One afternoon this past April we arrived to Jaipur from the Muzaffarnagar region of Uttar Pradesh, and landed in a familiar neighborhood near to our wonderful hostSombeer Singh Summy. We went straight to our favorite family and asked to photograph their daughters with only thirty minutes of sunshine remaining. Without any hesitation whatsoever, the father agreed although he had only met us for a few minutes over three weeks ago.
We walked over to the cement factory's wall and set up our camera. We photographed three of the five daughters before the sun was too soft for my film camera, and then went on to photograph some other children for fun with the digital camera. This portrait is of the most mischievous ones from the bunch, finally put in front of the lens for all to behold without his usual antics to protect him!
He was marvelous, and truly enjoyed his time in the spotlight!
The wall behind him belongs to the concrete factory just across from their homes. The entire neighborhood is basically illegal in its construction, and almost all live a hand to mouth existence. They have across from them a factory that does nothing but produce concrete for the buildings being constructed all around them, while they will never see their interiors.
The dust produced as trucks come and go is almost unbreathable, yet these children play directly in front of this wall. When one truck passed we had to stop our photography because the dust alone prevented any of us from seeing well enough to work. This is their daily existence, just incredible.
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Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100II.
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