The Stories Behind my Top 10 Photographs of Children

There's something extremely rewarding about photographing children. For me, every photograph I take of a child is like reliving a part of my childhood again. Not many subjects draw the attention of viewers like the curious eyes and the unadulterated smiles of little children.

Here are some of my favourite photographs of children and the stories behind each photograph.

Thanmung (my little neighbour friend) was around 8 years old when I took this photograph. We were harvesting plums nearby his house and he was carrying the fruits in this cute little basket. I had taken a few photographs of him but he was unwilling to give his best smile because of his rotten teeth. However, as I pointed the lens to him and asked him about his crush in school, he lit up and gave me this wonderful smile.

The things 'Love' makes us do!

I always walked around the streets with my camera when I was in college in Shillong. During one of those days, I was out with my girlfriend when I chanced upon this little boy attentively doing his homework while looking after his mother's stall by the footpath. I sat there observing the boy for a few moments after taking the photograph and the little boy was so engrossed in his work that he hardly noticed me or the crowd that went by him.

You simply can't beat the will to learn!

It was late in the evening when I was coming home and saw this little boy waiting for his father sitting beside the cattle fooder his father was collecting. His eyelids were heavy with sleepiness and I was lucky enough to get this photograph of him just dozing off for a moment. I tried my best to pass by him as silently as I could but he was soon awake after I had taken the photograph.

Kapangtha and Thanmung whistle for the wind as they try to fly their kite in their school uniforms. During a time when toddlers and little children are glued to phones and other digital gadgets, only a few children are out there enjoying their childhood out in the open.

I love this photograph because the two of them are as unfettered as their kite taking flight. It would also be one of the last times in two years they don their uniform with the outbreak of the covid19 pandemic bringing their formal learning in school to a halt.

This is a photograph of my cousin I took when I visited my maternal family at Mao in early 2016. The kitchen we were in was dimly lit with a single source of light coming in from the open window. My little cousin was having his breakfast and positioned in such a way that the light was falling directly on him.

The lighting, as well as the scene, was beautiful and just as I was about to click the shutter, he held out his arms making the photograph much more dramatic than the scene actually was.

Yarteo had this infectious smile and a boyish naughtiness about him. I had spent most of the day photographing his mother and aunt transplant paddy saplings in the fields. Yarteo, however, had always made funny faces whenever I tried to take his photograph.

Then, just as I was about to leave the field, he came running towards me, and in a split second I was able to capture exactly what I had wanted the whole day; his beautiful smile and his mischievious nature all in one frame.

I always took the shortcut from Laimu towards Nongrim Hills when going home from college. This shortcut passed through Gora Lane which was like a small haven for the Sikh community. This little neighbourhood was an explosion of vibrant colours, songs, and people. What I like most about the neighbourhood was the friendliness of the little kids that ran around the locality in numbers.

This little boy was seated by himself at one of the corners of the house and looked at me with great interest as I took his photograph. We didn't speak but both smiled at each other after I had taken the photograph and shared a moment that meant much more than words.

My mother is a teacher in one of the primary schools in town. I'd often go there as her substitute whenever she felt unwell or had other things to attend to. This photograph was taken on one of those days.

Maya, the boy on the right, was the smallest and yet the most mischievous. Seeing that I had brought a camera, he couldn't wait for the bell to ring so that I could do a little photo session for him and his classmates. As soon as the bell rang, he rallied his friends and asked me to take their photographs. But even as I took this one, he was up to his usual mischievous tricks, pulling back his friend and letting out a wicked little laugh.

I often frequented Duncan Park with Yungyun and Shami (my cousins) when I was first getting into photography. That day, we had gone around the park taking photographs as they switched between posing for me and playing at the swings and the slides of the park.

As evening descended, we about to go home when I saw this beautiful lighting coming through the green foliage. I asked them to walk forward a little bit and just stand there as they were and took this photograph. To this day, something about this photograph pulls me in and make me both happy and nostalgic in a way I can never describe.

Mao tribe celebrate the Chiithuni festival in the first week of January which is equivalent to the New Year we celebrate on January 1st. Here, the villagers make their way to the top of a mountain where the youths participate in various sporting events. While descending, the womenfolks and the girls often decorate themselves with headgears made of ferns and green leaves while also carrying branches of greens in their hands.

I had also gone with the villagers as a tourist that day and descended earlier from the mountains to get in front of the line so that I could get some shots of the vibrant progression of people coming back down.

This shot, however, was completely unplanned but turned out to be one of my favourite shot from the day. Here, the green branch from the girl in front obstructs the view of the others coming in behind. For me, this photograph represents the truth of the younger generations of today who are getting more and more out of touch with the culture and traditions of their own roots.