India: Scratching the surface.

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

India | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

In my experience, there seems to be two broad traveller’s impressions of India. One completely focuses on the poverty that is prevalent across India and the other embraces their famous exports -- spices, oils, fabrics, jewellery and spiritual quests.

Being South African born and having been exposed to desperate poverty, contrasting living conditions and social tension, I was able to overlook India’s shortcomings and really enjoy what it had to offer me -- warm and welcoming people, delightful sensory overload and sense of order amongst what seems like chaos at times.

The focus of my submission is to highlight just a few of the moments that shaped my personal experience of India and purposefully ignores the images I took of famous landmarks and related events like that found along the Ghats of Varanasi every evening.

The images try to convey the juxtaposition of modern and traditional living, the tolerance and compassion I saw people had for the animals that share their cities, plus a small glimpse into some of the beautiful moments in between all the bustle.

Why do I want win this competition Well, it is an amazing opportunity to grow as a photographer but will also offer new experiences both behind the lens and personally. After my travels though India with camera in hand, my passion for both photography and capturing the world through this medium really came into fruition. I haven’t been able to travel since but have explored photography more in it’s various forms (still photography, portraiture, landscapes and live performance), I yearn for another opportunity to try capture some essence of another country and culture. The exposure granted by winning this competition will surely help me along my path to becoming a travel photographer and photo journalist.