My Trip in Pictures

JMurray

Howdy.

Thanks Indiamike, and all you members for your advice and encouragement about traveling in India. I may not have survived the trip otherwise. I've been back for a couple weeks now and I had the time of my life.

I just finished putting up my photos on my website and I thought it would be good to share them here:

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/%7Ejmurray/india.html

I spent most of my three week trip in Jodhpur and vicinity and never ran out of things to do or see just around there.

Jim

seventies'hippy

Absolutely Bluetiful,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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My Photo Gallery

rcreeker

Thank you JMurray!
These pictures are absolutely breathtaking and speak to the depth of experience one can have staying in a place and not rushing around seeing the sights!
A few questions: how did you get out to the villages around Jodphur? Bus? Car? Did you do day trips or come back to Jodphur at night?
Also...I am debating whether to go digital or bring my old and fave Pentax MX which requires the hassle of carrying film there and back and processing. Any thoughts?

JMurray

Thanks!

Rcreeker, I got around by a variety of ways. For the country to the south where I saw the Bishnoi people, I actually rented a bike for 2 rupees an hour and pedalled out there. Took a few hours on a single speed bike. Mandor is close enough to take a rickshaw for less than 100 rupees. Osiyan is around 65 km away so I took a bus. All were day trips, returning to Jodhpur each night.

As for cameras, I took both my digital and film cameras since photographing was my main purpose in India, but I used digital over 90% of the time.

Seventies Hippie, I may steal your blue-tiful pun to use as a title.
With your permission, of course.

PS I was an eighties hippie, by the way. Probably the only one.

seventies'hippy

Granted,,,,,,,,,,,,

rcreeker

Thanks for the info, JMurray. Now I have a million questions! But I'll stick to the photographic ones. I have always been a bit intimidated when travelling (in Mexico and Central America) when photographing people. I don't want to impose and in some places there is a taboo on photography...in one place in Chiapas you could get yourself killed photographing people.

Did you have a really long lens? Did you get their permission? From the pictures it looks like a bit of both.

I also have periscope lens which takes a picture of what is to the right of the photographer...works on a system of mirrored baffles.
I don't want to be bogged down with the bulk and weight of a lot of equipment, but photography is a big part of the experience for me as well.

beachchik4ever

thank u for sharing the fantastic pictures ! now I want to go to Jodhpur so much more.....you could make an Indian photo book with these, very good job!

iwanttogoback

yes, truly blue-tiful. i loved jodphur and want to go back for a really good look.
where did you stay?

JMurray

Thanks for the encouraging words, ya'all.

I often felt intimidated just by all the stares and attention I got whenever I pulled my camera out but I dont think there was ever any danger of "aggressive opposition" like you mentioned in Chiapas. Except for one incident...

I was taking a picture of the view down a road next to the army facility east of Jodhpur. Suddenly out of nowhere some guys in uniforms pulled up in a jeep and started questioning or scolding me mostly in Hindi. I couldn't really understand them but apparently taking pictures near military installations is forbidden. I repeated many times "okay, no photo, no photo". Finally they left me alone and I got out of there. I was then followed for five minutes while I pedalled back to town.

My digital camera is a panasonic Lumix FZsomething. The zoom power is equivalent to 400mm on an SLR. But the neat thing is the resolution is high enough that I can crop out a small portion of it and its still pretty clear when enlarged.

Fortunately most of the close up portraits I took, the people actually approached me and asked to have their picture taken. Mostly children, but even some adults were eager to have their picture taken too, even if they never see it.

I found candid pictures to be quite a challenge even with a telephoto, because us foreigners just attract so much attention, no matter how discreet we try to be. Or at least for me, anyway. But if I'm obvious to the subject, I always ask permission first. I was denied sometimes. I too don't like to impose like some obnoxious tourists I see. There were a lot of great scenes I missed because I thought I would have been intruding or the timing was just wrong. But I consider patience an important photographic tool.

There's at least one good thread on this forum about photo etiquette, which can tell you much more than I can.

I stayed the whole time at Saji Sanwri guesthouse near the city police headquarters. http://www.freewebs.com/sajisanwri/
I'd recommend it to anyone staying in Jodhpur.

Indiamad

What an INCREDIBLE collection, you have an amazing eye and have inspired me to return there

Lovemax

Simply Superb... brings me to the blues
THanks for sharing your collection - all the pics were too good to see em again.

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"The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality.. - Samuel Johnson
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