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Author Topic: Sir Don in Calcutta  (Read 2586 times)

Rob C

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Sir Don in Calcutta
« on: July 13, 2019, 09:39:05 am »

RSL

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2019, 10:09:40 am »

A marvelous find, Rob. Did he convince you about the incredible advantages of digital cameras over film?

The most interesting thing is that this is a guy who understands what makes you go out on the street and that people are the only really important reason to pick up a camera.

I loved it.
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Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2019, 12:52:31 pm »

A marvelous find, Rob. Did he convince you about the incredible advantages of digital cameras over film?

The most interesting thing is that this is a guy who understands what makes you go out on the street and that people are the only really important reason to pick up a camera.

I loved it.


I think that the film/digital question really comes down to an "it depends".

Insofar as the matter of subjects: for me, without a doubt it's about people, and hence my frustrations on that topic. Yet, I guess we have to do the best with what our cards give us at the time, or just stop, which appears to be where I'm at right now.

Rob

KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2019, 01:01:11 pm »

Up until a few years ago people didn't play any part in my little world of photography, now they're central.

Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2019, 02:58:16 pm »

Up until a few years ago people didn't play any part in my little world of photography, now they're central.


A question, then: given the opportunity to do both, health etc. no problem, would you choose one over the other or try to combine both types of work? Or, is it a Damascene Moment, a mental change of gears with no reverse in the box?

Rob

KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2019, 03:51:30 pm »


A question, then: given the opportunity to do both, health etc. no problem, would you choose one over the other or try to combine both types of work? Or, is it a Damascene Moment, a mental change of gears with no reverse in the box?

Rob

Rob, people are central because that's where I would like them to be. But the reality is that the various disciplines - people, place, architecture - have melded.

Unfortunately the opportunities to shoot in the locations that appeal are limited.
 

32BT

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2019, 04:02:28 pm »

Rob, people are central because that's where I would like them to be. But the reality is that the various disciplines - people, place, architecture - have melded.

Unfortunately the opportunities to shoot in the locations that appeal are limited.
 

Interesting you should mention this because your images - the abandoned houses in Greece come to mind - all seem to focus on the human artefacts in such a way so as to humanise the story/image, if you know what I mean. Clearly, it is about abandoned houses and dereliction, but you also manage to capture the echo's of history, even though the humanoids themselves are not in the image.
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KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2019, 05:21:57 pm »

Interesting you should mention this because your images - the abandoned houses in Greece come to mind - all seem to focus on the human artefacts in such a way so as to humanise the story/image, if you know what I mean. Clearly, it is about abandoned houses and dereliction, but you also manage to capture the echo's of history, even though the humanoids themselves are not in the image.

Oscar, that is certainly my aim and my interest.

Dereliction is not enough. God knows how many ruins I have rejected because that is all they are, shells, devoid of any evidence of the living. The buildings, or at least the buildings I seek, are time warps, a window on lives lived.

RSL

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2019, 07:45:28 pm »

Also known as wabi sabi, Keith. It can be wonderful stuff.
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Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2019, 04:50:04 am »

Also known as wabi sabi, Keith. It can be wonderful stuff.


Careful Russ: that's a genre.

:-)

KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #10 on: July 14, 2019, 06:10:21 am »

Interesting you should mention this because your images - the abandoned houses in Greece come to mind - all seem to focus on the human artefacts in such a way so as to humanise the story/image, if you know what I mean. Clearly, it is about abandoned houses and dereliction, but you also manage to capture the echo's of history, even though the humanoids themselves are not in the image.

Oscar, I should perhaps add, that is why I called the series Abandoned Lives.

;-)

RSL

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #11 on: July 14, 2019, 08:40:06 am »


Careful Russ: that's a genre.

:-)

Oops, you're right, Rob. We shouldn't categorize things. No form as specific as "house." It should be considered "building," or better yet: "structure." Ultimately, though, it becomes very hard to identify or discuss anything.
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Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #12 on: July 14, 2019, 08:48:00 am »

Oops, you're right, Rob. We shouldn't categorize things. No form as specific as "house." It should be considered "building," or better yet: "structure." Ultimately, though, it becomes very hard to identify or discuss anything.

That's what the bald gent across in my "street" slot shot was doing: holding his tonge as she consumed, and thinking his thoughts of the pact he'd made. Or they were skint, and could only pay for one?

 :-)

brianrybolt

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2019, 06:09:23 am »

Excellent - Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you    Thank you   

elliot_n

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2019, 06:37:41 am »

Fascinating video. Is Calcutta the Indian city of choice for gritty street life? Or could he have been in any Indian city? (I've never visited, but would like to.)
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Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2019, 07:54:53 am »

Fascinating video. Is Calcutta the Indian city of choice for gritty street life? Or could he have been in any Indian city? (I've never visited, but would like to.)

In my time, Calcutta had the reputation for the most crowded and possibly the most poor. It attracted religious social workers like knives to a magnet.

Bombay had the rep for business and street whores - well, little cabin whores, shall we say? It was also the entertainment capital which I think it has made even more its own in the past fifty or sixty years. They do wonderful photographic work:

https://www.farrokhchothia.com/

It's always been a grave error to underestimate India.
 
Not a place I want to return to see anymore, but for many years I did. I feel too worn to take health risks now.

Rob

KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #16 on: July 15, 2019, 08:04:25 am »

Fascinating video. Is Calcutta the Indian city of choice for gritty street life? Or could he have been in any Indian city? (I've never visited, but would like to.)

All of the cities I've visited have a mixture of wealth, poverty, the grandiose and dereliction.

Simply the most fascinating country and hopefully the destination for many of our trips in the future.



Above all, whatever the destination the people are a joy. 
« Last Edit: July 15, 2019, 08:19:45 am by KLaban »
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Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #17 on: July 15, 2019, 08:20:57 am »

Keith, that shot illustrates the ingenuity of the native Indian: he has connected the waste box to the cooking one and is powering the latter by virtue of the methane coming from the former.

Cities may perish and all the Cavemen with them, but the rickshaw will trundle on harmoniously into the final sunset.

:-)

KLaban

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #18 on: July 15, 2019, 10:11:14 am »

Keith, that shot illustrates the ingenuity of the native Indian: he has connected the waste box to the cooking one and is powering the latter by virtue of the methane coming from the former.

Cities may perish and all the Cavemen with them, but the rickshaw will trundle on harmoniously into the final sunset.

:-)

He's also boosting the makeshift cooking device by way of a household fan.

Rob C

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Re: Sir Don in Calcutta
« Reply #19 on: July 15, 2019, 11:49:58 am »

He's also boosting the makeshift cooking device by way of a household fan.

You see? Turbo Man!

:-)
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