Kalash woman Photo

Photographer’s Note

Re-scanned three times with different analogue gain levels to capture the dynamic range available from the original slide and manually merged in PS - cropped a bit too.

Initiall camera shy, and who wouldn't be, the colourful Kalash women were ok about being photographed after a few days. I was there in spring, so their main activity was weeding the small fields which had been sown earlier. I took this shot whilst they were resting from this back breaking work.

The Kalash are a small non-muslim tribal group living in a handful of isolated valleys in Northern Pakistan, very close to the Afganistan border. They practice ancestor worship. Their religion is being gradually eroded by presure from the domination of Islam in Pakistan.

touristdidi, dareco, litiancai, skippy007, alftrek, siolaw has marked this note useful

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touristdidi (8561) 2008-12-05 16:34 [Comment]

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Flavia (10202) 2008-12-05 18:02

Hi Stephen,

Beutiful portrait with a good bouquet on the back ground and nice texture and colors. Her expression is something enigmatic and mede me think of Gioconda from Leonardo da Vinci... A lot probably changed in this reagion to this tribe since you took this picture... Thanks for sharing. Beautiful, bravo!

Regards,

Flavia

dareco (17104) 2008-12-05 22:30

Another for my theme :) thank you. Very interesting dress and a lovely portrait. Colorful and very good detail. TFS

kschanna (6) 2008-12-06 16:02

Hi Steve

Very good scan. the colors and the detail is amazing and the look on her face is somewhat 'Hm...here's the camera man again'. I like this composition and the pose of the woman suits her placement in the frame, pity the out of focus women in the foreground. I've seen some of the ornate jewelery and the clothing in a few museums but not on a person wearing them. You are quite lucky you were able to go there when times were a little less turbulent.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

litiancai (1046) 2008-12-07 19:43

Hi Stephen,
Interesting notes about a place and culture which so few of us have ever, or ever will experience. Your efforts scanning have certainly paid off because the quality and sharpness of the image is all round excellent. You captured a nice moment with good eye contact and lots of detail in her traditional dress.
Only thing I would say is I think the white balance is off a little, the photo in general and her skin has a greenish tone to it (on my screen anyway)?
Thanks for sharing a snippet of this interesting culture with us.
all the best
Lee

skippy007 (7355) 2008-12-09 3:13

Hi Steve I like the colours & detail in this shot, she is attractive in a kind of way, even though she she reminds me of our rugby players ;-).
I don't understand the technical jargon but in my opinion the process has worked well. Your note although brief is interesting & informative.
Thanks
Santo

noborders (14201) 2008-12-14 16:24

Oh I dream to go there one day, their culture seems so interesting but then, I wonder if they are welcoming so easily outsiders as they must attract lots of visitors even if the area is not easy to reach I guess...
Lovely portrait, the whites in the shade have some blueish cast that some members might object against, not too disturbing here though !
Happy to see another portrait of the Kalash people,
Best,
Cath.

alftrek (2929) 2008-12-16 5:38

Hi Steve,

I cant agree more with Andrew about your top quality scans produced from your photo achive. This portrait is really outstanding with good and unpretentious eye contact, excellent exposure on her shaded face and details of her dress.
A fine piece of work

regards
Alfred

siolaw (25834) 2008-12-28 22:47

Hi Steve,
I like the Kalash people having spent a month and a half in the valley in 76, just before the road from Ayun opened... Despite the fact it is a scen we have good details and colors on their wonderful clothes and a superb lady as subject. Maybe a bit of cropping to minimze the other lady in FG?
Greetings
Laurent