Dood’s Photo of the Day

Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 14th Oct’08

I was walking through a crowded side-walk in downtown Mexico City when it struck me that maybe a photo here would look good. So I took out my camera, leaned against a lamp post and started clicking arbitrarily. Of all the shots I got I somehow liked this one the most.

Only after transferring the photos and seeing them in full size, I realized that this man on the left of the image was giving me such a what-the-hell-are-you-doing stare

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 6th Oct’08

I dont know for whom she was waiting, but the expression of restlessness was quite evident on her face. I could see her repeatedly turning her attention to a particular direction as if expecting to see someone. I stood there for around 10 minutes waiting for a taxi but I couldnt see anyone coming.

There are times in life when such waits just end in deep disappointment which is felt only by the one who is waiting.

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 5th Oct’08

I was strolling through the downtown (& as is the case with almost all the downtowns in Mexico, the one in Guanajuato also had restaurants spread out in the open) when I saw this group of people enjoying their lunch on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The weather was nice, ambiance was perfect for a lazy Sunday & the stage was all set to enjoy a tasty lunch.

It would have looked odd to shoot someone having food so I pretended to move my camera here and there as if I was trying to find a good view. In the midst of all that fooling around, I clicked this one. But I think the lady wearing the shades knew what I was actually trying to do. Just look at the way she is staring at me ..

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 3rd Oct’08

I was paying visit to a local museum in Guanajuato and was on the first floor when I saw this group of students taking notes from what their teacher was speaking. I could see children roaming around at the place with notebooks in their hands and scribbling down what they observed. I was reminded of my school days when we were taken for such educational outings and asked to make detailed descriptions of what we saw.

Unfortunately it was 50 extra bucks to take the camera inside, so I left it at the reception. But my N95 didnt give as bad a result as expected

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 25th Sept’08

How many of us would be willing to even step out of our house if we experience something even close to what this man in the image above is experiencing? Not able to see the world through his eyes, he is sitting on the pavement playing the instrument continuously without any signs of tiredness.

I was amazed by his attitude and the vivid expressions on his face. Life is tough but people like him seem to be tougher. Each time I feel let down by my circumstances, I remember him & immediately the heaviness seems to fade away. I learnt a lesson from him – nothing is tough if you really want to do it.

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 19th Sept’08

We were standing and staring at the beautiful scenery in front of us when this small kid came up and asked if we were interested in buying some gum. I said “no gracias”, to which he replied, “If you buy this I can tell you how to say ‘I Love You’ to your wife in my native language”. By “wife” he referred to my friend standing next to me.

Though I had no intentions of expressing any love to my “wife”, I still bought a couple of peices from him just to hear what he says. He said something, part spanish and part some unknown language & I didnt understand a word.

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 16th Sept’08

I was sailing towards a small island in a motor boat with this family aboard. Right in the middle of the journey, I saw some cute little boats floating in the water & I got up to take a shot. As I was clicking the boats I saw this family sitting near the front edge of the boat. The view through the front frame of the boat was looking pretty good.

When I started clicking them, they turned around to see what I am doing. But I just kept on holding my camera to wait for the moment when all of them turn the other way. The other shots with their faces were not looking that good. I liked the “frame within a frame” feature of this photo & my experiment gave quite a good result

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 12th Sept’08

How much do you think this man would be earning by doing what he does? He was too good either at what he was doing. Still, he was just standing under the shade of the tree on a busy Sunday afternoon and striking the strings of his violin.

Later during the day, I saw him shift his shop and move to another area with supposedly higher potential for business. I dropped a 5 peso coin in his tumbler as a token of appreciation for posing in front of the camera.

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 10th Sept’08

Dancing in public or anywhere in the presence of someone other than me for that matter, has always made me uncomfortable. Hence it is really amazing for me to see people dancing so freely and joyously in front of a crowd of hundreds.

This was one such occasion where dozens of couples, all in their mid fifties or early sixties were dancing merrily to soft music. I don’t think there was any special celebration as people were randomly joining the dancing troupe; but it was really wonderful to see these couples enjoy so merrily without giving any damn to numerous staring eyes all around them.

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Originally clicked and uploaded by – Pratosh Dwivedi – 6th Sept’08

Downtown is a real part every weekend. You just walk through the place and you can instantly feel the festive mood. You can hear sweet music, taste delicious food and enjoy being among hundreds of smiling faces. As a part of this “celebration” a stage was set up right in the middle of the downtown park and these ladies were playing some melodious music. I have seen such stage shows many times at different places, but this was the first time I saw an all girls’ band.

A shot from the front looked more like a cliche. I preferred this one; taken from the back, as it added a sense of “backstage” view to the picture.

Click on the image – its worth it.

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