Portrait of a Pahari Photo

Photographer’s Note

Staying on in Harsil ...

The lack of light and intermittent rains made landscape photography very difficult during my two days of stay here. It was cool and windy in Harsil, and the locals, mostly comprising of Tibetans and Paharis were busy or idle in their own ways. Not much work for people in Harsil except for attending to the sheep, from which they get the wool for spinning & knitting for onward selling of the knitted woolen garments and some very small scale agriculture. Men folk generally were congregated in small groups in the main street, idling and chatting, while the women and girls were busy knitting & weaving.

I caught up with one of the Paharis in the main street (or rather, path) which runs through the village. I found language to be a main barrier, as these people did not understand Hindi very well. Pahari is a word, derived from 'pahar' meaning mountain & thus literally means 'of the mountain'. Paharis constitute about three-fifths the population of Nepal and a majority of the population of neighbouring Himalayan India (in Himachal Pradesh and Uttranchal). They speak languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family; the people are historically ancient, having been mentioned by the authors Pliny and Herodotus and figuring in India’s epic poem, the Mahābhārata. Their numbers were estimated to be about 20,000,000 in the early 21st century.

I liked his hat, which is generally worn by Paharis of Himachal Pradesh. The round cap with a colourful band on the front fold is called "Himachali Topi". Unfortunately my conversation with Bir Singh was very limited...but he was happy seeing his picture in my camera LCD.

PS : I was very excited about the quality of this and my other portraits from Harsil. The difference of an SLR with my earlier Panasonic I guess accounts for most of the quality difference. Hardly any PP done in this picture except resizing & one pass of Smart Sharpening.

jhm, holmertz, pauloog, subhendu_bagchi, ChrisJ, pierrefonds, PixelTerror, feather, belido, Wanda1, yquem46, lacroux, josepmarin, gervaso, leo61, ymrk, patdeph, danos, Bluejeans, westcoastgirl1, axiotea has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jasmis (50995) 2009-10-06 0:41

Perfect portrait of a superb model. What a glance!
Regards my dear friend.

jhm (83328) 2009-10-06 0:58

Hello Angshu,

Splendid portrait Angshu, sharpness and clarity are wonderful.
Perhaps one advice best friend, try perhaps a square format, I think that this be a lot better.
Wonderful captured, good composed and nice presentaion,
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

holmertz (9963) 2009-10-06 1:35

Hello Angshuman,
A fine portrait with fantastic sharpness, showing us every wrinkle of the man's face. Very good light with all parts of the photo perfectly exposed. His hat is a real eye-catcher.
Regards,
Gert

pauloog (6905) 2009-10-06 1:37

Hello Angshu,
A telling portrait of a man who must have endured a lot during his life...
Clear, sharp and a very expressive face with mix of curiosity and anxiety.
Regards,
Paul

subhendu_bagchi (3498) 2009-10-06 3:53

Namashkar Angshu da,
very neat and clean image of a hilly man. His eye says that he is a poor and hard working man. Your framing is great here. Nice exposer and depth. Good detailling of his face. I would like to thank you for posting it.
Have a nice day.
Subhendu

[workshop] [compare]

ChrisJ (70443) 2009-10-06 4:05

Hello Angshu

Outstanding textural details, in the old mans weather beaten face. A superb portrait and daily life scene, with excellent dof, colour & sharpness. Tfs!

pierrefonds (26645) 2009-10-06 5:04

Hi Angshuman,

You have capture dwll the sad expression of the man. The portrait is showing the face of a man who worked very hard. The subject is well framed. Well done, have a nice day.

Pierre

PixelTerror (86839) 2009-10-06 5:14

Hi Angshu
This image tells a lot about hard life, very nice portrait with spot on focus and appropriate DoF
Have a nice day

feather (50144) 2009-10-06 6:27

You have every right to be excited as the quality is superb. We can see every line on his face and even the fluff on his clothes. The DOF was very well chosen as the background is perfectly blurred so the man stands out well. Like you say, his hat is the first thing to catch the eye with its striking colours. The fact he is looking up at you makes him appear humble. As you well know I am no portrait expert, but the experts may suggest you bring yourself down to his level for a different appearance and to show more strength of character. Very good work though. I'd be more than happy with this.
Kath

belido (16857) 2009-10-06 7:16

Hi Angshuman,

man, you did a great job with the poor 18-55mm. I myself have one of those. The quality of the photo is really impressive. A lovely portrait of the old guy. Well framed, good depth and superb details!
Regards,
Carlos

carper (65646) 2009-10-06 7:56

very good portrait my friend,
good details, fine eye contact with the camera. good quality job, have a nice day.
regard jaap

Bartleby (5140) 2009-10-06 8:05

Hi Angshu,

I like this portrait of yours. The wrinkles on this guy's face are really impressive. The gray wall also works well as a neutral BG.

Best,

Philippe

Wanda1 (11015) 2009-10-06 9:43

Hello Angshuman,
A good quality portrait indeed, where we can see the details well on this mans face, and he has nice interesting features. I think that the overcast weather was to your advantage in this case as you have no harsh light to create any harsh shadows. He looks like he has seen many years and a hard life up there in the mountains. I do like his hat as well, and what makes it even better is that it is unique to these people. I like that you have chosen a horizontal format for your portrait and placed the man off centre in the frame. Together with your intersting note it is a great aswell as an educational portrait.
Best Regards
Wanda

yquem46 (8449) 2009-10-06 12:05

A nice portrait Angshu on a neutral BG
The image and your note show us the world
best to you
patrick

emka (22319) 2009-10-06 15:06

Hi Angshuman, Splendid portrait of this old highlander. I like his funny hat. And how he looks at you. Superb quality of the picture

Very interesting the note, too.

Regards

Malgorzata

lacroux (3178) 2009-10-07 1:25

Hello Angshu
A portrait with great human feeling and clarity.
Good use of the depth of field to highlight the subject.
Think you for your note which was very useful for someone who doesn't know your country ... and who wants to make progress in English.

Have a nice day.
Pierre.

josepmarin (34099) 2009-10-07 4:03

Namaste Angshuman,
You have reason, the quality of image is extraordinary in this capture. The portrait of this man offers us the whole details of his face, of his wrinkled skin and of the textures of his clothes, under an excellent lighting.
It is a fantastic photo, you have done a great work.
Friendly regards,
Josep

Graal (58720) 2009-10-07 6:09

Hi Angshuman,
an interesting face of old man, good portrait. Well DOF and composed image. Good note also. Solid job.
Gr., Aleksander

jafadabret (40323) 2009-10-07 9:34

Bonjour Angshu.
Ce portrait est du grand art. Je pense que le manque de soleil est ici favorable au rendu des couleurs et de l'expression du visage.
Beau travail !
Amical salut !
Jacques

gervaso (5692) 2009-10-07 10:49

Hello, Angshuman!

Excellent portrait of this old man, with excellent use of depth of field and sharpness! Very good colors as well! Good job!

leo61 (43734) 2009-10-07 10:52

HI Angshu!
A very well compose portrait with the blurred,diagonal wall in the background.The sharpness at his face is perfect and Ilike the expression at his face and the bright green of his hat.
Regards,leo

ymrk (9119) 2009-10-07 11:21

Are there always that style Models in India?Because that property is charming me! ;)) Very succesfully taking.You had looked very greatly to him.Congratulations!

Yağmur

plimrn (19710) 2009-10-07 20:15

Hi Angsu,
This is an excellent portrait with perfect DOF which makes the Pahari almost leap off the screen. I can see why you were pleased; the quality is excellent with your minimal processing. It sounds like clearly I can look forward to more portraits. There's something to said for lousy weather, it encourages creativity...and you have risen to the challenge.
HLJ, Pat

patdeph (18338) 2009-10-07 22:35

namaste Angshuman
this is a very beautiful portrait!The expression of the man is a little bit sad!His hat is superb,and gives nice colors standing out the grey wall!The sharpness is excellent!
Regards
Pascale

Waylim (11157) 2009-10-07 23:26

Hi Angshu,
What a compelling portrait shot, the quality of the shot is pitch perfect, but the best of all is your charactor, so much is history carved in that sentimental and full of wrinkle face. His stare is so engaging, there seem to be a sense of melodrammatic and loneliness in that stare and some cariosity. One of you best portrait I have seen yet. Congrats. My complements.
Way

danos (33272) 2009-10-08 2:29

Hi Angshu,
nice portrait of this native man with your new camera! I like his pose as the way that you look at your lens/Informative your note as the quality of the portrait.Well done.

Regards,Danos

marietom (32076) 2009-10-09 14:03

hello Angshu,

joli portrait, très expressif, avec de jolies couleurs aussi.
Bonne soirée
Marie

Bluejeans (33049) 2009-10-10 2:15

Ola Angshuman ,
Um belo retracto deste homem já bem idoso tem um olhar triste, os detalhes ficaram magníficos , bom ponto de focagem , parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

Bom fim de semana

westcoastgirl1 (1567) 2009-10-10 21:07

Hi Angshuman

You have really captured this man well. I like how you blurred the BG. Your subject is made crystal clear. Good colour and detail. Useful photographers note.

TFS,
Tosca

axiotea (16287) 2009-10-14 20:35

Bonjour Angshu
You made an excellent portrait of this local man with his green topi which caught my attention already from the thumbnails. Your 400D is working well ;) and the sharpness allows to see nicely the details of the man's face. The slight blurred BG gave more impact to your authentic model.
Thanks for your interesting note...as usual!
Amitiés
Marilyn

jimkil (638) 2009-10-18 2:20

A fine portrait, the expression... what could we read from it Angshu?
The light and detail is just in so much abundance here, perfect DOF and sharpness and the hat brings life to the image.
A fine shot Sir.
Regards
Jim