I made this candid street portrait on the same Friday afternoon as yesterday’s Fruit Vendor Street Photograph. Even with years of actively making photos, it’s hard to know when you end up making keepers — the ones that you really like when multiple circumstances come together. Today’s photo and yesterday’s are some of my favorites from the street in India. And, I made them within 20 minutes of each other.

There is certainly an element of luck for this kind of photography. But, what are the other factors? Feeling comfortable with the environment certainly helps. I shot this on my fifth day in India in a less hectic area. My KR Market photos, in contrast, were made in utter craziness, shot very quickly and within hours of arriving in India.

While I like this portrait, I think a shallower depth of field would have softened the busy background. I shot this at f2.8, in retrospect, I should’ve made this at f1.4. The black and white version looks pretty good too, which seems to simplify the background. The downside? You lose the wonderful color of the woman’s outfit.