Photographs of The Dharavi Slums of Mumbai

In April of 2010 we went to visit the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. Twice.

It was an incredible experience, and we got to grips with the society and culture there. This is a large set of almost 100 images, all in different styles, documenting many aspects of the slums. For the record, I’m a little uncomfortable using the word ‘slum’ as it’s both somewhat insulting and a misrepresentation of Dharavi, but I use it here because it is a recognised search term. It’s also how tour trips are advertised.

Revisiting these photographs of Dharavi 15 years later, I’m reminded of the big welcome we received. We were travelling in a group of about ten westerners, so we stood out and attracted a lot of attention. Fortunately, the attention was positive, which I think is evident from some of the street portraits captured here.

woman leaning out of her home in dharavi

Technically, these photographs are not brilliant. This trip marked the beginning of my foray into travel photography, and I was still getting accustomed to using my gear in a busy environment. Of the 100 or so images, I probably selected three keepers, but I’ve included a few more here to help set the scene.

India, in the midday sun, presents a challenge when it comes to balancing shadows and highlights. These days, I set my camera’s exposure to prevent blowing out the highlights, which often results in underexposed images that can be addressed in Photoshop. However, back in India, I had most of my settings set to auto.

I recall submitting the above photograph as part of my original Royal Photographic Society LRPS accreditation, but it was rejected due to the over-exposed parts of the Hessian sacks. It was a great lesson, though, because now I am forever mindful of blowing out my highlights, and it taught me to keep an eye out for highlights when editing images. Despite how this compressed JPG file appears, I was able to recover the highlights, ensuring that nothing is overexposed.

This is one of my favourite photos from Mumbai. Again, not technically perfect, but it effectively sums up the general response we received as tourists with cameras. Most lads played up to the camera!

There’s a lot of industry in the back streets of Dhavari. Much of it is clay-based, ranging from large drinking vessels to tiny, disposable pots used for eating food out of.

This trip also marked the beginning of the debate over voyeurism. How would I feel if a bunch of Indian tourists poked their noses and cameras around my living quarters? Honestly? I want to think I’d treat them with the same level of courtesy that I received while on our travels through India. I would say that these kind people taught me how to treat strangers, and that that lesson is something I have taken with me to this day.

If you like our content and would like to support us, we will give you ad-free access to our videos before they go live to the public, discounts in our shop, access to Jamie’s iconic full-res photographs, and supporter-only blog posts. Click our ugly mugs for more info!