November 30, 2009

Candid Photos from India #1

Janice and I spent Thanksgiving 2007 in India. I was recently reminded of that fact by several people. We spent 27 days in India, and, even though I have visited over 80 countries in my lifetime, I had never seen anything like India. When asked about India, JD and I usually respond about the same: “It was probably the most amazing place I have ever visited, but, I am not sure I would ever want to go back.”

While in India, I took over 5,000 photos. Most are really bad; and, as is my practice, most have moved on to the big trashcan in my computer. However, I still have about 700 shots of our trip. Many of the photos are, of course, vacation shots.

I believe that only three photos from my trip have been seen by anyone other than my family and closest friends. I thought it was about time to share some of my people shots with everyone.

The first photo comes from a mosque in New Delhi. I found this man totally isolated from everyone and totally absorbed in his prayers. I wanted the photo to reflect his devotion and the natural light flowing into the prayer area.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D200, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm with shot at ISO 400, f/4.8 and 1/125th of a second.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast and cropped image.

8 comments:

  1. You got the feeling you intended across in this image for me --- the light, the peaceful praying. And with the man being alone it gives me a sense that the photographer is witnessing a personal and private time of devotion. The tones are all working together so nicely and I like the diagonal of the rug, as well as the square crop.

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  2. What makes this photograph for me is the fact that you cannot see all of the man's face. That fact makes his action the story of the scene rather than him. Colors and composition are outstanding.
    The Professor

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  3. Lighting is great. Like the mood.
    Debbie

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  4. Beautiful light and love all the diagonals in the photo. The photo draws you in and makes you want to look around before you come back out.

    Great job Larry.

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  5. You did a good job capturing the quite nature of this scene. I like the simple nature of the photo.
    Ted

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  6. Larry,

    Good job not getting yourself shot taking this picture! Some moslims are very particular about having their picture taken. Did you notice there were no human or animal images in the mosque? All the art in a mosque is normally geometric. They have serious issues with idolitry, as I understand it.

    I've seen some of your India images on Flickr and loved them. I hope you are going to post some of those here.

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  7. Nice shot Larry, At first I didn't particularly care for the background in the shot. But, on closer inspection, the muted colors and mainly the fluid textures have grown on me. I'm looking forward to more India shots.

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