Fritz Nordengren

Documentary Storyteller and Photojournalist

India Street Barber

A street barber shaves a man in India

While taking a break from capturing medical students on a mission in India, I stumbled upon a street barber in the middle of a customer’s shave.


A single frame: Why and how I captured this shot

The image was of an homage of sorts.

Before this India project, I had just spent a few days hanging out with award winning photojournalist Mark Hertzberg in Racine, Wisconsin. I was working on a video for Behind the Viewfinder – A Year in the Life of Photojournalism, and I took some photos of him as he went about his daily assignments.

On this street in India, I had this idea to make a little tribute to him. You see, I remembered Mark taking a photo of a local barber who was closing down his decades-old shop.

I actually made this frame to send on to Mark, and when I saw it, it became one of my personal favorites.

35mm film Canon A-1