Ask any photographer what part of their job they find tedious and I’m guessing that high up the list would be the edit and post production.  Certainly in travel photography the enjoyment is wandering, exploring, framing, capturing.  Digital gives us the freedom to shoot a lot, but the cost is eye wateringly dull sessions in front of the computer after the trip trying to make some order out of the sometimes thousands of raw files.

It took over a month after returning from Rajasthan to get round to even starting the task of whittling down and choosing images.  I like to say that the time lapse gives me some distance and a new perspective and appreciation of the photographs but often it’s just procrastination – editing is plain and simple boring and difficult.  Some photographs pop out instantly as strong images, and plenty go straight to the bin – those are the easy ones. That leaves the majority which are somewhere in between; images that might well be improved if I did a bit of post production to them, and a lot that need some degree of tweaking anyway – exposure, cropping etc. But choosing which photographs to work on isn’t always an easy choice and it’s made harder because on any given day I can be drawn to different photographs.  Plus too much time spent staring at thousands of photographs and one ends up losing perspective and becoming unsure whether something is great or total rubbish!

So, finally, here is a selection of photographs from my Rajasthan & Pushkar Camel Fair photography holiday.  Seven clients  joined me on the trip, all with a range of interests e.g. street photography, the cultural highlights of Rajasthan, capturing colour and small details.  We visited Udaipur, Jodhpur, Pushkar and Jaipur – 3 nights in each place gave us the opportunity to really settle and explore the cities with our cameras, seeing them in both dawn and evening light.

Rather than arranging by city I’ve arranged them is a loosely thematic way starting with movement, forts, Pushkar Lake and the Pushkar Camel Fair, markets, street scenes and street portraits  A little chaotic, but then so is wonderful India!  Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guide Rajesh (pictured left) doing what he was great at – having a chat and finding interesting things to go and look at. Rajesh made things happen, a naturally friendly and curious guy, he understood our need to get away from the tourist places and find the ‘real’ India down back streets.

At the Pushkar Camel Fair Rajesh introduced me to a family and asked them to show me how to bake spelt bread – they were camping at the fair for a few days.  As you can see mine wasn’t up to scratch, to the amusement of those watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshops:

Introduction to Post Production – if you’d like some tips on how to turn the photographs you shot from good to great I’m running a workshop in Camden, London Jan 2018 on an introduction to post production using Adobe Lightroom (level – beginners).

Capturing Movement – a guide to shutter speed workshop – early spring 2018 (date TBC)

 

Upcoming Photographic Holidays:

Puglia 12^th – 19^th May 2018 (guaranteed departure only 2 spaces left)

Kerala Feb 2019 (please email to register interest)

Rajasthan Feb 2019 (please email to register interest)