kolkata heritage Photo

Photographer’s Note

College Street is a street in North Calcutta. It is the hub of intellectual activity in the city. Well-known academic institutions such as Presidency College, Scottish Church College, the Bethune College, the Medical College Calcutta , the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Hare School, Hindu School, Scottish Church School, Bethune School, Holy Child School and the University of Calcutta are situated on this street. The College Street is most famous for its bookstores. Many bigwigs of the Bengali publication industry are situated here. The street is also dotted with countless very small book kiosks which sell old books. It is the largest second-hand book market in the world and collectively boasts of a collection of almost any title ever sold at Kolkata. One can buy rare books at throw-away prices and extensive bargaining take place. in local language it is called ' boi-para' which means 'locality of books'. this snap shows a typical book store in college street.

behcet, thaprem, indoka28, robertosalguero, pinakie_slg, zips, wanderlust, jasper has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

behcet (471) 2006-09-11 8:19

Another nice shot for today. I like your composition, but I would have cropped the top and the left of the picture a little bit in order to leave the subject just among the books, as the shirt at the top and the arm of the man on the left are disturbing the subject!
Thanks for sharing
Behcet

indoka28 (5183) 2006-09-12 3:13

Hi Binita,

A very good photograph of the book bazaar..Well conceived and good POV..

Very well written note to accompany..I am givng a WS to enhance the subject...do let me know how you like it..

Regards,

Indro

[workshop] [compare]

Angshu (33607) 2006-09-13 0:42

Love this shot Binita...brings back rush of memories for me. First I thought I agree with Behcet about the cropping the top, but on afterthoughts I thought it is best as it is now, because it gives the real picture & the surroundings also a part of the picture, right? But cropping of the left is OK IMO
Regards
Angshu

zips (1941) 2006-09-28 8:25

A great photo for a publication itself. Colors are great, and it is a nice slice of life photo.

I would probably go with the workshop version of the cropping as well.

Great Job.
Aloha, JB

wanderlust (171) 2006-10-09 5:56

These book stall are pretty common in Calcutta, the city of intellectuals and bookworms (my father is one). You've named most of the big institutions that create huge demand for books. It seems you're from that part of the city. My friend who is into publishing has his store there. He tells me that wholesalers from the entire state and even outside buy books in bulk from College Street.

The pic show the shopkeeper fixing the cover of a book with glue while he waits for the next customer. Great shot Binita!!

Zepter (2) 2007-07-03 11:11