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~ Selections from Tim Bird's travel photography archives

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Category Archives: India

Six picks: spring 2017, photo tour to Kerala

14 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by Tim Bird in India, photo tours, photography, Travel, travel photography

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India, Kerala, photo tours, travel, travel photography

Announcing an exciting opportunity to explore many of the highlights of this most photogenic of Indian States, brimming with exotic tropical colour and visual surprises. Join our compact group of photo enthusiasts in March 2017 for workshops, photo-shoots and inspiring photo chat as we explore a variety of cultural and scenic wonders.

Highlights include

  • The picturesque and emblematic Chinese fishing nets of Fort Cochin, Kerala’s bustling colonial port city
  • A private showing and photo-shoot of the enchanting Kathakali traditional dance
  • Visits to the Kadar, Malayar, Muthuvar and Mannaan tribal villages
  • Hiking in the spectacular tea plantations of the upland Munnar hill station area
  • A backwaters overnight voyage on a traditional wooden Kettuvallam boat
  • A visit to the colourful backwaters town of Kottayam

The ten-day tour has been planned in expert cooperation with the highly experienced UK-based adventure travel operator Intrepid. The itinerary is devised with special attention to the best photo opportunities and with time available for informal workshops, comparing notes and discussion. A local travel guide accompanies us, while Yours Truly, an award-winning English travel photographer and writer who has visited Kerala on several occasions and traveled extensively throughout India, supervises the photography. I’ve earned a few prizes for my work, including British Guild of Travel Writers’ Photographer of the Year in both 2012 and 2015.

INTERESTED? VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR CONTACT DETAILS

I will advise about the kind of camera gear that will be useful to have with you on the tour and I am available before and during the tour to discuss other photography-related aspects of the tour. My eBook, Motion Pictures – a travel photographer’s companion, is packed full of tips and anecdotes about his travels and photography experiences and is available for purchase through Amazon, Kobo, and for Apple iPads from iTunes. Tour participants will be offered a free PDF download of the eBook.

Accommodation will be in a range of exciting hotels of four-star standard, a secluded rainforest resort and on board a fabulous wooden Kettuvallam backwaters boat.

To get you in the mood, here are six photos from Kerala, giving you a taste of what to expect and the photographic riches on offer.

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The backwaters and traditional fishing nets of Kerala are a gift for photographers, especially in the subtle light of early morning or late afternoon.

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A dredging sand boat: the backwaters are a parallel world along the coast of Kerala, India’s southernmost state.

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A fisherman on the beach at Fort Cochin, where colonial Portuguese architecture and a rich trading history offer plentiful material for photo-shoots.

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The colourful traditional Kathakali performance. A special show will be arranged for our tour group, ensuring some unique photography.

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Tea plantations contrast with rugged landscapes in the mountainous Munnar area.

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Kerala is rich in wildlife, and if we’re lucky we’ll have a chance to photograph some of the wild elephants that inhabit the forests and nature reserves.

KEEN TO COMBINE YOUR LOVE OF TRAVEL WITH YOUR PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, IN THE COMPANY OF LIKE-MINDED, ADVENTUROUS PEOPLE? CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION.

 

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Six picks: the Theyyam in northern Kerala

22 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Tim Bird in India, photography, travel photography

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culture, Fujifilm, Fujifilm X-series, India, Kerala, photography, religion, ritual, Theyyam, tradition, travel

A lamentably occasional photo blog in which I share some samples from my archives at www.timbirdphotography.com .

Did you miss me? I’ve been away from here for far too long but I’ve had lots of adventures with my camera while I’ve been away. I don’t have a good excuse for not posting for a while apart from other creative distractions going on – more news of those to come. I shall try to make up for lost time in the coming weeks with some photo selections that I hope you’ll enjoy.

I’ve been sifting through my archives and amazing myself at all the extraordinary things I’ve seen and the places I’ve visited since the last time I posted anything. Top of my list is the Theyyam ritual ‘performance’, for want of a better word, which you’ll only find in the northern part of the Indian state of Kerala. This is very much a living tradition, a ritual of great significance to local people, not just staged for tourists. There are often several Theyyams being performed each night during the winter season at shrines, many of them in remote villages. Theyyams can continue through the course of a night from dusk to dawn, and sometimes even longer.

An important part of the ritual is the preparation, in which intricate make-up and elaborate costumes are applied to the ‘actors’, whose aim over the course of the enactment is to actually become the deity that they represent, not just play its part. The trance into which they attempt to enter is induced to the accompaniment of frenetic drumming. Only men and boys are permitted to represent the characters, and only members of the Dalit or low-caste community are allowed to serve as actors. It is a rare case of Dalits being held traditionally in great respect by members of higher castes.

I stayed near the small fishing town of Kannur and attended three different Theyyams during my visit.

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Making up is very hard to do: face and body decorations preceding the Theyyam can take several hours and is a highly skilled art form in itself.

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After make-up, dressing up. Costumes are very colourful, and very heavy.

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A Theyyam character (there are hundreds of them) ready to ‘perform’.

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The character ‘actors’ need plenty of stamina.

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Some Theyyams involve dancing and the acting out of ritual scenes.

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Assistants provide support as the characters ‘become’ the deities they represent.

If you’d like to see more of my Theyyam photos, click here to visit a gallery on my website.

All photos produced with Fujifilm X-Series cameras and Fujinon lenses.

Please follow this blog and watch out for the next edition!

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Six picks: sign up for my Bird’s Eye Tour to Assam

11 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Tim Bird in Assam, India, photo tours, photography, Travel

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Assam, Bihar, Bird's Eye Photo Tours, India, Kaziranga, Majuli, Nameri, travel photography

A shamelessly intermittent photo blog featuring six images from or hovering around my files at www.timbirdphotography.com.

I’m pursuing the India theme again as promotion starts in earnest for my exciting and unique photo tour to Assam in northeastern India, planned for April 2016. The itinerary, planned in cooperation with the very reputable Intrepid adventure travel operator, features the following highlights:

  • the vibrant Bihu festival celebrations
  • the hidden side of Dibrugarh’s temples
  • meeting the residents of the world’s largest river island, Majuli
  • capturing images of colourful local tribes
  • seeking the one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park
  • sunrise from river boats in Nameri National Park

Although I have traveled extensively through India, from north to south and east to west, I have only visited Assam briefly, so this trip excites me as much as it should excite anyone who loves combining their passions of travel and photography.

In this issue of Six Picks, I’m showing six images from a single village in Assam’s neighbouring state of Bihar, which I have visited several times. Visual surprises abound in India, and many of them are found in scenes of every day life. I hope these pictures demonstrate what I mean and whet your appetite for the photo trip of a lifetime.

Click here for contact details and more information about Bird’s Eye Tour to Assam.

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Subscribe to Six Picks and make sure you don’t miss out on future issues.

Twitter, share, blog, brag and shot from the rooftops, be my guest. But copyright remains with Tim Bird, that is me, and you must contact me if you wish to use the photos commercially. Feedback always welcome – say hallo using the contact form on my About page.

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Six Picks: Presenting Bird’s Eye Photo Tours

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by Tim Bird in India, photography, Travel

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adventure, Bird's Eye Photo Tours, India, photography, tourism, travel photography

A photo blog providing a quick distraction in the form of six images from the files at www.timbirdphotography.com

I’m taking the opportunity in this Six Picks to announce the launch of an exciting new venture, Bird’s Eye Photo Tours, which I am planning in cooperation with Intrepid Travel. The first adventure sets off in April 2016 to the state of Assam in north-east India. Initial details of the tour itinerary are listed at Bird’s Eye Photo Tours  – I’ll be adding to these later – and if after reading this you’re interested in joining our compact group of eight photo enthusiasts, just send me an email at timothy.bird@kolumbus.fi or contact me using the comment form below and I’ll tell you more. You need an adventurous spirit, an interest in and basic competence in the basics of photography, and a willingness to accept and embrace India’s special culture shocks. Here are some highlights to whet your appetite:

  • the colourful Bihu festival celebrations
  • the hidden side of Dibrugarh’s temples
  • meeting the residents of the world’s largest river island, Majuli
  • capturing images of colourful local tribes
  • seeking the one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park
  • sunrise from river boats in Nameri National Park

I passed through a small part of Assam once on the way to the mountain state of Sikkim, but I didn’t spend enough time there to do much photography. But as my compact but loyal readership will know, I am a regular visitor to India. So in this issue of Six Picks I’m taking the opportunity to delve into the archives and share some previously unseen shots from Indian adventures hinting at the limitless diversity of cultures and geography that this extraordinary country contains. Here goes:

The ceremony of closing of the border with Pakistan near Amritsar has become a tourist attraction. The soldiers are staring towards Pakistan, where a similarly flamboyant guard contingent is staring back at them.

The ceremony of closing of the border with Pakistan near Amritsar has become a tourist attraction. The soldiers are staring towards Pakistan, where a similarly flamboyant guard contingent is staring back at them.

A bather in the Ganges at sunrise on the main day of the Hindu Kumbh Mela festival at Allahabad.

A bather in the Ganges at sunrise on the main day of the Hindu Kumbh Mela festival at Allahabad.

Rope for sale at the Sabai grass market in Odissa.

Rope for sale at the Sabai grass market in Odissa.

Goat herder - and goats - in the Rajasthan countryside near Jodhpur.

Goat herder – and goats – in the Rajasthan countryside near Jodhpur.

Sufi worshippers at the Nizamuddin Dargah or shrine in Delhi, my favourite place in the Indian capital

Sufi worshippers at the Nizamuddin Dargah or shrine in Delhi, my favourite place in the Indian capital

Fishing boat at sunrise at Pondicherry, the one-time French colony on the south-east coast.

Fishing boat at sunrise at Pondicherry, the one-time French colony on the south-east coast.

OK, I'm feeling generous, so here's a seventh, bonus shot of the spring Holi festival in Delhi. I needed a bodyguard to stop the guys throwing paint on my camera. My camera came out of the ordeal safely - I was covered in paint myself.

OK, I’m feeling generous, so here’s a seventh, bonus shot of the spring Holi festival in Delhi. I needed a bodyguard to stop the guys throwing paint on my camera. My camera came out of the ordeal safely – I was covered in paint myself.

I realized this is just the tip of the iceberg of my Indian archives so I’ll be doing this again! If you enjoyed dropping in, please do follow the blog and tweet, twerp and google, goggle, share and like!

Follow me on Instagram at @indifreak

Click here to find me on Google+

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Six picks: A free lunch in Amritsar

10 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Tim Bird in Amritsar, Golden Triangle, India, Punjab, religion

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Amritsar, food, Golden Temple, India, Punjab, religion, Sikh, tradition

Six images from my alarmingly expanding archives: visit my website at www.timbirdphotography.com

India is full of surprises. Just when you think the whole place is falling apart and there is no concern for order of any kind, you come across startling examples of method in the madness. Amritsar was my latest example of this.

It’s as polluted as any city in India, more polluted than most, and the litter-strewn roads appear to be falling apart. An unhealthy haze hangs over everything. Yet when you enter the main compound of the Golden Temple, the Harmandir Sahib, you are immediately enchanted by a sense of calm and almost pristine cleanliness of a kind almost unknown on the daily outward face of India.

This is the centre of the Sikh religion, a hybrid mix of Hinduism and Islam founded by the Guru Nanak in the 15th century. The original holy book of the Sikhs, the Guru Grath Sahib, is housed in the main shrine opposite the dazzling Temple, itself positioned in the middle of a ‘tank’ or artificial pool approached along a canopied marble causeway, rumoured to have healing powers for those who brave its chilly water. It’s a very gentle place, where verses from the holy book are chanted from loudspeakers, live ensembles of traditional musicians perform, and the tall bearded Sikh guards quietly ensure that etiquette is observed, like gentle bouncers.

The Golden Temple is well documented and photographed – understandably. It is an extraordinarily beautiful apparition. Less well documented is the refectory, the ‘langar’ or meal hall, where pilgrims and infidel foreign guests such as myself can sit cross-legged on the floor and eat little feasts of dal, sweet rice pudding and roti. The all-welcoming open restaurant is symbolic of the open nature of Sikhism, which shuns the caste system of its cousin Hinduism, for example.

I wandered into the huge kitchens quite unchallenged, greeted only with smiles and welcoming gestures – a dreamland for photographers accustomed to stern and grudging looks of admonishment. Vast vats of dal steamed away, the roti machine continued on its daily production of 60,000 pieces of bread, the volunteer dishwashers lined up to do their bit over troughs filled with clanking metal thali plates. And everything proceeding with the kind of clockwork efficiency that would put the Swiss to shame.

Here are six images from my very memorable visit. Since other aspects of India, such as its sometimes dodgy wifi, are holding true to form as I post this, the pictures might not appear in any logical order at first, but I hope you get the idea!refectory6 refectory5 refectory4 refectory3 refectory2 refectory1

If you’ve enjoyed your visit, please do follow and return! And take a look at my website at www.timbirdphotography.com

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