"I've never seen anyone who looks like you before, with your hair the colour of rice at harvest time. You are wearing a good jacket,- with so many pockets,- that's a fine jacket. ... and what is that thing you hold in your hands ? CAM-ER-A ? A Camera ?
Yes, I've seen photos, there were two on the wall of a relative's home, in a village three days walk from here. The photos were of some of their family who now live in Kathmandu. No, I've never been to the city. I've walked far in these mountains and I've heard about the city and roads, buses and other things but I've never seen them. Others from my family have been to the city, but not me. I have all I need here, this village is my home, I'm happy here. I looked at those two photos for a long time, because I couldn't understand what they were. My relatives tried to explain them to me, but I wondered how they came to be. So, now I see, that is the tool that makes them,- a cam-er-a you say ?
It's very cold tonight. I'm and old man, my body aches. The cold didn't feel so bad when I was young, working in the fields all day and strong, but now, ... well, I still tend the fields and the animals, but it's getting harder for me with each passing winter. My children and grandchildren do most of the work now, ah well, that's how life goes, doesn't it ?
Our home is simple. We have only firelight in the dark hours. Our fire is small because wood is hard to find these days, it wasn't so before. Come, sit by the fire and I will speak of how life was here when I was younger and could you tell me of your country, your life, your cam-er-a."
* * * * *
In a mountain village, Nepal.
A retrospective image. 100 ASA Fujichrome FILM.
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Sta.sh
... piece of a dream,... yet it was absolute reality.
In the case of this moment,- After speaking with the old gentleman and his family for some time, he beckoned me to sit by the fire. You can see by his expression, that I, my photo-jacket (which bulged with cameras, lenses and rolls of film) and equipment, was quite a new thing for him to see.
Lal Bahadur looked so wonderful in the firelight and, as he was interested in my camera and understanding how photos came to be, I asked could I take his photo. He agreed, but was surprised and in wonder as I pointed the lens at him. Steadying the camera with elbows on knees, I exposed for the bright areas, just one "click" then took off my jacket and put the camera away and shared a hot cup of tea and conversation with this soft spoken old man and his family.
I was working on photography relating to conservation, deforestation and reaforestation, with village people in the mountains of Nepal, at the time.
I have a lots of old Kodachrome slides, some of which are overexposed. I thought they were junk but kept them and am amazed at how you can bring them back to life in Photoshop.
Lovely story and photo!
Yes, I would imagine, with Kodachrome quality and lack of grain, you must be able find much to be rejuvenated with the tools of Photoshop.
As my Fujichrome work is digitally scanned with an eight year old home scanner, there is often grain that is not there when the images are printed, somehow, digital scanning articulates the grain. To minimize this, after scanning, I sharpen the images I'm posting here at dA by hand, just the details, still there's grain, but it's the best I can do for now.
I'm glad you like Lal Bahadur and a little of his story, Doug.
I use Imagenomic's Noiseware Pro to get rid of grain, it does a great job. I think there is a freeware stand alone version, but it can be a bit hard to find.
The other thing would be to record your voice and email it or upload to some site like [link] and get someone to transcribe it. I'm sure there would be plenty of people on dA that would love to help