Street Photography – ” Wrinkles of Hardships”

Reach me : Website  Facebook Twitter 500px Flickr Instagram

Dubai | June | 2011

Here’s my first ever blog, hope you like it.

Someone Wisely Said,

“Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment…Photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.”

Above said phrase holds absolutely true for street photography as it can be embarrassing at times, especially when you approach to click random people – sometimes with their knowledge and sometimes candid.

Streets have an appeal of their own, whether it is a Modern Cosmo Street with people in all their glory or a laid back street with people struggling for their existence. The latter is the one which attracts me the most as it actually portrays the “Life of Majority” who are nothing less than absolutely ignored. 

Portrait of a Municipality worker during his Break day…its these people who keep our city clean…did we ever thank them !!! 

It gives me immense satisfaction when I approach these people for a photograph as this brings a smile on their face, and these smiles bring in the wrinkles of hardships over their tired faces which in itself conveys the story of theirs. These smiles just seem to say “hey look, I exist “

An ever-smiling waiter of a small restaurant…he served me tea I had ordered and then,on request,  he didn’t shy away from a portrait…

I do make it a point sometimes to make sure I deliver them the prints of their pictures in a day or two and these small moments actually make photography a fulfilling experience for me. 

An Iranian fisherman who agreed for a portrait in exchange for a print of it, very next day I did deliver him a print as he was returning back home on ship in 2 days

You also get to know a lot of interesting stories from these people and learn from them that “No matter how hard life is, you just got to keep going” .

An Irani Sailor on Dubai Creek…says he’s been working and travelling on Dhows since he was 12 years old…and would continue to work on it till his last breath…was amazed with his love for his profession

People we meet on streets may be from various countries and hence there will be a communication gap while having a conversation with them, but sometimes eyes do the talking and all the pain of theirs is conveyed through it. 

Pakistani Carpenter i met on a early morning street walk, he redefined optimism to me…despite having nothing after 23 yrs in Dubai , he still was confident he would make it big here someday…it was a brief chat but he really had that positive energy in him…

and sometimes you end up in some funny moments and comments as shown below, doesn’t mean they have no worries, its just that they cope with it and keep it simple. something we all have to learn.

A Pakistani truck driver in industrial area of Sharjah, asked me to mail the print to him and I did. 

A Carefree Attitude ! …if only everyone was this carefree to pose…

A Pakistani Pathan with only a simple request “take my picture if you are going to load it on youtube”…may be he meant Facebook…

Camera shy Fisherman…took me some convincing to get this shot…

All in all, Street photography is not RANDOM clicking like many interpret, if u got an eye for Streets, you end up getting the most thought provoking and brilliant story telling pictures which you would remember for life.

Hope you enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it, because always wanted to elaborate the story behind each picture I took but never had an opportunity and I guess now I found a platform for it.

Happy Clicking