“I have seen a face with a thousand countenances, and a face that was but a single countenance as if held in a mould.
I have seen a face whose sheen I could look through to the ugliness beneath, and a face whose sheen I had to lift to see how beautiful it was.
I have seen an old face much lined with nothing, and a smooth face in which all things were graven.
I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Madman
Faces and faces and faces
is the eternal story of man
the story of human races
man the day he is born
his face he unwittingly
embraces .. dreams
from birth to death
he chases .his giant
leaps his tortoise like
paces ..his face holds
all the mysteries of a
world secrets hidden
in phrases ..molecular
particles spectral traces
some moments he recreates
others he erases .hardships
sorrows sufferings he faces
Shooting faces is a great pictorial pastime , some use special lens , some shoot in studios street artists shoot in ambient light and it is fascinating the number of faces you see some you shoot some you might not be able to shoot ,, some people mostly conservative Muslims take offense ,,and here I must tell you I shot a lady living out her last days and she was informed by a relative about my photo study of her poetcizing her pain so the Great Church of Christ and its white cassock ed souls could condescend to see her and wash away her sins before her untimely death , instead the lady concerned asked me to remove her pictures I did it immediately ,,, respect for the wishes of the people you shoot is very important .. and I also removed an old mans pictures when his loudmouth American based grandson took objection his grandmother used to hawk ladies garments in the market ,,the old man died recently and both loved Marziya my granddaughter .
So shooting faces is a real tough one , for those who shoot from far and call it candid s it much too easy ..shoot and move away ,, I have shot a lot of faces in Ajmer during the Urus and among the Rafaees Malangs Mastans you find a wide array of faces .. the most intriguing faces are of the Moosa or Sada Suhagins ascetics Sufi followers who are spiritual cross dressers they are men , they maybe married too but they dress like women without being effeminate , they are robust masculine with mustache and beards .
The next faces are of beggars and here you have to be tactful, give them some money endear yourself to them and request permission to shoot them , if they agree you could get a great photo study.. I have a cosmic relationship with beggars as I have begged with a lot of them at Ajmer , I carry my beggars bowl too and sit at Dhai Djinn Ka Jhopda , I have begged with Rafaees and the Naga Sadhus too. My earnings I give to a bigger much poorer beggar than me .
I shoot a continuing story board of a few beggars some have however disappeared but I shoot in Bandra Khwajah Bhai Jaffar Bhai both senior beggars at Bandra Bazar Road .
And I am shooting two new beggars with highly dramatic faces I feed them too.. but the most tragic is the child beggar I shot in Ajmer with no arms and accusing eyes , he was never happy to be friendly with me.
Appu the beggar from Assam with no hands or legs merely a torso has disappeared too.. I search for him both at Mahim Minara Masjid and Chor Bazar .
The next lot of faces mystically supreme and forcefully spiritual are the Naga Sadhus and I shot a lot during my stay at Maha Kumbh.. once you are known to them you can shoot them smoking ganja or doing puja or yoga ,, the foreigner Naga Sadhus dont take too kindly to Indian photographers I think.
The last but not the least is Hijra portraiture I must be humble but I have shot the largest number of Hijra transgender faces , old hags , beggar hijras , beautiful hijra divas , hijra children..I was lucky and most of the Hijras knew me , including the prostitute hijras and beggar hijras in trains .
Some hijras can be spiteful abusive but it did not matter if I wanted to shoot them..and I still shoot them though my pictures are not on public domain, I shot hijras taking a bath at the Sangam and I shoot a lot ,, I shot hijras piercing a rod 18 feet long during the Marriammen feast I shot Hijras being initiated at Hijra Gully No 1 .
So shooting faces is an amazing art and all you need is a bit of kindness and humility of your camera .. and if you give some money to the beggar you shoot he will bless you , I have yet to see a photographer carrying a model release form while shooting beggars so he can have his pictures chosen by Getty Images ,,for sale LOL ..
And I did not intend too write this much text but an earthen post filled with water has to be shared with everyone ,,and faces is something that intrigue us all beautiful faces , ugly faces faces with pock marks faces burnt with acid faces with sockets for eyes , leprous faces , faces that have masks over faces , and maybe our face is actually a mask over the sum total of our being ..
Faces ..of Human Races
scratch it another thought surfaces
