Thaipusam, a Tamil Hindu Celebration in Singapore

 

 A week ago I posted an essay on my literary site about anthropomorphism. I reported on a discussion I had in 1998 in Hyderabad, India with a colleague when we were in the Birla Mandir Hindu temple about how Hindu gods and goddesses have human features.  Here is the link:

 https://vahezen.blogspot.com/2021/10/anthropomorphism-from-deity-to-desert.html

I also mentioned that I had visited Calcutta in the late 1970s, as well as Mumbai during the same trip to Hyderabad. So I received a few emails asking if I have photos from these trips.

Well, I have posted photos from Mumbai in the following two posts: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4995164429340748464/1810982952832485338 and https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2013/05/mumbai.html but I am unable to find photos from Calcutta. In the past 40 years I have vagabonded the planet and often have left paper documents and photos behind.

But in my search for old photos, I came across a few about Thaipusam that I have taken in the 2000s (I have signed the prints but did not put down the date…)

… Thaipusam is a festival celebrated in countries where the Tamil Hindu communities are predominant, such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Canada among others. It takes place on the full moon of the Tamil month of Thai, usually January or February of each year. Devotees walk to the local Tamil temple carrying a pot of milk but also they pierce their skin, cheeks and tongue with thin but long skewers called vel. This ritual of flesh mortification is part of their soul’s purification before they enter the temple.

The march to the temple is though a dance called kavadi dance, where a large semicircular canopy, often quite decorated is carried by the devotees showing their pierced body. From a distance it may look like they are holding a large, ornate umbrella but a closer look shows the ritual of soul purification.

… On that January, a colleague who has seen many a Thaipusam celebration in Singapore picked me up from the hotel to see the procession.

“Too bad you take only B&W photos” he said, “look how delightful the colours are.”

Indeed, not only were the kavadi ornate in gold, yellow, white, and red but also the women attending the ceremony were in traditional Indian silk dresses.  It was a wonderful scene.

So I took a few photos with my Nikon F2.  The photo at the outset shows the canopy and the one below a close up of the back of another devotee displaying the ritual body piercing.

… I was delighted to find these old photographs. Then I checked and there are many wonderful colour photos of Thaipusam on the internet covering celebrations from many countries.

My black and white photography is photojournalistic as always – trying to tell a story rather than dazzle the viewer’s eyes.

October 24, 2021

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2021

Minolta Autocord TLR for Street Photography

 

Rolleiflex Medium Format cameras have been in extensively used in photojournalism since the 1940s. They are small, relatively light and can be preset (if needed) to an approximate focusing distance for quick snapping.  Most importantly, since the TLRs have a waist level focusing screen, one can identify the subject without the latter knowing that you are taking a photo. That makes for candid shots.

I have used TLR cameras in street photography since the 1980s. While I have a number of them, my three favorites are a 1948 Rolleiflex, a 1966 Minolta Autocord III, and the Yashica 124 also from the 1960s. For studio portraiture, I use a Mamiya Professional with bellows and a Minolta Autocord CDS which has a light meter but is too bulky for hanging around my neck.

Here are the Rolleiflex, the Autocord CDS and the Autocord III. Note the modifications I have made for quick photo taking -- I have added longer plungers to the shutter button, replaced the hood on the CDS with a Yashica hood and internal fresnel for a brighter viewfinder, and made a hood on the III using three metal rings from old filters:

 

While all three of them have delightful lenses, the Autocords have an elliptic sliding focusing system with a knob under the lens compared to the left hand rotating knob on the Rolleiflex and Yashica. With some practice, one can hold the camera in the right hand, slide the focusing knob right or left with the middle finger for the perfect focus, then press the shutter with the index finger.

The concept was not new. In the 1950s and 60s, Meopta, a Czechoslovakian company, made a TLR called Flexaret that was widely used during the Soviet days. It was the first TLR to use the sliding focusing mechanism. But the aluminum bodied camera did not have professional features nor the endurance for heavy use.

Here is a close-up to the Autocord sliding focusing design:

So, I do not need my left hand to go through these steps and take a photo. Unless I am holding the leach of my dog with my left arm!

And that is what I did last weekend. I knew the downtown was getting ready for an open air art show and my dog needs his daily early morning walk. So, there I went trying to control a 106 pound Akita who pulls like a pony on the first day of spring, and hoping to snap a few photos with my Autocord III.

It was soon after sunrise when we got there. The tall trees around the town square filtered the early rays making me choose an aperture of 3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/60^th second.

The photo at the top of this page is what a medium format film delivers – the wide opened lens blurred the background smoothly and the subject, a cowboy taking a break is in focus surrounded by a tonal range progression that fits his pensive mood. I did crop the photo, especially the top of the chair on the left to give contournal contrast to the smooth lines. Also the top of the trees were amorphous and distracting.

A few minutes later, I notice a man helping a Western dressed woman unfold a blanket. With my dog pulling enough to un-steady my camera holding, I tried to capture that movement. The man is at the front and left of the woman, his legs showing, but most of his body and face are covered under that blanket. Interestingly, the folds of the blanket give a resemblance of a funny face almost where the head of the man is supposed to be. Here is the ghostly illusion I noticed when I printed the photo:

Here is the full photo, this time with an almost Sonnar like background swirl!

I like the movement in this photo, as the woman and the water fountain in the background give the contrast of immobility.

As with all mechanical cameras, taking a photo makes the photographer one with the tool. Now add to that a massive Akita on his first morning walk not eager to stop walking, and a TLR that had to be held in one hand to focus, click the shutter and rewind the film!

But when I look at the photos, I know why I still love the challenge of TLR photography and the joy of having my fourth dog in the past 40 years dragging me in the streets!

 

October 9, 2021

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2021