I photographed this little girl of the Kondh tribe in the state of Orissa, eastern India, when I led a photography tour that focused on remote villages in a part of India few Westerners visit. There are many tribal cultures within India, and they all have their unique customs, dress, and jewelry. The girls in this particular tribe have their noses pierced when they are extremely young. When my group visited the Kondh village, the sun was high in the sky and the light was very harsh. Through my local guide, I asked if this girl would be willing to move into the shade of a building and she did. You can see from her expression that she was somewhat wary and even fearful of me and my tripod-mounted camera, but I was able to take a portrait I’ve always loved. I took this with film in 2005 using the Mamiya RZ 67, a medium format camera (meaning the slides were 6x7cm, or 2 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches) , and my settings -- although unrecorded -- were probably 1/60, f/5.6, and 100 ISO with Fujichrome Provia transparency film. Before I went digital shortly after this picture was taken, I used to spend between $1500 and $2000 in film and developing for every trip I took.
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