BEAUTY IN ALL THINGS!

Street photography has its unhelpful chorus of complications as it has a cacophony of noises that don’t allow you to concentrate and focus. But, in the same instance, it’s educational too when you come to understand the grim realities surrounding the street vendors, their sweat, and hard work. Ironically, street photography prompts strange soberness; we glamorize their plight in colours, in dazzling lights, and make the images up to look interesting and attractive.

I focus my lens often on people, events, and subjects that ordinarily many don’t even bother with a cursory glance. Chaos on the streets sounds irritating, and roadside hawkers appear uninteresting part of our habitat. But what I have watched when I walk, wait and spend a few minutes with them adjusting myself and my camera to their work and struggles, and suddenly it tugs my senses the moment they allowed me to get closer to their “never give up” attitude. It seems more real than reality. Then I realize I have entered an unexpected realm where I can’t come out with a compelling image without a shred of emotional feel – the battles, the fears, the obstacles they confront every day.

“In street photography, seeing is not enough; we have to feel what we photograph.”