All posts tagged: jaipur

Hidden Gems

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Still organizing my images from India. Trying to get everything sorted, starred and keyworded before I head off on my next overseas trip. Some photographs have immediate impact, usually the close up portraits with eye contact. Other more subtle images may fall through the cracks the first time I look through the thumbnails in Lightroom particularly if they don’t fit my usual style of shots. Just came across this image, a snapshot I took while wandering along the street during my final day in Jaipur. I happened to look down an alleyway, saw this couple, and took a pic. It’s very different to my other photographs (it looks like something one of my photographer friends Alfie Goodrich or Matt Brandon would have shot) which perhaps is why I missed it the first time, and love it now.

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 …