Showing posts with label Garlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garlands. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Oh My Garland, Oh My Garland

Oh My Garland, Clementine

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


This sight of hand-crafted garlands from fresh blooms drew my eye immediately - because it looked for all the world like a waterfall of every colour conceivable.

A few months ago I was in Singapore for a little more than 24 hours and so I used that time to walk as many miles as I could, taking as many photographs as possible. Late in the evening, long after the sun had set, I was still soaking up all the experiences of the streets of the island state when I happened to see this pavement store. In retrospect, I reckon it was the scent of the blooms that drew me towards it.


You see, I grew up in India, where the smell of many tropical blooms was a scent that even the most experienced perfume-makers would find impossible to bottle. You could blindfold me, take me to those lanes and I would know immediately where I was.

So I began talking to the proprietor of the store. A gracious man, he told me that many of the blooms were imported from India - just as I had suspected. How many times a month did he import them, I asked. I thought he’d reply that they had one consignment each week.

Nope. They imported the blooms every day. And they sold as quickly as they appeared.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Cash-22 Situation

Money Makes The World Go Round

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


This was the money shot, in more ways than one. It’s one of the photographs I took during my highway journey from New Delhi to Dehra Dun in December. However, hindsight is a wonderful factor. Let me explain. When I took the shot, the four-wheel-drive was travelling fairly quickly through a little town and I thought these were garlands hanging outside a little shanty shop.

It was only the next day, when I backed up the shots onto my laptop, that I realised the significance of the image. Yes, they are garlands, with sparkly golden tinsel by which to hang them, but take a closer look. Examine the image below - which is simply a cropped version of the original photograph - and you might be able to discern that the garlands are made from crisp, new currency notes.

When I posted the first images during my India trip, some readers asked how I managed to keep the camera steady and shoot from the open window of a moving vehicle. I simply improvised. I held the camera in my right hand and supported it in my left hand, trying to use the left hand as a sort of fluid tripod, rather than a metal, rigid tripod. Worked fine, most of the time!

(The Odd Shots concept came from Katney. Say "G'day" to her.)