Wednesday, 3 June 2009
It has been photographed, written about, and eulogized for so many centuries by so many people, that you think it couldn't possibly live up to all the hype, but it does! It is absolutely stunning, totally breathtakingly awesome.
A little chutzpah and a lot of luck contributed to these pictures. The area where we entered had been claimed by Indian photographers. They posed their captured tourists on the seat central to this image. There was no way anyone else could take a shot without a hapless stranger in it. But, without realizing what was going on, I positioned myself on the other side of the seat. They were getting my rear end in their souvenir portraits. So, they backed off and let me get off these two:
Who would have thought this scene could be improved upon? Ok it's debatable:
To continue with the theme of handsome headshots. To get from the parking lot to the main site there is all manner of transportation being offered: bicycle rickshaw, autorickshaw, and camel:
Who is looking with disdain at the camel driver, hitting him on the rear with a puny stick. Through a series of maneouvers, where his younger assistant jumped on and off the cart rails as the cart moved, he exchanged his stick for something a little longer:
There's a mother lode of good people watching here, as some of my earlier posted portraits depict. But it's not always easy! If one approaches someone to take their picture, one gets a smile, and a pose. Using the zoom from a distance and thanking them later is a more productive approach, but doesn't always provide the best quality. This man and his companion walked incredibly quickly hence the "not-quite-in-focus" qualtiy. His companion's face was wonderful, but I only got half of it:
As charming as the camel driver, his assistant, and the camel itself were, the ride was short--really, really short. And even though the temperature was well above 100 degress, four of us chose to walk it on the return trip. On the other side of the road, two women displayed the extremes of womanly burden--high heels and hauling food:
Hank and I are still in New Delhi, but the rest of the party is in Aurangabad. We'll join up with them on Saturday. The travelers group portrait today is of Rashmeet (Rashi) Simran's sister:
A little chutzpah and a lot of luck contributed to these pictures. The area where we entered had been claimed by Indian photographers. They posed their captured tourists on the seat central to this image. There was no way anyone else could take a shot without a hapless stranger in it. But, without realizing what was going on, I positioned myself on the other side of the seat. They were getting my rear end in their souvenir portraits. So, they backed off and let me get off these two:
Who would have thought this scene could be improved upon? Ok it's debatable:
To continue with the theme of handsome headshots. To get from the parking lot to the main site there is all manner of transportation being offered: bicycle rickshaw, autorickshaw, and camel:
Who is looking with disdain at the camel driver, hitting him on the rear with a puny stick. Through a series of maneouvers, where his younger assistant jumped on and off the cart rails as the cart moved, he exchanged his stick for something a little longer:
There's a mother lode of good people watching here, as some of my earlier posted portraits depict. But it's not always easy! If one approaches someone to take their picture, one gets a smile, and a pose. Using the zoom from a distance and thanking them later is a more productive approach, but doesn't always provide the best quality. This man and his companion walked incredibly quickly hence the "not-quite-in-focus" qualtiy. His companion's face was wonderful, but I only got half of it:
As charming as the camel driver, his assistant, and the camel itself were, the ride was short--really, really short. And even though the temperature was well above 100 degress, four of us chose to walk it on the return trip. On the other side of the road, two women displayed the extremes of womanly burden--high heels and hauling food:
Hank and I are still in New Delhi, but the rest of the party is in Aurangabad. We'll join up with them on Saturday. The travelers group portrait today is of Rashmeet (Rashi) Simran's sister:
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