In a recent talk on photography that I gave at Mindtree Ltd, last week, I confessed that the camera that I use mostly these days is the one present on my Nokia E72 mobile phone. One of the good things that has happened because of that is that I am always on the look out for photo-opportunities.
Shooting with the mobile camera has a lot of advantages. First and foremost, there is no worry about the stare from the people around you, as you would attract when shooting with a SLR camera. Secondly, you learn to shoot in constraints and hence are forced to think only on the pure photography terms. There is the constraint of the compositions, the light conditions that cannot be changed, and then the constraints of the moving subjects which would be easy to cover on the SLRs.
Needless to say, it is more challenging too. But the challenge is fun.
And the more I travel, the stuff that I come across always amuses me. The life on the streets have a totally different meaning altogether. There is the business ventures that thrive only on the streets, there is the pani-puri vendor around the corner; who religiously cleans up the footpath and worships it before starting his daily business everyday, there is the beggars who have made the streets their home etc.
The other thing that often catches my eye is the innovation that exists in India. Sometimes it is a resultant of the necessity. Like take for example this mini procession of two camels which I just spotted outside the office. The owners would have ideally wanted to take people / children for a ride, and give them an experience that is unlike any other. However in the times that we are in, people would rather want to experience the camel rides on the computer than actually sitting on one.
So a newly launched restaurant spots it, and decides to use it as a medium of advertisement. Very novel indeed.
Always Amusing!
Would you consider that to be an innovative way to do the advertising?
I kind of like it. The ad gets mobile, as the camel is always moving. The areas that the ad can be displayed is thus widely covered in the city. The person who hired the camel is playing on the normal human behavior of being interested in a subject that is alien to their environment. The moment one spots a camel in Bangalore (which is a rarity) you immediately take notice of it. And the moment the camel is seen, the ad is seen. You pause for a few seconds. Read up the information that is on display on the camel. Purpose of the ad is solved.
Small small stories and incidents like these makes street photography so interesting and with a camera that is always with you, and so small and insignificant that the people do not notice it, the task is fun too !!! 
