naga, a photo from Uttar Pradesh, North

Photographer's Note

ash smeared naked naga sadhus after a holy dip at the last "shahi snan" (royal bath) on a cold foggy morning during the ardh kumbh mela.

tri-x pushed to 1600

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Critiques | Translate

s10001in (0) 2007-01-26 4:00

Wow..
Sohrab is back..
:D
In the heart of Kumbh mela & the scene from the interior. Very private life of Naga sadhu.
Core PJ work.

Regards,

Miks (1717) 2007-01-26 4:00

Fascinating motive, fascinating composition. I like the disorganized compo (no real main motive here) because it conveys the action of the scene very well. Perfect greyscale. Very unusual to use this format for this kind of image. But it works. Good original work.

Best,
mikkel

indoka28 (5261) 2007-01-26 4:04

Hi Sohrab,

You got it bang there with an amazing framing..!!!! Absolutely mindblowing shot..!!!

Regards,

Indro

Galeota (10352) 2007-01-26 4:09

One more scene where you seem to be deeply imerged. Bodies at waist level seem like an hostile forest through which you try to reach for light. The crop is flawless.

kajspice (4542) 2007-01-26 4:18

Waiting for a picture from you is like waiting for the rains to come... always worth the wait too.

So many pictures from this place, but you are clearly in the thick of it...

Just one question, did you have to get naked to get so close?

You are irritatingly talented...

[2]

nfriedli (1060) 2007-01-26 4:19

Nice picture and *wonderful* frame !

rowanb (864) 2007-01-26 4:31

wow. what a scene. the composition and tones are fantastic.
you've restored my faith in tri-x =)

miuky (3335) 2007-01-26 4:32

an artistic picture, life, cruel, or maybe just cruel to us...
a very very well contrasts and BW...a great, maybe the best I've seen here till now
regards, M.

femkevdh (2633) 2007-01-26 4:40

excellent! Very intimate! Daring and succesfull choice of this low point of view and the choice of using B&W. I really like the chaos here! because of it, you get a good idea of what the atmosphere must be like.
regards, femke

Luko (14000) 2007-01-26 4:41

Incredible crop and point of view (careful at that height, not to get something-not-broken-yet, shoving in your eyes or your nose ;D...), limbs and disembodied parts coming from everywhere, burnt faces, looks like we're having a trip through a purgatory of weird souls... something reminding Hieronimus Bosch. (it looks like there's a fake Naga in the background)

Favorite as well.

Have you tried your printing paper yet?

[2]

eleparc (24063) 2007-01-26 5:29

A shot from Sohrab is such a rarity nowadays that one cannot ignore it...This one is fantastic! the angle of shoot at breast level and this crowd of naked naga saduhs all very much within their own activities, seemingly ignoring your presence is awsome! did you have to walk naked among them to be able to smuggle in like that? or did they willingly accept a dressed stranger among them? i'd be curious to know about the circumstances of this photo.

take car my friend!
Eric

tjanze (5674) 2007-01-26 7:30

Hi Sohrab!
Amazing motive and composition.Simply fantastic.Great work.
Regards!

partha (14023) 2007-01-26 8:02

Hi sohrab,
I can feel the criticality of taking this shot. Anyhow u can able to get a terrific shot. Nicely timed and give the essence of Kumbha mela.
Regards.
Partha

Darren (6823) 2007-01-26 8:38

This is fantastic Sohrab. Technically, there is not much I can say, but I think the most important thing is that you have connected us emotionally simply because you got in so close. Almost like being there. Excellent.

Dubsie (346) 2007-01-26 10:22

TFS,
Regards,
Durba

coco (30439) 2007-01-26 11:09

Hi Sohrab.

Is true that I don't understand why this strange frame (strange for me, I mean).
But the photo is really good.
Is not only "event" as you point. Also talk about this people. Also is daily life and showed in a wonderful way.

Really thanks for share.

AnimeshRay (9089) 2007-01-26 13:51

Hi SOhrab,
Welcome back! And what a post!! I appreciate the raw masculinity of this one, which strikes me with almost the same force as with some of Leni Riefenstahl's Africa series on the Nuba. But yours is more contemplative, less anthropological or primitive-archetypal than hers, yours is like a rhythm of maleless through the fog--like the glimpse of a sea breaking on the shore...

scalerman (26900) 2007-01-26 14:47

Sohrab: originality A+; composition A+. Indeed probably one of the most daring compositions of the day. Looking forward to more of your mela shots. regards, c

faubry (35447) 2007-01-26 17:56

Bonsoir Sohrab, i am very happy you come back here, a lot TE members are leaving and it's very sad, because they are great photograph; here this shot is amazing and how awful.... i like soft colors but image is very too strong for me.. but you are a artist, please again some pictures from you.
take care
francine

Homerhomer (4080) 2007-01-26 19:23

flawless, spectacular, fanstastic.

as a side note to broaden your linguistic horizons, in polish if your refer to woman as naga it means naked, see alot of naked in this pic, although on the male side.
Peter

ps, since I saw this pic I wanted to go home and looks at Ackerman's photography nn the subject in his book, think that as an individual photo yours is much better than any of his.

ndb1958 (9289) 2007-01-27 4:51

Hi Sohrab, nice to see you back here. What a wonderful image. I wonder why this Sadhus a naga sadhu. I thought naga is the word for snakes.
A great composition and crop. Wonderful frame. Nino

brevbrev14 (140) 2007-01-27 5:28

wooow Sohrab, this is pure art.
No other words!
ciao!
Valeria

Furachan (0) 2007-01-27 7:41

Hi Sohrab!
remarkably sharp for 1600 film. Ac omplicated compo that works extremely well for me, with the han d on the left and bely n the right as bokends.
Great stuff, my only regret is that yu don't post MORE!
Best,
Francis (just returned from a trip to New York)

photographer123 (6248) 2007-01-27 11:01

hi,
they r looking maneater than sandhu..woeful shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1subir

arnabchat (7233) 2007-01-29 0:07

Hi Sohrab! Great to see you back and posting again. I was anticipating a post from you.
Good work as you always do, excellent dynamism in monochrome.
Greetings, Arnab

nicoz (1979) 2007-01-29 5:18

Hi Sohrab!
Quite a daring photo for TE I'd say, with a daring crop too!
There is something very tribal and demoniac in this photo, it's almost primitive for my western culture. It's as if the photo shows some prehistoric men (or at least, how I imagine it...).
I can hardly find it aesthetic, but it's moving, and on the whole, it's a fantastic photo. The tones are to die for.
Nicolas

AmiBe (6042) 2007-01-29 16:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... one more fav...
Please post more... I still have a lot of place in my fav list :)
rgs

prezntime (3946) 2007-01-29 23:01

Man, I don't know...this is an amazing crop. You've heightened the ritualistic aspects that get lost in so many other shots of these holymen. Here there is a primal baseness to the picture; obviously expanded by your choice of the B&W medium for your photos. Your getting great results out of pushing the tri-x. it is a confusing blend of parts...all to make a fine photograph.
Chris

ALSOM (6616) 2007-01-30 9:45

I would concur with Peter. This reminds me one of the great shot from Ackerman.

You really feel inside the moment, the movement, the promiscuity certainly with some embarrassments (from our western eyes), some many details to set the glance. About the crop & framing, it's interesting to see how you brain try to rebuild a full body from the hands/arms, heads, legs, back, belly, chest, hairs and hair and some other parts ,o) as pieces from different characters: a real puzzle.

Despite this puzzle, I have to admit I feel a bit frustrated, when opening the thumbnail, I thouhgt that there was a probleme as only a portion of the image seems missing. With the full size, I expected the system to gradually displays the remaining 1/3 part ... Damn it stops, stupid screen c'mon show me more ! No way ... that's it !

Thanks, Alain -

leiju (1697) 2007-01-30 11:33

A depth almost as dense as that of a tropical forest. We seek to find a clear spot to help us get to that quiet place where we can stop and breathe without watching out for it all. But here we don't find it. Instead we fond the pure essence and form of the human body, the thin, the rounded, the hidden, the explicit. So naked yet dressed in their own selves...
A busy shot snatched in an intimacy rarely shown to anyone but those participating. A human sight of something beyond human.
... and then there are all those details that seem to keep on pouring out of the whole the longer you look at it. A never ending story. I bet this would be even more mind-blowing if one were to blow it up to the size of a wall.

I am amazed, struck, lacking for any sense of what would be decent enough to say in front of this... this spectacle of Life, this ceremony of Existence.
Thank You for sharing this.
It goes beyond all boundaries of photography.

Julia

bwiti (402) 2007-02-01 9:55 [Comment]

Show Comment

dolin (7369) 2007-02-01 15:33

incredible !
no comment, just impressive !
bravo for this scene and this genius framing !
what a mood !!!!

Polonaise (5802) 2007-02-03 18:00

Show me the 'real' and you don't have to worry about 'how' to show it to me.
None will discuss the technicality of the image, if the merrit of it speaks crystal clear.

This site owns you, pal.

g.

fixed (3836) 2007-02-08 12:38

very impressive
the composition is fantastic
some times I push the trix to 1600 too (no photo here on TE) ... like it, but not all the time :)
well done
nono