Streets of Sewri

[Bol Ray]

Every sunday I try to go in a photowalk with a couple of friends. Last sunday we went to an industrial section of Mumbai called Sewri.

It left me with mixed feelings.

any case, Please be as harsh as required, you are only helping me grow.

This man lost his hand to Polio
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This is my Bed
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Dafli Player (dafli or Tambourine is an integral part of qawalli or Sufi holi music.) He is a Tambourine player in a group that is associated with a mosque in Sewri. he makes about 20 dollars in a good day.
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[Marko]

All 3 images are striking and provocative - well done!

It kills me that shot 1 has blurry eyes. If it was greater than 275k when you uploaded it, the forum may have compressed it and i hope this is the case because it's a fabulous composition.

shot 2 is very strong and sad but also the focus is probably missed (I say this because the tassels on the umbrella are sharper than the weeping/sleeping boy) and I hope this is due to forum compression - PLEASE let me know.
I love the composition.

shot 3 has good focus and is a strong portrait that is also sad. If it were mine I may have left a tad more space on the left side and included a bit more hair. The whites of the eyes also appear a tad too white and i wonder if this was due to postprocessing.

If indeed the focus was missed (please let me know) - always try to focus on the eyes with an autofocus point, or manually.

Hope that helps, thanks for sharing these very strong images! Hope to see more like this despite the sadness in these images.

[vyeko]

Amazing street photos but I agree about focus.

[Bol Ray]

Thanks Marko,

I have been banging my head against the wall (figuratively speaking) trying to understand what is missing in my shot.

First if all, I suck at post-processing. The problem is completely fixable. I shot all the shots in RAW and cropped them.

The guy missing a limb had toomuch dirt in his hair. added to that, my over processing must have killed the hair.
The Dafli Player had cocked his head a bit too much and so in correcting for his angle, I ended up over cropping. I think I'll correct it tomorrow.

sadly you are right about "this is my bed" I did miss the focus.

[Bol Ray]

Thanks vyeko

[Marko]

No worries on the misses, it's how we learn and still happens to even the most experienced photographers.
I must have missed the descriptions or you added them later.....but just noticed this "(dafli or Tambourine is an integral part of qawalli or Sufi holi music.)"

My connection to this music is very very limited, but I did go to Nepal many years ago and there I heard the music of Pakistani Qawalli musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for the first time. I was completely mesmerized and wept from joy when I heard this music even though I could not understand a single word. 1 year after that (1996 I believe) he came to Montreal and I was lucky enough to see him and his ensemble - it was unbelievable.

[celksy]

I think these are incredible and you have a fantastic eye for composition. And story- if I'm using the correct word. I LOVE that you left in enough below the face to show the word "leisurely". I hope you will share more photos!

[Bol Ray]

celksy, Really appreciate your encouragement. Thanks!

Marko, I am envious of you! You got to see Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in person. Thanks for maintaining such an intelligent, critical and supportive community on this forum. :-) Really love the critique and support here.

[JAS_Photo]

Despite the missed focus the first is a particularly strong portrait. I like everything about it. You feel a connection the young man right away and his sad expression is compelling. Composition and details good not be better. Love the tilt, the hat, the hair, the lighting. The other two are also very compelling. Aside from the technical issues already mentioned by others, these are some killer photos.

[asnow]

These are very powerful images. Like the others my ony nitpic would be the focus of the eyes in #1.

[Bol Ray]

A brighter rework of #1

I am not sure that such a bright process suites the sombre subject. But, it definitely plays better to the light hearted pirates of the Caribbeans theme.


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I have added the colour photo for your reference.
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[Runmonty]

These are very emotive images. I am especially drawn to the 2nd one. I wonder about the human story behind it.

I can understand your mixed emotions, and can I feel that in the shots. Well Done