Awaiting wish for death, a photo from Dhaka, North

Photographer's Note

NURUL ISLAM.
Left alone to die, this old man is just wishing to die one day to meet his family again in afterlife. That's the inspiration he has got to live the rest of the breathe. He lost his only son in freedom in 1971 and his wife died out of shock within 3 years of the freedom war. No relatives, no one alive who has blood connection with him. He live with a divorced lady who's his fake daughter.
As the old man was telling me all these I just got lost in his story. For a moment I tried to imagine myself in his place and got utterly scared...

We talked over 30 mins, had tea together and I had nothing left to say to this old man to make him feel a little bit better. May be he enjoyed that 30 minutes, may be not. But He just showed me what it can be when we are old and getting ready to face GOD.

worldcitizen, happypoppeye, bombilla, noborders has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

wolf38 (30) 2007-05-12 13:45

Hello Ziaul. A very impressive photo with a responding text. This man with the willful feature is a personality, that has the life nearly behind itself. Photographically outstanding seen and realizes. The view of the man is really very direct and intensive. Best regards, Wolfgang.

Luciano75 (0) 2007-05-12 13:47

What a strong image,well captured and composed.
Well chosen B&W...giving more power to the shot.
Well done.TFS

Regards

LudwigXIV (128) 2007-05-12 14:13

Hello ZIaul,

What a shot, impressive, i love it, but there is one thing i could find fault: why the hell did you chop his legs?
regard
ludwig

bwiti (402) 2007-05-12 15:27

Un beau noir et blanc ! Dommage que les pieds du viel homme aient été coupés... Sinon votre photo comporte une belle structure servie par une grande netteté donc.... Felicitations....

worldcitizen (16236) 2007-05-12 15:29

Hello Ziaul,
This is a very emotional photo. I like the placement of the man between the main door and the small one. The B/W adds to the somber mood of his situation. It is a wonderful composition.

skellywag (887) 2007-05-12 15:40

Hi, a very good photo which is enhanced by the B&W tones. It has lots of detail and is clear and sharp as well as illustrating the man's story that you have written. It is a very emotive story. Thanks for sharing, Jean

sabanozturk (27) 2007-05-12 16:54

really impressive photo and text. but, we should understand, we are children of all modernistic life and to afraid is unavoidable...

getting face of god, lifetime is not enough, sorry...
we can get just memory in the sea of the time.

thanks for phptp and text Huq...

pilpel-adom (3018) 2007-05-13 17:10

Hello again...
Your story behind the scenes is so sad, and the picture above delivers the mood so well, so accurately...The age, the hunger, the ruins behind him like the ruins of his life, fade and out of color...but so contrastic!!
This post is powerful especially because of the this combination of words and photo...
Thanks for sharing!
Chen

AnimeshRay (9089) 2007-05-13 18:04

A beautiful image, Ziaul, if there is beauty in the wish for death and hopelessness. I think there is. And here you found it.
Best regards,
Animesh

bombilla (3406) 2007-09-19 5:23

An old man, an old house. Two bodies falling into ruin. The doors opened to the next word. I'm really touched by this amazing portrait and your story. -Hugh

noborders (1010) 2008-07-17 3:11

Not sure when you'll ever read this but really, this photo is a wonder IMO... The note too is very moving.
This is the Bangladesh that I want to remember, I mean the charming persons that one can meet everywhere and of all ages. Your other photos are also splendid, the ones with the landscapes which have soul... but it's this kind of photos which talks to me the most.
With admiration (and hoping that you'll add some more photos here),
Cath.