While wandering through the web of ancient lanes around Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, I came across this man making and selling breads at a stall set up on the side of the street. At the time, I was trying – unsuccessfully – to find my way back to the workshop of the Engraver whom I had met the previous day. However, this street vendor had such an engaging, friendly manner that I forgot all about my original quest and stopped to talk to him.

Although he spoke almost as little English as I do Hindi, he understood that I wanted to photograph him and was happy to oblige. Despite the lack of a common verbal language, we got along famously, and he indulged me for a few minutes while I made this sequence of portraits.

Despite it being mid-afternoon, there was a relative lack of natural light owing to the high walls of the buildings on either side and the narrowness of the street. I therefore used a flash, a Nikon Speedlight in a small softbox, wirelessly triggered from the camera, to augment the natural daylight.

He had a mischievous, playful, good-natured face, and I hope that I managed to capture that aspect of his personality in this sequence of street portraits.

Click on any of them to enlarge.