This is a photo of the Galle Face green taken with that Fed 5B about 15 years ago. 

 Another of my posts to the classic  camera collectors' FB page.

This is my Fed 5b rangefinder purchased as used in the 1990s. I have taken some very nice photos with its Industar F2.8/55 lens. Feds started as Leica copies but gradually assumed a form and life of their own.

The blinder broke  a few years back, but I hope to get that fixed. The build quality is quite good, much  better than in any of the Zenit SLRs I have used. I like the camera’s simple ergonomics and the solid feel. Focusing is very easy.

This is a photo of what used to be the biggest public space in Colombo, the Galle Face Green, taken with this camera before the port city project started.

 

This is the first post of my new photography project ‘Street photography from my garage’. There is a fascinating  flow of humanity along this road which leads to a tenement (or slum) area in Colombo. There is a massive construction project of luxury flats to the left. All trees on the road have been cut down, nothing replanted.

You can see  all kinds of faces, all kinds of people – office workers, housewives, families, the down and out, the poorest, the beggars, addicts, the aggressive, the submissive, the hopeful, and those who have lost all hope.

My project is not meant to exalt or condemn. I just want to capture passing life, and show it as it is, without romanticizing.

These photos are mainly taken at dusk, when the light is lovely, but also in bad weather, drizzle and rainstorms.

I have used two cameras – Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 600D – with a very old Russian 400mm M42 mount telephoto lens with a maximum aperture of F8. With this, I can photograph the street from my garage unobserved. The Mark III’s low light ability is very useful when light starts falling quickly, forcing me to go from ISO 1000 or 1600 to 6400 or more.

I hope to post these photos once or twice a week, as time permits.

Welcome to this fascinating gallery of portraits and street life. As for taking permission from those photographs, it’s impossible because for several reasons. If I ask them, they might or might like the idea. If the person is a drug addict, it could be downright dangerous as word gets around. If they consent, I have to get back to my filming position and get them to walk again, and the photograph will be posed and look unnatural.

As I said earlier, I don’t mean to condemn or exalt. This is passing life in the street as it happens. My approach is documentary, and it’s for the record.