SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

I've visited Old Delhi twice in the past 6 days. On both voyages, I went with a photographer friend whom I enjoy exploring Delhi with...he does his thing, I do mine, we swap thoughts, and we generally move in the same direction...be it a busy road, shady alleyway, or a muddy lane leading to the "cheese market."

On the first day, we arrived in the old city via the Delhi Metro at 7:20am. We gradually rose from the deep via 3 escalators and exited at Chawri Bazar...the largest, most hectic intersection in the old city. Its screw hadn't come loose yet, but people were certainly on the move...mostly tiny school children in tiny uniforms holding hands and more school children whizzing past on motorcycles and tightly packed bicycle rickshaws. There was a general mood of excitement in the air.

The sun was rising through a thin layer of clouds, giving the scene a soft glow. It's times like these that I pinch myself...I've just entered a totally different world. It's like being on a wonderfully decorated and perfectly casted movie set. It is surreal. You can't really tell what decade you are in unless you look very carefully. I've lived in Delhi for almost 4 years and I'm still in awe when these moments present themselves...I just want to hide in a corner and observe. Sometimes I try, but being a white 6ft 4in man shatters that dream...and most hidden corners smell like death sprinkled with urine.

This day, I didn't have much of a photographic game plan, but I eventually found myself panning my camera at the speed of passing rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, carts, cows, goats, and monkeys. I love how panning can propel a photo of a "still" cart pusher into to a dynamic photo of a "moving" cart pusher walking in a still two-dimensional photo. The camera sees time and can therefore capture motion...how cool is that?!

After 3 hours of wondering from Chawri Bazar to Jama Masjid and over to Chandni Chowk, we descended back into the depths of the underground, this time at Chandni Chowk station.

While reviewing my images from the day, it turned out that I was most happy with the "moving" photographs. There were a couple cool portraits here and there, but the photos showing motion gave me a game plan for our next trip out to Old Delhi...which happened to be 6 days later. Below are some photos from both days in Old Delhi that captured some kind of motion.

EQUIPMENT USED: FUJI X-PRO 1, 10-24MM AND 56MM LENSES. SHUTTER SPEEDS BETWEEN 8TH/SEC TO 30TH/SEC DEPENDING ON THE SPEED OF THE SUBJECTS, ISO 200, F/WHATEVER AS I WAS SHOOTING SHUTTER PRIORITY.