Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Photographing The Tenant Farm Families

As I walked around in the early morning light (left the hotel at 615 am, arrived on site before 7am) photographing the farmers, I recorded the following in my notebook.

- Out shooting at first light, beautiful, misty air.
- Smoke stacks in the distant covered in mist (pollution?)
- Hindi music playing, surreal, children running through the old worked ( rice? ) fields and laughing. a joyous feeling!
- Chimneys from the brick making factories are very graphic, will look good in b/w photos.
- Hard work, the farmers (both women and men) dig at the field with a pick/shovel tool, it looks very difficult. They hack away a 1cm section of dirt with the old plant stalk in it,  they areprobably getting ready for the next planting season.
- Farmers live in very basic temporary corrugated metal lean-to/tent homes.
- Farmers life a modern form of slavery?
- People are excited and yelling to each other across the fields to other families when I photograph them.
- Young girls crying when I try to approach and photograph them, they look terrified of the big white guy.

Note* I was told afterward the farm workers travel from area to area working the land (tenant workers) as the seasons change, they are not native to this area, their homes are far off somewhere.