Glenn2
Well-known
No TARDIS needed, just a camera and a few years to collect the images. I've been looking for a place to post this street series and this looks like a good spot. Looking forward to seeing some interesting work in this new forum and input from Frank.
After retirement I finally got a start scanning a lifetime of film, while still shooting new stuff, film and digital. While scanning I found that I'd inadvertently shot the same section of street several years apart and the change was quite evident.
This got me wondering what the street would be like present day after four decades. Time to put Google Fu to the test. Google Earth gave hints, it looked like some of the same shops were still in business.
A search on the name "Kake da Hotel" pulled up a ton of hits including the history of the place.
It was started by two brothers after they had to flee Pakistan during partition from India.
This soon turned into a bucket list quest. How cool would it be to go back after so many years to re-shoot the same location, and to make it even better, use the same Leica as 1970.
In 2012 I was finally able to make the trip for the next data point in the series.
I know the exact date of the first photo, November 5th 1970 . That's from the stamp in my passport on arrival at Palam airport.
By the time I got to Nirulas hotel it was about 2 AM in the morning and I was totally exhausted plus badly jet lagged.
As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep, only to be rudely awakened by a most gawd awful racket at dawn. Unable to sleep I decided to investigate and see who was being murdered. Dressed and armed with M4 and 50mm I ventured out. Murder was right, a murder of crows in the tree outside my room all cawing at maximum volume.
Across the street in front of the Royal Restaurant a woman was cleaning out a rice pot and crows were lined up every where for breakfast.
Just to the left was a row of low end eating places known locally as dhabas. Kake da Hotel and the other shops seem to have a few roof dwellers....
After that first trip to India and Nepal I turned into a travel junkie passing through Delhi a number of times and usually staying at Nirulas hotel. Didn't take another Kake da shot until 1976 and this probably the result of finishing a roll before reloading. Place had changed quite a bit, no tin roofs.
Fast forward to 2012.... Connaught Place is a disaster, streets are torn up putting in a subway, Nirulas hotel is no more. I make my way through crowed streets to see whats happened to Kake da.
It's moved from the old location to a new one seven shops to the left.
There it is....... Another with the X100
One with M4 and Super Angulon...
Now the fun begins. I go inside Kake da and find the crew busy getting ready for the lunch crowd. This fellow comes over and tells me they are not open yet. That's when I pull out prints of the 1970 & 76 photos. I remember the camera settings for this shot, f/3.4 @ 1/60" ..........
Soon the whole gang is checking out the photos. An interesting moment, then they have to get back to work.
I grab a final shot with the Leica before leaving. Another one checked off the bucket list.
Glenn
After retirement I finally got a start scanning a lifetime of film, while still shooting new stuff, film and digital. While scanning I found that I'd inadvertently shot the same section of street several years apart and the change was quite evident.
This got me wondering what the street would be like present day after four decades. Time to put Google Fu to the test. Google Earth gave hints, it looked like some of the same shops were still in business.
A search on the name "Kake da Hotel" pulled up a ton of hits including the history of the place.
It was started by two brothers after they had to flee Pakistan during partition from India.
This soon turned into a bucket list quest. How cool would it be to go back after so many years to re-shoot the same location, and to make it even better, use the same Leica as 1970.
In 2012 I was finally able to make the trip for the next data point in the series.
I know the exact date of the first photo, November 5th 1970 . That's from the stamp in my passport on arrival at Palam airport.
By the time I got to Nirulas hotel it was about 2 AM in the morning and I was totally exhausted plus badly jet lagged.
As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep, only to be rudely awakened by a most gawd awful racket at dawn. Unable to sleep I decided to investigate and see who was being murdered. Dressed and armed with M4 and 50mm I ventured out. Murder was right, a murder of crows in the tree outside my room all cawing at maximum volume.
Across the street in front of the Royal Restaurant a woman was cleaning out a rice pot and crows were lined up every where for breakfast.
Just to the left was a row of low end eating places known locally as dhabas. Kake da Hotel and the other shops seem to have a few roof dwellers....
After that first trip to India and Nepal I turned into a travel junkie passing through Delhi a number of times and usually staying at Nirulas hotel. Didn't take another Kake da shot until 1976 and this probably the result of finishing a roll before reloading. Place had changed quite a bit, no tin roofs.
Fast forward to 2012.... Connaught Place is a disaster, streets are torn up putting in a subway, Nirulas hotel is no more. I make my way through crowed streets to see whats happened to Kake da.
It's moved from the old location to a new one seven shops to the left.
There it is....... Another with the X100
One with M4 and Super Angulon...
Now the fun begins. I go inside Kake da and find the crew busy getting ready for the lunch crowd. This fellow comes over and tells me they are not open yet. That's when I pull out prints of the 1970 & 76 photos. I remember the camera settings for this shot, f/3.4 @ 1/60" ..........
Soon the whole gang is checking out the photos. An interesting moment, then they have to get back to work.
I grab a final shot with the Leica before leaving. Another one checked off the bucket list.
Glenn
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