In April, 2010, I was fortunate to travel to India as part of a photographic tour and workshop led by noted pro photographers Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon.
Part of our journey took us through the fascinating town of Varanasi on the banks of the great Ganges River. Although the river and the activities along it were of great interest, there were also some fine photographic opportunities back from the river in the town proper.
A multi-media project
One location which we discovered was a family-run sewing machine repair shop which became the subject of a multimedia project documenting their activities. Like so many businesses in India, the shop opened directly onto a busy street full of activity both human and mechanized! And as in much of India, the people were welcoming and delighted to be photographed as they went about their daily business.
In the soundtrack to the slideshow, you can hear the ambient sounds of the shop and the street outside. One of the workshop owner’s teenage family members sang a song for us as I scuttled about snapping an assortment of images. I’m told the song is a theme from a Bollywood movie, but even my Indian hosts had difficulty explaining what it was about! The slideshow presentation, “The Sewing Machine Shop, Varanasi, India” runs for approximately 1 minute. Click on the following icon to play the slideshow.
All shots in the series were taken with the Canon 5D Mark 2 mounted with either the 24 to 105mm zoom or the 16 to 35mm zoom. All shots were taken in available light with ISO ratings as high as 5000 for some of the dimly lit interior shots.
My thanks to Gavin Gough for his assistance with the soundtrack and to both he and Matt Brandon for their valuable guidance. ~KD.