January 24, 2001 - Cameras for the Kids
January 24, 2001 - Cameras for the Kids
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Cameras for the Kids I bring gifts for the kids when I visit India. Water-resistant watches are impossible to find in Southern India so I bring watches from China which I purchase at K-Mart in the USA for under $9. I also bring back packs for school books that cost from $7 to $20 which are from East Pakistan and China which I also purchase at K-Mart in the USA. And best of all, I bring inexpensive manual cameras for the kids to take pictures. Mari, Kumar and Vela each got a camera on my last trip. I wait until the cameras are on sale for $5 to $12. (Vivitar is best. The flash on the manual Fuji camera breaks down easily.) About three times a week, I buy film for the kids and they run around taking pictures returning in a few hours for me to get the film developed. I give them all the color prints which they keep or give to the people they took pictures of. However, I keep the negatives which I am currently scanning into my Macintosh using an inexpensive UMax 2200 scanner and then color correcting in Photoshop. |
Vela painted her face and put on her new dress just to pose with her brother Alexander in our hotel room in Thirumamilai. (Photo by Mari) |
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The Kids Pictures The kids can take roll after roll of pictures in just a few minutes. That is why I bring them manual cameras which they must wind after every shot. If the cameras were automatic, the film would be gone in half the time. Mari often takes pictures early in the morning of the local kids (Ramu's son is second from left) on the sidewalk where they sleep. (Photo by Mari) |
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Standing Stiff Almost always, the kids take pictures of people standing rigidly at attention. Here people are posing in front of alter in a one room house. Mari enjoys taking pictures at her relative's or friends wedding. She took 4 rolls at one important wedding. These are some of her photos. (Photos by Mari) |
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I told Vela to stop taking pictures of people standing stiff at attention... but rather take pictures of the people doing things. Here Prabhu puts on a fake moustache and poses with different props for Vela. |
(Photos by Vela and Prabhu) |
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Kumar's Pictures Kumar likes to have pictures of Kumar. In his house, Kumar built a collage of all the pictures of himself. It contained dozens of pictures of Kumar standing in a dozen different locations. (Photo by Robert Purser) |
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