Over the past year I have developed into a photographer rather than a happy snapper. My approach to taking a photograph has slowed and the number of shots reduced. Another major change has been moving to almost exclusively using a tripod. Therefore,with this in mind the anticipation of going to India filled me with highly tuned sense of anticipation of what was to come.
I returned two weeks ago with around 1000 photographs. After a couple of days the realisation hit that I had reformatted the memory card covering the first week, around 300 images, without downloading them. So lesson one from the trip is don’t deal with the import in Lightroom whilst trying to stay awake as my body adjusts to the time difference. However, within the gloom that descended upon me as the realisation of individual images that were on that card , (The posing jeweller whose palm I had crossed with rupees. The shots from our fourth floor hotel room of the sun setting on the hill in the near distance. A day shooting street shots. The visit to Amber palace and so on.) a glimmer of hope appeared as Gordon has become animated about the challenge of recovering the images. Time will tell.
After that tale of woe and incompetence back to the real point, the challenge of taking photos on a group holiday. The first day out there was a realisation how quickly in the day the light turns very harsh every day. The challenge of exposing any composition with white or light colours within it proved difficult initially. Having evolved to using the histogram with every shot this became less challenging, although in retrospective I should have maybe consistently 1/3,or maybe 2/3, under exposed. The situation was complicated by the guide for the day not giving any breathing space to think about and deal with the technical aspects of shooting in a different climate. It seemed to be a case of seeing how fast they could get us round a given attraction to get us to an extra experience,which entailed us being sold something or other at “a very good price”.
Then of course composition has to come into the equation. The first trip left me frustrated with little time to assess it before pressing the shutter but in saying that on checking the shots back at the hotel there were a few that initially pleased me. A conversation with the tour manager saw our second trip out with the same guide including some photo time.
As the days out developed I managed to find a compromise to allow a little more time to photographically work a location. The balance was to find that space without irritating the rest of the party. This was helped by having a guy who kept disappearing with his camera! This made me appear much more considerate to others.
The guides had a habit of telling us where to take the photos and assertively making you take said shot. This was really apparent at the Taj Mahal where he was determined to have everyone’s photo taken sat on the Lady Diana seat. I have to confess to conceding to the order, as it were. The humourous element was the guide trying to photograph Pat and I using my DSLR with 50mm lens on it and getting irritated because it wouldn’t zoom. I couldn’t believe the beauty of the Taj Mahal and despite the volume of people there were images to be made. However, this required time to observe and absorb the ambience of the place and that wasn’t on the agenda as there was commission to be earnt at a local marble engraving workshop.
During the course of our time in India a huge amount of time was spent on a bus or in a taxi. There was so much to see and photographic opportunities flashed by my eyes looking through the window. I decided to experiment with shooting through the bus window using my Canon S95 compact as the bus slowed. Although a little on the soft focus side, understandably, I managed to capture shots that otherwise would have been just a memory in my head, which would fade as time passes.
I agonised for weeks over which lenses to take with me. In the end the decision was to take 70-300mm zoom and 50mm lenses and use my Canon S95 for the wider angle shots. Oh I also included my of camera flash and used it. On reflection this worked well especially with the trip to Ranthambore Tiger reserve on the itinerary.
After working on post processing my usual sense of not getting any decent images is proving misplaced. There are reasonable number that will grace the album for the trip, so despite the frustration during the tour the end results are not too bad.
Before I go there is one more tale of woe to recount. Our final safari drive at Ranthambore was finished and the jeep tore out of the reserve as they were running late to get the other couple with us back to their hotel as they needed to catch a train. As the jeep bounced along my Canon S95 worked its way out of my short’s pocket and hit the hard dirt track with a bang. On retrieving my camera first impressions were that I had got away with it. Next day reality struck as the shutter failed to consistently open all the way. This has produced some rather interesting images but not particularly useful. It is currently in the Canon camera hospital and I patiently wait for a prognosis.
