I have been pretty quiet with my blogging recently, mainly because i was in India!  I have always wanted to go to India, seeing the Taj Mahal was quite high up on my bucket list, i don’t actually have a list written down, it’s more of a mental list (next one on the list is to find a fossil!) I timed my trip to India with some charity work by photographing maternal health for IMMPACT, those images will be blogged soon.

I joined a tour as i was apprehensive about getting around on my own, especially as i had my full camera kit.  I joined 11 others, a mix of Brits, Aussies and Americans on a week tour of the famous golden triangle.  I also timed it with Holi festival, which celebrates the beginning of spring in India by throwing multi- coloured powder paint (another tick of the bucket list!) Highlights of my trip were a hot air balloon ride over Jaipur at sunrise, i made sure to put my camera down and just enjoy the moment, it was pretty amazing to see elephants walking up to the amber fort and monkeys swinging about on the trees.  Seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time was breath taking then came the panic of getting an AMAZING photo… I soon realised i was not going to get an image with no one in it so i decided to just go with the flow and not panic.  I was disappointed when my tour guide said we would be spending Holi festival in the hotel grounds, i had images of being in a busy street filled with locals going crazy, but that was the problem, according to my guide, Holi has become quite dangerous, especially for women.  I did get some lovely portraits of my tour buddies and some local children.

I’m not sure if i would go on another organised tour, i like deciding where i want to go, how long i spend and what i photograph.  I saw so many awesome photographic opportunities when we were on the coach going to tourist destinations, i was gutted i missed out on so many.  However when i was on my own in Delhi, i was too frightened to take my camera as i would have been an instant target for theft. I felt a lot safer in Ahmedabad, my base for  photographing maternal health, i could easily travel on my own and take my camera.

I would love to go back to India some day and visit Varanasi, Mumbai and Goa…Another trip to add to the bucket list.