(Image source from: Facebook/Venkata Krishnan Ganesan)

On March 16, the Indian American photographer Venkata Krishnan Ganesan took to the streets for 24 hours in Times Square during New York’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade talking to more than 3,000 people to create 650 portraits.

Ganesan captured many people dressed to celebrate the holiday for the second year of a book project he hopes to complete in over a decade.

“Times Square is the melting pot of the world. I met people from Guyana to Timbuktu, kids from Palestine living on the Gaza strip, artists, other photographers, and tourists,” Ganesan told India-West. “I wanted to capture people from throughout the world.”

Ganesan also managed to capture a large number of Times Square “regulars” - people who use the street as their home base.

“There is a unique human interaction when you ask to take someone’s photo,” he said, adding that he was slowed down by people telling him their unique stories and his own thirst to learn more about their lives.

“Art does not usually happen in a day,” he said with a laugh.

The artist said he simply walked up to people with interesting faces and said: “I want to take your photo.” Two out of three people he approached said no, Ganesan told India-West, noting that people were concerned about their privacy.

In spite of everything, Ganesan managed to capture a portrait about every two minutes.

Earlier this year, Ganesan talked to 2,000 people on the same day and captured 680 portraits. Fstoopers magazine noted that Ganesan sustained himself with 2.5 liters of water, three energy bars, and five cups of coffee.

Ganesan is an alumnus of the New York Film Academy, where he took a course in photography. “I woke up one morning and thought to myself: ‘why not click pictures of strangers for a whole day,’” the Chennai native, a father of two who currently divides his time between Salt Lake City, Utah, and New York, was quoted as saying by India-West.

In India, Ganesan worked for major advertising agencies in Mumbai and Bengaluru and shot more than 100 campaigns. “I want to push my limits as a photographer, to understand the world better,” he said.

Ganesan’s entire gallery of Times Square images

By Sowmya Sangam