Having dropped anchor in Uligamu, after a frustrating four-day crossing from Cochin, India, we put our worries to one side with a wander along the desolate beach of the Maldive’s most northern (but one) island. This is a little photography slide-show for your entertainment. Just click on the image below to begin and don’t forget you can view it in full-screen mode to get that “I’m-really-there!” sensation!
Rogan Art – The Kathri Suma Family of Gujarat
The Kathri Suma family of Gujarat is the only family using this technique of cloth decoration. It is unique to this one village. In this clip you’ll see my photographs and some video of the family at work. The black scarf at the end of the clip is a present we bought for a friend who helped out organising my photography courses. Thank you, Karen!
Winner of The Guardian’s Monthly Travel Photography Competition
My Christmas came early this year. I’m chuffed to announce that I won October’s Guardian ‘Been There’ travel photography competition! The theme was ‘Weather’ and I submitted an image of school girls splashing their way through a monsoon puddle.
MyWanderlust Picture of the Week
I was pretty stoked to get my Bedouin shot chosen by Lyn Hughes as her photo of the week on the MyWanderlust website. Lyn is owner/editor of the independent travel magazine and recently visited Jordan herself, so perhaps my shot brought back a few memories for her!
Limboo Lady With Necklace
Photograph: A lady from the Nepali Limboo tribe in Sikkim, with traditional nose-piercings.
Bolgatty Girl
Photograph: this is a random portrait of a girl who lives in Bolgatty Island village, where we live. Just happened to be walking past her purple-painted house and she immediately posed for the camera, as is typical here in India. It has quickly become one of my fave street portraits.
#OnePrimeWednesday – Early Morning Basket Boy
This is a submission for the theme that asks for a shot taken with a prime lens. A prime lens has a fixed focal length, in this instance 50mm. A 50mm prime lens is the one closest to what a human sees in real life, which is why traditionally crime scene photographers always used 50mm lenses! No crime scene here, alas, just a photograph of a worker with a heavy steel basket on his head.
Portrait Of A Banana Depot Worker
Banana depot worker portrait. The cloth on his head is for carrying bananas, huge bunches of them.
#MyTownTuesday – Cochin, Kerala
I went for a wander late afternoon in the market, in between the stall holders and the main depot where they drop off the fruit and veg. This group of workers allowed me to jump up on the lorry and grab a shot of the workers loading up sacks of chickpea on to the workers’ heads.
#WomenWednesday – School Trip To Madurai
A great group shot of young students taken at Meenakshi Temple. Of course all the boys in the class were jumping in the way of the girls so I ordered them out the frame to get this one. Gotta love their identical hair.
#TonemapHDRTuesday – Banana Depot
This is an HDR shot, a composite of three identical images exposed differently, to pick up detail in the light and shadow areas. It is a submission for another photographic theme and follows on from the set I took at the banana depot.
#TreeTuesday – Bolgatty Palace
A view of the sunset from Bolgatty Island, where we live.
#TransportTuesday – Banana Delivery Trolly
Workers at the local banana depot, a place which makes for interesting and colourful photographs.
#MyTownTuesday – Cochin, Kerala
This picture, taken in the depot of the market, went down well on Google+ and shows yet another worker with a heavy object on their head. These guys must have necks of steel!
Decay Theme – Life On Bolgatty
A submission for the theme Decay. Rather than go for an old, battered, black and white decayed look, I took a photograph of a decaying sign just on my doorstep (the Bolgatty ferry pick-up point) and brightened it up.
Sunset Over Cochin
I should probably save this photograph for the #SunsetSaturday submission, but I couldn’t resist popping this one up now. It is the view just before I catch the ferry back to Bolgatty Island from Ernakulam. In the far distance are the famous Chinese fishing nets.
The Butcher Of Sudan
This photograph was part of my LRPS set, and one of my fave shots from Port Sudan. His slight snarl gets me every time, despite the fact he was a very nice chap. We ended up playing ‘light-sabres’ with his meat cleavers.
Busy Bus In Cochin
Photograph: A typically packed bus in Cochin, Kerala, south India. It’s predominantly Catholic here, hence the nuns.
Madurai Marauder
Thought I’d kill two birds with one stone today since I’m off out for the afternoon 😉
This is one of the many thousands of pilgrims who descended upon Meenakshi Temple in Madurai during the Pongal celebrations (like Harvest for Hindus).
Sunset Across Eritrea
Another image from the Red Sea. Sadla Island looking over to Merso Dudo.
