Mumbai, India - what to shoot

[michael_fox]

My work may take me to Mumbai, India for several months. I've never

set foot in India before. If anyone has experience (Vishal?) with

photographing in this area, could you please provide any helpful info

regarding:

 

a) don't miss locations

b) regulations or other restrictions regarding photography

c) useful information sources

 

Thanks much,

Michael

[john_kasaian1]

Michael, I was in Calcutta years ago, BDLF(Before Discovering Large Format)and my only recommendations are to get a copy of Lonely Planets Guide to India, and to hire a local guide when you get there(and don't drink the local beer, whatever you do---they put formaldehyde as a preservative: BAD headaches!) It is a beautiful country full of contrasts and wonderful people. Since you'll be there for several months take along a big package of western toilet paper for the marines at the local consulate(I used it as padding for some fragile stuff I packed)---they'll be appreciative and might get you an invite to a diplomatic function at the junction----Cheers!

[john_kasaian1]

..and don't eat the corn flakes, yeccch!

[d_g]

i went in india 5 times during the last 3 years, all i can say is that they will charge you money to take picture inside museum...and sometimes is very expensive compare to the entry ticket, but still cheap and easier than to ask for a permission in europe...

Last recommendation : avoid to take pictures of governement buildings, bridges...for security reason, they don't like it !

Otherwise, you can enjoy local bear, one or two glass is ok, but don't drink to much...you should try the lassi and forget alcool !

People are very friendly and helpfull, but in Delhi and Mumbay, you can't trust every one in the street, and especially in the train (remenber that your camera coast the price for several tears of food !!!), the risk is there, but at the same time, having spent a lot of time there (in every kind of area), with an hasselblad and several lens...NOTHING bad happen to me, just good memories...enjoy<div></div>

[tedharris]

Mubai, formerly Bombay, is not my favorite city in India, not for photography or

anything else, but it is a lot better than Delhi or Calcutta. I have spent much

too much time in India over the past 35 years and some of my observations

follow, largely limited to photography.

 

Mubai does present some interesting photographic opportunities. IMHO it is

THE major city where you can still see many remnants of the British rule. The

harbors themselves present a lot of photographic potential and then you have

old institutions such as The Royal Bombay Yacht Club. If you are going to be

in country for several months I assume you will either doing some travel out of

Mubai on business and/or have some free time to explore on your own.

There are many other areas of the country that I find far more interesting.

Remember what a large country this is and the wide variety of image making

opportunities. Some examples follow.

 

South of Mubai, on the West Coast is Goa a fascinating area in terms of its

inhabitants and architecture. It is one of if not the last remnant of Portuguese

settlements in India.

 

To the North, in Rajasthan you have the camel races that are amazing. I don�t

recall the timing but think they are in January. There are also some elephant

festivals but I don�t remember when or where.

 

Also to the South but on the East Coast you have spectacular, often pristine

and undeveloped beaches. Madras, the largest Southern coastal city on the

East Coast has some spectacular sunsets and interesting opportunities to

photograph horseback riding on the beaches. Tow other cities (much

smaller) on the East Coast that are interesting are Pondichery and �Vizak.�

Pondichery is the last remaining uniquely French settlement on the

subcontinent and �Vizak� (the nickname for a much much longer native name)

used to have gorgeous unspoiled beaches. I recall some talk of building

some beachfront resorts but not sure that happened. As recently as 1996 all

was still untouched there (as long as you stayed away from the power plant).

 

The area around Bangalore is one of my favorite spots. There is an excellent,

little visited Banyan tree about 10-15km outside the city (figure an hour and a

half to get there) that covers well over an acre. There are some bigger

Banyans in other places but this is one where you can set up and photograph

with ease. For urban landscapes Bangalore is also interesting as it is

probably India�s fastest growing city and is the �Silicon Valley� of West Asia.

 

A couple of final points. If you are going to be there during the Monsoon

season (sometime in September through sometime in December or

thereabouts) you will have very few photographic opportunities. Travel is not

what we are used to in Europe or the US. Roads can be terrible (it once took

me 12 hours to go from Benares to a client�s site that was �only� 100km away).

You are much better off hiring a car and driver than doing it yourself in most

instances. Trains and planes are not much better. I have been stuck in small

towns for several days at the beginning or end of Monsoon season because

of flooded airstrips. Finally hotels, I don�t know what your travel experiences

are but India is interesting. The hotels that are built to cater to a Western

clientele are some of the best I have ever stayed in anywhere in the world.

Downscale from that things get dicey quickly. The so called first class Indian

businessman�s hotels can be comfortable but not up to even Days Inn

standards and with spotty air conditioning. OTOH sometimes they are fine.

The important thing is to get information from a Westerner who has stayed in

the hotel of interest � and stayed there recently.

 

This should be enough to whet your interest.

[praveen murthy]

I am from India originally, and even used to live in Mumbai a long time ago (before photo interests, not to speak of LF). Anyway, last year when I visited India, I thought of taking my LF gear but thought better of it. Even though it should be quite possible to do LF photography, India seems much better suited to 35mm, street color photography for me. Maybe that's because I have seen too many books by Raghubir Singh, who is by far one of the best photographers of India. His eye for the "moment", and the gentle humor in many of the photos is an inspiration. Opportunities abound for this type of work; take a look at some of his books for ideas, especially the one on Mumbai. His latest is an interesting one based on the Ambassador, India's venerable automobile representing its quirky, stubborn we-will-build-it-ourselves-even-if-it's-50-years-old attitude. Every photo in the book has the car in it in some manner. Mumbai is supposed to have a lot of construction going on, so that may make for interesting street photography itself. In Mumbai, Juhu and Chowpatty beaches are hangout places for the locals, and are probably quite dirty and crowded, but will be a great place to have some bhel-puri and watch the sunset.

 

The Konkan coast, that has a newly built railway now, should have lots of interesting photo ops as it's used quite a lot by Indian movie productions. It has lush green, hilly, foggy coastlines, and interesting waterfalls during the rainy season in the North Karnataka region just south of Maharashtra state where Mumbai is. The state of Kerala is also supposed to be good if you can get down that far; they like to call it "God's country". Karnataka has interesting archeological sites, such as Belur, Halebid, and Hampi, where I have seen some of the most exquisite temple carvings anywhere. There's a new highway linking Mumbai and Pune that goes through the "ghats section"; this area is very hilly and green, and perhaps they have interesting diversions around there. The highway is supposed to be a US style affair with lanes and signs and exits etc. There is a $4 billion development of a boutique city (Amby valley) that's coming up around there to cater to millionaires in the future largely because of the scenic beauty, although it's probably not anything unique. Summer light in India is quite lousy; winter light is ok in the early morning or late afternoon. Overcast days are the best bet.

 

Of-course, if you can go to Ladakh in the Himalayas, that should be good, if cliched. My parents took a luxury vacation to the Andaman islands (in the Bay of Bengal) a couple of years ago and were quite pleased by the experience (my Dad liked the spicy pakoras and Scotch in the evenings in the hotel). There's a lot of wildlife there, and it's mostly in pristine condition to the extent of still having some head-hunting tribes in one part. If you stay away from them, you might have good photo ops there. But you would probably need to plan a week long trip for something like this. Another off-the-beaten-path place would be Sikkim and Bhutan for an isolationist Buddhist culture.

 

Have fun,

Praveen

[michael_fox]

Thanks all for the informative responses!

[vishal_mathur]

I've never been to Mumbai, but have been to some areas close by. These are a few places that I have been to and and can recommend as particularly nice for large format work:

 

Near Mumbai:

 

- Mahabaleshwar, it is a hill station a few hours drive from Pune, that has Grand Canyon-ish type of geography (don't know the proper technical term), but not as deep. If you go in the right time you will see clouds floating in the valleys ( I've only seen this in some Hindi films, not when I was there)

 

- Ajanta and Ellora caves: Fly to Aurangbad, hire a car and drive about 2-3 hours to the caves. Get permission first from the Indian Archeological survey to photograph the monuments that they control or else they will not let you to photograph with a tripod. This will probably take a few weeks . No flashes are allowed, and be prepared for extreme contrast as the only light coming into the caves is through the doorways. At the Ellora caves sites there is also the Kailash temple, the worlds largest monolith. These places are must sees.

 

Others:

 

- Ranakpur Jain Temples in Jajasthan: Fly to Udaipur and drive about 100km to the Jain temple at Ranakpur. Not only is it a phenominal place to photograph, but when I was there (over 6 years ago), they allowed me to use a tripod - no permits required! No one bothered me for a couple hours. There are 1444 pillar and no two of them alike. This is one place to go for sure. Also, the road from Udaipur to Ranakpur has interesting landscapes and rock formations. Nearing Ranakpur the road winds through a gorge with a few twisted trees just waiting to be photographed properly. This drive the rainy season would be visually ideal, but possibly dangerous. Check this site for more temple information: www.templenet.com

 

- The Golden Triangle: Delhi, Jaipur, Agra - be sure to check the sites here. IMHO, Jaipur is far better than Udaipur. Go to the Amber palace, but try to walk down the road out side the back of the palace. The door is behind where the elephants are parked. You'll get spectacular views of the fortress walls on top of the hills and the ruins of the old city. Since no one goes back there, be careful, and you probably could use a tripod. No tripods are allowed in the Amber palace at all, not even with Archeological survey permission. Lots of great photo opportunities of monkeys sitting on domed roofs.

 

- Nepal: Just outside of Kathmandu is Dulikhil (sp?) that offers great views of the Himalayan peaks, and also visit Phokara Valley.

 

Good Luck and have a great trip!

[sid_mathur]

Think there are loads of photo-ops within Bombay itself. I have lived in Bombay four years now, and though my day-job leaves me little time for recreational photography, I crave to shoot the city. Here are a few obvious "don't miss"'s:

 

1. The suburban train system, Bombay's lifeline (permission required, but not difficult to obtain)

2. Incredulous co-existence of abject poverty and absolute wealth (street photography)

3. British architecture -- only Calcutta and, well, Britain, have it better, I think (mainly street, though permission will be required for interiors)

4. The fierce monsoon season in Bombay (street)

5. Construction sites -- a country in ascendance

6. The movie industry (requires permission)

7. The cricket culture -- the maidans of Bombay (need permission to use tripods)