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Two portraits on the table


I was photographing at Jodhpur in India. "Look. A photographer's takin' a picture down there. Why don't you ask him for taking your portrait?" As being suggested by grownups, a girl in charming clothes stepped forward to the camera. It's my pleasure.
When I looked into the finder, I noticed one thing.
"Eh? I think I framed just like this in Ethiopia six months ago"
It's often happen to me. Some time I fell like falling into a pattern and hate myself "Oh! Why I always make a same composition?" Yet in other time, I just give it up and pretend having self-confidence "This is my style"


I looked for the portrait in Ethiopia after came back to Japan. Yeah, surely it was. It photographed with similar composition and situation. However more than that, I found quite interesting fact between the two pictures. The two girls looked alike.

Now please read this issue with world atlas.
Originally the people called "Dravydan" lived in India. They had dark skin. It's said they got west coast of India from east coast of Africa across the ocean in earlier stage. Later India got another group of people from current Iran area. They were called "Aryan" Although I heard the definition of the Aryan is fluid, generally their feature is light skin, long nose and chiseled feature. Also India had other group "Mongoloid" from far north Himalaya or east current Bangladesh. After all, India is a huge intersection of people.


Back to the portraits. The Ethiopian girl and the Indian. The Southern taste and the Western are blended in same way on their feature. Even thousands miles apart, their common roots can be in the West Asia and the East Africa. That's quite interesting to me.
So slight difference in their feature can be the difference of the route that their ancestors traced. The people set foot on India from the ocean while the others entered in land. They mixed together.
People lived in current Kenya, for instance, moved to the north. Meanwhile the people in current Iran went down to south, and mixed in Ethiopia.

I wrote in Ethiopian issue here that Ethiopian doesn't have any element of Indian in their feature. However I correct it. It isn't matter of including some elements each other. They have similar origin.


I really envy their feature which stire imagination. Because I never have imaginative story in my face.
"Long long time ago, a Mongolia man lived in tiny island eastern edge of Asia. And his offspring still lives in there" Uhhh...sorry, my ancestors. I didn't mean it. Me myself should move to somewhere. Yeah, that's it.


Mar. 2013



Today's piece
" Portrait " Left: Jodhpur, India / Right: Gondar, Ethiopia 2012




fumikatz osada photographie