[Leica] Triplicane

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

After a break of a couple of years we went to the Brahmotsavam of 6th
century Parthasarathy Temple at Triplicane in Chennai last week, on one of
the relatively minor days to beat the crowd. The festival, which lasts a
week, entails giving the deity of Lord Vishnu an airing around the extended
area surrounding the temple, on various ceremonial palanquins carried by
the devotees, culminating in a ride on a huge chariot also pulled around by
the devotees. Not being a particularly religious person, I never fail to
get amazed and awestruck by the amount of pain and effort that devotees
expend in order to express their deep belief in the religion of their
choice.

This is a fairly large submission, so please bear with me.

All photographs taken with the Nikon Z8 and the Nikkor Z 135mm f1.8S
"Plena", arguably the best portrait lens I have ever used in 60+ years of
photography.

Firstly, the pain, effort and fatigue of deep, extreme belief:

Pain:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-259-Edit.jpg.html

Effort:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-648-Edit.jpg.html

Fatigue:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-657-Edit.jpg.html

Sweat:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-670-Edit.jpg.html

Push:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-175-Edit.jpg.html

Rest:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-466-Edit.jpg.html

The rest are all photographs of people. To start with, some neighbourly
mingling:

Conversation:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-817-Edit.jpg.html

Interaction:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-531-Edit.jpg.html

There is something about making a kolam that induces people to sway
gracefully:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-033-Enhanced-NR-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-1186-Edit.jpg.html

Old people watch the procession from their houses - it always reminds me of
being caged:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-393-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-506-Edit.jpg.html

Young devotees carry ceremonial umbrellas, but I was limited by my lens
into making portraits of them:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-924-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-1019-Edit.jpg.html

Next comes two friends of mine, one a participant, and the other
photographing, just like us:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-705-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-073-Edit.jpg.html

A couple who rumbled my photographing them:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-519-Edit.jpg.html

Finally, a bunch of street portraits:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-946-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-1106-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-687-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-076-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-091-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-437-Edit.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/TCane/Triplicane-20240428-305-Edit.jpg.html

Please see LARGE

Criticism and comments, as always, welcome

Cheers
Jayanand