Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur Junction - gallery 3

I've given up the idea of getting down to a smaller number of 'definitive' images, mostly because such a small number cannot carry the impact adequately that India had.

India was, for us both I think, a real shock to the senses after a soft, muted England. It's not that we haven't travelled - far from it - but the colours are so intense, the people so numerous that it pushes the senses into overload. My inclination with photographs is to present and display reality, so I want images to be sharp, detailed, natural, deep, even when they're simple. I want them to make me feel like I'm standing in the world that the image was taken, and all I'd have to do would be to turn my head a little and see the rest of the scene.

I found that with these pictures I really had to push the colours and contrast up to try to express the reality we'd found. Muted sophistication in colour and texture is for Scandinavians, for whom a third of the year is night and the rest is softly lit. India teems with bright colours, sparkly gold and mirror fragments. Subtly tasteful it ain't, but in context it all works, and much better than a poke in the eye with a technicolour sharp stick.

So here is gallery 3 - Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur junction. I hope you enjoy it.

Here's one of my favourites from this set.



As for me, despite still feeling a bit iffy, I'm wondering if and when we can next go over. 2nd visits are so often disappointing, but I think India is big enough that we don't have to worry too much about that. Fallen in love? Nope. But fascinated, and feeling like we barely scratched the surface, certainly.