Sometimes in street and travel photography, you just get lucky and take that one photo that cannot be replicated. But this luck is somewhat controllable. I like to compare street shooting to fishing: you need good fortune, but you also need to know good places. But that deserves a separate post altogether.
This image was taken in Georgetown, in the state of Penang in Malaysia. Penang is an old colonial city, one of the most interesting and photogenic in the country. It was an important part of the British Straits Settlements, and as such, was a fairly multicultural place. Malays, Indians, Europeans, Arabs, Armenians used to roam its streets on all sorts of business. But it is the Chinese that are the dominant group here, and the city does look and feel that way.
I happen to love visiting and taking pictures in Chinese temples. These oases of peace and pleasant coolness always offer respite from the tropical heat and crowds of the surrounding streets, and there is usually something interesting inside, be it an intricately carved deity, some antique woodwork, or simply a few older folks chatting or praying.
As I walked into one of the many such temples in Georgetown, I immediately walked deep inside in search of something worthy of shooting, but really, just gazing around. Then I turned around and saw a cat. Now, mind you, cats are common in temples and shrines in Penang, and in fact, there are plenty of them in the streets. But this cat was a particularly curious one, as it wanted to check out one of the wooden boxes of who knows what lying on the floor. Perhaps it smelled something? I don’t know, but I took a couple of pictures of the cat as I loved its slender silhouette against the bright light of the outside.
Only later that night, when I was reviewing my shots from the day, did I noticed the man behind the cat in the doorway, probably taking a picture of something, but really, just trying to copycat the cat’s pose. And that, my friends, is photographer’s luck!