Ranthambore Woman

[Ouroboros]

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Her name was Indira, she was collecting wood to cook a meal. Ranthambore, April '23.

M10-R bp

50mm summicron safari edition

 

 

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[FrozenInTime]

Shame she froze up for the portrait, it would have been good to see her with the pile of wood or tending the stove, while interacting with your group.

Sorry, but standing alone, this type of rigid portrait seems outdated, a bit like a 1980's AP magazine or camera club show. 

I liked your environmental shots from this trip a lot more;  showing the imperfection of life that surrounds, and gives context, to the people.

[stuny]

Quite lovely

[benqui]

Great portrait!

[David Cantor]

The furrowed brow to me indicates a degree of apprehension, perhaps she has never been photographed before?  

Much to like.

[Ouroboros]

22 hours ago, FrozenInTime said:

Shame she froze up for the portrait, it would have been good to see her with the pile of wood or tending the stove, while interacting with your group.

Sorry, but standing alone, this type of rigid portrait seems outdated, a bit like a 1980's AP magazine or camera club show. 

I liked your environmental shots from this trip a lot more;  showing the imperfection of life that surrounds, and gives context, to the people.

 

18 hours ago, David Cantor said:

The furrowed brow to me indicates a degree of apprehension, perhaps she has never been photographed before?  

Much to like.

She didn't freeze for the portrait, she was not apprehensive and neither was she standing rigidly.  She was sitting quite relaxed on a log next to my wife trying to understand what I was saying to her whilst I took a few portraits and this was finally the expression I was looking for.  Her eyes and her face that is old beyond her years (she indicated she is 34 years old) give an indication of the simple but hard life she lives with her labourer husband. They have no children.

This was the last of a series I took from first encounter when she was walking towards me on a remote track near Ranthambore tiger reserve.  

Given that most Westerners and others who visit this place in the hope of seeing a tiger (we saw two) are probably too afraid to venture beyond their hotel room, I doubt she was expecting to see us whilst she was collecting firewood.  

I dislike a lot of street photography I see on the internet, much of it is repetitive, copycat, 'me too' and boringly cliched.  Street portraits are interesting to me, the real value of the image is often in the eyes and the expression of the sitter and has less to do with happy, smiley faces and fuzzy holiday memories or some weak notion of what is expected in a camera club.

This is life in rural India, life that no one here on this forum can possibly relate to.  It's raw and hard and I'm not attempting to sugar coat it with a romantic lie. The difference between you & I is that I know the back story to the image because I was there but you have no point of reference other than gut reaction.    I understand your problem, but it isn't something I'm interested in trying to address in the image because I don't need to.  Without the back story, it's a simple portrait of a woman who lives at subsistence level who has to fetch water from a pump and collect firewood to cook chapatis.

We spent the best part of an hour with Indira, she has left us with memories that remind us to think about the lives of others.

 We chatted as best we could, she couldn't speak English and my Hindi is very limited, but it was fun.  Her story is in her eyes.

I totally understand that you don't like the image, I have no problem at all with that, but I hope the brief context below helps you understand why I do like it.

 

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[David Cantor]

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15 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

 

She didn't freeze for the portrait, she was not apprehensive and neither was she standing rigidly.  She was sitting quite relaxed on a log next to my wife trying to understand what I was saying to her whilst I took a few portraits and this was finally the expression I was looking for.  Her eyes and her face that is old beyond her years (she indicated she is 34 years old) give an indication of the simple but hard life she lives with her labourer husband. They have no children.

This was the last of a series I took from first encounter when she was walking towards me on a remote track near Ranthambore tiger reserve.  

Given that most Westerners and others who visit this place in the hope of seeing a tiger (we saw two) are probably too afraid to venture beyond their hotel room, I doubt she was expecting to see us whilst she was collecting firewood.  

I dislike a lot of street photography I see on the internet, much of it is repetitive, copycat, 'me too' and boringly cliched.  Street portraits are interesting to me, the real value of the image is often in the eyes and the expression of the sitter and has less to do with happy, smiley faces and fuzzy holiday memories or some weak notion of what is expected in a camera club.

This is life in rural India, life that no one here on this forum can possibly relate to.  It's raw and hard and I'm not attempting to sugar coat it with a romantic lie. The difference between you & I is that I know the back story to the image because I was there but you have no point of reference other than gut reaction.    I understand your problem, but it isn't something I'm interested in trying to address in the image because I don't need to.  Without the back story, it's a simple portrait of a woman who lives at subsistence level who has to fetch water from a pump and collect firewood to cook chapatis.

We spent the best part of an hour with Indira, she has left us with memories that remind us to think about the lives of others.

 We chatted as best we could, she couldn't speak English and my Hindi is very limited, but it was fun.  Her story is in her eyes.

I totally understand that you don't like the image, I have no problem at all with that, but I hope the brief context below helps you understand why I do like it.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

My 

 

16 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

 

She didn't freeze for the portrait, she was not apprehensive and neither was she standing rigidly.  She was sitting quite relaxed on a log next to my wife trying to understand what I was saying to her whilst I took a few portraits and this was finally the expression I was looking for.  Her eyes and her face that is old beyond her years (she indicated she is 34 years old) give an indication of the simple but hard life she lives with her labourer husband. They have no children.

This was the last of a series I took from first encounter when she was walking towards me on a remote track near Ranthambore tiger reserve.  

Given that most Westerners and others who visit this place in the hope of seeing a tiger (we saw two) are probably too afraid to venture beyond their hotel room, I doubt she was expecting to see us whilst she was collecting firewood.  

I dislike a lot of street photography I see on the internet, much of it is repetitive, copycat, 'me too' and boringly cliched.  Street portraits are interesting to me, the real value of the image is often in the eyes and the expression of the sitter and has less to do with happy, smiley faces and fuzzy holiday memories or some weak notion of what is expected in a camera club.

This is life in rural India, life that no one here on this forum can possibly relate to.  It's raw and hard and I'm not attempting to sugar coat it with a romantic lie. The difference between you & I is that I know the back story to the image because I was there but you have no point of reference other than gut reaction.    I understand your problem, but it isn't something I'm interested in trying to address in the image because I don't need to.  Without the back story, it's a simple portrait of a woman who lives at subsistence level who has to fetch water from a pump and collect firewood to cook chapatis.

We spent the best part of an hour with Indira, she has left us with memories that remind us to think about the lives of others.

 We chatted as best we could, she couldn't speak English and my Hindi is very limited, but it was fun.  Her story is in her eyes.

I totally understand that you don't like the image, I have no problem at all with that, but I hope the brief context below helps you understand why I do like it.

 

My mistake about the apprehension, it’s a fine portrait and the story about the engagement is what many street/travel portraitists overlook and miss out to their detriment.

David

[FrozenInTime]

22 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

 

She didn't freeze for the portrait, she was not apprehensive and neither was she standing rigidly.  She was sitting quite relaxed on a log next to my wife trying to understand what I was saying to her whilst I took a few portraits and this was finally the expression I was looking for.  Her eyes and her face that is old beyond her years (she indicated she is 34 years old) give an indication of the simple but hard life she lives with her labourer husband. They have no children.

This was the last of a series I took from first encounter when she was walking towards me on a remote track near Ranthambore tiger reserve.  

Given that most Westerners and others who visit this place in the hope of seeing a tiger (we saw two) are probably too afraid to venture beyond their hotel room, I doubt she was expecting to see us whilst she was collecting firewood.  

I dislike a lot of street photography I see on the internet, much of it is repetitive, copycat, 'me too' and boringly cliched.  Street portraits are interesting to me, the real value of the image is often in the eyes and the expression of the sitter and has less to do with happy, smiley faces and fuzzy holiday memories or some weak notion of what is expected in a camera club.

This is life in rural India, life that no one here on this forum can possibly relate to.  It's raw and hard and I'm not attempting to sugar coat it with a romantic lie. The difference between you & I is that I know the back story to the image because I was there but you have no point of reference other than gut reaction.    I understand your problem, but it isn't something I'm interested in trying to address in the image because I don't need to.  Without the back story, it's a simple portrait of a woman who lives at subsistence level who has to fetch water from a pump and collect firewood to cook chapatis.

We spent the best part of an hour with Indira, she has left us with memories that remind us to think about the lives of others.

 We chatted as best we could, she couldn't speak English and my Hindi is very limited, but it was fun.  Her story is in her eyes.

I totally understand that you don't like the image, I have no problem at all with that, but I hope the brief context below helps you understand why I do like it.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Many thanks for showing the extra pictures. Sharing and illustrating the background adds so much and conveys the story and way of life in that part on India really well.