Documenting Makanpur Madarriya Silsila

The Malangs At Makanpur

 

One of the reasons my foreigner friends come to shoot Urus of Zinda Shah Madar is to hone their skills at portraiture ..I mean they are great photographers much better than me but they are humble to realize as photographers they are not infallible .

 

For me an added advantage is to learn new skills through my friends I watch them I observe them..and Makanpur and Khamakhya give me this impetus this thrill of shooting faces .

 

Faces that tell their stories nameless faces unlike other photographers I dont jot details name etc.. I simply shoot I dont even ask questions ..

If I shoot a video than I use the question answer format but not while taking stills .

 

But photography specially people photography has been a text book to learn about the characters I shoot and in a way all this could be called Unlearning Photography.

 

Makanpur is a spiritual carnival with hodes of faces each one different from the other no malang looks the same ..in some ways I found most Naga Sadhu facs look the same at Khamakhya and one very important difference Malangs dont abuse you or get rough with or ask you for money if you take permission to shoot them.

 

But somehow somebody has ingrained it in the heads of the Naga Sadhus that everyone who shoots them make money selling their pictures so they demand their pound of flesh.

 

But I dont have such problems anymore as I have been shooting both the places both poles apart for over 2 years Khamakhya and 5 years Makanpur .

 

The third place is Ratanpore BavaGor spiritual abode of the black sufis ..Siddis of Gujrat ..I discovered it this year ...

 

#sufis

Done