In April 2022, I wnet to India to see my family. I think I tried a lot of experiences I never did before. For 17 days, my family and I travelled across India, from Udupi on the South coast, to the vibrant, chaotic city of Bombay.
I also took many pictures, and I really think they offer a lovely insight into the vibrant culture of a country of 1.3 billion people
Photos of the Temple
These were the first pictures I took. I took these in Udupi, the hometown of my mother. These are from the Sri Krishna Temple, one of the most important in south India. I tried to capture the energy of the procession, and the devotion of the worshippers.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my DSLR, so I used the camera of my samsung S9. Ib used a shutter speed of 1 second and an aperture of f1.5, and was pleasantly surprised. Up until then, I hadn't really taken photos of people, only of landscapes and buildings, so I plunged in headfirst in my first real experience of street photography. As they say, sometimes you have to run before you learn to walk.
The Harbour
A few days later, I visited Udupi's fishing harbour. I had never been so brave taking pictures. People walked with huge baskets of fish on their heads and shouted prices. I really like the pictures I took, which are very lively and colourful.
The Beach
The opposite to this chaos were the beaches- Kodi, Malpe and Kapu. The beach in Udupi is beautiful, and being on the west coast, was really dramatic as the sun set over the Arabian Sea. I found it a great location for shooting prtraits- the warm glow of the sunsets was something else!
Mumbai
Next on our trip was Mumbai. Formerly called Bombay, it is a bustling port renowned for its street food and film industry. It has many layers of cultural influence due to being colonised by both the British and Portuguese. It has many different ethnicities and communities, tracing their roots from all over the world. It has a lot of amazing architecture, such as the Taj Mahal hotel (left) and the Regal cinema, India's oldest cinema, the site of many famous film premiers.