There are a lot of friends who always grumble there is nothing to shoot in Mumbai .. and than it depends on what you want to shoot ..I mean there is more to Mumbai than Mahalaxmi Dhobhi Ghats or the over stated Dharavi slums ,,
Luckily in my case I decided to shoot communities , religion culture rituals hijras and beggars garbage in my backyard.. now I create videos more than a single frame ,,
I can go on shooting Dabbawalas , I know most of them in Bandra , the moment they see me they stop their cycle and start chatting with me ,, more than shooting them I created a human bond with their work and their existence.
I once shot the whippers that beg whipping their bodies , I sometimes take their whip and lash myself too.. so I created a bond of humble humanity with them.
I shoot barbers is an understatement ,, I prolifically shot barbers,
The hijra community I dont shoot as aggressively or insanely as I did in my early years but I do shoot them on video..I give them a lot of respect and they respect me too.
I stopped stalking them but instead they stalk me on the roads in the trains I cant escape them at all.. if I dont have a camera I shoot them on my mobile phone.
Photography is seasonal depending on the feasts .. the next big one is Chehlum 40 days of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain and I am waiting for my wife to return from Karbala in a few days than decide where to go ,,,maybe to Delhi where my daughter stays nothing is final it happens cosmically ,,
I shoot a garbage video almost every day close to where I stay at Bandra Bazar Road ,,and the Municipality with all the phoren trips that their members take still dont know a shit about garbage management , the only time garbage in my area will disappear when our PM ji Modiji pays a visit to Advocate Ashish Shelars house ..also at Bandra Bazar Road ,,all the BJP volunteers will see that not a single speck of dust meets our PMs hawk eyes ,,,
And here in Bandra where I stay I am sure that the Congress Party will find it very difficult to win the Civic Municipal elections ,, for 15 years they did nothing and the garbage has come home to roost .. I have been shooting Garbage for over 15 years now at Bandra Bezar Bizarre Road.
So these are stray thoughts on photography , people and street photography...my grandkids too think they have shot so much of shit in Bandra that they have lost their enthusiasm and passion for photography ,, but they look forward to the photographers that visit my house ,,,impressing them with their camera shots rather than poetry or any other subject.
They have not got over Manuela Nesci who was at our house a few months back..
