Shutterbug at the crowded market !

After regular interval of few weeks, I invariably listen to my heart's clamoring scream to break out from the routine and pursue some of my passions. Last month, was one of those times. I joined a weekend photography work-shop to learn basic photography. I find photography, a very fascinating art form! And I thoroughly enjoy this journey of being an amateur photographer, albeit still without formal study.

The most interesting part of the work-shop, was the outdoor shoot at Crawford market, Mumbai. It is a wholesale market for fruit, vegetable, poultry and some imported goods. A place like that, which is visually so rich, is sheer delight for any photographer. It is a place where one finds wonderful scenes of life amidst the chaos and brouhaha with a different rhythm. So much human drama happens and that too at such speed that it takes some time to realize and get used to the pace. At the very instant one enters the market, there is assault on one's senses. One gets completely overwhelmed by an interesting collage of colors, shapes, sounds and smells!

Many people literally live there! It is a place where they work, eat, socialize and have fun. The most difficult part for me during the shoot, was to penetrate through bleak horizons in some barren faces, specially eyes! There were many interesting faces with appealing characteristics.

Though I was shooting the subjects from a photographer's perspective and tried to capture people who conveyed many human emotions, at no point I could forget how difficult it must be for them to live their rigorously hard life!

 At a crowded place like a market which is so full of life, the possibilities for good photographs are immense! The challenge lies in identifying and isolating the subject for the frame and find that right moment to click a perfect picture!

The whole purpose of going for the outdoor shoot was to learn to seize the whole essence of the place and to practice what we had learnt in our theory lectures. It was surprising that sometimes, when I had not even visualized a picture in my mind, some situations rolled in right before my eyes, as if deliberately creating opportunities for me to take good pictures!

. When I returned home and looked at all the photographs, I liked a very few out of all that I had clicked. I was once again convinced about Malcolm Gladwell's rule of 10,000 hours! I know, it is little difficult to devote that kind of time for this passion of mine but I doubt I can stay away from camera even for a day after having so much fun during this shoot with my batch mates!

It was beautiful to have a glimpse of  some fragments of life of people at the market, in a few fleeting moments. It was creatively, intellectually and culturally very enriching experience. In this adorably crazy city of Mumbai, there is no dearth of opportunities to capture life in its various moods. One of the reasons why I can't stop loving this city!