Chennai, India Photo Gallery

Chennai, India Travel Photography

Street Culture - Portraits

Went to Chennai, India for a client last month, making it the second time I've been to India in the last 6 months. Funny where the camera will take you. Any time you travel that far for a shoot, no matter how much fun you're having, you have to make time shoot for yourself. Which is precisely what these images are. The people and things I saw while aimlessly wondering around that foreign city. There were a lot of very noticeable differences between Chennai and the places I visited up north (Delhi, Agra, and jaipur). Firstly, the people down south seemed to be much more relaxed. They were still trying to sell you on something, but it wasn't nearly as often or with the same aggression. Which was a big plus. Overall, I think it didn't have the character of the northern cities, but that could just be my experience. One of my favorite parts of the northern trip was all the Chai tea. It was everywhere. Granted, we were there in the winter, but it didn't seem to be as much of thing down in Chennai. And when it was, the tea itself had a completely different taste. I was told they don't use a lot of spices like the northerners do. 

Keep scrolling down to see lots of images from the 1st trip to India. 

The Taj Mahal-Agra, India

India Travel Photography

Street Culture Photos

The Taj Mahal is quite something. That's obvious ahead of time, but you can't possibly understand until you're standing in front of it. It's not just the Taj though, it's how they laid the grounds out that really ties it all together. The way you're lead in, and forced to see people standing in front of it at many different distances gives you an unreal sense of scale. The symmetry, detail, and the way light lives around the structure is something I've seen anywhere else. Really amazing experience, but probably not my favorite. Just based on size, The Taj takes it, but on overall detail and ridiculousness, have to give it to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Gaudi was a god damn mad man. Agra was in interesting place to check out as well. You can probably classify it as a shithole, but whatever. We were lucky enough to be staying at a place with a rooftop balcony that looked over the whole city. That was an experience in itself. There was so much life on all the rooftops in Agra. Seemed to be where all the residents hung out. And if you just closed your eyes and listened, that was a whole other thing. Couldn't really make sense of it. It was a strange mixture of animals, kids playing, people talking, and what seemed like screaming. Then you get the daily "call to prayer", which I can't get enough of. 

New Delhi, India

India Travel Photography - New Delhi

Not sure there is way to describe New Delhi that would do it justice in any way. I wasn't able to spend a ton of time there, but couldn't be happier with what we experienced. There is so much going there all the time, that you can't possibly make sense of it. If you're not from there, or have been living there for an extended period of time, don't even think about driving. The city streets are chaos. And that's coming from someone who loves to drive, everywhere. So thankful I did not have a car in Delhi. Let the locals handle that task. At any given point, you'll be sharing the streets with cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, motor rickshaws, dogs, cats, monkeys, cows, bulls, people, and who knows what else. The strangest part is that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Yet nobody is angry, and somehow is just seems to work. The energy in the streets of New Delhi is incredible. Something I'd love to experience over and over again for the rest of my life. Any time you're outside in Delhi, you've got constant stimulation. Sort of like Vegas, only not at all. And not just visually. It seems like there is something for all of your senses. 

Getting off the airplane, it's obvious that you're no longer in America. You can immediately smell smoke, which seems to be the standard weather forecast. Not hazy or foggy, but smoke. That's literally what it says when you look on a weather app. Smoke. And if you stay in a hotel, the armed guards at the gate have to check your cab for bombs, both under the car and under the hood. Depending on where you go, who you're with, and time of day, it can be difficult to walk around alone. Both because of safety and because you'll be bombarded with people trying to sell you something. Just get over it. The experiences you'll get from walking through the streets and markets are worth it. Don't even get me started on the food. I still can't figure out how that jam all that flavor into their meals. Brilliant. 

Have a lot more from this trip to post. We also visited Agra and Jaipur, where I did a lots of shooting. Will be posting those images in the next week or so. Come on back.