. . Jokïng Lady . . Photo

Photographer’s Note

Part of my series of working women in the old Visakaptnam market, during a moment a bit more relaxed : for fun, the younger women suggested to some of the older ones to take each 2 similar fruits or veg. and pose in such a way...
- she is here too, with a friend who is more shy (same "game"),
- and another woman having a good laugh too, although slightly more embarrassed.

Nowhere else did I see a group of brave and hard working women acting so freely in public (in India), daring somewhat salacious jokes - but nothing really obscene ! ... And all by signs, because no one could speak a word of English. Naturally, the younger women refused to pose in such a way. Maybe is it the fact that earning their living made them more independent and hence, more daring in public ? I was very surprised and thrilled by this "decisive moment" !
(I would have loved to research this group, to know more about their jobs, their homes and families, how much they earned etc... so many hidden stories...)

Earlier posts with the same group of women :
market women smoking cigars (plus 5 other photos) and
market women arguing loudly.

faubry, papagolf21, ChrisJ, thea0211, rigoletto, parbo, bostankorkulugu, sevy has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

faubry (32249) 2008-10-04 4:45

héhé trop amusante cette femme, j'aime beaucoup es couleurs vives usuelles en Inde, de très bons détails sur sa peau bronzée, intéressant environnement.
passe un bon we; bises
je pars en Inde le 17 novembre;
francine

ChrysK (495) 2008-10-04 5:00

Heloo Catherine,
Wonderful shot of this woman, she has a very expressive face & you have captured it well. I like the humor and the colurs are wonderfully vivid.
Chrystyna

papagolf21 (56096) 2008-10-04 5:15

Bonjour, chère Catherine,
Il faut qu'il y ait une complicité entre le photographe et le personnage mis en scène. Ici, les deux photos sont excellentes, car il y a un échange.
Il y a de l'humour, de la tendresse dans ces réalisations.
Très bonne observation.
Amitiés.
Philippe

ChrisJ (69941) 2008-10-04 6:03

Hi Catherine

The dual green mangoes, certainly grab the viewers attention, in this superb daily life scene. Good color & sharpness. Tfs!

fariischee (580) 2008-10-04 6:35

i like the pureness of this picture. some how there a two eally good subjects in photography.. 1 is pictures of new born .2 pictures of elderly..

like i said.. this one is a pure old lady.
cheers

MarcT (21079) 2008-10-04 8:48

Salut Cath,
Elle est colorée, amusante, joyeuse même et ,qui sait, coquine... les citrons aux niveaux de la poitrine ... :o))
Amitiés
Marc

thea0211 (1355) 2008-10-04 9:07

and a smile back ;o) ... talking about the colors of life.
i love her 'colors'. and the life around. and the smile now matter what. and the innocent fun. and that ageless innocence.
is this earth a beautiful place or what?

thanks cath. again.

dora

rigoletto (26084) 2008-10-04 11:44

I get polonaise very well and what he intended with his WS. Actually, i love the WS, but i wouldn't also be able to sacrifice those colors. They are so real and not pretending as well. The eye contact and the pretending gesture (as if she is serious) are spot on. Delicious boobs indeed...
Cheers,
Deniz

lestans (15438) 2008-10-04 12:22

Great work, Cath!
Brava!!! Mi piace molto la simmetria, il gioco di colori, ed anche le banane sullo sfondo. E soprattutto l'espressione della donna!!!
Ciao!!

Livia

grigand (12586) 2008-10-04 12:35

Hi Catherine,
Ottimo ritratto, bella l'espressione della donna e la qualità ottima dell'immagine ne fanno un scatto interessante.
ciao
andrea

Polonaise (5632) 2008-10-04 12:37

My first reaction to your post, Cathy:
Why not make a photography out of your post instead of the simple registration ?

Few words of explanation...

Dearest... We are flooded with the photos from India !!!
It is only natural that we react to it as we should react: With the shrug of our shoulders...
After all - how many fotkas from India a man can absorb in his single life?

This photo is slightly different, though...
It's that 'posing' stuff in there...
It is in the good, old tradition of a serious photography... The portrait photography - that is...
The true to the core look into someone's eyes and finding that thin thread of relation with your subject... The thread of communication...

" We - You and me - are the same species...
I know what you're thinking and you know everything about me " - kind of thing.

But - to have that 'photography' element dominant in this photo, you have to remove some of the typical for India oddity of those bright colors, messy, cluttered backgrounds and whatever comes with it in every India' photo... In gazillions of them - as a matter of fact...
Because we've seen all of them so any times... More than we need to see...
In other words:
The best photos from India right now, would be those with as little India element in them - as possible...
:-))))

Here I go... With another workshop ( say a word and it will disappear quickly)
I tried to remove as much of the 'India' stuff as possible and preserve as much of her soul in there as possible...
First and most important removal: The colors of India.
Nobody of a healthy mind would miss the colors of India after seeing million times the colors of India ( and another few millions of them are approaching very fast !)
The second element: The clutters !!!
Removing them only as much as they won't be the competitors to your main theme: The woman with the tits in her hands (:-)))

...................

That 'would you pose for me' idea of yours, Katarzyna...
It was that idea that prompted me to react strongly...

The posing people in the photo..?

I believe - it's the most challenging aspect of the people's photography...
A true sign of your skills... As a photographer and as a human being...
I found myself in the position that, if I can't arrange the 'things' in the photo - I'm losing part of my power of manipulating the world accordingly to my vision of the world ( and to my vision of the photography, as well).
It's like, if someone told me: George…You are not allowed to lie about the world anymore…

????

I can't afford such situation… As long as I am George G. a.k.a. Polonaise.

Love, Katarzyna
Love and respect

g
............

[workshop] [compare] +

ajayrawat (266) 2008-10-04 12:59

Hello Catherine,
Complements on your style of pictures you have posted, I found that you manage to find humor in daily life and how you go and interact with your subjects and how well you derive a unusual, unexpected great result every time...well almost specially in this series I found the game a bit cheesy, had it came from a man I would have felt really bad about such so called game.

scalerman (25707) 2008-10-04 13:39

Catherine: brilliant portrait - faithful and precise sharpening - and a real window into a slice of India underrepresented here on TE. Great work! c

emka (21177) 2008-10-04 15:12

Hi Cath, Very nice portrait, exotic and nice. I have never seen such a nose jewellery. Is it used to close her mouth :)? I like Indian women very much , they seem to me the most elegant women in the world. She also looks splendid. Imposing bananas.

Regards

Malgorzata

parbo (10966) 2008-10-04 18:13

Salut Catherine,

Fantastic workshop as many friends said already. I like both of them in vivid colors especially using same style of ornaments on their faces. Great one, excellent focus. I checked all series! Congratulations. Have a nice week end.

Amitiés

Ertugrul

nirvana73 (8598) 2008-10-05 1:16

Merhaba Catherine,
çok güzel bir portre
renkler ve sunum harika
paylaşım için teşekkürler
selamlarımla
Özhan

bostankorkulugu (33482) 2008-10-05 2:58

glad you did not sacrifice these colours as green mango boobs look so much better then the grey ones, lol:D... and not to forget those phallic bananas behind! >:PPP... loved the note, loved the colour combination, loved the expression on her face... great job as always cath...

cheers

korkut

cyrrhus (2878) 2008-10-05 6:02

Bonjour Catherine
Je vois que j'ai raté bcp de magnifiques photos ces derniers temps. Je m'arrête sur celle-ci que je trouve très réussie.
Un très beau jeu de couleurs pour mettre ce visage en valeur. J'ai d'autant plus apprécié quand j'ai compris la raison de cette pose étrange en lisant ta note.
Eric /.

sevy (13206) 2008-10-06 1:24

Bonjour Catherine,

Aussi bien la version couleur que N&B sont interessantes (et reussies). En N&B, il y a un leger masquage de l arriere plan qui fonctionne tres bien et je prefere celui avec les fruits clairs.
En couleur, je regrette un peu la profondeur de champs un peu trop importante, j aurais bien voulu avoir un fond plus flouté, mais je sais que ce n est pas possible avec l Ixus.
Ta note est tres bien car elle montre bien combien cette scene est "hors norme" en Inde et dans bien d autres pays du monde.

Yves.

Stepan (27175) 2008-10-06 11:41

Je n'avais pas compris le jeu lors du précédent post, mais maintenant c'est clair. Et du coup, l'éclat du contraste est encore plus étonnant, encore plus frappant, encore plus fort simplement.
Un grand moment de connivence comme souvent...
Superbe.
Stéphane

ninaL (19426) 2008-10-07 12:18

Chère Catherine...
Moi, qui préfère les photos en NB, et qui supporte mal le vert et le bleu, je trouve qu'ici, tout est parfait !!! ;))))
Oui, ici, ces couleurs sont indispensable, s'imposent avec toute évidence, et je préfère ta version au WS de George.
La composition est excellente, avec des fruits faisant office de seins ;))).
J'adore.
Amitiés encore, Grazyna.