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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Six: The bus-bound travel image > Gypsies, Dausa, India, 2008
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24-MAR-2008

Gypsies, Dausa, India, 2008

This gypsy caravan had stopped just in front of our bus. We stopped as well, and I photographed this family on its camel cart through its front window. The gypsies
are sitting high on the cart and the high vantage point of our bus window brings my camera even with them. Using burst shooting with a medium telephoto focal length, I had enough time to make dozens of images of this scene. The camel lifted its head once and only once, and I was able to catch that moment. The cocked arm of the young man standing to the right of the cart offers a diagonal counterpoint to the camel’s head.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/5.6 at 39.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis25-Apr-2008 19:22
The mother would not look at us -- she knows the drill. These tourists are not getting out of the bus, and she is not getting into it. So she stares forward, waiting for whatever it may be that she is waiting for, in order to get going again. (Perhaps a family member is buying or selling something at the moment?)
JSWaters25-Apr-2008 05:30
All the gypsy children, including the camel, acknowledge your presence. The mother, however, faces forward as if 'business as usual' is the norm. You'd think she'd want to take advantage of a group of tourists.
Jenenen
Phil Douglis22-Apr-2008 01:09
Good point, Vera. Since gypsies are always on the move, the road plays a major part in their life. It will take them to a lot of places -- the where and the what are pretty much open to spontaneous chance.
Guest 22-Apr-2008 01:04
I like how the eye my eye lingers down the road. Leaves me wondering where they are going and what lies ahead for them.
Phil Douglis21-Apr-2008 19:03
We have photographed a similar subject. Yes, shooting from a bus is a handicap, since your vantage point is often a moving one. However in this case the bus has topped behind the camel cart and I was shooting from the front window, up next to the driver.
monique jansen21-Apr-2008 10:11
These gypsies truly do roam,http://www.pbase.com/trevvelbug/image/70555033 , making photos of moving vehicles is hard enough when you are standing still, but from a bus must be even harder
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