on the ghats, central Dhaka Photo

Photographer’s Note

Another scan from an old print of a slide, I thought that the shot was fun like this although the quality is not good. People *love* to pose there, the more I waited, the more young men and boys were coming in front of my camera and sometimes the crowd was getting unmanageable - as long as one did not show panic : nothing dangerous, despite the warnings from my embassy who "would not guarantee my safety" !

Jan. 1991 : not so easy to travel during the middle of the Gulf War... I quickly learned to say in Bangla "I'm not American, I'm not for Bush and not for Saddam, I'm just for Peace !". People in the street very excited about politics but having only vague ideas of what was going on in the world - many did not seem to know the difference between America and Europe, some of them asked me if I was from Japan :))

robiuk, papagolf21, faubry, sevy, rigoletto, zmey, burGu, didemay has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mafegan (4505) 2008-10-12 15:21

Hello Catherine
The quality may not be the best but the content is good. I see people happy with their lot in life. I hope the last 17 years have treated them well. TFS, Marlene

robiuk (10763) 2008-10-12 16:38

Ohayo, Catherine!
;-P
I wish I knew what made this people gather in front of
you (was it only your camera)?
The noise could've been removed by any capable software,
but I'm not bothered by it - I always find amusing studying
faces of people in crowds, and here we have some really
interesting ones.
Lovely b/w tones and overexposed far distance (the
later making this photo look 100 yrs old).
Good stuff,
Robi

RGatward (19749) 2008-10-12 19:00

Always nice to comes a across a find like this in ones archive. This has a very photo-journalistic feel to it.

papagolf21 (56749) 2008-10-13 0:51

Bonjour, chère Catherine,
Le temps passe, mais les problèmes perdurent !
Je salue ton courage de prendre des risques lors de périodes troubles.
Pourtant, à la lecture de cette image, les habitants semblent apprécier d'être photographiés.
Une image d'archives très intéressante.
Amitiés.
Philippe

faubry (32419) 2008-10-13 0:54

Bonjour Cath, une photo sortie du fond de tes tiroirs et tu as bien raison, c est un tresor,j aime beaucoup les expressions, les uns dubitatifs, els autres souriants, mais aucun ne parait maussade envers toi, je crains qu ils ne t aient pas cru etre japonaise...ici,une bonne etude sociologique.
bonne journee
bises
francine

sevy (13954) 2008-10-13 1:19

Bonjour Catherine,

J aime beaucoup cette photo par ce qu elle transmet: les regards directs et francs, les sourires, le naturel. Je pense que cette photo est plus forte en N&B qu elle ne l aurait ete en couleur.
Effectivement, la qualité n est pas au mieux et c est un peu dommage, elle aurait ete superbe sinon.
Si possible, il faudrait essayé de diminuer le contraste dans la foule et essayer de retrouver des details dans l arriere plan longtemps un peu noyé dans la lumiere. J aime bien ce rendu lumineux, il faut essayer de le garder, mais en remettant un de details (si possible).

Yves.

rigoletto (26812) 2008-10-13 1:39

Were you singing or what?
How did you make so many people pay attention to you?
So many gazes, so many expressions and souls...
And a great depth in the presentation. You are more than a traveller, and you should know that.

zmey (7282) 2008-10-13 8:11

hello catherine
politics is one of the cornerstones of an islamic society. politics is a duty of everyone (at least the males)... and religion is not separable from politics by definition. political adeptness of islamic people have amazed me frequently; especially back in 1992 in chechnya. simple peasants there were extremely well informed about political processes in latvia, while i had only vague idea about what was going on in their country. and regrefully my 'idea' at the time was mostly formed by the russian media... in any case, i would definitely not dare to call people 'in the streets' of chechnya or morocco (two islamic societies i have visited) having 'vague' idea about the world processes. maybe in bangladesh it's different :)

amazing crowd photo. again, you've managed to establish excellent and animated contact with people who are seemingly strangers to you... masterful!

warm regards,
kristaps

Polonaise (5638) 2008-10-13 8:15

Love this photo of yours Cathy, and my only problem is: It's from India...!!

No, I'm not joking, dear...
The situation is such and such, that every time I see a photo from India - I got shiver...
How many more - I ask myself..?

Your heart is in there - clearly visible...
Your wonderful ability to interact with the people...

But - India...!!!
That freaking India !
When I go now to welcome page - half of the photos will be from India...
Day after day after day...

grrrrrrrrrrr

Love and lough :-)))

g.

burGu (4548) 2008-10-13 23:07

Cath what did you do to make all of them looking at and posing you??? Sometimes even taking photo of my family is like a nightmare because they are never patient enough to be photographed. But you captured at least 10 people and all are looking at you!!! This is your art, "people"... Photography is just a tool for sharing your art...

didemay (2435) 2008-10-26 16:15

Hello Cath,
The gestures and expressions are so sharp that I avoided the other sharpness when I looked at your photo. My favorite is the one on the left-bottom-corner and also the one with a dark shirt on, as if trying to tell something. Nice expressions.
Best Regards,
D:)