Tag: small business

Mango Season

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Mangoes, and the ever-in-season Sri Lankan bananas (or plantains, as they’re commonly called here), being sold from a cart on Central Road, in Wolvendaal, in October 2022.* If you aren’t ready to take them home to ripen to sweetness, a case of exploding mangoes may be instantly had with the liberal sprinkling of chilli and salt.

• 24mm • f/2.8 • 1/1000 • ISO200 • R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •

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Getting Ready for the Next Wave

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Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. May 2022.

• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/160 • ISO400 • Canon 5DMkIII & EF 50/1.4 courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.

Let Them Eat Cake

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Vendors in the Maharagama textile bazaar, in April 2018. Aside from a casually affectionate pose that is rarely seen under today’s social distancing norms, the huge bazaar, sprawling across Maharagama and Pamunuwa, just south of Colombo, has been shut down as part of an ongoing series of local and countrywide lockdowns imposed by the Government of Sri Lanka in May. A year into the pandemic, the population, financially exhausted and psychologically weary, were looking hopefully to the long-awaited Covid vaccine, which was rolled out in March. But governmental mismanagement of the process has ensured relatively few people actually receive their shots. Under attack for their bungling, the government has in turn blamed the public for not following pandemic rules which are often confusing and badly articulated by the authorities. For many, including small businessmen such as these, dependent on a daily income, lockdowns and restrictions on travel can mean financial ruin and are widely seen as a government punishing its people for its own corruption and ineptitude.

Stay Home, Stay Safe #2

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A mobile phone vendor, on Olcott Avenue, in Colombo, in April 2018. For small businessmen such as he, dependent on each day’s take of sales, staying home during the corona pandemic is not an option. These vendors are too small to compete online, and rely on walk-in customers; in this man’s case, mostly commuters from the nearby Fort Railway Station, the city’s main rail hub. Long lockdowns, restrictions on travel, and pressure on the public to stay home, a full year into the crisis, have made a huge dent in earnings for many like him.

Rice Merchants, Old Moor Street

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Rice Merchants, Old Moor Street.
Colombo, Sri Lanka. September 2020.

*shot with an M6MkII & 15-45mm/3.5-6.3 lens courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.

“No Credit. Don’t Ask.”

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"No credit, don't ask" A tea kiosk owner counts the morning take.
A tea kiosk owner counts the morning take. New Moor Street, Kochchikade. September 2020.

*shot with an M6MkII and 15-45mm/3.5-6.3 lens courtesy of Canon Sri Lanka.

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Shopkeeper, Maharagama, Sri Lanka #15

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Shopkeeper, Maharagama, Sri Lanka #15 by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
Sri Lanka, April 2018.
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Poultry Butcher, Colpetty Market, Colombo #3

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Poultry Butchers, Colpetty Market #3 by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
Sri Lanka, April 2018.
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Waiting for Tea

David Blacker6 Comments
Waiting for Tea by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
The Pettah, Colombo’s sprawling market district, seems to run on tea; and thousands of cups and glasses of the steaming beverage are served up every day, most often from small kadés, kiosks, and carts like this one preparing to open for early morning business, awaited by several impatient customers. Shot in January 2020.
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Teatime at the Onion Store

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Teatime at the Onion Store by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
Happier times on Keyzer Street, a mere three months ago.
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