FirstLook: State Highway 37, near Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, Central India

Driving north out of the historic town of Orchha in the morning, I spotted a roadside tea shop and, near it, this barber who had hung a large mirror to a tree, facing the road. It was a common enough scene: Tens of thousands of independent, casual tea shops serve travelers on India’s highways and byways; outdoor barbers are less common, as they tend to work more often near marketplaces. As my wife and friends got tea, I stayed around chatting with the barber and his customer, showing them a few images on my camera, and then leaving them to their conversation and work. To make this image, I looked to the mirror for a secondary plane of activity, a kind of second narrative, to add depth and complexity. I took variations of this image from different positions, using different lens focal lengths as I tried to harmonize the primary and secondary scenes, looking for a moment when both the barber and the mirror offered elements that added to an overall narrative. For me, the mirror was not just a photographer’s challenge. It was also a way to suggest subtly that despite my many months spent all around India over the past two decades, both on assignment and visiting my in-laws’ family, I am forever looking from the outside in, working to distinguish one plane of experience and meaning from another.