Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay by Mary Ellen Mark [PDF Scan]

Discussion in 'Photo eBooks' started by Nikon4life, 25 Jul 2023.

  1. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Elite

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    Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay
    by Mary Ellen Mark (Photographer)

    More Info HERE

    File Format: PDF Scan - Mediocre scan (but better than prior available)
    File Size: Approximately 14 MB
    Publication Date: January 2006

    upload_2025-11-6_19-53-32.png

    Falkland Road is a notorious street of prostitutes in Bombay. It is like any busy lower-class street in Bombay, densely populated by vendors, merchants and shops, but also overcrowded with girls, from 11-year-olds to 65-year-old ex-madams. The street is lined with old wooden buildings, which teem with prostitutes hanging out of the windows, in the viewing cages on the ground floor, and on the steps. From sunrise to sunset the customers pass down the street to survey the girls.

    Mary Ellen Mark's extraordinary portrait of Falkland Road was first published in 1981 and has long been recognized as one of the major bodies of work in the canon of this significant Magnum photographer. The book contains 65 photographs made over six weeks that show the daily life lived by the women (and men) of the street. Mark's images are beautiful, electric, shocking and remarkable for their emotional power and for the visceral brilliance of their color.

    Together with Mark's captions and introductory text, Falkland Road is an astonishing work of insight into a raw and frightening world, made accessible by the completeness of the photographer's involvement, by her humanity, and by the way she captures the variety of individual life and the color, passion and tenderness that still abide there.


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    The link above reflects a "newer" and smaller scan of the title. This is an appreciably "better" file as it includes the captions for each photograph. The images themselves are still relatively on the poor-to-fair side of scanning technology - yet ironically allows visualization of the colors Mark was attempting to capture. Would appreciate a still better scan of the latest release of this title from Steidl. wave.gif

    The Mirror below (in the thread) is of the "older" and larger file originally posted.
     
    Last edited: 7 Nov 2025
    DenverG, Iam21211221, Souap and 41 others like this.
  2. dzinetokyo

    dzinetokyo Skilled

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    It's too bad that many of the captions are missing. The one that are readable are brief and to the point. This is a good example of power of photography to capture something so profoundly tragic and sad, but something I am glad I never saw firsthand. When I recall that this was published over 40 years ago, I begin to imagine where the subjects wound up. Thanks for the share.
     
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  3. Coraline

    Coraline Moderator

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    Mirror:

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  4. curiousdude

    curiousdude Master

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    Yikes. I just checked this out. As dzinetokyo pointed out (and many reviews), it's incredibly sad. I can't believe that some of these images were allowed to be published.

    And on a side note, it's some of the most unskilled, garbage photography I've ever seen. Instantly deleted that junk off my hard drive lol
     
  5. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Elite

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    Mark was a skilled photographer in documenting the outcasts and darker recesses of the (her) time - oftentimes hard to look upon. But she put herself out there to experience her chosen topic - - - that's incredibly tough - and also gaining one's trust too . . . (maybe she paid her subjects? I don't know - - - I think that goes against the grain of what she brought to the table). Ironically, theses topics prevail today - but the sting is attenuated from glitz, glam, and intemperance toward our fellow man for [what - ?] exactly . . . escapes me . . .

    Of note - this is a shit scan of (for the time) was considered very sub-standard reproduction of color film. I believe a newer version was re-printed in 2022-23.

    And I agree: It's very sad . . .
     
  6. curiousdude

    curiousdude Master

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    For sure, putting oneself out there and gaining trust is difficult. I'll never understand how some of these street photographers do it. It's definitely a whole separate category of talent. Sadly, one that doesn't always translate to quality photography.

    And perhaps you're right - the quality (or lack thereof) of the scan may be biasing my view, but so many of those images are composed poorly, exposed poorly, etc. that I have a hard time blaming it all on the scan.
     
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  7. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Elite

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    Found a smaller - and somewhat better - scan of this title; includes the captions for each photo. OP updated with new download link on Mega.
     
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  8. tradewithsindra

    tradewithsindra Professional

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    that was so hard to look at...so so sad.
     
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  9. curiousdude

    curiousdude Master

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    Always appreciate the effort of finding and posting things in the highest quality possible! Threw you an extra like for the effort (not that you really have to care about likes at this point ;) )
     
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