Well-known street photographer Eric Kim tells us how he shocked the wits out of a Mumbai lady cop

On November 5, when Mumbai was seeing its own mini-version of Occupy Wall Street at Dalal Street in South Mumbai, a US citizen of Korean descent was searching the streets for interesting pictures to capture on his camera.u00a0u00a0


During Occupy Dalal Street on November 5, Mumbai. Eric Kim
sneaked up to take a candid photograph of a policewoman talking
on her cellphone
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Gradually, the crowd gathered, which according to media reports numbered less than 100 in comparison to thousands who had gathered in the US. And then Eric Kim saw it. A policewoman speaking on the phone, but with her hands partially covering her face, making the phone disappear. He went right up to her, and to her shock, picked up his camera, used a strong flash, and photographed her.

For Kim, this is one of his most memorable photographs from India. It is street photography at its best -- concentrating on one single human moment, otherwise mundane and everyday, at a decisive or poignant moment, that makes it something else altogether.

Kim is a 23 year-old Los Angeles-based street photographer who runs a popular blog, and conducts workshops across countries. Having parked himself in India for two weeks on the invitation of well-known city photographer Kaushal Parikh, Kim held workshops on this lesser-known genre of photography with Mumbai's photo enthusiasts. Excerpts from an interview:

How did you get into street photography?
I was about 18 when I started taking photographs with a point and shoot camera. Initially, I clicked everything that caught my fancy: mountains, birds, trees, people, anything. Then I realised that the pictures I had taken of people on the streets were the best. I began enjoying that sort of photography more. From then on, it has always been street photography for me.


A woman caught off-guard while crossing a road in Los Angeles

What is it about the genre that appeals to you?
No other genre can put a viewer in a subject's shoes. It's a form purer than any other. Here, candid human moments from everyday life, whether it's dropping your kid to school or jogging on a stretch of road, are captured in a way that it showcases human conditions. It is less about the image and more about the story behind it. People don't realise it, but it also plays a crucial role in documenting moments in history. Today, a street may look a certain way, but in a few years, it may transform into something completely different.