Pack-up!

On a trip in Bhutan some years back I waited in the front seat of our car camera in hand hoping to see a Red Panda. At about four in the evening I gave up and put the camera away. (Packed up for the day.) We must have driven for another 10 minutes when we found one, not in the trees far away but on the road staring us in the face… of course I don’t have the shot, had packed up for the day.

Some of my best photographs have been a result of not packing up when it seemed the time to put the camera away. Its as if I was being tested and having passed the test was allowed to see what I did and so photograph it. I have always struggled with clients friends and family as I insist that the cameras should not be put away. So when is it the right time to put the camera away?

Covering a meeting of a Self Help Group (SHG) for the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojna (RGMVP) I was asking myself the question all over again. The meeting was over and we were being offered sweets and water, I was wiping the sweat on my face that threatened to seep into the camera and short circuit it. It had been a good day despite the heat and the humidity. Waiting for the rest of the team I was whiling time looking absentmindedly all around when I this visual came to me. Running across the village square I reached the spot just in time to capture the moment before the ladies put down the graphic chart that explained the benefits of Unity.

So when’s the right time to put down the camera and say okay lets pack up? Guess never !