All posts tagged: india

Holi Festival – Jaipur, India.

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It’s always a challenge in photography to try and put the viewer into the midst of a scene with just a single image. Although I shot numerous portraits at Holi, I also experimented a little with movement to try and show the excitement, disorientation, speed and color of the festival. When you’re out on the streets, Holi is celebrated like a fast paced, contact sport. Bikes swoop in, unleashing a flurry of hands and powder. It’s all fun as long as you don’t mind dozens of extremely excited  Indian men smearing you face and hair with paint. If you’re a woman, you’re probably going to get far more attention that you want, and the mob of hands will invariably stray from your head and shoulders. Depending on your outlook, this can be anything from annoying to a nightmare. The hotels recommended tourists to not walk around on the streets while the celebrations took place. I was particularly amused by this car full of bright pink bearded men. I hope the driver wanted a new more …

The “Elephant Festival” Jaipur, India

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The Elephant Festival in Jaipur was meant to be meant to be an unmissable event. I love to document major festivals, therefore I’d timed my trip so I’d be in Jaipur on March 26th. Unfortunately, on the day before the festival, there was strange rumor being whispered around the city. By the evening, a piece of paper stuck to a hotel window confirmed our fears, this year the Elephant Festival would be elephant free. I completely understand and applaud the organizers, if they believe that it is no longer appropriate to use elephants to celebrate a festival. If the elephants have to be conditioned into a state of docility and obedience by violence then I’d hate to condone  the behavior by photographing, and therefore promoting, the event. What was frustrating was that this decision had been taken weeks if not months previously,  and yet it was only announced the day before the festival. This became obvious when, on arriving at the event, all the banners and printed materials called it a Holi Festival and there …

Pre Holi Celebrations

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On the day before Holi festival, some locals couldn’t resist opening up their bags of dyed cornflower, and making the world a more colorful place.This group of men were quite reserved with their pink / yellow combination. Things would be a lot wilder the following day.

Jodhpur Kids

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Spent most of my time in Jodhpur wandering through the twisting alleyways of the old city. Local kids were pretty inquisitive, so it wasn’t too difficult to get some street portraits. Pentax K-5 IIs Pentax SMC-DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited

Early Morning Workout

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As I walked up through the old city to the Jodhpur Fort I came across this guy working out. He’d clank the dumbbells together with each repetition, and the sound would echo along the walls of the fort like church bells.