Friday, May 27, 2011

Human Faces





Of The Story of Lines Etched on a Face.

Survival in the toughest challenges the nature throws on us, etches its history on our faces. Very vivid in these portraits. All of them are from Leh Ladhakh...a place where the winter tempratures drop down to minus 30 degrees celcius. Ladhakh is the world's only cold arid desert. A vast landscape of barren mountains which almost seem to touch the sky, Ladhakh in itself is a delight for a photographer in all the ways of photography. Every inch of the landscape is worth clicking and every face is a potential wonder portrait.

The first pic of a man with the black bacground was clicked far off in the mountains across the chagla pass just one stop prior to reaching the pangong lake. Perfectly fit, of an unknown age which i think must not be less than 70, the man cloked in a budhist cloak seemed to carry a face which could convey a large body of experience of a great fight with nature of the results of which he didnt seem to be very sure. It seemed as if he was asking himself,"Did I win it?"

The second pic that of a women with a peculiar headgear of a bunch of flowers was taken while i was having luch at khalsi, a stop over about 90 km before one reaches Leh the capital city of Ladhak area. The women seemed enamoured to glamour and the expression of her face was that of a constant wait for someone. Her eyes fixed on a far of spot on the road seemed to convey, " I will dress up daily and wait with very expectant eyes...expecting the guest any moment."

The rest of the two portraits that of a man with a wollen cap and a women with a red headscarve were clicked in Leh Bazaar. Both of them were street vegetable vendours and seemed to have mastered the habit of meditation while waiting for a customer. The wait for the customer seemed secondary and i could descern an errie sort of confidence in them, something akin to as if they are saying," I know I will manage even if no customer comes but the question of finding the eternal connection with the creator of these barren mountains is something which i need to strike in time."