Sometimes I Wonder If I Was Not a Photographer Could I Have Shown You All This, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I learnt photography very very late in life and accidentally , I was a hardcore early morning booze guzzling alcoholic, a habit I could not get rid of as much as I tried ,I was very good at my work but I had a fucked notion that persisted I thought I was creative because I drank..
I drank and drank my life away, till one day about 17 years back I kicked the habit once and for all, and took up an intoxicating time pass photography, I began shooting the streets with the Nikon F 50..later Nikon F 90 X and the F 100..and thus began my tryst with film...and slides.
I shot to kill time never made a single dime on what I shot instead I began collecting old antique cameras and than sold them all for peanuts..about 275 of them.. twin lens reflex box cameras range finders etc...
I had to learn Photoshop computers once photography went digital, than came the Internet and the blogs, Buzznet Blogspot Fotothing and finally Wordpress and Flickr..Twitter Facebook and than No Facebook just Google+
So it has been a long journey since 2005 as a photo blogger and Flickr is Home of my over 200000 images I made some great friends as a blogger I fell in love with shadows being an incorrigible dreamer and a poet..
I began shooting hijras eunuchs transgender with a kindled passion , met the most beautiful women all hijras , documented their paper thin dreams their androgynous angst and it continues till one day when this flickering flames goes off.
I taught my first grand child the love of creating images , and today at 4 she shoots on the Canon 7 D and I have decided to sell both my infidel Nikons and proselytize my soul with Canon optics and technology, got sick and tired of shooting and promoting Nikon .. no more ..
My 6 month old grand child too is hooked on the camera and just loves it with a divine passion I have already begun teaching her to shoot picturesx and she began walking on the walker since yesterday.. she is a very fast learner..but the beauty in my house is my third grand child who lights up the moment she sees me.
My Haji Malang trip the arduous trek barefeet, my swollen legs my diabetic condition , have not finished me up yet and I have decided to take prior leave from work to go to Ajmer .. for the Urus of Khwajah Moinuddin Chishty..
I told my wife I will take her one day to Haji Malang she simply smiled she is a devout Shia and God and the Imams have been generous they call her to Karbala Najaf Damascus every Ashura , and they give her wings she flies away ...leaving me to shoot my Karbala that is Hindustan...I have no regrets no qualms .. I know if I did get a ticket to go to Krbala I would give it to someone more poorer and more deserving than me.
Well back to basics the person in the picture is Nisha a hijra eunuch transgender , the only hijra I shot breast feeding a child , my only daring pictures of a martyred motherhood I shot this a poet as a human being who loves kids ..and Nisha as she is caled loves kids , she stays with a family at Haji Malang away from the gathering of hijras who live in lodes ,.. she does her own thing , but she loves me and perhaps is the first hijra who addresses me as Bhai or Brother..
This time she called me in , fed me with papad and some bhajiyas she offered me biryani but I politely refused I had a long shoot ahead ..and we chatted about other hijras who normally come here but have gone to Kalliar Sharif Kamini and Co..
For the first time we exchanged numbers she invites me to Delhi but I have never gone back..I might one day who knows ..but I do want to visit Kalliar Sharif , Mira Datar in Unjha and Tajuddin Baba in Nagpur , I am not much into dfargah circuits and also Makanpur as a Dam Madar Malang that I humbly am..
No I dont want to go to New York Rome or France..I would love to go to Philippines to shoot the 14 Stations of the cross ..
And this is a very long series all shot in a single day.. MTNL Broadband plays spoilsport most of my uploads crash because of bad infrastructure lousy fucked slow connection..
