Part of the key of good photography is persistence. In the case of this photograph of a flower vendor on Doll Lake, I wasn’t satisfied with my first five or ten visits. I was waiting for a particular kind of light, a particular kind of mood. I wanted something dark, moody, a muted color palette. So I chose to go out very early in the morning when the sun had just risen. There was a bit of fog, it was a bit of mist, and I thought this would be the mood. I thought it was wonderful as this man glided silently through the canal with the light filtering through the trees. A bit of moss on the top of the water, these beautiful flowers in the foreground and this man with his white cap, just moving very effortless down this canal. It was a beautiful, idyllic and memorable scene for me, which I'm very happy that I put in the time and the effort to make this picture.
Srinagar, Kashmir, 1998
