All posts tagged: Photograhy

The Gateway To India

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I will forever have a lasting memory of my first sighting of Mumbai formerly known as the city of Bombay. I was flying in from Goa, it was mid afternoon on a beautiful sunny day and I was unable to see the landscape below sadly due to a heavy layer of smog.  The approach into Mumbai felt similar to flying into Queenstown in New Zealand, out of nowhere appeared rocky formations outside the plane window giving you the sense that they were too close!  But what really struck me as we descended low enough to see what was on the ground below, was the extensive rows of slums, falling on top of each other. It is believed that over 50% of Mumbai’s population are living in slums. Once on the ground however you discover a bustling cosmopolitan city which I loved experiencing what culturally they had to offer with their museums, restaurants and shops putting them on par with other great cities around the world. You could sense the Bollywood revenue infiltrating its way through parts of …

Chasing Tona

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I was buzzing when I discovered the graffiti artist Tona on arrival in India, it was an unexpected surprise.  My first glimpse of the artist was in Puducherry.  I was captivated by the images in front of me, hidden amongst the stunning architecture of the French Quarter.  So much so was my captivation that when I caught a glimpse of the artist again while on a tuk tuk in Bengaluru, I made my friend walk the streets at night in search of this mysterious artist. Sadly we didn’t have any luck that evening in finding Tona, but we did stumble across the Ritz Carlton! To my delight when I saw his art again in the Fort Cochin area I really got excited, they were everywhere. From there on in as I continued to travel through India I was on the look out for Tona.  I discovered more in Varkala (on a boat), and again in Cape Comorin.  From what I can find Tona is a stencil artist based in Hamburg. Sadly I didn’t find anymore …

The Streets Of India

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When you wander the streets of India you become aware of the vibrancy of colours that surround you.  Everywhere you look your eyes dart around hoping not to miss anything.  I loved seeing the street art that would appear randomly.  My first true encounter was in Puducherry where I stumbled across the graffiti artist Tona.  My delight of this discovery continued throughout my travels as I encountered Tona several more times in different locations. Below is a collection of images from the streets of India.  A large majority of these images where taken while walking from the Jewish Town in Mattancherry to Fort Cochin in Kerala. The day I took these photos, thanks to a strike, the streets were almost empty and I had the advantage of photographing the majority of this art without any people in the way.  Everywhere I turned I was captivated by another image, which are captured in this series.

First Impressions Of India

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My first three days in India were spent in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Thanks to a friend in New Zealand, I had a taxi driver organised to drive me around for my first week. It was a relief not having to worry about transport while I started to adjust to my new surroundings and how things work in India. It took me six visits to Airtel over three days to get a mobile number up and running, there were constant stares, no foreigners in sight and I was often being stopped in the street, it was overwhelming. But after three days I started to get my confidence on how things operated and I began to relax and enjoy the sites.  Here are my favourite pictures from those first few days.