"An Ocean of People at an Ocean of Water" version 2 The Maha Kumbh Mela in India Allahabad has...

Just another day. Woke up this morning and after some breakfast and strolling around boot up my pc to look for my email. Great was my surprise when I read the mail from photo.net telling me the panorama on the khumbh was quoted pow. My heart went boem boem boem, you know...

I read the comments of all you photo lovers and I guess politeness obliges me to respond. I'm not the kind of great talker, just try to put my experiences and feelings into my pictures.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is something really fabulous and the huge amount of people gathering there in 6 weeks time concentrates the cosmic powers (shakti) into your own being. It doesn't leave you anymore for the rest of your present livetime. The story of getting there is already a small miracle amongst the many that happened there. The main day with the many processions of sadhus, nagas, gurus..., was on 24st jan2001. Millions of people were expected and my wife and I weren't quiet sure what to expect when arriving there. So we stayed in the center of Allahabad 5km away from the Kumbh and went on several explorations of the sites during daytime some days before . There was already a lot of people but we could easily manage to find our way and to fix many landmarks into our minds. We strolled around and made many pictures of ordinary people.

Then the 24st Jan arrived and we had to leave the guesthouse in town very early at 3am to try to get at the Sangam (the confluence you see in the panorama)in time at sunset when the nagas are running into the water. The picture of Lance Lee shows this very well.

But there was a very big problem. All streets were close for traffic even for the rickshaw's and so we had to walk the 5km in nearly absolutely darkness and then we were very sceptical to get at the Sangam that day cause all the pelgrims were moving by thousends with us and at some point we didn't have a clue where we really were. We just let us float by the masses. At some crossroad some policeman stood there and in some illuminated move I asked them if we could move straight instead of turning left with the big crowd. After some discussing, like always in India, the officer let us through and we moved further on but still without knowing where we were in that semi darkness. We walked some kms further and my wife asked me if I was sure what I was doing and told here I really didn't know but at that very same moment I saw a very tiny red light in the sky on my right and was thinking: if this is what I think it is then we will be right on the spot. Some distance further I recongnized the hindu tempel on the shore of the Ganga near the Sangam. And yes we only had to walk a couple of hundred meter further and the magic grew to unexpected hight...

It was still very dark and cold, but neonlights lighted up the huge crowd. We've already been many time in India and are used to expect the unexpected but gosh was this some kind of experience...we couldn't believe our own senses!

But we were still a while away from the place where the procession would pass. So we had to move into the very dense masses. At first I was reluctant to do that. I knew from previous Khumbs that many people died crushed on eachother. So I hold my wife's hand very sturdely and could move near the fence where some policemen and officials stood. Seeing my camera's and lenses they signed me to some platform where other photographers and tourist were. So we climbed on it and there we were looking over the crowd and realizing the vast scene. But the magic didn't end there. Already many clusters of guru's with there disciples passed by and the sound of big drumms resonated in the distance anouncing the first naga's arriving. Some kind of dressed guards waving around a large sword cleared the way and shouting NO PHOTO! NO PHOTO! So I had to be carefull and there they were right before our eyes and not without danger I could grasp some pictures of them. Pure, pure magic!

Then we jumped from the platform and moved at the other side of the path, that's where I made the pictures of the nagas you can see on this same folder. Well to much to tell to whole story...But when the first light of dawn came up the magic growed even greater. Hundreds, thousends of convois went to the Ganga waters to bath. We stood in the middle of all this and looking up to the stars I realized that this was permanent, the whole cosmos was concentrating to one point: the Sangam. And we really could feel it into our beings.

Then te sun came up and that's when the other sides of the Ganga and Yamuna came into sight. As far as we could see with our eyes (and binoculars) the horizon was black lined from the crowds and we stood there. We didn't want to move away, just looking around amaized by the sight and the sound and the smell. A hard wind was blowing very could but cleared the sky. I took many many pictures but couldn't grasp the huge overwhelming feeling I had on that spot. Then I had some idea, why not make several different pictures spread over 180° and then see at home if I could stitch them somehow together in Photoshop. I had no tripod with me, only two bodies with a 70-210mm and 20-35mm and working on slides Fuji Sensia 100iso. I mesured the light with my incident lightmeter for the picture to the right of the panorama and made the other ones with the same aperture and time, carefully trying to get the horizon aligned, with the help of the grid in my viewer, and allowing some large overlap on the left and right of each picture. Back home I followed carefully some tutorial about stitching in PS and after some time I managed to get the result above. The magic went on...

Obviously you liked it very much and I'm very pleased that magic came through to you. After making a printed enlargment on my Epson1290 it's even more impressive.

I could tell you many more about that day but I will leave it here since this is not a travel forum.

 

 

To reply to Derek D. mail concerning the shadow. Your remark is right somehow. You have to imagine the right of the picture is 90° on the midlle since it is shot that way.

And I don't quiet understand Mason Israel stating this is a poor subject...could you explain this somehow?

 

Many thanks to all, you really made my day!!!

 

Namaste (the Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you)

 

from Belgium...

 

 

It's really an experience of a lifetime isn't it? I'v never seen any event as breath-taking as this.

 

:>

Apart from being a wonderful photo, thanks for giving me a challenge - I am struggling to find the joins :) If you are new to stitching, you are a quick learner. Well-deserved POW!

 

Great use of panorama. An awesome picture that really conveys excitement and a sense of the event.

This picture is a Masterpiece. Thanks for sharing ...Congratulations for an absolutely stunning piece of work.

Moderator has deleted a negative comment of a personal nature towards another member

Wow grab your beach ball for this one! Thats alot of people! Nice capture. This one goes in the book for sure! No one looking at the camera to make it personal but a great observeration type documentary image.

So, I understand that you used 2 bodies to shoot this simultaneously, but you said you put together 5 slides. My understanding is that after the first 2 shots, these people should have already moved, so how did you freeze the scene to provide continuation of the other 3 slides?Please enlighten us, our technical photo guru.

Your photo is really stunningly intriguing.

You dont need to freeze a scene. A zig-zag stich would do it I guess. I would like to know whether the stich is visible on a print.

Poor subject??? Nuh...! The subject is really stunning. But I agree with Rienk about some details that makes it not beeing what I would consider a masterpiece, from the "aesthetical" point of view. The lack of details specially on the foreground, the strong shadows (accentuated due to the film used...?) that hide almost every strong color on the clothes, confabulate against what could have been a better shot.

 

It's an excellent subject, the eye of the photographer was there to preview this image and catch that amazing moment; a better (and hard) stitching work was done as well.

 

I remember to have rated this many monthes ago (Dec 2001) with A.6/O.10. Now that I see it again, I consider that's fair, and I'll sustain it.

 

Personally I prefer this other two shots (from the same folder):

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=431973

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=437426

 

Both of them confirm that we have in Jean-Pierre an excellent "image-catcher".

 

Congrats!!

Most excellent panorama. I do have two questions however... What is a "milj" and where are the porta-potties?

I saw this image long ago and found it truly impressive. The subject isn't ordinary for sure, but... I disagree with comments blaming the aesthetics of this image so far... Lack of details in the faces ?? Come on, people, how would you get details on the faces in such a case...? Please enlighten me. Besides that, the photographer hasn't simply recorded what was in front of him. He has ORGANIZED it, and organized it extremely well. This "sea" of people actually draws a wave, This wave is the main line in the image, and the shore draws a similar line in the background. What more can you expect from such a huge crowd shot ? Only 1 thing imo, but it takes a bit of additional luck and possibly patience + luck...: I agree with Rienk J. that a face as a very near foreground would have added a dimension to the whole scene. But well, how much better can it get besides that ? If this is a 6 in Aesthetics, then we aren't going to give out many 8s on the site...:-)

By the way, I'm still searching for imperfections in the steaching, but in vain. Congrats. Well done.

Epic. If photonet gave Oscars this would get best picture.

This image has to rank as one of the finest POWs ever. "Awesome" is a word that is much overused these days, but it certainly fits in this case.

Count my voice with those who love this photo! The light is great (though no panoramic can have great light across the whole image) and the sheer scope of this scene invites the viewer in deeper and deeper. This is one of those images you wish you could climb right into and look around--a mix of Clyde Butcher and Cecil B. DeMille.

 

I've tried panoramic technique, and my efforts really sucked so you won't find them here. However, your shot was rightly chosen for POW precisely because of technical and artistic merits as a panoramic photo. Congrats!

I think this picture captures the scale of India perfectly. India has always been the scene of grandeur. The temples are massive. The citys sprawling. Even the religion of Hinduism works on a huge scale. This picture reflects all of that. Excellent!

The lighting and composition are great. The combining and sewing of the 5 slides has been pulled off with excellent results

I am just stunned by the individuality of detail in this shot. It's not like everyone is facing the same direction, or its just a sea of faces. Many are preoccuppied in their own personal dramas, so that there are many individual dramas, within what would already be a visual stunning viewpoint. How you were able to maintain such dynamics over 5 shots and then be able to piece them together in a wholely coherent panorama is amazing!

It seems that all I have to do for a POW is go to India to shoot. But an excellent photo for sure. If India has so much magic that inspiration flows like water after the rain, then perhaps I should go there.

The shadows seem to change direction because, when stitched, this is essentially a "rotational" panorama (i.e. as if taken with a Noblex or a Cirkut camera) and there is a different perspective between the left and rightmost images. This is the same illusion that has led the Apollo 11 naysayers to declare the Moon was never visited as the shadows in Aldrin's pictures were obviously "faked" in a studio. It's just a matter of understanding the tricks that perspective plays on you (especially if a wide angle lens is used).

 

I think that some of the "darkness" here is simply PN's well-known (and frequently commented upon) non-ICC profiled presentation of images. They can't be expected to guess everyone's preferences and monitor settings. We need to make allowances for that.

 

Much of this image's appeal comes from its exotic (to Western eyes) subject matter. I sometimes get the feeling (not having actually been there) that it's possible to point a camera almost anywhere in India and capture something interesting. On the other hand, many of the high-rating "glamor" shots we see on this site, made in studios with controlled lighting also rely on gorgeous models with great bodies for their principal effect. No matter how perfect the setup, you can only do so much with an average-looking model. Ditto with landscapes: shoot Bryce Canyon at dawn or expensively sculpted golf courses, designed to be beautiful and you'll do well. Take a picture of your backyard and it goes down like a lead balloon. Getting an interesting or exotic subject is half the battle. The other half is to do the subject justice, once you have it in your viewfinder.

 

Jean-Pierre spent a tense day making it to the scene (and had some luck in being directed onto the photographers' podium), so what did he make of his opportunity?

 

He has photographed a great swathe of people with a boiling centre erupting and disgorging people to the left and the right. I guess this was near the back of the crowd, the traditional spot for foot traffic at such events. He has used this position to advantage, by matching the flow of people with the almost mathematical curve of the river bank in the background. Interestingly, the river is not too far in the background as we can still clearly make out the wave motion on the water's surface. This gives a "near and far" feeling to the shot. The wide angle lens distorts perspective to make the river appear to be far away, and the detail in the waves brings it closer. The low horizon, necessary to capture the detailed foreground, generates an effect of almost claustrophobia within the enclosed space.... quite paradoxical as this is such a grand scene. The polarizer adds a clarity that brings everything to life. Everything is well placed here: the curve of the hill and river bank, the boats in mid-stream, the buildings on the horizon, the balancing standards and flags at the left. This is a very good job, performed under what must have been trying conditions.

 

To the "it's just faces in a crowd" critics, a dowload and zoom around the image reveals plenty of variety and interest. It's a pity that shots in the panoramic format are unsuited to square-shaped screens and slow modems and must, sadly, lose some of their impact because of this. The best way to view a picture of this aspect ratio is to enlarge it up to two metres wide, curve it into a cylindrical shape and then stand in the centre to view it, employing backlighting. That way, many of the illusions suddenly look "correct" as you turn your head from one side to the other, and the enormous detail will magically come alive. Equally, as well as presenting individuals' details, this picture works on the grand scale: it is as much a portrait of the upwelling crowd as it is of the individuals contained in it.

 

The end result, to me, is that of being immersed in a huge alien wave of emotion and power, as seen by an imaginative and sympathetic photographer who placed himself right in the middle of the action. It is full of illusions and counterpoint, conflicting elements and raw power. For the majority of us who weren't there it gives a graphic account of what it must be like to swim in a sea of humanity.

good job, I would have never guessed this was stitched from 5 slides.

I think that this would be an appropriate image to include in a space capsule sent into the cosmos and containing a summary of humanity.

 

I'll second what Tony said: one can only ever get a perfunctory impression of a picture like this on a flat screen at such low resolution.

George Eastman ("Mr. Kodak") would indeed be sitting up in his grave, mainly asking why Jean-Pierre used Fuji film.

Congratulations Jean-Pierre ... I hope the man in a red dress photograph would be the next week POW . . . I guess the elves had a hard choice trying to pick just one photograph from your India portofolio ... lately, the elves seem to be very impressed by the use of innovative techniques. For once, they managed to choose a photograph in which aesthetics, form and technique employed are the necessary and only choice.

Since most of my thoughts have already been expressed in the previous postings, all that I can say is I have never been so much stirred by a picture of India. I notice how the sea of human beings overwhelm the actual river as far as vastness is concerned. Speaks volumes... frankly, words fail me. Congrats.

>It was the largest religious gathering in the

>world ever held.

I don't know about all that, take a look at the muslims pilgrimate called Haj.

A few years ago it was a 3 million people, probably up to 5 now.