A few insight to my panel:
Portrait photography is my most enjoyable genre, I like the rapport with the subject…even if I can’t speak the language! ‘People of India’ took two years to complete, the biggest problem was the number of images I had to sieve through to come up with the panel that was, in my opinion, balanced and followed the brief in the statement I’d set myself.
My journeys to India focused on the streets of Delhi, Varanasi, Rajasthan and Kolkata. All of the people I met were welcoming and usually willing for their photos to be taken. I noticed on my travels that the most willing people to be photographed were the ones I took time to talk to. The majority of my time, was spent talking and getting to know the person, before even asking for the privilege to photograph them.
In the times I visited, my prime objective was not to follow in the tourist’s footsteps…but to see the real India. I walked miles, up and down streets, alleyways and into places that would be difficult for the majority of visitors to even contemplate going.
Kolkata was the most difficult, as it’s so busy and very hard not to have anyone, or anything, in the background! Bundi, is in my opinion, the best place for street photography, due to the varied nature of what’s available to photograph.
My Olympus kit worked faultlessly during my trips, the pro lenses were pin sharp, but the biggest boost was how light it was to carry around, all day and every day.