
has created a false sense of security consciousness and paranoia among the
public at large.
I find it is the small shopkeepers and
petty traders and businessmen who
are most receptive to my efforts, not
to forget the submerged classes the
desperately poor and downtrodden
who think it a privilege to be
captured by my lens.
The reason for this is simple. The
vast majority of Indians live obscure,
desperately impoverished lives from
cradle to grave. No one bothers

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about them, except during elections, when politicians make fulsome promises
that are rarely honoured.
They have no share in the countrys growth or its march to prosperity, which are
mere buzzwords for them. So their fleeting instant of recognition via your lens is
a moment of delight for them, that their brief, miserable lives have been thought
worthy of being recorded on camera. I have yet to meet even one of these faceless
people who did not cooperate when I lined them up for a shot.
It is also the reason why I do not need to be stealthy or sneaky these are
western attitudes that do not apply here. The faceless masses are deeply gratified
that I have considered them fit to be photographed. People often stop me in the
street and ask me to take their picture, as if the act of being photographed will
give them a sort of relevance, a justification for being alive something that will
assure them that they have indeed lived and not drifted through life unknown
and unsung, valueless and dispensable. It is a pathetic and heart rending
situation.
The faceless masses of India would never dream of protesting at being
photographed. It is not an invasion of their privacy. Most Indians cannot afford
privacy, it being well beyond their means. They have no concept of it. Being
photographed is not an invasion of their (non-existent) privacy, it is a thrill !
CONCLUSION
These are some of my thoughts and experiences, such as they are, on street
photography in India. Despite the paranoia spread by a government traumatized
by terrorist acts, the fact remains that the vast majority of Indians have never
owned a camera or been photographed except by state-owned agencies issuing
ration cards, voters ID cards, etc. There is thus little need for a stealthy style of
street photography so prevalent in western countries: the poor of India want to be
photographed !
India is a land of vast diversity in climate, geography, culture, and social mores.
But we have one thing we can always fall back upon: our common heritage. Let
us use street photography to bring a smile to the drawn and haggard faces of our
stricken fellow countrymen, and help renew their faith in life and in themselves.
All we have to do is to put them at their ease, for they are shy, too. But if they
sense you are a friend, they will do anything for you. My heart goes out to my

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brothers and sisters in this great land, once described by Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi as a rich country full of poor people.