70/ 100 Blue Step Dog
Photo-Essay: Another Varanasi Night
As I mentioned way back in post 58 ‘Night Puppy’ I have always really enjoyed night photography. For me I find the mid-portion of the day generally a bit dull. The light is overhead and the shadows are the shortest. People, and animals, are often lazing about and, perhaps not least of all, I just want some lunch and perhaps a wee nap too.
When the sun eventually dips below the raggedy tops of the Varanasi buildings and the dogs have all woken from their sleep to have a scrap with the monkeys I turn the ISO dial on my camera to 3200 and go in search of dinner, seeing what I can find to photograph along the way.
Here is the thing about night-time in India, and many other places too (like these images from Venice), there is always something to photograph. The physical objects are still there, exactly as they were in the daytime, but rather than the entire scene being evenly lit from your feet to the horizon a mile away, there is darkness, with just a few subjects picked out with artificial light. If something isn’t lit you can even try and highlight it by silhouetting it against a light.
Sure, it can be hard to work with, but I think the rewards are very worthwhile and, in a place like India, the night is a whole half of the day and there is just as much happening as there is when it is light so it seems a shame to waste it.
The staging areas for the daily Arti ceremony in Varanasi that takes place by the river’s edge are also used for resting, candle-lighting, discussing the events of the world and eating the snacks you’ve just purchased from the blindingly-bright shops behind.
A boatman stands on the prow of his craft whilst a ridiculously bright double-decker boat sails past. Every one of the passengers are riding on the top level and I don’t understand how there aren’t regular capsizes.
A monkey sits atop an electrical box in the busy market square on Dashashwamedh Ghat road in Varanasi. Beneath it is a banana salesman who, I think, works in symbiosis with the monkey. The monkey attracted customers who all wanted to feed it a banana so they purchased some for it.
People often throw their vegetable waste into the narrow lanes of Varanasi at night for the cattle to eat.
Just around the corner from our apartment this group of monkeys slept every night on these ledges. Until, that was, something disturbed them (which seemed to happen about 45 times each night on average) and they’d go crazy and screech until they woke the dogs who would set off a chain of barking across the city until the men all shouted at them and made them be quiet.
I have absolutely no idea why this lady was carrying a balloon.
A cow, or bull, choosing the most awkward place to sleep for the night, making sure it blocks the main thoroughfare, but with quick access to any unwanted bananas from the stall behind.
