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Six Images

~ Selections from Tim Bird's travel photography archives

Six Images

Category Archives: Travel

Happy birthday Tikau

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by Tim Bird in India, photography, rural India, Travel

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Tags

India, photography, travel

In November 2011 I sat in a car loaded with luggage and five ladies from Kolkata airport to the town of Balasore in the Indian state of Odisha (also called Orissa). Of those ladies, three were Finnish and two were Indian and we were on our way to visit a small, remote and very poor village in the flat Odisha countryside. The village was (still is) a Dalit, otherwise known as ‘Untouchable’ community, right on the bottom rung of the Indian social and economic ladder.

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Kolkata airport – Ea Söderberg, Taina Snellman and Linda Lehto.

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A very crowded car.

The Finnish girls were members of an NGO, Tikau Share (Tikau means ‘durable’), that was developing the artisan skills of the villagers, especially the women, so that they could sell their bamboo design handicrafts via the Tikau shop in Helsinki. The charity also donated clothes and toys and blankets, and our car was loaded with extra cases of odds and ends. There was barely room to breathe, but I managed to get the seat in the front with Ganesh, the Elephant God, whose job it is in Indian vehicles to remove obstacles to travel on the chaotic and often very bumpy road ahead.

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The airline, Finnair, had donated extra kilos so we could carry all this stuff to India. I was going to write an article about the project for the Finnair magazine Blue Wings.

The next two weeks were an inspiring, life-changing event for me and I returned to Finland having made three great friends in those Finnish girls, who included Taina Snellman, the founder of Tikau, a female pied-piper who casts a charm over everyone she meets, luring them unsuspectingly and inescapably into the Tikau camp. I’ve returned to India and that village many times since, and I made a multimedia documentary, Outcastes, about the village in Odisha. We’ve held exhibitions on the theme of Design Helps, we’ve got sick and got well again, there have been romances and weddings, there have been adventures…

This year Tikau/Tikau Share celebrates its tenth anniversary, and the villagers have increased their confidence, their self-sufficiency and resourcefulness while Tikau has continued to sell their products and those of other Indian artisans. I was checking through my photos from that first visit – I have hundreds more from subsequent visits -and thought this would be a good time to shake them free of digital dust and reveal them to the world again. So here’s a selection (yes, this is meant to be Six Images, but who’s really counting):

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Six images: On target for a lucky break

30 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Tim Bird in India, Travel, travel photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

archery, betting, fortune, gambling, India, lottery, Meghalaya, Shillong

Every now and then I’m tempted to waste anything from 5 to 10 euros on the instant lottery tickets sold at the check-out in the supermarket. I gave up choosing my own numbers ages ago. The street number of my house, my birthday, my mum’s birthday, the date of that particular day – none of these made any difference. I never win more than two or three euros, which I can’t usually be bothered to collect. It’s my belief that a lotto-cop watches me at the check-out using some hidden close-circuit camera and presses a button to prevent me winning more than a pittance. “Here comes Bird, press the win-exempt button.” So I reckon a random choice made by a computer gives me as a good a chance as any of achieving instant riches – that is, practically none at all.

I have just been to one of India’s less well-known and more remote states, Meghalaya in the country’s far north-east, where I encountered a much more original and exciting potential route to a quick fortune.  The archery lottery is decided on the number of arrows that hit a target aimed at by archers from  local clubs, who are paid a fee and stand to earn extra cash prizes depending on how many times they hit the target, which is a bundle of hay situated about 12 metres from the archers.

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Place your bets, dream on.

The contests are held at the back of the Polo stadium in the centre of Shillong, the state capital, but you come across betting shops everywhere. You have to collect your winnings, if you get any, from the same shop at which you placed the bet. Bets are also placed online, and not just from India.

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Bookmakers take bets from far and wide.

The winning numbers are arrived at by taking away the first digit of the total number of arrows that hit the target. So if 978 arrows hit the target, the winning number is 78. There are two rounds of arrow-shooting at each daily session, each producing separate results that yield a return of 8/1 – so for a 100-rupee (€1.2) bet, the winning sum would be 800 rupees (€10). If you bet successfully on the combined result of both rounds, your winning prize would be 4000/1. So a modest bet of 100 rupees would reward you with a prize of 400,000 rupees, or about €5,000, if you guessed the result of both rounds correctly.

That kind of money goes a long way in India and it’s no wonder the punters, the vast majority of which are male, look so apprehensive after the arrows are all fired and the count begins. I bet 100 rupees on two numbers for the first round only – number 9 (my house number – how predictable) and number 87 (I can’t remember why). Needless to say, I didn’t win anything.

 

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Arrows are colour-coded for each archer and are a regulation length.

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The archers sit in an arc facing a single target.

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Arrows are extracted from the target and counted immediately after each round.

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Anxious faces await the results of the first round.

It makes for a much more interesting spectacle than watching numbers being drawn or balls being spun on Saturday night. Health and safety regulations would probably prevent it being launched in any European country, for fear of some aggrieved archer turning his arrows on the spectators. So it’s back to the supermarket for my instant ticket this week. Wish me luck.

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Yearning for Creative Stress© in Incredbial India

29 Sunday Oct 2017

Posted by Tim Bird in culture, culture shock, India, photography, Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

creative stress, culture, Delhi, guru, incredible india, India, misunderstandings, photography, travel

I’m going to India again. Why India? I go there several times a year and my friends and other people often ask me why. I pay my own way, so this isn’t some all-expenses-paid press junket. It’s usually not for a holiday, either. I love going to India, but it’s not a place in which I can honestly say I normally go to relax (although I hasten to add that there are places where this is more than perfectly possible).

So why the hell do I love going there? First of all, there is the incredible (did I spell that right?) visual variety, a feast for any obsessive photographer and writer such as myself, and the surprises that seem to wait around every corner. And it keeps you on your toes to discover, again and again, that a taxi driver might actually mean “No” when he says “Yes”, as in: “So you know this address, right?” “Yes, sir.” So why is he driving the wrong way (and sometimes against oncoming traffic) for half an hour, then calling his mate for directions? To describe just one example, familiar to many people almost as soon as they get off the plane at Delhi, bleary-eyed and gullible.

I am of the old fashioned, slightly perverse school of travel that says it’s fun and life-enhancing to be removed from your comfort zone. India does comfort zone-removal better than anywhere, unless you happen to be Indian, in which case it’s just normal. Arriving from Europe, you have to take a mental shift sideways or fight against the cultural flow. Either way, you are enriching your soul. In any case, that’s what I keep telling myself. In fact, I’ve just invented a name for it: Creative Stress©. Watch out for the self-help manual.

In India there seems to be a guru for everyone for every day of the week. I’ve been consulting my blog guru lately and I’ve been advised to inject some humour into these blogs. I have a lot of very good friends in India and I think – I hope – they won’t be offended if I tease them a bit with this selection of photos that illustrate some of the more amusing visual culture shocks I have encountered during my visits. If they want to get their revenge they only have to remember that I’m British, and these days that’s about as ridiculous as you can be.

And just to cover my tracks, I have to mention that Indian hospitality is of the first order. Indian friends are for life, not just for Diwali. So I keep returning happily to see them as well.

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Spotted in The Times of India, Mumbai edition, I’m not sure this needs any comment. I think all of us condemn bum blasts in public places.

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No, I don’t know what a Dliabetologist is either. Probably someone who treats ‘dliabetes’. Meanwhile, form a queue to put your mind at rest with Assistant Professor B. Shit.

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Those well-fermented drinks are collector’s items that date back to the days of the 16th century Mughal Empire.

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The slogan of the Indian Tourism Board is widely promoted by auto-rickshaw drivers. I think this sums it up. All my memories of Idnia are of incredbial experiences..

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On the border with Pakistan at Wagah, near Amritsar, I witnessed the surreal evening border-closing ceremony, at which the Indian army demonstrates its considerable sonic warfare capabilities. I kid you not.

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This guy’s tee-shirt is all the more alarming for the fact that he was wearing it at the site of the shrine of the Sufi Muslim saint, Nizamuddin, in Delhi. Sufis are known for the gentle, music-loving, celebratory nature of their brand of Islam. Either this fellow didn’t know the meaning of the slogan or he actually really did know I was going to be there. Probably the latter.

Lots more photos from all over India here, although not all as irreverent as those above:

https://timbirdphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/India/G0000irlXmGr5Dyg/

Come and see me on Instagram too at @tim_bird_photo

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Six images: Happy World Animals’ Day!

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by Tim Bird in Central America, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Mexico, namibia, nature, photography, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized, wildlife

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

animals, Bandhavgarh, brown bears, conservation, Costa Rica, crocodiles, finland, India, kuhmo, Mexico, Monarch butterflies, namibia, natural environment, whales, wildlife, world animals' day

Who knew it? October 4 is World Animals’ Day! Time to feel the beast in you.

The official World Animal Day website states its aim as “To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animals’ Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It’s celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.”

It seems like an event worth marking in photo form, so here are six photos from some of the unforgettable close encounters I’ve had with various wildlife in recent years. I’m not a wildlife photographer as such – I probably don’t have the required patience – but I have still been lucky enough to photograph animals in many special locations.

More observant readers will notice that there are in fact seven images here, not six. Sorry about that. It might happen again.

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Brown bears sound each other out in a summer storm in eastern Finland. There are a number of hides along the border between Finland and Russia where you can watch brown bears through the summer night. This time I was hosted by the Boreal Wildlife Centre near Kuhmo in Kainuu, right up on the northeast of Finland.

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Crocodiles, Costa Rica. This shot is from a famous bridge on one of the main highways crossing the country and spanning the Tarcoles River. Like much wildlife in Costa Rica, the crocs are easy to spot, sometimes dozens of them, basking in the mud beneath the bridge.

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Monarch butterflies, El Rosario, Angangueo, Mexico. This reserve is in the hills above the otherwise unexciting town of Angangueo, about four hours from Mexico City, to which millions of Monarch butterflies make their way each winter, migrating from the mountains of northwest America. I got to the forest before anyone else early in the morning and watched the wings of the insects warm and open as the sun rose. Truly extraordinary.

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Grey whale, Baja California, Mexico. I timed my trip to Mexico to be able to see both the butterflies (above) and the grey whales that congregate here to mate before heading back north. I can still barely believe that I saw these enormous animals. Rather than breaching, grey whales pop their heads above water and rotate their heads like periscopes. They are very curious and once they realised that myself and my two companions in a small boat were not a threat, they started to emerge, dozens of them in all directions. It was hard to know which way to look.

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Cape fur seal, Cape Cross seal colony, Namibia. I left the group of journalists I was with for half a day to take a private trip up to Cape Cross, and I could smell the vast colony and hear their calls before I saw them, hundreds of them, spread across the rocks and spilling into the South Atlantic. The saddest thing was spotting the pups separated from their mothers and being instructed by the warden that it was against the rules to try to pair them up – nature must take its own course.

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A green lizard, Tortuguero swamps, Costa Rica. Tortuguero is on a waterway running parallel to the Caribbean coast. All sorts of wildlife, including sloths, iguanas, snakes and brightly coloured tree frogs can be spotted on early morning boat ‘safaris’. A magical place.

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A mother tiger and cubs, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. This little family, minus father, came strolling along the forest track by surprise, obligingly passing my jeep within just a couple of metres. My pulse shoots up when I look at these photos. My base was the very accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable Jungle Mantra Resort – recommended.

These images are the tip of my photographic iceberg, much of it stored on my website at www.timbirdphotography.com. Watch out for my Instagrams at @tim_bird_photo, Tweets at https://twitter.com/BirdTimothy and Facebook stuff at https://www.facebook.com/timbirdtravelphoto/

Thanks for dropping in. Please share and do visit again!

 

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Six Picks: highlights of 2016 – my Christmas gift to you!

25 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by Tim Bird in Finland, India, lapland, photography, tourism, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Assam, Örö, Baltic, finland, India, Japan, kabuki, Kanchenjunga, Kerala, Lapland, Northern Ireland, photography, Stromboli, Theyyam, travel, volcanoes

It’s Christmas Day 2016 and I’m in a generous gift-giving mood, so for my review blog for the year I’m giving you not six, not seven, but EIGHT pictures. Well, that includes the header above, taken one November morning as the sun’s rays spread across the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga, from the West Bengal hill station of Darjeeling.

It’s been another exciting year with some amazing assignments and adventures. Here are a few highlights – well, seven to be exact:

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Reijo Jääskeläinen runs the Levi Husky Park near Levi in Finnish Lapland. In January I visited Lapland to write a story about how this part of Finland is becoming popular with film makers – with animals among the acting casts.

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In May I went to the one-time Finnish military island of Örö. It’s a spring tradition for myself and a group of friends to ‘conquer’ a different Baltic island. Because access was limited to the military for many years, Örö’s environment is especially pristine.

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My visit to Japan included a tour of the mountainous region north of Nagoya, where I went behind the scenes at a Kabuki theatre.

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Northern Kerala in India is the exclusive location of the weird and wonderful Theyyam ritual, a colourful spectacle involving several hours of make-up and an attempt by participants to become  inhabited or possessed by the deities they impersonate. Extraordinary.

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In the summer I found myself in Belfast in Northern Ireland for the first time, taking a tour in Billy Scott’s black cab around the city. This stop was at the Peace Wall which separates the Republican Falls Road and Loyalist Shankill Road communities.

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Capturing this shot of the Stromboli volcano erupting  in October was something a ‘bucket list’ moment. I’ve seen volcanoes smoking and steaming in Asia and all over Central America but I’d never seen or shot a full scale eruption before.

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I was honoured to attend the wedding of friends Drahkya and Subrata in the town of Nagaon in Assam, India in November. The hospitality of my hosts was overwhelming and the occasion was touching and colourful, and an opportunity to make new friends.

So where next? Lapland again, a voyage on a working icebreaker in the Baltic, and another India adventure are planned so far, but new years always bring new surprises. Watch this space…! And best wishes to all ‘visitors’ for a happy and peaceful Christmas.

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Six picks: spring 2017, photo tour to Kerala

14 Monday Nov 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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: Suomenlinna, fabulous in winter

15 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by Tim Bird in tourism, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized, winter

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

finland, helsinki, ice, suomenlinna, travel, travel photography, winter

A shamefully occasional photo blog presenting six-at-a-time appetizers of the delights in my photographic larder. Sneak in for a midnight feast at www.timbirdphotography.com

The most exotic and exciting venue for photography for me in the locality of my home in Helsinki, Finland, has always been the historic island fortress of Suomenlinna (literally, Finland’s fortress). Helsinki is a vibrantly modern city but that means it’s short of truly old historic districts. Suomenlinna’s ramparts and defences are built across a small archipelago of rugged islands, a mere 20 minute ferry ride from the city’s main market square. A UNESCO listed World Heritage site, it’s a wonderful place to visit at any time of the year, romantic and windswept and with wide sea views.

For myself, winter has always been the best time to visit, especially when (or in these days of unpredictable climate, if) the sea freezes. This winter has been the coldest for some years and that means dramatic sea ‘smoke’, the effect of very cold air sweeping across not-yet freezing water. There has been a fair amount of snow, too, with more to come, it seems.

And it also seems that my fondness for Suomenlinna in the winter is being increasingly shared. Today I got a press release recording the fact that the numbers of winter visitors have soared. There was an increase of 14 per cent in the total number of visitors in the winter months in 2015, and the total of over 200,000 was a new record.

Since this means I might not have the place to myself in coming years, I don’t know if celebrations are called for, but in any case I’ll mark the news by showing six of my best shots from the dramatic afternoon on January 5 when the the entire archipelago and South Harbour were enveloped in that extraordinary ‘sea smoke’. Here goes:

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Visiting Suomenlinna while in Helsinki is easy – just jump on the ferry. Helsinki city transport tickets are transferable. Click here to find the timetable from the Kauppatori (Market Square). More information about Suomenlinna and its museums and restaurants: click here.

If you’ve enjoyed your visit to Six Picks, come back and let me distract you again some time, or visit previous blogs in the series. And feel free to Tweet toot, hoot, share and anything else that social media well let you do – but remember copyright is MINE! If you’d like to use the photos for any other purpose please get in touch.

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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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

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: the Estonian island of Hiiumaa

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Tim Bird in Estonia, Travel, travel photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Baltic, Estonia, Hiiumaa, Kaptenite Villa, Kärdla, natural environment

A lamentably irregular photo blog, presenting half-dozen selections from my archives and/or recent travels. Find more at www.timbirdphotography.com

Apologies for absence. I haven’t been blogging for a while, but a long weekend of cycling and hiking on the lovely island of Hiiumaa off the Estonian Baltic coast has moved me to share some shots.

We reached Hiiumaa by bus from Tallinn, the capital. The bus ticket includes the hour-long ferry ride from Haapsalu on the mainland – itself worth an exploration, with its old wooden quarter, intimate local bars and castle. In the island ‘capital’ Kärdla, we stayed at the Kaptenite Villa (their website seems to be under maintenance currently, and it was formerly known as Villa Loona), a very hospitable guesthouse run by mother and daughter Maria and Sigrid, whose breakfasts lived up to their ‘luxurious’ billing. Highly recommended as a base for a visit.

Like its bigger and better known neighbour island Saaremaa, Hiiumaa was a ‘closed’ island during Estonia’s Soviet era, with military bases dotted around the coastline. This ‘closed’ status, which forbade visits by foreigners and most Estonians, means that the natural environment is especially well preserved.

My friends and I rented bicycles and braved the elements (Estonia in the spring can be cold and blustery). Here are a few highlights:

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Tahkuna Lighthouse, one of several lighthouses on the island and the site of a memorial to the wreck of the MS Estonia in September 1994.

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The entrance to a military museum near Tahkuna is marked by a Soviet tank with flowers placed in its barrel.

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The shingle spit at Sääre tirp, with millpond calm to the east and angry seas to the west.

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Barrel chalet accommodation in the community of Kassari.

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Grazing sheep at Orjaku

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Wild spring flowers – cowslips and forget-me-nots – in a meadow close to Kärdla, Hiiumaa’s main town.

I strongly recommend a visit to Hiiumaa. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to an Estonian treasure. Welcome back, and please share, shout, tweet, hoot and Google Plus as much as you like – but please give credit where it’s due and remember copyright is MINE, ALL MINE!

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