This article appeared in October issue of Terrascape magazine, where I write a column on photography. Read all the earlier travel photography articles on India Travel & Photography Blog.
Sometimes, being open to possibilities lets you discover (and photograph) a whole new world that you would have otherwise missed by a whisker. We often travel in search of beauty, staying alert to see and capture new places and cultures. But more often than not, we tread the beaten path as we follow guidebooks, accept itineraries or simply go by what is well-known.
About a month ago, a Tuk Tuk driver in Battambang, Cambodia, invited me to try out something else. He said, “let’s go on a small adventure; I will take you to the rural interiors and we will visit families practicing traditional occupations for a very long time”. I wasn’t really prepared for this. When someone stranger, whose credentials are unknown to you makes such offer, you are more likely to decline than accept. For some reason, my sixth sense said ‘let us go,’ and I agreed to his idea. What I saw and experienced next day with the Tuk Tuk driver was just the kind of things I was looking for, but never knew whom to ask.
As a photographer who enjoys shooting landscapes, I have often wished to live in higher latitudes and away from tropics. Tropical weather and light doesn’t yield well to landscape photography: it is often colourless, hazy and harsh. The window of good light is very small, often limited to a few minutes during sunrise and sunset hours. But when you enjoy doing something, you would rather work with what you have than spend time with wishful thinking.
It was with this spirit that we–some landscape photographers from Bangalore–decided to head out a few weeks ago and explore the neighbourhood. We approached this meticulously, researching the places and assessing the opportunities beforehand. A couple of phone calls were made to regular travellers, seeking information. We looked up Google Earth to zero-in on precise locations that may offer good landscape photography opportunities.
After much discussion and contemplation, a plan was hatched to photograph Savandurga, a large monolithic hill to the west of Bangalore, about an hour’s drive away. But deciding on a subject wasn’t good enough. Given the limited window of good light we were getting, we wouldn’t have the luxury to go there and randomly lookout for locations. Instead, we studied the terrain in detail on Google Earth, shortlisted a few precise points from which the photographs could be shot. We also charted out a small areas where we would do reconnaissance for a future visit.
After completing all the homework, we headed out the next day towards Savandurga, leaving home at 4am to catch the early morning light, passing through a reservoir for an early morning shoot before reaching Savandurga. That day, we would only do some opportunistic photography around Savandurga, but spend time studying the place and return again later.
After the early morning at the reservoir, we arrived at a lake near the monolith. The location turned out to be better than we expected. There were a few wildflowers blooming on the lake shore with butterflies buzzing around them. We spent some time photographing in the area, trying to get butterflies as well as the monolithic hill in the frame.
Later, once we were done shooting and the light was no longer conducive, we walked further west of the lake and examined a few more places to shoot from. We located some smaller water bodies and dilapidated structures that made good foregrounds to photograph Savandurga from.
A week later, we were back again, this time in the evening, to make images from the places we had scouted in the first visit. This time, knowing the terrain better, I had already worked some compositions in my mind. Although we spent about two hours in the area, I made exactly one image that I had come prepared for, taking time to perfect it with a few variations.
The homework we did helped make the best use the limited good-light window and come back with the images I wanted. Without any preparation, we may have wandered these landscapes for hours and allow much of our photography to depend on luck.
It is nice to have a feature-rich camera that makes technically superior images. But when there is something interesting unfolding in front of you, even a cell-phone camera can be useful in telling the story. When the visit to Dudhsagar falls turned out to be a small adventure of riding over train tracks (!), treading on bridle paths and crossing streams on two wheels.
I was travelling in Goa last week, hoping to see the monsoons enrich the green landscapes of the region. The intent was to see, observe and relish the earth come alive with the rains. That meant leaving the camera at home and letting bare-eyes do all the capturing. This worked fine for much of the time, but I had an irresistible urge to capture an excellent story that unfolded in front of me, when I visited the well-known Dudhsagar Waterfalls.