The other day I was looking for a archived disk of wedding images when I stumbled across an old CD containing images in black and white of a film I shot at the Southampton Mela in 2003. For those of you who don’t know the best way I can describe a mela is it is a bit like a village fete which takes place in many communities in the Asian subcontinent. Southampton, with its large Punjabi community, holds an annual mela which is enjoyed by people of all ethnicities, both young and old. It is a place to enjoy the company of friends, to dance and to eat good ‘street food’ – in brief, a place to let yourself go!
I have been unable to find the original film which I had scanned at the time of processing, so it was most probably Kodak T-max 400CN which was my film of choice at the time, and I was shooting with a Leica M6. In total there were 38 frames on the film, and I only shot the one film: this is know because of the disk numbers before and after. I have made a selection of 9 of the images (i.e. roughly one in four) because I shot multiple frames of the people dancing to ensure that I captured ‘the moment’. Here they are, and I hope they capture the flavour of that day back in 2003:
A sikh couple dance seductively together at the Mela in Southampton, England.
A young girl twirls coloured ribbons as she dances to music at the Mela in Southampton, England.
A young man with a lip stud and ear piercing twirls coloured ribbons as she dances to music at the Mela in Southampton, England.
A young girl, hair cust short and studs in her lips, dances with the music from the bamd at the Mela in Southampton, England.
A young girl with studs through her lips takes a brief break from her dancing for a conversation with a friend during the Mela (Southampton, England)
Two Indian men converse together at the Southampton Mela in 2003.
A sikh couple continue to dance seductively together at the Mela in Southampton, England.
A spectator takes a rest during the Mela festivities in Southampton, England.
Young Punjabi fans rejoice at meeting their idol at the Mela (Southampton, England)
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