PhotoDuniya » Street candid

Candid Travel Picture from the Streets of Kolkata – Devotees along the Ganges

Ranjay Mitra — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:04:39 +0000

I traveled to Kolkata, previously known as Calcutta, in the summer of 2008. The weather was humid & temperatures soared over 100 degrees during the day time. My brother, whose learning to film, took me over to the banks of the Ganges to take pictures of candid street life.

I have posted many of them here, some on Journal Image. The entire bank of the river next to the burning ghats, was lined with devotee stumps. People offer their prayers & their offerings to Kali here. The priest lives next door. So when its not the time for “puja”, he runs a small school for the street children.

This picture was taken on Nikon D200 with camera mounted fill flash on full power. Since it was noon time, & the subject was primarily white, I had to fill the subject at full power to overcome any under exposure.

I also used a graduated 3.0 ND filter to shadow the sky. The picture is only cropped for easy viewing over the internet.

Street People Portrait – Candid Portrait of Children from Kolkata

Ranjay Mitra — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:53:33 +0000

Candid Portraits of Children are best taken when you let kids be themselves. An experienced children photographer will spend a lot of time with the children before getting any good shot.

Once they get comfortable around you, your camera or flash lights will not amaze and distract them any more. For a street photographer trying to get candid shots of children, you have to be patient till they don’t notice you anymore!

This is a candid picture of Suraj, a teenager from Kolkata, who loves to play & dive in the water of the Ganges.

Suraj & his group of friends spend the morning at Ghats of North Calcutta. And they have their own kid’s games too.

Like for example, they would dive and swim to the steam boats ferrying across shores. They would compete from one buoy to another. Thats all these children need to make them smile!

Suraj had a characteristic smile. A perfect “ear-to-ear” smile, and his eyes closes every time he laughs. He posed for me after a dive & could not resist laughing every time the flash went off.

This candid street portrait of a child from Kolkata is taken with handheld Nikon D200 & a wide angle lens.

Horse and carriage rides in Central Park, New York City

Ranjay Mitra — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:07:02 +0000

It has been a long time custom to take leisure rides on horse drawn carriages in Central Park. Families huddle together while the carriage rolls through the inside roads of the park. The rides usually end at the southern end, where the horses get to eat and relax.

The picture is taken on hand held Nikon D200 with fill flash and a wide angle lens.

Naked Cowboy – Candid Photo of Naked Cowboy in Times Square

Ranjay Mitra — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:48:56 +0000

He sings, he dances, he entertains and he pleases whoever gives him a few dollars for a picture. And boy! you should see the way he attracts girls – young and old alike. The tourists are particularly fascinated to see this “handsome bloke” without clothes in the world’s financial capital!

A perfect showman who just found a great way to earn money just by dropping his clothes. And the confused tourists, not knowing what this is all about, is more than willing to shell out a couple of bucks for a picture to carry back home as a souvenir.

Street dance, music and roller skating in Central Park

Ranjay Mitra — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:07:30 +0000

The spring is beginning to bring the revelers out. People grouped at the South Western part of Central park to play music, dance and roller skate. The sun was shining bright but the chill in the air could not do much to dampen the spirit of the revelers.

The picture is taken on hand held Nikon D200 with a wide angle lens.

Street musicians from Peru – the Spirit of the Andes

Ranjay Mitra — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:49:46 +0000

Espiritu Andino is a lively band and a group of enthusiastic street music players from Peru. Their music comes from the land of the Andes. And the pipes, the pans, the flutes and the percussion is so well orchestrated that you could give them a top 10 for their performance.

Following my experience in San Francisco in documenting Street Musicians, I have started a similar project in New York City too. While most of the usual musicians are still playing in the subways, this group was one of the few that added a nice flavor to the city.

The image is taken on hand held Nikon D200. I did not use flash which could have distracted the musicians.

New York City’s newest attraction – naked cowboy

Ranjay Mitra — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:06:07 +0000

The latest talk of the Big Apple is not a new fashion, or a new candidate for the Presidential elections, but a young man from Texas who is riding the hall of fame by just being naked!

While people are spending hundreds for the latest designer clothes on one hand, just on the other side of Times Square, another group of tourists is paying anything between two to five dollars to the naked cowboy’s agent to have a picture with him.

This picture is taken on hand held Nikon D200 on the divider in Times Square.