Moving Mumbaikers

Mumbai traffic is justly famous.  Mostly it's just an obstacle between where you are and where you want to get to but recently I've been trying to capture the people who drive, pedal or push their way through the noisy scrum.

Some people are aware of me, some pleased, some not so pleased and some are in their own worlds.  I haven't quite mastered the art of capturing people just as I'd like to but I'm sharing some early attempts.

 This chap is rather delighted to be snapped spinning through the city.

 The gentleman driver is oblivious or perhaps only seems so due to his shades. I like to think that in his mind he's in the opening credits of some blockbuster movie.  The lady passenger on the other hand looks mildly annoyed.

 The passenger is decidedly put out.  The driver seems quite pleased with the attention or at least happily bemused.

 This is closer to what I originally set out to capture. Deep in his own world and entirely oblivious to me.  I want to know what's worrying him.

So participation, recording or just being another annoying or puzzling factor in the transport of Mumbai.  I'm not really sure where this will take me but I'm up for the journey.

Advertising

 All your health and beauty secrets.

Calling all rankers to accounts.

I could go on about the interesting juxtaposition of advertising and aspirations to everyday life or I could just post these and move on. 

Moving on.

Ganesha Ornaments

It's time for a new blog header picture so I chose this one, colourful, hand painted Ganeshas. 

I found them at the Khala Goda Arts festival and this is one of the few pictures taken there, it was just too busy but serves me right for turning up on the last Saturday afternoon of the festival.  It was a jolly crowd though all hell bent on getting their pictures taken with the installations or swarming over the stalls selling all manner of bright and beautiful things.  I'll go again but go earlier next time.

Flora Fountain, Mumbai

Probably the prettiest traffic roundabout in Mumbai, Flora Fountain doesn't always have such a dramatically blue sky behind it.  Indeed, it didn't on the day I took the picture either.  It was a cloudless day but I suspect I had been fiddling with the colour settings on the camera and forgotten all about it by the time I took this picture.  Still, it's an optimistic view of the air quality in central Mumbai.

This second image shows a favoured pigeon perch.  I'd really gone to try to get some images of people riding their bikes, ricks and so on but the traffic was a bit too slow to capture what I was looking for.  Instead I got this lovely stone lady wondering why her hand was smelly.

The little things

Today I ate a pretty good lunch at the branch of  Mia Cucina in Powai.   I accidentally made a delicious and smiley oil and balsamic baby and was so inexplicably pleased with myself that I felt the need to share.  

Happy New Year

Financial Cheer

Every time I go to the ATM I get a little cheer.  It brightens my day.  Then I remember that it must be spelled this way because my capital Ms are so badly written that they look like Hs.  But I still smile and silently pronounce my name the way most Indians do when they see it written  ... Annie Hurray.  It has a ring to it.

Karjat - the photo failures

Getting out of the city can be a bit of a pain in the nethers but it's worth it to put the smog and smells behind you for a bit.

I went on my annual trip to Karjat to help build houses for a Habitat for Humanity project - I can call it annual because it's the second year I've done it. Here's the proof from last year. To be absolutely honest the students did the building and I did the wandering around with the camera capturing them mixing concrete and slapping on paint.

I broke off from the arduous task of taking pictures of students to take a few pictures of other things.  I've recently been reading various "how to be an awesome photographer" articles and sites and thought it would be a good chance to put some of the lessons into practice.

"Look for colour contrasts and textural interest to create stunning abstracts"

I interpreted this as "watch paint dry". This didn't really work but the paint dried very quickly so I wandered off to see other things.

  Every "guide to great photography" will tell you that you should always try to frame your subjects.

 A good piece of advice but also try to keep them in focus, above and below look ok in this small format but if  you saw the originals in full size  - not so good.  Really not so good at all! 

The "guide to being a kickass photographer"  tells you to look for textural interest and repeating patterns to create interesting images.

    So long as you think a sack with a hole in it covering a window counts as an "interesting image".

Always crop off the head of the bullock to create an interesting shot and don't forget to include a great big white arrow pointing at the bullock in case anyone missed it. Or as "how to click better clicks" says. Pay attention to the background!

Despite the bodged photographs it was a good day and I learned a lot about picture taking, mostly that I have to do a lot more of it.  



 

Diwali Break

I'm a big fan of cultural tourism.  At least I used to be, these days it's getting more and more obvious that I am just a big fan of sitting on my bum reading.

I packed the camera, an extra lens, a laptop a pile of books and a overly ambitious list of things to do on the Diwali break and settled myself into a beach hut with a pretty little sit-out area.  The camera got one half hearted outing.  The laptop remained in the case and the books got devoured.

I spent quite a lot of time watching a shell on a string sway in the gentle breeze and the most energetic thing I did was walk the beach early in the morning choosing somewhere for lunch later in the day.

It was bloody brilliant.

Brand Banditry

  I delight in the misappropriation of brand names and really like pedicures.  I got to indulge in both in one go recently.  I was tickled from the tips of my toes all the way up to my business teacher head. 

Ganesh Immersion the aftermath

Each year thousands of idols are immersed in bodies of water all over the city.  I had read about the pollution caused by this but this year I went with a group of students on a beach cleanup to Aksa beach.

 

 Reading about the aftermath is absolutely no substitute for seeing it for real.  The idols look amazing on their way to the immersion, the workmanship and artistry that go into them is stunning but it's really  tragic to see them the next morning.

 

At least we now have a group of committed students who are going to campaign for more eco friendly idols to be used in their celebrations next year.