Image Heven

The Travel Photographer blog turned 3 years old on the 24th of January, and I missed celebrating it while leading the Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo Expedition…but no matter.

About 1700 posts, thousands and thousands of unique visitors and subscribers, followers and an enormous amount of support from photographers, full timers and part timers, and many other creatives. And to think that I started this blog to write about myself and my photography…I ran out of things to say in less than a week, and decided there were many more interesting photographers, emerging and established, than I could ever be…and the rest is history as they say.

This blog helped my second career in ways that I could never imagine. I’m hugely chuffed when I’m introduced to people, and they exclaim “You’re The Travel Photographer!!”.

And to those who worry that my posts may get less acerbic with age, rest assured that my opinionated POVs will continue unabated, and its vinegary content may even increase in 2010.

Providing a free platform for promising emerging travel and documentary photographers is always what this blog will try to do, and I look forward to another year of exciting fresh talent, photography news and controversial points of view.

And it will remain ad-free.

Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
Kim McClellan is a professional photographer (as well as working for the SBA in DC), and graduated from the Washington School of Photography in January 2001. She’s passionate about international travel photography, and her work was featured in juried exhibitions and shows in the Washington DC Metro Area. She’s well-known for her work in fashion, glamour, and classical figures.

Kim joined my Bhutan: Land of Druk Yul Photo~Expedition ™ this past October, and will join my forthcoming Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ in August. On her way to cover the Venice Carnavale, Kim found the time to send me a sample of her work made during The Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition ™, which appears here.

The first is of a traditional Rabari shepherd in Southern Rajasthan; the second is of a young girl carrying a baby in Poshina while the third is of an Agaria salt worker near Dasada.

Kim is a natural story-teller, and had our group mesmerized on many occasions while recounting various life events. She was also firmly in control whenever some of our photo shoots required her expertise in directing models.

The snow …. going, going, gone! The remains of a vine that hangs from the terrace roof slowly loses its gift of snow.

Snow! Today is the first day of the Fête du Citron (the Lemon Festival) and yesterday we had 20 centimetres of snow. I’m snowbound in Gorbio. This is most unusual – come to the sunny south of France!

Yesterday, the majority of flights to and from Nice airport were cancelled and the motorways were closed in many sections. When I woke there was no water so the dogs have been drinking bottled Pellegrino.

Update – it’s now melting…

© Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP (Courtesy WSJ Photo Journal)
The three month-long bathing festival Kumbh Mela along the Ganges river in Haridwar occurs every 12 years, and about 50 million Hindu devotees performing their prayers and washing away their sins in river’s waters are expected in this holy city. However, non-accredited photographers seem to face mounting difficulties and restrictions in photographing main events, such as the bathing at the Har-Ki-Pairi ghats.

Tom Carter, an American photographer, is quoted as saying: “I was planning on attending the Maha Shivratri Pratham Shahi Snan first royal bath on February 12 and the main royal bath on April 14 to photograph the infamous Naga Sadhu processions, however I was informed that tourists won’t even be allowed in the proximity of HarKiPairi on those dates. Westerners be warned”

The most captivating event of all the Kumbh Melas is undoubtedly the bathing of the naked Naga Sadhus, and many photographers without accreditation will not be able to photograph there. However, there is much to photograph in religious events such as these, and photographers will hopefully have an embarrassment of choices.

Photographers wishing to obtain official press passes need to have entered India on a journalist visa, have a copy of their press card and a letter of accreditation from their organization…otherwise the main bathing areas and Naga Sadhus will be off-limits.

I’ve read many articles on this event, and exuberant hyperbole describe it as the largest gathering of humanity. It is not. The distinction belongs to the Maha Kumbh Mela which occurs after 12 ‘Purna Kumbh Melas’, or after every 144 years. It was held at Allahabad in early 2001, and was attended by over 60 million people, making it the largest gathering in the world. Satellite imagery of the event were posted online and its mass of humanity was clearly seen.

For recent photographs of the Haridwar event, drop by Tom Bourdon’s blog here.

You can also visit my own take on the Maha Kumbh Mela of 2001, which I describe as “rubbing shoulders with ascetics, mendicants, mystics, beggars and charlatans”.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Rather than posting a group photograph of the members of the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ in which everyone is smiling rather self-consciously, I thought this one would be more appropriate.

This cluster of the group members was not really the norm, as most of the time we wandered either individually or in twos in villages to photograph what appealed to our individual eyes. However, a subject occasionally appeared so photogenic to all of us that clustering was the only option. In this case, the subject was Leshma, a beautiful Wadha girl, who was so naturally comfortable in heeding instructions that I think she must have been a professional model in a previous life.

From left to right: Cathy Scholl, Kim McClellan, Terri Gold, and Charlotte Rush-Bailey.

Second row, from left to right: Sharon Tennant, Sandy Chandler and Colleen Kerrigan. Missing are Wink Willet and Jamie Johnson.

And yes…I have a few photographs of Leshma myself. Here she is in the photograph below…she’s worth it, isn’t she?? And yes, I know…some will suggest that I crop the dark area on the right, but I seldom crop out of the camera.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved

This man is fishing in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, almost exactly on the border of Roquebrune and Menton. You can see the steeples of the Old Town of Menton in the distance.

He was so involved in his fishing and doing whatever he was doing with the reel, he didn’t notice me. He would seem to be a man who is completely comfortable in his skin, and with such a kind face.