This photo was taken in Varanasi, India. The father and child are heading home seconds after stopping to ask me to take their photograph. Maybe I like it more because of this connection with them – they are no longer strangers to me. (Naturally I complied as I am always grateful when people are happy for me to photograph them but it is this photo of them that I prefer, for the tenderness that it implies).

I guess there are two examples of home in the picture – the family one and the makeshift home on a bench for one of the thousands of stray dogs wandering the streets of Varanasi. This gives the photograph more poignancy as I’m sure that the dog would love to follow them indoors and be part of the family!

Incidentally, the house is apparently decorated so beautifully because someone from the household has married recently.