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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Five: The Agra-Jhansi Express – a black and white travel picture story > Postscript, Jhansi terminal, India, 2008
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27-MAR-2008

Postscript, Jhansi terminal, India, 2008

As we walked through the dark Jhansi terminal, numerous beggars made desperate appeals to our tour group. We were instructed by our guide to “look straight ahead and keep walking.” If just one person had stopped to give money to any of them, we might have been mobbed. And so we walked briskly -- and somewhat guiltily -- past them, one culture virtually stepping over another. I kept my small camera pressed to my hip as I walked, ensuring camera shake. This image was made at 1/5th of a second, a rolling, quivering group of beggars seemingly passing below me. I was soon out of the station, and they were left behind. I felt this image concluded my picture story effectively. It offers a bittersweet ending to a fascinating three-hour journey on the Agra-Jhansi Express.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/2s f/2.8 at 6.3mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis04-May-2008 05:42
Thanks, Alister -- glad you find this image to be haunting. And yes, I know all about shooting from the hip here in AZ. I wish some of my fellow Phoenicians would trade in their pistols for cameras.
alibenn04-May-2008 01:58
I like this a lot too. I love the haunted quality of it, fitting. Of course coming from Arizona, you of all people should know about "shooting from the hip" :))
Phil Douglis25-Apr-2008 19:38
Thanks, Tim, for feeling the flow of travel with me -- how we as travelers only skim the surface of what we see. It flows right by us. And yes, there are similarities here to carp pools. Crowds of tourists have tossed crumbs to
the destitute for centuries, and wherever tourists go, the beggars follow.
Tim May25-Apr-2008 18:28
Two things come to mind here. One is the ongoing metaphor of touring. the fleeting view we have of a culture. The other, because of your caption, being reminded of pools of carp. How they mob an area where food is thrown.
JSWaters25-Apr-2008 04:58
The blur is a wonderful metaphor for the life that is sucked out of them (or us) everytime a group passes them by. Brilliant, Phil.
Jenene
Phil Douglis21-Apr-2008 18:17
Thank you, Alina -- I thought it made a strong emotional ending for this picture story. It is important to leave your viewers with an ending thought, and in this case, I wanted them to feel what I felt. Guilt and sorrow and frustration.
Alina21-Apr-2008 09:51
Brilliant shot!v
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