Street Photography by Tanya: A London Photo Blog

Film

A Portrait of Mumbai

October 9, 2011

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Mumbai, India – September 2011

Mumbai means great food, like tikli (a cripsy potato basket filled with yogurt, chick peas, sweet chutney and various other vegetables and spices):

Mumbai also means terrible traffic – the worst I’ve ever experienced. You can spend hours in taxis going from one part of the city to another. I asked someone when rush hour ends. The answer? It doesn’t.

Traffic jams are the ideal opportunity to take pictures from the car. There’s not really much else to do when you’re stuck on the road

The Navratri Festival (a festival of dance) was going on while I was in Mumbai. It’s one of the major events in the Hindu calendar

The dancing is amazing. Apparently people start practicing months in advance

I don’t know how people can wear these outfits in the heat.. the dances take place outdoors and although it’s at night, the temperature is still at least 25C. Combine this with close to 100% humidity and we’re talking about some very uncomfortable conditions!

Juhu Beach

Man selling roses in the street:

I still can’t believe that kids sit on bikes like this:

Mumbai is a city of contrast – wherever you look:

Ganesh Hegde, an awesome choreographer (although it is fair to say I am slightly biased!), was directing a shoot for Hrithik Roshan (a Bollywood actor) for a reality dance show called Just Dance.

Shoots are laborious affairs – the tiniest scene can be shot over and over, and Ganesh being meticulous wants no less than perfection.

The costumes were made by the best costume designer in India, if not the world – Bipin Tanna (again I am biased but it’s the truth!)

I left soon after I took the above shot of Hrithik. Filming finished at 7am the following morning. You can see the end result here:

It’s interesting how it’s made to look like a live performance when it was shot a day before in the studio without an audience.

I saw her from a distance in the street playing with what looked like a doll. She was spinning it around and throwing and catching it, laughing the whole time. It’s only when I looked back on the pics I took that I realised it was a real baby!

I went on a bike ride which is basically a death wish. The concept of helmets is uncommon, but in the spirit of ‘when in Rome’, I decided to go with the flow, and take pictures – just to add to the danger.

I love how the driver is protected with a helmet, but not the kids

A games arcade – Indian style:

There’s a picture of a Hindu god in the middle, and the Om sign on the left. The equivalent in the UK would be a games arcade with Jesus and the cross in the windows. Very bizarre, but then, this is India : )

Bigg Boss is the Indian version of Big Brother:

It’s hugely popular and adverts were all over the place.

A bunch of 20 roses cost around 50 rupees which is around 70p.. so basically less than a £1 or $1. Madness.

Dusshera is a religious day and is also a national holiday in India. Cars were decorated with flowers:

On this day, people tend to bring statues of the goddess Durga to the sea to be immersed

They kept asking to be photographed : )

I also shot a couple of rolls of film. I’ll save them for another post, but here’s one that represents the Indian railways:

Kodak 400 x2

August 21, 2011

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London & Zurich – August 2011

I shot 2 rolls of Kodak 400 over the last few weeks.

(Nikon F3 – 50mm f1.8 – Kodak 400)

South London

Walking to the station in the morning – the usual signs of randomness.

Canary Wharf

I’m not used to shooting blindly; estimating distance isn’t my greatest strength. This image could have been nice had I not got the focus on his shoe instead of his face : )

Limehouse is a lovely area. Whenever I pass through it I don’t feel like I’m in London until the buildings in the distance remind me.

40 floors up

Hackney

Correct focusing (judging distance) + good composure + perfect timing = successfully shooting from the hip

The below has incorrect focusing and bad composure. This method of shooting definitely isn’t my best.

Again, incorrectly focusing from the hip:

How much practice do I need?! At least you can see the fine detail in TFL’s Tube upholstery.

Kingsbury

Dhokla – a Gujarati speciality:

En route to Zurich

This is why I always insist on having a window seat:

I think I was the only female on the plane. Only businessmen in suits take 7am flights, apparently.

Zurich

Finishing off the first roll with a self-portrait:

Haven’t done one of those in a while.

The Apple store:

I haven’t seen one of those phones in a while. I can’t imagine using anything other than a smartphone now.

I’m surprised some of these shots came out so dark considering it was still fairly light and I was shooting at f1.8 with ISO 400.. hmm.

It was 30C every day while I was in Zurich and I spent most of the days indoors (in the office), so in the evenings I made the most of the weather and walked around the lake, which is stunning.

Teuscher – one of the best chocolate shops:

There is no excuse for getting the focus wrong here as I was looking through the view-finder:

They were playing chess. They noticed me as soon as I clicked, and they found it amusing that they had just been photographed. Too bad I ruined the frame!

One to full-view:

I had to get a shot from the front.

He winked as soon as I took it, and then followed me slowly on his bike until I took the stairs down to the banks of the lake. I saw him with his gf I assume maybe an hour later as I sat on a bench, and he slowed down and stared at me, but of course didn’t say anything in the presence of his gf. It was a funny moment.

Awesome band playing by the lake – Asep Stone Experience:

That was the last frame. By now it was around 8pm and too dark for Kodak 400, and I was gutted I’d left a roll of Neopan 1600 in the hotel. It would have been dark by the time I would have fetched it, so I had no choice but to switch to my trusty digital.