The event of the day (1972) Photo

Photographer’s Note

Just a picture of a crowd, you may think. Personally, I find this photo rather amusing.

The young man with the camera is Chris, a traveller from Australia. We happened to stay in the same dormitory in Calcutta, and since we were both heading for Bangladesh, we decided to go together for a few days.

This was in late 1972, just a year after the Bangladesh war of independence, The country was fairly chaotic and the number of foreign tourists virtually nil (well, maybe five). Wherever we went we caused a sensation and were surrounded by crowds, young and old alike. Never unfriendly, just very curious.

The crowds sometimes made it impossible for us to take any photos, because there would always be a number of faces staring into our cameras. So now and then we tried a tactic where one of us would pretend to take pictures of the crowd, while the other would discreetly go away and take the "real" pictures.

This was one of those occasions when Chris was pretending, and I turned back to se how he was doing.

This picture was scanned from an East German Orwo original b&w negative.

mafegan, fanni, skippy007 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

saxo042 (16576) 2009-08-14 11:35

Hej Gert,
What happened to Chris? Is he also posting his pictures here on TE? Was he of your age? Very special picture anyway, you fooled everyone of them, except that boy to the far left! He is looking into your camera, he saw it all!
Hälsningar
Gunnar

nirvana73 (8884) 2009-08-14 13:06

Hello Gert
very nice shot in diffucult situation
the crowds are very curious
thanks for sharing and explantions
best regards
Ozhan

bukitgolfb301 (5144) 2009-08-14 14:21

Hello my dear Gert

What a documentary and impressive shot !
Usage of B&W description is quite effective as usual. Your note is also very interesting.
Congratulation on your good job !
Thanks for sharing and best regards,
Have a good weekend !
Takero

emka (22797) 2009-08-14 23:08

Hi Gert,
haha, East German orwo, I remember! I started to make colour ORWO slides a bit earlier, in 1971 when my son was a baby. It was really great to have colour photos! It lasted more than a month to have the film processed. How eagerly I waited for this moment. ...Now after all these years the photos can have any value only for me. Very nice scene. amazing quality.

regards

Malgorzata

mafegan (4633) 2009-08-15 4:15

Hi Gert
You tell a good story and the resulting photo is worthwhile. Only 1 or 2 people are aware of your camera. I imagine it was the event of the day or perhaps even the week. Tfs, Marlene

Glint (3110) 2009-08-17 8:52

hello gert,
I like the story here, as ever very intersting. You have had an intersting life and its great that you have captured much of your travels on film.Here you have managed to squeeze so many into your frame.Fascinating!
Bev

fanni (9037) 2009-08-18 6:14

Hello Gert,
the photo is interesting, without doubt! And now I know how to make little "tricks" when taking photos in similar situations ;) Thanks for the idea!
On the screen of my monitor the image looks a bit too dark, but I guess, again, it's because of your Mac and my PC :)
Oh yes, like Gunnar said, the boy on the left guessed your trick with the cameras :)
Kind regards,
Elena

Greg1949 (8545) 2009-08-20 3:11

Gert, nice stuff, the guy in the middle make this a great one, so much detail across the frame and his eyes stand out, fine work.

Greg

skippy007 (7451) 2009-08-20 22:11

Hello Gert, Amusing little story, I find it interesting that you companion here is from Australia and it is one of the few countries you have yet to visit, maybe one day?
A very impressive shot, well worth seeing, with real documentary value & one that I am sure brings back many fond memories. Well done.
Thanks
Regards
Santo