India · 2018
First Light
He was the only thing standing on the whole ghat that did not have somewhere to be.
This story imagines, it does not document. It is what the photograph made me feel.
I came down before the priests, before the bathers, before the light had decided what kind of day it was going to be. He was already at the water's edge, a brass vessel held out in one hand, the river going silver behind him and a single small boat somewhere out on it.
He was not performing the ritual for anyone. He was inside it, the way a riverbank is inside a river — not doing anything, just holding its shape while the water moves through.
I made a few frames in the grey light. He let me, without ever quite acknowledging me. When I lowered the camera he was still looking out at the same patch of water, as if the photograph had happened to someone else.
This is the first frame in the series and one of the first portraits I made along the Ganges. I keep it at the front because it taught me how little I needed to do.
— Sefa Yamak, Istanbul-based portrait photographer. Varanasi, winter 2018. From the INDIA series.
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm · Signed & numbered on verso · Certificate of Authenticity included
If this photograph interests you, write to me directly. I'll answer any questions about print sizes, paper, and process. Studio visits in Istanbul are also available.