Fotos

This was taken in Nasik, a holy town standing on the Godavari River, one of the holiest rivers in India. It is one of the four towns where Kumbh Mela, a huge Hindu gathering, takes place every 12 years. Yet even outside this event Nasik is perennially crowded with pilgrims who come from all over India to take a dip in the holy river (which is as much holy as dirty).

This man has just taken his bath and now, while drying in the sun, is smoking a bidi, a poor man's cigarette. He attracted my attention by looking like a perched bird – and wrapping himself in that plastic sheet in the 40 degree heat!

The picture was taken under quite difficult lighting conditions (at least there were difficult for an inexperienced photographer as I am). For one thing, the sun was so strong that I blew out the foreground... And when I developed the picture it turned out that colours were very unappealing – a mixture of grey and brown. So I decided to convert it into black and white. It’s the first time I’ve ever done so and I’m not sure of the effect.