McLeod Ganj (and India in general) is a street photographer’s dream! This year I rocked my new fixed
50mm f/1.8 lens to reduce camera awareness since I stick out enough as a foreigner. (Plus, it’s lighter
than my 24-70mm!) My favorite thing about shooting from the hip is that it allows me to capture moments
that I would miss if I brought the camera to my eye. It’s a different perspective—a perspective full of
imperfections, which add to the raw honesty of the images. It takes practice, a decent judge of distance
and a bit of luck. Sometimes even when you miss, you end up with an image you still love – a great
example is the shot of the watermelon! Sometimes the camera crops better than I can.
50mm f/1.8 lens to reduce camera awareness since I stick out enough as a foreigner. (Plus, it’s lighter
than my 24-70mm!) My favorite thing about shooting from the hip is that it allows me to capture moments
that I would miss if I brought the camera to my eye. It’s a different perspective—a perspective full of
imperfections, which add to the raw honesty of the images. It takes practice, a decent judge of distance
and a bit of luck. Sometimes even when you miss, you end up with an image you still love – a great
example is the shot of the watermelon! Sometimes the camera crops better than I can.
This lady is always sitting in the same spot every year. She is kind and responds politely when you say “Namaste.” The beggars and poverty is one of the hardest aspects about India. I know I can’t solve it alone so I take photos and show them to the world.
