Of photography & the economy....

          Far from being a competent photographer, I am and have been for the past 12 months, trying to learn more about this fascinating hobby, from books and the vast knowledge base on the internet. One of the

Yes, ---- I bought 3 bananas from these gentlemen....

areas that I have found particularly difficult is ‘street’ shooting. That is taking photographs of strangers on the street as they inter-relate with others and enact the drama of their lives. I have always felt that I am being aggressive & intruding if I shove a camera in some ones face and I suppose somewhat fearful of an aggressive reaction. No doubt about it, one must be careful. To avoid negative situations, some resort to the use of telephoto lenses, but these tend to flatten the perspective and look like impersonal pictures as seen in newspapers. Someone said that if you cannot see the eyes of your subject clearly, you cannot see into the soul.

                What I am learning on this visit to India, is that photos of strangers can be obtained if one can engage the target smilingly in some kind of conversation before they see the camera. Get the laughter and banter running and the request for a picture falls quite naturally out of the relationship. Immediately the picture is taken, I show them the result on the display screen to obtain their ‘buy in, and even sometimes ask, or they offer a chance of a second picture—perhaps a ‘selfie’ of us both together. I fully respect a person’s request not to be photographed.

              My four days in Chennai/Madras are now concluded. Not a city I have marked down for a return visit, although it is the fourth largest city in India and as dirty and chaotic as cities #1 & 2, I am glad that I came and at least cruised the major thoroughfares and a few backwaters too.

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This lady really enjoys her HEAVY work...

  India is in the process of transforming itself from primarily an agricultural economy into the second stage which would be an export led, low tech manufacturing economy. (An economy that supports nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers and satellites in orbit around Mars). That’s the plan, but at this point manufacturing has not kicked in, especially international partners, with imports of low end ‘made in China’ flooding the streets. Setting up a manufacturing operation here, or even a retail chain gets bogged down in the nightmare of Indian bureaucracy. Per a recent newspaper article, KFC, now reasonably well established, had to wait for 8 years to have its first restaurant Kolkata location finally approved. With 14+ Indian cities now visited, I have only seen two food supermarkets that would be approximately similar to North American examples.                  

The shopping for family food being done off sidewalk vendors, in the local markets, or at the myriad micro sized “go down” stores operated by a single male person, selling the identical items as sold in a thousand other ‘go downs’ in the same area. As a result, the retail scene is very inefficient and I suspect for the local population, very expensive. Sales to owner’s wages ratio must be totally disproportionate. This situation reflects, I believe, the massive unemployment and equally massive under-employment in India. So many men hanging around, not really doing anything—security guard for a couple of parking spots would be an example, an operator for an automatic hotel elevator, would be another.