Kolkata — Why This City is the Best Place to Learn Street Photography

I grew up partly in Kolkata, and I have been photographing its streets for most of my adult life. But it was only when I started bringing international photographers here that I understood what makes it so special as a learning environment.

The pace

Kolkata moves slower than Delhi or Mumbai. Not slow — Kolkata is never slow. But there is a rhythm to the city that allows you to settle in, to watch, to wait. In Delhi you feel the pressure to keep moving. In Kolkata, you can stand at a corner for forty minutes and the street will perform for you.

The light

The light in North Kolkata in the morning — particularly from November to February — is extraordinary. Soft, directional, warm. It pours through the crumbling colonial architecture and falls in pools on the street. Every photographer who comes here for the first time stops and stares at the light before they even raise their camera.

The people

Kolkata has a reputation for intellectual seriousness and cultural pride. What this means in practice is that people on the street are curious, engaged, often happy to talk. The chai wallah on the corner of Rabindra Sarani has opinions about poetry and cricket. The flower seller at Mullik Ghat has been photographed by photographers from forty countries and has a view on all of them.

North Kolkata specifically

The lanes around Kumartuli, Shyambazar and the old Jorasanko area are where I always take photographers first. The architecture, the light, the density of daily life — it is as close to a perfect street photography environment as I have ever found anywhere in the world.