I Am Not Obsessed With Hijras But Yes I Shoot Them With A Unkindled Passion, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
186,253 items / 1,466,724 views
Hijras dont turn me on , I have no allure to hijra sex sexuality but as a photographer I shoot hijras as a nature lover shoots flamingos at the Sewri mudflats of Mumbai .. their poetic flights their beauty their collective grace and charm.
I cant explain a better metaphor and though among birds I am more fascinated with vultures for reasons unknown to me.. I call them the King of the Bird Kingdom..
The Hijra is a King too but in a more poetic womanly way..and my hijra pictures have not come easy I dont have the money funds or the resources to meet hijra heads and shoot their brood.
The way I dress is what makes hijras wary of me they consider me a tantric who steals hijra souls .. yes I do.. its part of the gift god blessed with me as a photographer and as a poet too.
I have kind considerate human Hijra Guru but I have never twisted her arms to get me pictures of hijras I get them on my own..its a moment known as my tryst with hijras or hijra vardan.
I dont have hijra friends I meet them shot them move along , and among all the hijras I have shot the only hijra that creates magic within me as a poet is Khushi from Mumbai and I only meet her if God wills.
I dont ever stalk hijras but yes most of them stalk me ..they come in my way on the roads at religious events and in trains too.,..I met one in a public toilet simply because I had entered a ladies loo by mistake it was a defunct one so it happens .. sometimes in life we walk with our eyes closed..
Ma Madhurima and Baby Hijra Guru have been my support and have always been there for me I hold them in the highest regard..
I am very close to the Delhi hijras but Delhi is damned far away from where I stay in Bandra..so I meet them at Haji Malang or Ajmer Sharif and its all about trust because they trust me they allow me in the inner circle of their social life and I shoot pictures if they tell me not to shoot I dont shoot.
These pictures the most memorable are in this set Simran Dancers birthday party I shot several years back at Madh Island I was invited by Simran a very highly educated cultured transgender..this is one birthday she wont forget neither will I..
I shot this as poetry and perhaps because I shot this as poetry I have never been invited to any hijra birthday party..and people some of them who come to such parties dont wont to be sen in pictures , some have yet to come out of the closet.. so the fear and the humiliation is always there.
At Haji Malang I see a lot of rich studs toyboys of the hijras who drunk ask me to shoot them with the hijras I refuse..
Hijras want me to shoot them in the raw I am a lover of Art but I politely refuse though I have shot a bit of Raveena , pictures of her changing from one attire to another I have not displayed publically.
I am a poet I shoot poetry I dont ridicule mock the people I shoot they are perhaps more human than I am challenged to because of gender ambiguity and what has their sexual orientation go to do with my shooting hijras..
I dont shoot gay but yes I do shoot cross dressers not the whorish kind but the cultured ones that come from good homes and I shoot them with respect and dignity.. I am not a fashion folio photographer I am a street photographer I shoot them in street kind of way .. cal it cul de sac.. one way entry no pun intended.
I dont shoot lesbians I dont inter act with them or get in their way if I know they are lesbians it is their prerogative and their call its their private thing ..their one to one with god and their sexuality..
And this too was a blank post I added a bit of fuel to fire..
