Firoze Shakir Poet - Frozen Time: 01/17/12

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I shoot document Hinduism Sufism Christianity and the pain of the Shias as a blogger I shoot a lot of things , including the androgynous angst of the transgender, as a beggar poet I decipher the the lunacy of unliving on the streets of beggar the homeless and the hopeless.

As a Indian born Shia Muslim I have seven years asa blogger complied the Shia ethos in the few major cities of India where Shias abound, I maybe a Shia opinionated but I have shot my culture my heritage truthfully .. I certainly dont proselytize or engelize nor do I glorify the blood bath that I have shot of the Shias or the kama zani of little kids imposed by Shia parents ..I am a photo journalist blog first and last.

I am not a Mullah, I am not a preacher I am not a Shia promoter or spammer to say the least but I shoot prolifically you would if you were me nurtured on truth , honesty sincerity..I am never short of pictures and I will never have a picture or camera mental block.. I shoot without ridiculing the culture or people I shot , I become the religion I shoot.. I am a Shia Hindu and a Dam Madar Malang too.. above all a citizen of the world.

From 4 pm till 11 pm I shot the Chehlum event also known as Arbaeen or 40 day of Imam Hussains Martyrdom..what I am posting is a 11 GB card I shoot Raw and JPEG fine I have two more cards to upload I see my pictures when I blog them I hardly delete my pictures nor do I tweak them ...so it is raining blood sweat and tears at my Flickr photo stream..

After I complete this street lot of Chehlum procession that begins from Moghul Masjid and moves towards the Shia Rehmatabad cemetery via JJ Hospital Noor Bagh Dongri..I have another hardcore blodd letting segment , pictures you will never see in any city of India ..the matam inside the cemetery is so profound so bloody that as photographer not scared of death I have shot it without fear inches away from flying blades daggers and swords..and yet as a still photographer I dont know I can grab everything around and my head that I cut on the streets does not stop bleeding as I am pushed pulled trampled I like the rest of the mourners are barefeet..

The Rehmatabad segment will take some time to come online my uploading takes time I dont resize my photos..there were two or three other photographers documenting this but I am perhaps the only one that posts all this on the Internet as a photo journalist photo blog..

I have cut my head here inside the cemetery but I cant shoot pictures the blood seeps inside my camera and being a diabetic my wounds take time to stop bleeding , and this wound that I incurred on my head required stitches but I have let it be , I had it dressed at a Bandra clinic and he pleaded me to have it stitched I told him just clean it bandage my head no ointment no medicines no anti biotics..

Mot of my pictures are textless but this introduction was necessary for those on Google+ who might be seeing my pictures for the first time I am not on Facebook..

Saif my son Baqar and Me

Saif my son Baqar and Me, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

Baqar Nasser and The Beggar Poet of Mumbai

Baqar Nasser and The Beggar Poet of Mumbai, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

As a Shia I Shoot My Ancestry My Heritage of Pain My Roots

As a Shia I Shoot My Ancestry My Heritage of Pain My Roots, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

a mother i salute
blood sweat and tears
my pictures my poetry
my pathos my tribute
through our blood
our curses
house of yazid
of ill repute
we refute
when the grandson
of the holy prophet
was slaughtered
they watched
him muslim eunuchs
deaf and mute