Say "Ouch!" (Beauty Knows No Pain) Photo

Photographer’s Note

Doctor Gigi or whatever his name, appointed dentist of Jaipur, can be met anytime, first floor of Jaipur's bada chodar, big roundabout.
He also can visit for emergencies, thanks to his fast bicycle.

Doctor Gigi teeth salon provides the patrons the utmost facilities in aircon and comfortable sitting. He also boasts the largest waiting room in the whole city... as it is in fact, the city itself...

Hygiena is no problem at Doctor Gigi's : Doctor Gigi immediately throws any blood stained cotton or residual tooth debris issued from the masterfully controlled operation, over the parapet, eventually falling directly into the sidewalk sewers or gulped by a stray dog.

Doctor Gigi guarantees that any blood stain is removed by swiftly wiping the tools of the trade and that they are cleaned up at least once a week. The wiping cloth is cleaned once a month or less.

Doctor Gigi looks good in his nuclear protective suit. That's something important you can't deny.

Thanks to Animesh's translation, the Hindi sign says : "Here you get beautiful teeth"... so true...beauty knows no pain, they say.

---------------------------------

Of course, all I have written is completely untrue (...or is it not? guys?). He is a street dentist and his services might be more than helpful to plenty of people.

Although, looking at the patient, I suddenly forgot I might have some cavities, myself.

delnaja, bombilla, gabrielpat, AnimeshRay, ksvijayb, designsoul, photoman87, Praetzer, sarahnatalie, roamermark, Curioso, terimakasi74, tjanze, fixed, luisafonso, sanalytis, Clairedelune, KevRyan, notrap, Mistral, Iuli has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

delnaja (7708) 2007-01-10 18:24

et dire que je ne supporte pas les dentistes... et j'aurai encore moins confiance en eux si je devais consulter en pleine rue...
A part ça, bonne perspective et instant de vie capturé...
De la grande photo....
Fred

mesutilgim (36232) 2007-01-10 18:25

Hi Luko,
Great capture, and black&white was a very good choice.
Thanks for sharing
MESUT ILGIM

gabrielpat (6487) 2007-01-10 18:26

funny shot and realistic one.god bless him!
nice light in b and W.

bombilla (3402) 2007-01-10 18:27

But would you go to him with your toothache? It's amazing how this kind of activity can take place on the street in so many parts of the world, where in our "Western" cultures, they must take place in licensed, sterile, controlled environments. Whole economies -- run by lawyers and bureaucrts and engineers -- spring up around our need to take everything out of the public sphere.

Aside from being an excellent document, the photo is impeccable. -Hugh

AnimeshRay (8886) 2007-01-10 18:39

Oh man, I just love it!! This is quintessential decisive moment! My hat's off to you on this. A favorite.
[If anyone might care, the sign reads, "Here you get beautiful teeth"!!]

roamermark (1588) 2007-01-10 18:39

Superb. Funny - in my own recent intro page I sort of ranted about the overuse of the 'decisive moment' category here on TE. Yet here is one I think actually suits it and you went solely for Daily Life...interesting.
The gentlemanly pose of the patient with his lanky crossed legs and his mouth ready to accept God knows what is what really makes this one sing for me....his suitjacket still buttoned even.
you really have captured (very well I might add) a decisive and unusual moment featuring a truly unique character
Cheers
Mark

sadeik (3159) 2007-01-10 19:03

Bugger that!
I'll use the door technique.
An excellant image and in b&w

Simon

designsoul (21394) 2007-01-10 19:12

:-) This is the MOST amazing, most incredible decisive moment, Luko! :-)) And not only for us, but especially for the poor soul under Dr. Gigi's masterful hands. I am in love with this!
Fantastic world, fantastic shot, fantastic story, Luko, I just have to put it right to my favs, this is formidable!
sasa

Praetzer (1657) 2007-01-10 19:29

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Great. B&W very adequate.
Congratulations. - Alfred

photoman87 (207) 2007-01-10 19:43

Cette photo représente pour moi un moment de vie extraordinaire . Votre texte est aussi un exercisse d'humour très réussi et nous fait voir que tout n'est pas parfait en ce monde . Votre photo m'aide à réaliser combien je préfère ma place à celle de ce patient . Le noir et blanc est bien choisi pour cette scène et la grande profondeur de champs permet de bien se situer l'action dans le temps .
Daniel

sonti_in (346) 2007-01-10 19:55 [Comment]

Show Comment

rocketrouge (509) 2007-01-10 20:24

Funny picture. Great capture. I saw something similar in Nepal with a lot of people standing around. He demonstrated his skills so he could get more customers. I took the liberty to put your picture into a theme "dentist".
Thanks for sharing.

sarahnatalie (693) 2007-01-10 20:31

A great daily life shot- very eye opening. Makes me think I take a dreaded trip to the dentist in Canada very much for granted! B&W works well here. Nice sharpness.
Sarah

Furachan (0) 2007-01-10 22:33

Nothing short of brilliance at F8! One of the best composed shots I have seen anywhere in a long time. The man's open mouth, that "moment" is key here and what a moment it is! Forget all the street barbers of SEA, man, THIS is the real thing...pulling teeth out on the street, "open your mouth and I'll do the rest".
You've really cranked things up a notch with this one, nothing "close portraitish" about this. It's the real deal through and through.

bantonbuju (48334) 2007-01-11 1:11

salut luko,
what a clinique - just wondered: the place seems empty so does the doctor need some more skills or was it early in the morning so the other patients were not there yet...:-))
be in the right place and in the right moment - a lesson to take is today presented by mr. luko!
best wishes, j.

Curioso (9115) 2007-01-11 2:41

Commentaire hilarant et photo géniale ! Un vrai plaisir de découvrir ça ce matin !

Je rêve où le patient tient négligeament son portable à portée des yeux ?

nerve (10210) 2007-01-11 3:30

after reading Animesh's comment, i find the whole scene quite ironic..
an excellent example of a decisive moment i think. on the other hand, b/w and the compo. dont appeal to me (but maybe i am too used to these scenes, or too HCB style for my taste, lol!) it is interesting too see Jaipur in b/w.
still, very entertaining one..good stuff.

tjanze (5674) 2007-01-11 3:38

Hi Luko!
Wow! Street dentist. Amazing portrait.Good compo,angle of view.Great idea for B&W.
Regards!

fixed (3831) 2007-01-11 4:06

... :D ... Dr Gigi
c'est juste excellent Luko !
un grand moment et des prix avantageux ... en bon père de famille que tu es, je suis sûr que tu en as profité pour faire une petite révision dentaire à ta 'tite famille :D
non vraiment, tu le sais ..., cette photo est extra ! (compo et niveaux de gris redoutables ...)
bravo et merci
nono

Dubsie (342) 2007-01-11 4:13

Classic documenting Luko...and a definite decisive moment imho.
You have a story going...and I love your B/W medium to explore Rajasthan, the land of colors ;)...it helps to see beyond colors of Rajasthan and document the essence. TFS,
Best,
Durba

brevbrev14 (370) 2007-01-11 4:30

Oh LUko, this one is great!
this is really a decisive moment!
It seems a scene of another time!
great great work!
ciao!
valeria

sebinho342 (18726) 2007-01-11 4:53

Elle est excellente cette photo, techniquement et artistiquement parlant. Techniquement bien sur pour la qualité du noir et blanc enfin plutot du gris clair et du gris foncé mais surtout artistiquement et émotionnellement. Ce j'aime beaucoup dans cette compo au dela de cette scène de rue c'est la perspective avec le rappel des marches en début et fin, la scène s'y insère très bien , et franchement c'est comique ... il a une de ces poses le mec qui se fait arracher la dent ! ;)
Bravo, c'est superbe, on attend avec impatience ta 300ème !!

russte (0) 2007-01-11 5:05

Hi Luko, superb capture. The decisive (or is it the 'incisive') moment indeed. Can't fault the composition and the tonal range is perfect. And the quality of the transfer to digital is first class (for a moment, I thought you had switched to the M8. . .). Stephen

luisafonso (858) 2007-01-11 5:51

Boy, you really understand the spirit of TE. I am always blazed by the discoveries I make with you. I am really an ignorant when it comes to the world outside Europe... I never dreamed this could be possible. Here in Portugal dentists suck your money till the last cell has vanished from your brain, and in India you can find an whole different world. I am not finding such differences between this image and some dentists around here... The only things that distinct them is the amount of white present in the saloon and the digits on the check you have to sign. Great document!

jjcordier (24068) 2007-01-11 6:01

Beau moment de vie! Belle composition et le noir et blanc donne un peu d'intemporalité à la photo qui peut aussi bien être prise hier qu'il y a une cinquantaine d'années.
Amicalement
JJ

wolf38 (12489) 2007-01-11 6:22

Hello Luko. My eye remains on this picture hanging, before I see, who it photographed. A wonderful picture in the classical B&W style with M6 and Tri-X. It shows high quality and aesthetic beauty.
Best regards, Wolfgang.

kajspice (4534) 2007-01-11 9:37

So cool...could have been taken over 100 years ago...

AmiBe (6042) 2007-01-11 12:30

Hello Luko,
superbe scène, assez incroyable de trouver des dentistes dans la rue.
Outre le moment décisif, j'aime tout ici... les escaliers, la perspective, l'écriteau en Indi qui dit "Plombage pas cher, hygiène garantie".
Bien vu

jmdaoudal (82) 2007-01-11 18:43

Celle là mérite de figurer dans un livre de photographe, d'abord elle est bonne et le sujet peut être répété avec d'autres métiers de rue mettant en scène deux personnage dans un milieu vide. La persspective sur le fond est interessante.
Créatif, Stylé.
Jean Michel

sanalytis (1634) 2007-01-12 8:16

Hi Luko,

Excellent city street photograph, very funny. There is always a story that is told in your photographs. I'm happy to know that when I visit Jaipur, the good doctor can take care of my teeth. :-)

Spiros

nicoz (1963) 2007-01-12 11:48

Salut Luko,
La petite porte en bas a doite, c'est pour y glisser les cadavres? Pour rester dans le registre, cette photo tue. Rien a dire, c'est nickel. Presqu'a chaque fois que tu sors ton combo m6/triX400, la qualite de l'image est exeptionelle; dis mois que c'est pas que le matos qd meme!
J'avais deja experimente des arracheurs de dents au Maroc, j'avoue avoir eu un haut-le-coeur.
A+ Nicolas

vapours (7913) 2007-01-13 3:46

Haha well you got a laugh out of me from this one Luko, the mans clothing, the method of dentistry and the black and white all work so well together. A once in a lifetime photograph.

Angshu (33235) 2007-01-13 3:51

Hello Luko
This is as decisive a moment as you can ever get! A wonderful perspective with the diagonal of the wall with little steps in front of the doors, so typical of old parts of any Indian city. Love the tones you've got here in B&W...looks timeless. Brilliant! I'll put this into my favourites
With Regards
Angshu

arindam_thokder (3946) 2007-01-13 11:44

After everyone said almost everything above, I would not be able to add anything. I am really bad when it's witting "English".I would definitely not choose B/W in Rajasthan at least...But I had no idea Rajasthan would look so great in B/W too. Congratulation Luko...you have captured India really well.

Darren (6815) 2007-01-14 6:05

Really good Luko, I haven't looked through the critiques, but I am sure they have mentioned many of the same things I like. The perfect moment and great tones are first and foremost. I also like the receding line of the buildings. The only, very slight, nitpick I would have is that I they were a little closer to the right hand side of the frame. Very nice shot.

Clairedelune (4883) 2007-01-14 9:49

Tu sais comment écrire, Luko! Multi-talentueux. ;) J'étais, pour ainsi dire, suspendue à tes lèvres, n'en croyant pas mes yeux. Et la conclusion 'punchée' "all I have written is completely untrue (...or is it not? guys?)" me rappelle la fin d'un livre qui semblait être une expérience vécue "Tout dans ce livre peut être faux". Et vlan dans la face de la perpétuelle naïve que je suis!
Il n'en reste pas moins que j'ai l'impression de voir une image sortie tout droit d'une comédie particulièrement déjantée (ou serait-ce édentée?). J'avoue avoir une préférence pour mon cabinet de dentiste.
Pour l'aspect technique, eh bien... c'est excellent!
Claire

markoci (3917) 2007-01-14 22:12

oh yeah, that's gotta hurt! and that sign! don't you just wish it was in english too? a truly timeless shot (you think of traditional clothes are to be found in exotic cultures only, but what about the that suit and tie?...) i just wish the bottom left were less empty...

Manamo (3466) 2007-01-15 14:26

Hello Luko,
umm, un dentiste hein? On tient à toi mon vieu et j'espère bien que tu n'utiliseras jamais ses services...Il commence à y avoir un sérieu problème pour certaines maladies transmissibles en Inde alors doc Gigi ou pas, pense-y!:D On est jamais trop prudent:D
Sérieu, alors le moment ne pourrait être beaucoup plus décisif. Mais en plus, la posture de l'homme qui se fait jouer dans la bouche est hallucinante, à moitié relax(bras gauche, jambes croisées), à moitié crispé(cou, tête, visage). Il a de la peine à dissimuler la peur le pauvre homme!
Ensuite, bien il y a l'enseigne et on sait maintenant ce qu'il y a d'écrit dessus! Cette enseigne est une des deux pièces maîtresses de la superbe toile de fond. La touche finale étant le fameux vélo.
Il y a plusieurs autres détails comme les marches en bas à droite qui forment des diagonales parfaites vers les coins de la photo, mais bon, on ne s'éternisera pas.
Directement dans mes favorites
Marc
(si j'étais toi, je la vendrais à tous les dentistes que je connais, ça ferait un malheur!!)

tinamunk3 (6382) 2007-01-15 16:25

Doctor Gigi in a nuclear protective suit........aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....Jesus Christ!!!! :O)

Fantastic, Luko and I love your sence of humour. The whole set-up is perfectly captured - I particularly like how the patient holds Doctor Gigi's arm to prevent him from being too violent.

Terima kasih, Doctor Gigi - bagus sekali :O)

Tina

s10001in (1485) 2007-01-15 19:33

Hi Luko,

I am late here, but infact I saw this as soon as uploaded.
This is true decisive moment & daily life of interiror part of India.
This not only happnes with teeth but with whole body if you in more rural part of India. Yeah It is truth..
Though it looks scary for us & Bla bla..
But those doctors are god for thousand of People (Also many time takes the life of people)

You really got a hold of Great moement.
This is masterpiece.

Regards,

Polonaise (5627) 2007-01-16 16:24

It is humanly impossible to read your note luko, and NOT to burst into laughing.
For, I can see the scene, can smell the procedure, I can see that poor, tormented fella...
His hand against 'doctor' hand...(!!!)
Heck, I can even see the dog out there !!!!
What a wonderful world is there. What a gigantic amusement park - if you have your eyes wide open.
What a story to tell the grandchildren at the fireplace.
-------------------
The photo...
Gosh...Luko...
How difficult it is to make a 'photographic' photograph instead of an dull (yet proper)illustration.
You've been there...Thousands of euros were spent.
Miles of streets and roads you've walked.
The scene was there. You were there with the most advance tool to make a photograph of the year.
And....?
Eh, Luko...Luko...
Frustration...real frustration...

ALSOM (6616) 2007-01-17 7:39

A défaut ne pas avoir pu prendre un nettoyauer d'oreilles lors de mon séjours en Inde, je ne peux qu'apprécier cette scène de rue dans la pure tradition d'HCB (n'ayons pas peur des mots).

Une scène qu'on apprécie de loin en tant que spectateur et pas en tant que patient ;o) !

KevRyan (22297) 2007-01-18 19:20

If someone had told me that this was a shot from another era by a common photographic hero we share I probably would have had no hesitation in accepting that information and marvelling at it as a fine frozen moment of life.........so i am here marvelling at it as a fine moment of life frozen ..........

bw Kev

ps Your note is another masterpiece!

maciekda (19587) 2007-01-23 14:30

fantastic shot Luko, could be easily published in a classy album about India. great composition, perfect timing, brilliant, faved.
and I really don't know how you can work with several cameras at once - I walk with one camera only, I leave the backup body in the hotel

stevep (556) 2007-03-09 6:30

You know, its photos like this that make me severely question what the hell I am doing shooting digital? I've only really been taking photos since 2004, not including the few times i borrowed my friends canon film slr to take photos during desert hikes when i lived in L.A. back in 1998-2001. So digital was the way to go for someone new to the scene, but damn, this photo makes me question that logic.

This photo has a look that is hard to define but is definitely there, and the 'look' seems specific to this style of camera. I want that look....

take care Luko, great photo by the way ;)
steve

Mistral (13628) 2007-05-06 14:16

Hi Luko
it's simply a stunning everyday life shot with a funny lovely note...
I'm still smiling...
Have a nice week!
Luca

stiginthedump (1823) 2007-07-16 8:06

Whoops, missed this one from you Luko. Love the detail in this one, and the way everything seems to fit into the photo and every little detail has some little story to tell. I guess i could find something to moan about, but i'll give you credit for pulling off a fine shot!

photofiend (0) 2007-09-23 6:35

So good as is so much of your work. I've spent far too much time looking at your photos today when I should have been outside with my camera. Nevermind, it's been highly entertaining anyway

pawelx (473) 2008-01-21 9:08