Fresh markets are one of my favorite destinations when traveling. They provide color, both literally and figuratively. They are generally very lively, peopled with vendors, buyers, and gawkers who usually tolerate photographers amicably as long as they don’t get in the way of business or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves.

Numerous Kolkata roadways were lined with street vendors. I had a sense of abundance, richness, at the same time I assumed (based on no source I can specify) that India suffered from overwhelming poverty. Out of curiosity on the facts, I checked. According to World Bank data, the poverty rate in India in 1977 was 63.11%, but dropped steadily from then. 1987-50.59%; 2017-13.37%; 2021-11.9%. I estimate that in 2012, when I made this photograph, it was around 20%. For some perspective, that’s less than the poverty rate has been in Savannah for three decades.

I’ve created a new gallery, “Kolkata: Markets, 2012,” that explores a variety of energetic commercial activities: from street vendors to a wholesale flower market; an enormous indoor wholesale vegetable market where large bales of produce are dropped off outside and groups of men muscle the bale up and onto their heads to walk it into the market; and a large-scale, non-electric commercial laundry. To see that gallery, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index/G0000cUgS.K.Ufl8.

It’s been 12 years since I was there, but one of the things I remember, in going through the people photographs from four days in Kolkata, is a sense of acceptance of each moment, a calm center in the middle of chaos.

Visiting India was like falling into a kaleidoscope, a constant swirl of colors, patterns, textures, sounds, smells; a dense, noisy population in constant motion. But moving in close to individuals, for portraits, was met with grace and generosity, a willingness to confront the camera directly in most cases, and without artifice.

I’ve just created a new gallery on my website “Kolkata: People, Portraits.” To see those photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index/G0000J7IIfMI8aqs

It is a truism that we don’t realize, visually, changes in a landscape when we watch it happen incrementally over time. Older photographs are a quick reminder of how different the same place has become while you were watching.

Recently a friend, the city’s archivist, asked me about seeing some older photos that might be useful for a presentation she is doing. What I pulled out reminded me of how open the riverfront used to be, used to feel.

In the early 1970’s River Street was in pretty bad shape. Much of the old wooden pier was dangerous to walk on, but open to do so. There were 2-3 clubs/bars/restaurants, but it was mostly storage and service oriented tenants. It was not a place that felt safe after dark. The city did a polishing up: re-laying the ballast stones to smooth the street, adding bulkhead and riverwalk infrastructure, and landscaping. That’s what’s happening in this photograph.

Forty seven years later, the landscaping has matured; the foliage has grown and offers shade, there’s lots of seating around, it feels “not new,” comfortable, weathered in, like it’s always been this way. Lots of tourists on some mission, purposely-headed hither and yon. Some of the changes have been architectural. The large dirt area where the delivery trucks and VW microbus are parked is now part of the footprint of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. This view no longer exists.

For anyone who might be interested in the presentation, here are the details:

A “Walk” Down River Street

In a visual history of Savannah’s historic riverfront, Luciana Spracher, Director of the City of Savannah Municipal Archives, uses detailed narrative and unforgettable images to explore the evolution of this iconic landscape, from the colonial era through the present. 12-1 PM, August 21.

Register through The Learning Center: https://seniorcitizensinc.org/the-learning-center

Another aspect of this trip down memory lane has been: for many years I looked at a lot of vintage photographs, recognizing their place in a historical context because of the flat but detailed look they had, and understanding their shortcomings needed to be forgiven for limitations of earlier technology. Turns out I’ve been doing this long enough I now have my own “vintage” photographs of a time past. History doesn’t seem to be as long ago as it used to.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index

Barbara and I have been hanging out together for more than 40 years, but there might not be much more than that many photographs of us. We both shoot when we travel, and have lots of individual shots of each other, but not so many together. A mirror at the Rodin Museum let us each capture us, with the sculpture mimicking our photo-posture contortions.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index

A convergence of phenomena conspired to give this local boy a frozen moment alone with his magical, normally tourist-laden, city.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index