And sometimes I remember to open the lens cover. And sometimes I point it at something pretty. And sometimes the light agrees. And sometimes the roll stays in there so long that 36 exposures span three continents. And sometimes I’ll even let you take a look…

This is what I saw.

Large size here

Original here.

This guy is fixing a pipe… less than a foot from where my head goes when I sleep. He starts very, very early in the morning.

On my way to do some laundry at a friend’s house in Malviya Nagar I walked into the middle of a demolition. According to bystanders the large vegetable market that, up until yesterday, supplied the area with most of its fresh produce was unauthorized and thus was being torn apart by a bulldozer.

It was a sad sight. Guessing from the amount of inventory still on the shelves when the walls came down the owners hadn’t been given any notice. Two bulldozers made quick work of the area, not completely destroying the shops and buildings but rather rendering them into a state of disrepair that’s pretty much unrecoverable.

A large crowd gathered but no one complained or protested, they just stood and stared with a mixture of sad confusion on their faces.

I’ll miss you subzi mondi.

Photos from a little walk I took to explore my neighborhood.

Here are some unrelated bits and pieces from that last few weeks that got lost in the digital tangle of my photo archive.

Last weekend a friend called me and asked if I wanted to go to the outskirts of Delhi and take photographs of some Kushti wrestling. I love this country for that, random calls on what was going to be a lazy Saturday afternoon that lead to something sort of incredible.

After about an hour drive through slow weekend traffic we arrived in an area of Delhi that was half urban and half rural. The scene was Fight Club with a twist of masala. A large dirt “ring” had been flattened out next to a rickety four story building that was still under construction. Random groups of Indian men crouched in the late afternoon heat waiting for the action to start.

When it did it was a lot like the freestyle tournaments that I used to go to in high school, except with more dirt and less spandex.

The ring was big enough to accommodate three, sometimes four matches at once. Two referees dressed completely in white circled the grapplers. Their job was to declare a winner and pay them a small amount of rupees. One man with a microphone called the matches through a tinny PA system as he walked around the ring.

The day started with wiry stickish children enthusiastically dragging each other through the dirt. As the the hours passed the wrestlers in the ring got older and bigger and the crowd grew as well.

The young men with anatomy chart physiques and crumpled cauliflower ears had a lot more energy and skill than the adolescents who proceeded them. Red clay flew about in a whirl of bodies and the crowd cheered for big throws and takedowns.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the biggest wrestlers got their chance to roll around. Even so it was a great afternoon and a unique opportunity to see something rare. I hope I get a chance to go back.

Lately I’ve found it difficult to take photographs. When I was home in Venice Florida everything was very still and very quiet.

Riding around town on my bike with the fading daylight slanting in sideways it was sort of easy to find little moments to capture. They just kind of stood out against the otherwise mundane facade.

India by contrast is loud, chaotic and a bit overwhelming at times. There’s just so much stimuli here that picking out frames becomes quite the challenge.

I’ve found myself putting the viewfinder against my eye and then setting down the camera without pushing the shutter because the image would either be too crowded or too typical or maybe it’s just gone in the speed of Delhi.

So the other day I took a walk in the park near Hauz Khas village. It was quiet and green and I actually couldn’t hear blaring car horns or salesmen wailing in tired Hindi. It was nice to be able to pick apart a scene without so much distraction.

Today was the first day of Fashion Week in Delhi. It got off to a normal start, well normal for India I suppose. There was massive line (and I use the term line loosely) for credentials, the set up of the venue was pretty rough and the first show didn’t get going until an hour and a half after the scheduled start time.

The clothing was pretty wild as you can see. Massive plasticy headdresses, weird day glo colors and giant futuristic looking shoes. The lights went on and we started shooting but soon the problems would start.

Apparently the venue didn’t get the proper certifications for fire safety. A squad of police and fire officials put a hold on the event before anyone got on the runway and everyone was told to wait.

The models changed out of their outfits and everyone went to the lounge to hang out. A couple hours passed and no one had heard any news. We ate lunch. A couple more hours passed and people started wondering what was going on.

Models and media sipped beers and waited. Eventually after a new sprinkler system was installed a rumor circulated that the last three shows of the day would be presented with the rest being cancelled.

The hairdressers and make-up artists went at the models like a well trained NASCAR pit crew…

But alas the rumor was just that and in the end the fire safety officials would win this battle. The day was cancelled and after six and a half hours of waiting around everyone was told they could go home.

After a great two day stop over in New York I’m here again in India. It’s hot, sticky, overwhelming and wonderful just the way I remember it.

Over the next two weeks I have a pretty much nonstop work schedule. Tomorrow I start shooting Fashion Week for Harper’s Bazaar and right after that ends I fly down to Mumbai to shoot a couple assignments for CNNGo.

As long as jet lag doesn’t kill me it should be a really fun couple of weeks. It’s nice to hit the ground running, I just hope I can manage to keep up with myself.

Here’s a look at what I did on my last couple of days in the States:

Hung out on the roof of my friend’s awesome apartment in Greenpoint…

Listened to some impromptu ukelele picking from my friend Ian while the sun went down over Brooklyn…

Saw greenery beginning to show up on trees that were bare and frozen just a couple months ago…

Witnessed an incredible performance art exhibit by Marina Abramović at The MoMa…

Ate some real old school Brooklyn pizza at Sam’s…

And did a little currency trading in the subway.