Vivid Photography

Night Flowers II

2011-11-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Fireworks offer up wonderful abstracts and you never know quite what you'll get until you've bagged and edited them. These were taken at Richmond Golf Club's great show last night, with a tripod, cable release, 35-100mm lens and ISO of 100. Most were also shot at f11 and with a shutter speed of around 1 to 2 seconds, though using the 'bulb' setting (which means the shutter stays open as long as your finger's on the button) which left a lot to intuition and luck!

Posing on a Saturday afternoon

2011-11-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

These are my favourite 14 shots from a recent portrait session with Nick & Amy's stunningly beautiful children. 4 hours of dressing up, trying out poses, & running through a rainbow of emotions, & there was portrait magic on a damp autumn afternoon in West London.

Milan

2011-06-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

In the bohemian Navigli quarter

...also known as the 'Venice of Lombardy' thanks to its canals

The antique market which stretches 3km either side of a canal every last Sunday of the month

Lots more creative graffiti

as well as some truly bizarre clothing-presentations - in one of the fashion capitals of the world

The 'kangaroo-in-Bermuda' look anyone?

And would this 2-headed, 3-eyed Elvis make you reach for the vodka?

The design capital at its slickest

Wish I understood Italian, then I'd have known what this gentleman was haranguing the police about - while they did their best to ignore him

I was surprised by the number of people - and whole families - cycling here. There's also a great, and cheap, public transport system of trams, buses & metro, and bikes and eco-cars to share. All of which leads to far less city-gridlock & cleaner air.

A beautiful lake in the huge park behind Castello Sforzesco

Fountains are great places for people-watching

1 of the many cool, gloomy & ornately-decorated churches here

...and a flat back tyre

A pirate-themed restaurant in the Corso Garibaldi

A surreal well-sculpture in a quiet Brera square

The shopping-&-restaurant precinct of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, leading off the Piazza del Duomo

And, finally, the gothic Duomo itself at dusk. Milan's centrepiece, with its 132 spires & 3,200 statues, & by far it's most striking architectural feature

24hrs back in Genova

2011-05-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Cinque Terre - mostly Monterosso

2011-05-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

The glorious picnic - in the mountains somewhere above Genova

2011-05-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

Genova's Saturday Street Party

2011-05-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Rome

2011-05-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

Pompeii

2011-05-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Maratea & Rivello

2011-05-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

A heavenly walk in Maratea

2011-05-17T07:21:00.001-07:00

This 21m statue of 'Jesus Christ the Redeemer' was commissioned in the 60s by a well-travelled, and rich Italian who was clearly impressed by the one in Rio. Cleverly done as, from below, it looks as if it's spreading its arms over the town but it's actually facing away from the drop.

It's the season for wild poppies here & their jaunty little heads add such beautiful flashes of fiery colour to cornfields and seascapes.

My first glimpse of the extraordinary raised road, also built in the 60s at the same time as the statue, looming eerily through the low-lying clouds.

Praise be for the low clouds - these shots wouldn't have been nearly as mysterious without them!

On the road to oblivion?

Another perky poppy, glowing in the dusk.

And, finally, after a good hour-plus walk, on top of the world...

Paestum & the National Park of Cilento

2011-05-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

One resident of the 60-odd buffalo farms around here serving up classic Italian mozzarella

The station master removing a snake (which turned out not to be a viper, as originally feared) from Paestum's station subway - having suggested we hop over the train tracks to reach our platform instead!

Sorrento

2011-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Dining by the waves at Z'Intonio's in Sorrento's pretty harbour. My handsome young waiter Antonio cheekily gave me his telephone number with the words 'Your husband is in London. He be jealous, but (charming Italian shrug) he in London!' Italian men, don't you just lovem?!

Mount Vesuvius

The seaside restaurant/bar, open to non-residents, at the Hotel dei Syrenes - a truly magical place to watch the sun set

Mount Vesuvius again

The Italian adventure begins...in Naples

2011-05-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

Spending only a day and a night in the old port town of Naples gave me just the briefest of impressions. Lots of beautiful old architecture and stunningly-carved statues cheek-by-jowl with lots of graffiti, dirt, piles of rubbish (the collectors may have been on strike?), gridlocked traffic, street-trading immigrants from North Africa and destitutes.

The Italians are a notoriously romantic nation and couples often embrace passionately and unselfconsciously in the street. But I haven't been quick or bold enough to nab any really good shots of that just yet (watch this space!) and, meantime, like these chairs set ready for a good one-to-one...

A very strange statue, in the Palazzo Reale, of a man thoroughly dead thanks to both a cleaver in the back and a dagger in the head.

The sumptuous, soaring, breathtaking hallway of the Palazzo Reale

and, nearby, an old man with no home but at least a nice bike & leather jacket.

A brighter future for South Acton 'Sink' Estate

2011-04-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

South Acton Estate is Ealing's largest public housing estate, with some 2,000 households in high-rise and mid-level blocks spread over 40 acres. Often referred to as a 'sink' estate thanks to the run-down state of many of its tenements and historically high levels of crime, alcoholism and drug dealing, it's now in the process of being comprehensively regenerated.

'Acton Gardens' (a partnership between housing association L&Q and developer Countryside Properties), have been selected by Ealing Council and local residents to design and implement the improvements. They declare that 'getting residents views and ideas on the look of the future of South Acton is our priority' and, to prove it, invited everyone living in and around the estate to a public launch of the scheme at the Oaktree Community Centre on Saturday 9th April.

As it was such a glorious, blue-skied day, they moved the event outside to attract more visitors, and then spent a committed 4 hours chatting to locals, getting their views and explaining their 12-year staged plan and 'urban village' design proposals to date.

An alternative picture of the March for the Alternative, 26 March 2011

2011-03-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday's TUC-led March for the Alternative in Central London was some 500,000-strong and overwhelmingly peaceful, civilised and calm, with lots of creativity and dark humour evident in banners and costumes, and a strong feeling of everyone united in a common cause. But sadly, and perhaps inevitably, most of the media coverage (both TV and printed-press) was effectively distracted and hijacked by the violence of a few hundred balaclava-wearing hardcores.

The following pictures tell the story of the March as I saw it. Please do share them with friends to spread the wider, truer picture, and feel free to post your comments and choice of favourites too.

Unfortunately the day was cold, grey-skied and drizzly, sandwiched between gloriously sunny days both before and after. But the mood was resolute and buoyed by a feeling of shared opposition and common humanity.

Grimly-humourous signs were a major feature,

as was the wide range of ages, backgrounds and expressions.

This picture reminded one country-dweller of their march for the Countryside Alliance, pointing up the broad-based opposition to the ConDem cuts.

“Never in the field of financial endeavour has so much been owed by so few to so many”

– Mervyn King, Bank of England governor

Vuvulezas, drums, whistles, masks, costumes and catchy chants all lent a carnival atmosphere, despite the drizzle.

The presence of many small children highlighted the fact that 99.9% of the half-million marchers were determinedly non-violent.

A rainbow of vivid colours and smiles mixed in with grimmer expressions and starker black and white slogans.

"One of the reasons I thought it was important to come here was to remind the government that they have no election mandate for what they are doing here," Simon Cross, 46, from Nottingham, to the Observer.

A piece of comic street theatre near Fortnum and Mason before the small flare-up there which received disproportionate media coverage.

Single mothers in particular, and women in general, will be amongst those hardest hit by the cuts.

A plain, straightforward shot but I included it to show the determined humourlessness and bafflement I saw on the faces of most of the police lining the route.

Sadly, this placard is probably only-too-true.

Not all the protesters were marching - some were simply cheering from the sidelines.

As a photographer, the police-enforced veto against climbing up onto fences, barriers and walls (citing unspecified 'Health and Safety laws') is frustrating and infuriating. But they seemed to have waived this particular civil-liberty-restriction for the day.

As part of the cuts, the government plans to shed 17,000 armed forces personnel - one in 10 - by 2015. And they've placed Gurkhas at the forefront of the MoD's redundancy programme to reduce the number of Nepalese volunteers entitled to claim settlement rights in the UK once they retire.

"It's about people standing up for what's happening to other people they care about, not just friends and families but everyone. They are marching today because people feel part not of a big society but of a compassionate society." Billy Bragg, musician and rally speaker

'Again the impact of the cuts is much harder on the poor and those in the middle than it is on the rich. The poorest ten per cent suffer 15 times more than the richest.' www.falseeconomy.org.uk

Texting rebels. The antics of a few hundred militant activists sadly dominated news coverage of the event. According to the Met, 201 arrests were made during the day, of which 145 were for 'aggravated trespass' by members of tax-avoidance protest group UK Uncut in Fortnum and Mason - despite a policewoman previously acknowledging on video that a breach of the peace had occurred outside the store, but not in.

A wonderful, lived-in face!

'What is certain is that the cuts will reduce economic growth. The government is fond of scaring us with numbers. Here's our own scary number. The spending review will depress growth in the UK economy by £60 billion, according to official figures. That's £1,000 for everyone in the UK.' www.falseeconomy.org.uk

There were over 30 individual speeches at the closing rally in Hyde Park, making intelligent, articulate, passionate and persuasive arguments against the cuts (which can be viewed at: http://vimeo.com/album/1562316),

lightened by a set from a Brazilian singer and dancers to add some carnival relief.

Elsewhere in the Park, more immediately pressing concerns, such as getting police assistance with a mobile phone,

or being disgusted by the state of a heavily-used portaloo, offered light relief to passersby.

Protests old and new. The scroll displays a classic anonymous poem about the 1760-1820 enclosure of English common land for private gain, which reads:

The law locks up the man or woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

But leaves the greater villain loose

Who steals the common from off the goose.

The law demands that we atone

When we take things we do not own

But leaves the lords and ladies fine

Who take things that are yours and mine.

The poor and wretched don't escape

If they conspire the law to break;

This must be so but they endure

Those who conspire to make the law.

The law locks up the man or woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

And geese will still a common lack

Till they go and steal it back.

A resigned modern troubadour.

Up in arms - the statue with his crown jewels 'Under Offer' and a Middle-Englander offering cheerful solidarity.

The placards carried by children seemed particularly poignant. One I didn't capture read 'Don't steal my future'.

Packing up the street theatre and going home.

Hyde Park Corner's Wellington Arch between a crane rigged with CCTV and coaches quietly waiting to take marchers home for their tea.

There are also some great photographs at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/

mar/26/thousands-march-against-cuts-in-pictures - though a hugely disproportionate 15 of the 36 are dramatic shots of the pockets of West End violence unrelated to the main march.

4-year-old Ruby's first modelling shoot

2011-03-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Ruby not only has the flame-hair, porcelain skin and cornflower-blue eyes of a classic beauty but is blessed with so much irrepressible character that she's long-since wrapped her 2 elder brothers round both little fingers.

Here's a selection from her first portfolio shoot, which we did on a Sunday morning in the kitchen of her home. She's since been accepted onto the books of 3 modelling agencies on the strength of it.

Manganiyars alight in Acton

2011-03-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

I met some of the Manganiyars troupe in their village of Hamira in Rajasthan, where I was transported by their soulful music. Months later they came to London and got in touch, so I had a chance to photograph them giving a workshop to children from the East End. Here's a selection:

Incredible photos from TPOTY 2009

2010-10-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

These portfolio's and single shots are just wonderful - well worth checking out via this link:

TPOTY Winners 2009

Enjoy!

Udaipur, Lake Pichola & bat swarms

2010-09-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 32

Death by power lines - though I still can't quite work out what the furry, fly-covered thing underneath the bat is....

Like all other lakes and reservoirs in Rajasthan when I visited, Lake Pichola was seriously depleted thanks to several years of severe drought.

Watching the sun set over Lake Pichola was stunning, and made all the more memorable by thousands of fruit bats launching themselves out of the trees to swoop and glide over the water, filling the air with squeaking cries and rustling wings.

And there you have it - the end of my first solo Indian adventure with camera. Hopefully there will be many more, for I found it a seductive country filled with vivid colour and beautiful artistry, and home to a graceful, warmly smiling people who, despite the undeniable hardships suffered by many, seem particularly good at taking the time to savour life's joys.

Udaipur's City Palace

2010-09-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 31

Started in the C16th, Rajasthan's largest palace is the work of a succession of maharajas and sits beside the beautiful Lake Pichola. Lots of delicate, lace-marble carving, bold colours, intricate mosaics and antiques.

The Lake Palace Hotel on Jagniwas Island, where some of James Bond's Octopussy was filmed.

The most effectively repellant 'pol' (elephant gate) I've seen to date, with these beautiful golden spikes at elephant-head-height to deter butting.

Posts still to come:

Udaipur, Lake Pichola & bat swarms

The Manganiyars in Acton

French chainsaw circus Archaos remembered

Family Portraits at Mountain Ridge

2010-09-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 30

Posts still to come:

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Jodhpur Palace & the fabulous Jain temples at Ranakpur

2010-09-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 29

Posts still to come:

Family portraits at Mountain Ridge

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort

2010-09-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 28
My partner Simon came out to join me for my last 2 weeks in India - though, given the ash cloud, we're weren't sure til the very day before that he would actually be able to fly. Which meant we couldn't make any firm plans, or book any internal flights, ahead of time.

India is really not designed for people to rush around, and next-day tickets can be as much as 4 times more expensive than booked in advance. What's more, the heat in Rajasthan was, by now, absolutely punishing at a hard-to-breathe 40-45F.

While waiting for our taxi to pick us up from Jodhpur's impressive C15th Mehrangarh Fort, standing in scraps of shade offered by thorny trees, I found I was panting, tongue out, like a dog (in an instinctive attempt to lower my body temperature), while Si was experiencing alarming surges of pins and needles up both arms.

But it was well worth the effort - not least for the spectacular collection of royal howdahs (elephant seats) used by the Maharaja of Mewar (Udaipur Kingdom) for ceremonial occasions.

And here are some of the royal howdahs - beautifully elaborate but possibly not terribly comfortable!

Great views of the sadly-not-entirely Blue City

Posts still to come:

Jodhpur Palace & the fabulous Jain temples en route to Udaipur
Family Portraits at Mountain Ridge

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Brigitte Singh's handblocking workshop

2010-09-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 27
I met Brigitte Singh at the Goa home of the inimitable Jivi and she kindly invited me to contact her when I was in Jaipur and visit her workshop there. I didn't know at the time that she is famously private and reclusive and thus that this invitation was a rare privilege.

Born and raised in France, she first came to Rajasthan's capital Jaipur at the end of the 70s to study the art of miniature painting with an Indian master, fell in love with and married his son, and made her home in Amber (pronounced 'Amer' and meaning 'high'). She then became fascinated by India's rich textile heritage and the art of woodblock printing which had declined since its zenith in the C18th. Her workshop in Amber now produces an exquisite range of clothes, furnishings and accessories which are renowned worldwide and all produced under her personal supervision.

It was fascinating to watch the many colours that made up the intricate designs being carefully built up, one layer after another.

The delicately-carved wooden blocks have a relatively short life. Once carefully positioned, they receive a short sharp blow to transfer their dye.

As soon as their edges become blurred they have to be carved all over again.

A large team of local men and women were sitting around the light central courtyard sewing the dyed fabrics into clothes and furnishings, either with old-fashioned treadle machines or by hand.

The finished pieces are wondrously-detailed and beautifully finished, and available to buy from a little upstairs office.

And this is the charming Brigitte, who is also kept busy bringing up her little adopted Indian daughter by herself.

Posts still to come:

Jodhpur's fort and palace

The fabulous Jain temples en route to Udaipur

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Jaigarh Fort

2010-09-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 26
Much sterner, more functional and military than Amber Fort a kilometre below, Jaigarh Fort was built in 1726 and boasts the world's largest wheeled canon.

Something you'll never see in Britain - ice being transported through the fierce morning heat on the back of a motorbike. One hopes he didn't have far to go or he'd end up with just enough for one round of drinks!

Great mutton chop whiskers - a fashion doubtless left over from the days of the Raj - guarding the improbably large canon. 6 metres long with a range of 30km, it's made from a mix of 8 different metals and weighs in at a hefty 50 tons. There's no record of when and if it was actually fired.

These braceleted ankles belong to an old lady who was walking with a young girl (in yellow) on the narrow tarmac strip of the winding mountain road, rather than the wide verge, and so found her arm being clipped by the tuk-tuk's mirror. My tuk-tuk driver Suni stopped to apologise but, upon being soundly and loudly berated by the old lady, pointed out that she really shouldn't have been walking on the tarmac at all. She was so furious that I didn't dare take a shot of her face as I thought she might then have punched me, or Suni, or both of us!

It's possible to ride up to either Amber or Naga Forts in style on an elephant howdah - but it takes a while as the pace is ponderously slow, which no doubt explains why several of their drivers were fast asleep.

Posts still to come:

A privileged glimpse of Brigitte Singh's handblocking workshop
Jodhpur's fort and palace

The fabulous Jain temples en route to Udaipur

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Amber Fort

2010-09-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 25
Thankyou to all those of you who've been checking in for new blogs and sincere apologies for having put it on the far back-burner over the summer! Where does the time go?

The good news is, one of my Rajasthani images, the lads on the Jodhpur to Jaisalmer sleeper-bus (who look as if they've time-travelled from the 1940s), was selected for Foto8's Summer Show in London, and again for the edited version which is shortly relocating to the Crane Kalman Gallery in Brighton. In case you've forgotten, or didn't see it, this is the one:

I'll be playing catch-up for the next few posts, uploading a selection of the remaining images from my wonderful (though far too hot) India trip, probably in something of a mini-torrent to get them out of the way. Then the path will be clear for more recent projects.

Here's the spectacular Amber Fort, near Jaipur. More of a palace than a fort, fashioned from sandstone, marble, mosaics and mirrors, it was built from 1592.

An early jacuzzi?

Posts still to come:

Jaigarh Fort

A privileged glimpse of Brigitte Singh's handblocking workshop
Jodhpur's fort and palace

The fabulous Jain temples en route to Udaipur

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Jaipur's 'Flower Market'

2010-06-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 24

I was told about Jaipur's Flower Market by an Indian friend and it's not in my guidebook - which explains why I was the single Westerner there. I'd started out early, trying to beat the worst of the ferocious heat, but what should have been a 15-minute tuk tuk ride to it turned into an hour-long one. First the driver didn't seem to know where the Flower Market was, then made a diversion and unscheduled stop for chai and 'just looking - no buying' at an antique emporium (an opportunity I declined with some vehemence), and then another in a back street while he disappeared, without explanation, for 20 minutes only to bring back his 'English-speaking' son (who did no such thing) to replace him in the driving seat. While I was waiting though, I was able to get a few lovely shots of nearby locals.

Finally I arrived at the elusive Flower Market, which turned out to be a sacks-of-garland-flowers and fruit and veg market rather than any cornucopia of blooms, but it was lively and colourful and well worth the visit anyway.

This motorbike was so fully-loaded with garland-sacks and these 2 lads that they needed a friend's help to heave it off its stand.

I accepted an offered chai from this sweet tea-stall operator who had signs of horrible burns on his chest and neck and upper forehead. I can only imagine there was some sort of chai-cooking explosion, but he also looked expertly-treated and healed.

4 men to load, 1 woman to carry on her head. Impressive.

Posts still to come:

Jaipur's stunning forts

A privileged glimpse of Brigitte Singh's handblocking workshop
Jodhpur's fort and palace

The fabulous Jain temples en route to Udaipur

Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

By Bus to Jaipur

2010-06-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 23

This was a big family group also waiting at the Jain Travels 'Deluxe' bus departure point in Jodhpur. An uncle had just died and they were heading to his funeral (though not on my bus), hence the forehead daubs and garlands. Koshi, the beautiful girl on the right below, adopted me as her 'sister' and asked for a token of this before leading me and my luggage to my waiting bus, so I undid the little necklace given to me by Raj's dad at Shreenath Palace and gave her that, which seemed to satisfy.

On the 11.30am bus, safely ensconced in my mattressed upper berth once more, although in the full heat of the day it became something of a microwave.

Our only pit-stop on the 8-hr journey - here's to strong bladders!

Back on the bus and eastward once more.

My favourite shot of this post, though I didn't dare buy/try one of the prettily-presented salad snacks.

A freshly-squeezed sugar-cane juice stall

a water station

and a smoking chimney I wouldn't want to use to advertise my company name.

Posts still to come:

Jaipur's flower market and stunning forts
Jodhpur's fort and palace
Udaipur's lake, bats and palace

Jodhpur 2 - From under the Fort back to indigo budget

2010-05-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 22
I’m now back from India and savouring the coolness of our leafy part of Acton. But there are a number of Indian posts still in the can, so I'll upload those as and when I can over the next few weeks.

As an experiment, I'm also going to run the images without explanations or captions. If you have any questions, thoughts or reactions, please do take a moment to tell me so? Every comment is a gift.

Posts still to come:

Jaipur

Udaipur

Jodhpur 1 - Beneath the Fort to family portraits

2010-05-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 21
I’m currently travelling for 3 months in India, through Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan, with a pretty hot and hectic schedule of boutique hotel reviews. The galleries below are my online photojournalist diary of scenes caught, people met and things found along the way. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did and am still.

Please do take a moment to log and/or e-mail me your reactions and comments and, if you're on Facebook, attend/join my Indian Adventures photo-blog cyber-event there, or become a Follower, due right on this page? The more people I know are reading and enjoying it, the more fuel it adds to my fire.

This framed poster was hanging on the wall in my budget 'Shivam Paying Guesthouse' near Jodhpur's clocktower (as opposed to the 'Shivam Free Guesthouse' down the road?), and struck me as a fun coincidence.
I must look up Virginie Sueves' work on India when I get home and have free-flowing internet access once again. I won't be at all surprised, given the poster image and title, to find her images have a lot in common with mine.

This super-flexible old gentleman (decades of sitting cross-legged?) responded to my signed request for a photograph, as I ventured out of the gate of the very posh and expensive new Raas Hotel, with a clear 'bring it on' hand gesture.

He appears again later in the post as, on my return sweep, he was sitting with 2 old ladies and invited me to photograph them too. Many/most Indians seem to just love being photographed, which is wonderful for a roving photographer...

but can often inspire some serious posing too.

These school lads were so bursting with joie-de-vivre that they quickly surrounded me in a tight knot, screaming for attention and photographs so loudly that I had to cover my ears. I begged them to stop. That didn't work. So I started to scream myself, just as loudly and long as them, while determinedly dragging myself away. This made everyone even more amused but I still don't know if my tactic prolonged or shortened the deafening ordeal.

A blessedly peaceful, harmonious moment found soon after.

And this strange, hidden beast was seen after I accepted the kind invitation from a local shop owner to use his bathroom to wash off the fresh cow-poo I had just accidentally planted one of my lovely new camel sandals in.

As I returned, cleaned up, to the street, these old-gold jackets with riding festival poster caught my eye. I've since, in Udaipur, ridden a feisty Marwar, whose ears curl prettily towards each other. They are traditionally the favoured horses of the warrior Rajput clan.

I find there's something very picturesque and soft-edged about peeling paint.

The super-flexible old gentleman again, after he'd gestured for me to photograph his female relatives too.

Another picturesque sleeper, conked out in the heat.

I was on a mission to climb up to the Fort, unguided and on Shank's Pony, so wove my own way through the little, though sadly no longer uniformly-blue lanes. Lots of inhabitans of Jodhpur's famed 'Blue City' have been painting their houses other colours for the past 10 or 15 years. They should surely slap on a Heritage order saying, "Want to live in the 'Blue City'? Paint it blue!" We would in Britain.

A little boy reluctantly applying wet soap to his hair while fully-clothed. Did he stick his head in a cow-pat?

And this lovely girl, P (whose name I'll add once I've found the relevant slip of paper), was my third kidnapper. I strongly suspect she has her heart set on modelling/Bollywood as, once she'd persuaded me to come see her family's house and have some chai (not difficult given that my brains were cooking, and camera sizzling, in the fierce sun), she and her family started doing some serious portrait-posing. I've got her address and have promised to post her a sheaf of 6x4s of the results.

One of her aunts, who fixed me with a deeply-sceptical frown for most of her photos, which made this relaxed, smiling one a breakthrough.

P getting dressed up in the first of several outfits for her portrait.

One of her little brothers, Johnny 'Just one (hundred) photo?'

Their home drinking station. Rounded clay pots, filled with water and sitting beside metal cups, are everywhere in India, in free public drinking stations as much as in homes. And indeed, drinking lots of water in this kind of furnace heat is essential for basic health.

Another of P's little brothers, slightly-cross-eyed and with a repaired cleft lip,

but, happily, with a frequent, carefree, head-thrown-back laugh too.

And this is P's mother, who looked well into her sixties, and carefully put her glasses on when her daughters requested a group portrait, something a few other older Indian women have done in front of my camera too.

P and her sister trying a different pose...

and finally, after chai, much laughter, a cooled-down brain and camera, and literally hundreds of photos (which meant I was fast running out of memory cards for the rest of my walk), P reluctantly allowed me to continue on my way.

As I carried on down the Fort-circling lane, I saw lots of people who, intriguingly, looked rather more South American Indian than Indian-Indian. I have no idea why.

Posts still to come before we're up-to-date:
Jodhpur 2 - From under the Fort back to blue-walled-budget

Jaipur

Udaipur

The national park ruins of a village suddenly abandonned 300 years ago

2010-04-28T02:17:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 20
I’m currently travelling for 3 months in India, through Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan, with a pretty hot and hectic schedule of boutique hotel reviews. The galleries below are my online photojournalist diary of scenes caught, people met and things found along the way. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did and am still.

Please do take a moment to log and/or e-mail me your reactions and comments and, if you're on Facebook, attend/join my Indian Adventures photo-blog cyber-event there, or become a Follower, due right on this page? The more people I know are reading and enjoying it, the more fuel it adds to my fire.

Here's a taster of the absurdly-romantic, 350-year-old haveli, Hotel Shreenath Palace, deep inside Jaisalmer Fort which made me feel like a Juliet, though without her Romeo.

And this, below, is the abandonned village of Kudhara, one of over 80 villages deserted overnight by thousands of Paliwal Brahmins. Raj, the Hotel Shreenath Palace owner-manager who kindly took me there on the back of his motorbike, had this version as to why.

A Rajput prince took a fancy to one of the Kudhara families' beautiful daughters. She and her family didn't share his enthusiasm, particularly in light of the rumours about the terrible injuries caused by his massive penis. So, rather than have to fight a war about it, all 80-plus villages relocated en masse, in the middle of the night, to a destination unknown. But they also apparently left a curse behind them which still scares many locals away from the village to this very day.

Another version is that the Paliwal Brahmins, known for their benevolence, prosperity and strong sense of community, fought off a number of Mughal invasions before one particularly vicious one in the 18th century after which the Mughal leader ordered dead animals to be thrown in all their drinking wells. Hence the sudden exodus.

It has been designated a 'national park' with a modest entrance charge, and a small army of full-time employees are slowly rebuilding and renovating the ruins to their former idiosyncratic charm. The delicately-painted decorative details, which feature on many a home in Rajasthan, remind me of Native American art.

A view across Jaisalmer from Hotel Shreenath Palace's roof at night,

and an open-to-the-stars rooftop bedroom, again something you see a lot of in Rajasthan.

Raj's father, a government official, who ran the hotel for 30 years before handing over (most of the) control to his only son. I did mention to Raj that his father lying around in reception, sipping chai from a saucer and chewing his pan was more 'homestay' than 'boutique'. But he was a lovely, kind man who rushed off on his motorbike as Raj escorted me to my Jodhpur bus, only to reappear with 2 full plastic bags of travelling snacks for my 6-hour-journey.

Hi son Raj (below) is happily and (he says) faithfully married, with one young son, but told me he is baffled by the number of single female tourists who keep falling in love with him. He has a certain lithe intensity, and tends to sit close to you while engaging in fairly personal conversations, which could explain their mistake. I assured him there was no danger of that happening with me as I was happily coupled-up, and he seemed just a little offended.

He knew most of the men waiting around my 6pm Jodhpur bus, so introduced me while he bought my 'Indian price' ticket, and they were all keen to have their photos taken and several to experience the novelty of one of my rollies too.

Photographing their shoes made them laugh in disbelief, as to them they seemed so unremarkable. To me they're so much more exotic and graceful than Western ones that I wished I'd had room in my bags to buy his and hers pairs to bring home with me.

To be albino in India must be incredibly tough, if only because of the fierce heat, and this young man didn't seem remotely happy or at ease. He also seemed very isolated, within the crowd by the little roadside stall.

Another gracefully-veiled lady. I really hope the majority of Indian women never swap their beautiful, rainbow-coloured saris or salwar kameez for Western-style jeans and T-shirts as their country would lose so much beauty.

A little boy, on some errand with his big plastic bag, whose look of bitter resentment, as I trained my big camera on him through the window of my 10-foot-high coach bunk, was understandable but painful to see.

And a serendipitous photographic moment nailed as we paused to pick up more passengers.

Posts still to come before we're up-to-date:
Jodhpur and Jaipur

Magical Jaisalmer Fort

2010-04-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

Impressions of India: 19
I’m currently travelling for 3 months in India, through Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan, with a pretty hot and hectic schedule of boutique hotel reviews. The galleries below are my online photojournalist diary of scenes caught, people met and things found along the way. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did and am still.

Please do take a moment to log and/or e-mail me your reactions and comments and, if you're on Facebook, attend/join my Indian Adventures photo-blog cyber-event there, or become a Follower, due right on this page? The more people I know are reading and enjoying it, the more fuel it adds to my fire.

Jaisalmer Fort, built in 1156 by the Rajput ruler Jaisala, was reinforced by subsequent rulers and has 99 bastions around its circumference. Apparently the only 'living' fort in the world, my Lonely Planet guidebook, and another travellers Footprint one, declared that the toll taken by the tourist footprint and government indifference meant it was in danger of collapse, and on the World Monuments Watch list of the 100 most endangered heritage sites worldwide. As a result Lonely Planet doesn't list any hotels inside the fort and urges travellers to 'make their own ethical decision'. However, Raj and other Fort hotel-owners swore this was a lie spread by hotels outside the fort to get more business. And when I checked online, I found that they were right - it isn't on the WMW or Unesco list of endangered sites at all.

2 out of a big group of women, with their children, selling souvenirs and jewellery just inside the entrance to the Fort.

A poster in a rooftop Fort restaurant, whose gentle owner Vishnu said yes, he did indeed try to follow all its instructions on a daily basis.

When Raj, the owner of the haveli I was reviewing, saw this picture, taken in one of the streets near his hotel, he said 'That's my son!' - though it looks more like a girl, so he might have been pulling my leg.

The entrance to Gadsisar Lake, constructed in 1367 by Maharawal Gadsisingh, which has been the main source of water to Jaisalmer Fort for centuries. The entrance sign also said: 'Many small temples and shrines adorn this lake. The beautiful arched gateway believed to have been built by a courtesan.'

According to my guidebook, a rich and famous prostitute was denied permission to build her gate (Tilon-ki-Pol) by the local maharajah, but built it anyway and put a little Krishna temple on top - which meant it was now sacred and couldn't be torn down. However the maharajah never entered through the gate, believing it beneath his dignity, and would always visit the lake by a side route instead.

Again, the lake has shrunk severely over the past 3 years of Rajasthan drought - it normally reaches up to the steps. Any idea what the dark patch in the water in front of the saried ladies is?

Catfish! Leaping and slithering and climbing over each other to feast on the rubbish and any scraps thrown by tourists.

A young boy sitting lakeside in the gathering dusk who'd initially smiled sweetly at me but then arranged himself for his portrait and suddenly looked very old for his years.

The Fort, beautifully lit-up by night.

The Jain temples ticket-seller.

Inside the incredibly-carved Jain temples. The 7 of them apparently took 200 men 35 years to build in total.

The honey-pink Jaisalmer sandstone can lend the whole fort this soft glow.

No cars are allowed inside the Fort, and tuk tuks wait in its entrance square as the streets are too narrow for them too. But lots of men bomb around its little lanes on motorbikes or scooters instead.

Patwa-ki-Haveli, the most magnificent of the Fort's 3 antique havelis open to the public, and owned by the government.

Its ground-floor ceilings were dripping bats.

I can't decide whether the expression on these pigeons faces is embarrassment or guilt.

This young man could be taken as a definition of optimism, given that I was on the roof of the haveli and he was on the ground. He must have hoped I would throw down some coins. I've zoomed in on the same shot below so that you can see him more clearly.

And this is the also-astonishingly-carved Maharaja's Palace.

My tuk tuk driver, Vimal, taking a break while I took photographs.

and a friend of his VJ, who said he is on the look-out for a lovely English wife. I promised to spread the word.

Posts still to come before we're up-to-date:
The abandonned village and Jaisalmer to Jodhpur
Jodhpur

Jaipur