Dong !!, A ping from a friend caught my
attention, who was asking to head out for some shoot in the cold chilli night
of Dehra Dun, I was on my feet soon after deciding the place to catch up and
hit the market first for some street shots. Soon, I found myself putting the
charged battery into my camera and pushing in the settings I needed for the
night photography. I like to travel light, I mounted my Normal lens with f/1.8
wide aperture and left.
The market was still young at 7pm and people were
rushing around some couples admiring the glitz of ‘Paltan Bazaar’ with hand in hand,
an old lady in Green, red and cyan color clothes arranging the necklace of colorful beads on a vertical wooden stand to sell them to visitors.
I am not much of a street photographer not because I
am not interested in it, but because it needs lots of guts to go around and
pull out some meaningful shots of a complete stranger. Still I love to do it so
as to win over my shy part and to explain man to man.
Soon, Click-clack session in Market was on hold, as
the market was wrapping up and thus its soul, There was the word around, about
a trade fair running at nearby Ground of the city, a ground which is used for
most of the cities common events, ‘Parade ground’. Pulling over around the
ground we learned that there was nothing but darkness, cold and lifeless
emptiness. Running our eyes over the dark landscape we noticed some little fire
burning around cut down trees by the government owing for development or
non-sustainable false development to be precise, and encircling the fire spot, were
people cluttering like some ants around a sugar grain, we reached there and
obviously thought of getting some shots.
While I just held my camera and roam about only
thinking and absorbing what is going on and also questioning myself why I am
here to take their pictures. Will it do any good to them? Will it bring some
good to me? Or will it be, just an event where group of people pose in front of
someone with fancy looking camera, giving some occasional fragile smile and
then getting back to their frozen life with no roof which can protect their
head from soaking from the dew and freeze from the chill of winter wind.
Whatever it may become, I wanted to take some photographs without bothering
them from savoring the flames which were demanding more and more leaves and
woods to stay alive, and compile it in a story so that wherever the words
travel, they may kindle the thought of appreciation of our comforts and also
create a preset notion to provide help
in any form for the people who are far less fortunate to even possess
occasional roof over their head, specially or/and exclusively for the future of
the nation, the little kids who never knew what could be reason for their such
condition, who may never know why the education is a important thing to have , and
what is difference between hard-work to get their bread and stealing or begging
for their bread.
As I started to steal some pictures. I was careful
not to bother them while doing my work as; I do not know how they will take my
actions and work. One thing I am sure of, while shooting someone we tend to
leave some trails, thus we should be careful as for those trails should not
bring any pessimist changes in any ways however minute they may be.
Soon I got around and made a picture of a small
group of women and girls, by lying down on dew soaked leaves, I caught attention
of them, out of curiosity of my apparently idiotic act, one girl stood up to observe, and with her ‘Duppatta’ pressed in her mouth, she smiled, freezing that moment
i was also freezed thinking about this innocence and how this may be ruined in
the tends of this unforgiving life, hampered common mentality and social taboos.
 |
| The moment of freezing the frame and my ownself. |
Unwilling to shoot more as they were getting inquisitive
about me, I left from there, with questions for myself whose answers I will
keep finding , Until then let these pictures speak their fable.
Much Love.
Akhilesh Singh.
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