Calcutta

'Despite its display of degradation, Calcutta remains the most dramatic place I know on the surface of this planet.’ Don McCullin. ‘India’

Calcutta is the capital of the Indian State West Bengal. Located on the banks of Hooghly river, it has the oldest operating port in India. This polluted city of 14.3 million was once ruled by Nawab of Bengal, followed by East India Company and later under British Raj. It served as the capital of India till 1911which later shifted to New Delhi. It is a city of diverse lifestyles, being the principal commercial city, with modern tower-blocks, hotels and businesses alongside hosting some of the oldest and most extensive areas of homelessness and communities that have built their homes in temporary shacks alongside the city’s canals and railway lines. Often it is barely possible to see the decayed and crumbling Georgian and Victorian architecture, but this embodies its struggle for survival. 

Despite the 300-year history of British rule and exploitation, the people of Calcutta are the kindest and most hospitable. It is also the most spiritual place in the world. The human qualities of fortitude, compassion, charity, but above all dignity are everywhere on display. The privacy of the west is contrasted here, where people live and die everywhere. There is a dignified fatalism. I have never felt unsafe or in any kind of danger while travelling down its back streets and markets. Calcutta is truly a melting pot of cultures and communities, a sensory assault of shades, flavours and sights that make it the kaleidoscope that it is today. The cacophony of rickshaws, trams, autos and cars bustling amidst the crowds of people and dilapidated shops is ever present. And this is why Calcutta is wonderful place to be a Street Photographer. 

Markets are the life-centres of Calcutta, the city’s population hurries its way via tuk tuks, cars, trams and trains, with the big yellow taxis that flood the city, to the hand-pulled rickshaws and rickety trams meandering the roads. Every street you walk on, every house you pass is a frame waiting to be captured on lens. At the city's biggest wholesale flower market you’ll notice certain quirks when you talk to the vendors, such as a specific combination of flowers being used for worshiping a specific goddess or Mechua Bazaar, the vibrant wholesale fruit market, where every morning baskets of fruit are brought in by trucks and sold to vendors. You and your camera will walk past the homes of the Parsis and the Armenians, stop for a Chinese breakfast, and celebrate Christmas with the Anglo-Indians.. 

 I have rarely seen a negative reaction to Street Photography in India. In the West there is an element of privacy, even on the street. To get a picture you almost have to steal the image before they notice you are taking a picture. You can sneak a photograph but that is an intrusion and as a result there is little connection with the subject. Now, in India, you can do it all the time and no one minds. There’s an honesty that come across in the picture. 

There is still that fraction of a second when you are taking a picture when your eye sees a composition or an expression and you know with intuition when to click the camera because if you miss it, it is gone forever. Generally if your picture is not good it’s because you’re not close enough. In India, and in particular Calcutta, you don’t need a zoom lens. For intimacy and authenticity a 50mm lens as that is what the human eye sees. 

 Street photography is a game that can never be played twice in the same way. A game that is played by the photographer against the world, and that the photographer controls. He decides when to start, when to finish, or when to have a tea break. Keep smiling, keep shooting.