Hafiza Bi Standing Tall

Hafiza Bi Standing Tall, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

I made Hafiza bi stand on a landing of a neighbors house, I did not not know why I did this at that time, just a poetic impulse or because the floor was messy as the rebuilding of her house is not complete , they have had a lot of problems getting it done ..

And Hafiza Bi immediately draped her dupatta , and stood by me, and was gushing with excitement as her daughter is going to be visiting her from Manhattan New York, and is keen on me meeting her.

She is happy that her daughter gets her news via my blogs, and sees her mother whom I love to shoot, not for any other reason , but it gives me pride that this Muslim woman , works , slogs without complaining..and here I can tell you , Hafiza Bi loves her hand cart on which she sells ladies and children s garments more than her life..

So more than Hafiza Bi as a woman , I shoot Hafiza Bi as a kinetic energy , as Muslim torch bearer of work, and aging with dignity.

I dont compose my pictures , I dont crop, I shoot as I see it not a picture but as a fulfilled dream of life ,in the shimmering waters of hope as reflected on my soul..
I present this to you as a photo blog..photography for photography's sake is not photography at all, hanging on a salon wall with a certificate of merit ribbon is not the kind of photography I do..my pictures would be thrown into a dustbin..

So I walked away from regressive camera clubs, I walked away from the hallowed walls where blogs as pictures will never hang , and I have no regrets I reach a wider audience at the click of a mouse. I am an international photographer as my photos are stories of people that live life without knowing what I have written about them...and are read globally on cyberspace..

And they will live long after I am dead and gone.

So now you see sometimes you have to let your subject stand taller than you as a photographer ..this quality of tallness requires no photo shopping ..it requires a human face and an indomitable spirit of survival..

I give you Hafiza Bi of Indraji Nagar Bandra.