[Theme] Show us your "Old World Market" shots

[Anirban Halder]

What are Old World Markets? IMO -
a. Typically people sell locally produced vegetables, meat & fish, bread, honey, spices, oils etc etc. No fancy packaging.
b. No chiller, refrigerator or cold storage (mostly). Neither you get any frozen stuff. Sometime even butter, cottage cheese etc are sold without freezing them.
c. Many vendors sell one particular category of vegetables or meat or grains. Even fish vendors sell few types of fishes each of them.
d. Some shops don't even have any electronic weighing machine.
e. Typically they don't accept credit cards. Cash only.
f. They are loud! (in my country at least…)

I shot the below pictures in a town 50km south from Calcutta. There were plenty photo opportunities. It was an overly crowded market as it was a major hub for 30km radius. People were literally pushing each other during rush hour (morning 6am to 10am). They don’t see people taking pictures often - I got questioned a LOT. I wish I had taken more pictures, only if I had nerves. Someday I will go back again.

So, let's start with a rice seller.

[Anirban Halder]

This gentleman sells only potato, onions and garlic. And that's the weighing machine I'm talking about!!

[Frank Fremerey]

Very cool project. I will take part. Great idea!

[armando_m]

I go to a market every so often and I have considered bringing a camera along, but has not happen

I used to go to markets when i was a kid where the weight was measured as you show in your images,
currently everyone seems to have an electronic scale

in the mean time, here is the Borough market in London , crowded, but way to nice in comparison to my local market
1. the fish seller takes Amex, but uses low tech to keep the flies away


2. "not touch the cheese"

[afx]

In recent years I have been to the west side of Lago di Garda every fall.
There are several markets that I love to visit, the largest being in Saló.

Here are a few impressions:

I love the cheese:


And the salamis:




They sell truffles:


Or cherries:


Porcini and dried tomatoes:


At then end of the trip I usually come home with several kilos of cheese and Salami.

cheers
afx

[Anirban Halder]

You photos are beautiful as usual, Armando. However, the second photo doesn't look like "Old World" to me - it has  nicely printed labels, price tags, signs, uniform aprons with logo.. Or may be it's just me feels that way.
On a separate note, I feel a camera like Ricoh GR will be so convenient to carry on such trips to market.

Andreas - when I was starting this thread I in-fact had Italy in my mind (Sicily in particular). Beautiful photos, truly shows some life there.


Now here's a vegetable seller:

[Anirban Halder]

Fish Market: In this state (West Bengal) fishes are cut & cleaned in a very particular manner using typical carved knife, attached to a heavy wooden base. And, no credit cards, of-course.

[elsa hoffmann]

what a great thread. I love markets as they make for such great photo opportunities
My photos were close up as I was shooting for stock mostly

taken in Turkey

[Gary]

We call those 'Farmer's Markets' here in the States.

[elsa hoffmann]

Isnt food just an awesome thing to photograph

Anirban, your photos are full of stories
Gary - Markets are all the range here there days - and great gathering places to park your ass for a bite to eat - people meet up rather than invite folks to dinner/lunch

[Anirban Halder]

Isn't food just an awesome thing to photograph

Anirban, your photos are full of stories
Gary - Markets are all the range here there days - and great gathering places to park your ass for a bite to eat - people meet up rather than invite folks to dinner/lunch

Thanks Elsa. The way meat is stacked in your photos, immediately tells it's not a modern grocery store. Very nice clean shots, I like all of them. The stacked pigs(?) feet photo is cool!

Gary - the lemon's shot - it looks like a picture taken inside a vain and they are red blood corpuscles. Amazing photos!

[simato73]

You photos are beautiful as usual, Armando. However, the second photo doesn't look like "Old World" to me - it has  nicely printed labels, price tags, signs, uniform aprons with logo.. Or may be it's just me feels that way.
On a separate note, I feel a camera like Ricoh GR will be so convenient to carry on such trips to market.

Anirban, you can't expect markets throughout the world to perfectly match your expectations.
The world is wide and varied, and it should be obvious that a "old world" market in Europe or North America will look decidedly different to an Indian one.
For example almost all traditional market stalls here take debit and credit card payments - if they don't the customers will go to another seller!
In addition, no matter how traditional, markets have to adhere to local legislation, and we have a lot of it here in Europe.

[Anirban Halder]

Anirban, you can't expect markets throughout the world to perfectly match your expectations.
The world is wide and varied, and it should be obvious that a "old world" market in Europe or North America will look decidedly different to an Indian one.
For example almost all traditional market stalls here take debit and credit card payments - if they don't the customers will go to another seller!
In addition, no matter how traditional, markets have to adhere to local legislation, and we have a lot of it here in Europe.

Simone - I absolutely don't expect that. From my share of travel and living in Europe and North America I totally understand that. At the same time, I didn’t mean to start a thread of "photos of any random market". My intention was to share photos of the one's truly traditional and they exist everywhere. That's all I was trying to convey.

[Akira]

Wow, this is yet another intriguing thread!  The market is a good place for the hands-on experiences with the culture of the country or the particular area.

I'm posting this to receive the notification of new posts.  Anirban, this is a good idea!

[Mike G]

Not quite old world but the Portobello Road!