Another puppy picture! Well, it is apparently official puppy season in Varanasi after all so they’re everywhere.  Unfortunately most aren’t as cute as these little things as it doesn’t take long for them to look pretty sad and scrawny. Life is particularly tough for dogs in India!

This was one of those many occasions where a kid came up and asked me to take his photograph. I was captivated by the puppies on this vivid green cloth so didn’t really want to be distracted. But I have a policy that if someone asks me to take their photo I don’t refuse – just to try and re-set the balance for all the times I take their photos surreptitiously! So, instead I engineered this shot by gently encouraging him to stand in front of the puppies.

I think it works because all the subjects are so young, and the fact that he isn’t smiling takes some of the overt cuteness out of it. I do incidentally have a version of him smiling, which is the one he’ll get a print of as I’m sure that is the one his mum will prefer.