Regular visitors to my blog will rember a couple of months ago I wrote a post title 56 Hours on a train where I shared a collection of some of the images I shot on my phone while travelling from one side of India to the other. I thought it interesting to do a similar thing on a train journey I had the other day up to London, this was only a 90 minute journey compared to the 3360 minutes of the Indian leg. Never the less it´s interesting to see how the 2 sets compare.

The empty carriages and orderly queues the clean seats and peaceful atmosphere in these images are in total contrast to the madness that is the Indian train, man I miss that place.

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Eastbourne, East Sussex, England.

This is where I grew up. This is where I was born and I lived here until my first trip to Asia at the age of 21. Since then I´ve visited many times but never stayed for more than a week or so at a time and strangely enough never really spent much time shooting here despite the fact I know the area so well. I guess I´ve been caught up with travel and visiting exotic places rather than looking for the images that are right here on my doorstep.

I´ve been trying to resolve this situation and fortunately we´ve been blessed with the most amazing spring weather with sunny days and clear blue skies. Knowing that this surely wont last I´ve been out shooting a fair amount recently and thought I should share a handful of the results.

So don´t think you have to travel to stunning places to take great shots, you´ve just got to look for them, I´m sure there are some great locations close to where you live, you just need to look.

Now many of you will have seen images like the one above of the local fisherman who are known for their distinctive, and some what ingenious, rowing style. By standing on one leg and wrapping the other one around the oar they are able to propel the boat. This unique style came about as it gives the fisherman a greater view of his route and is able to better navigate through the thick reeds and floating plants that fill the lake. It also always one hand to be free which can be useful to smoke a cigarette, or wave at tourists.

Now normally I wouldn’t shoot any image that I knew would cause embarrassment, but there are moments in everyone’s life when funny things happen and to not take the photo at those moments would be a real waste. So what happened here well I was on a boat with a fisherman coming towards us, he was really showing off at well he had mastered the leg rowing and was playing up to the boat full of tourists  when his longyi (sarong like garment) slowly started slipping down. He grabbed the front of it with his spare hand and burst in to a fit of laughter and carried on rowing.

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Another train ride, it seems they never end and I´ve still got at least 3 more long ones before I return back to the UK in February. Although I wont be leaving India for another 3 weeks it very much feels like this trip is winding down for me, perhaps as I have no other specific photography stories to cover, or perhaps I´ve just been away for long enough and am missing a few home comforts. Either way I´m looking forward to it.

Over the last couple of days things on the blog slipped up a little with various post not going live, hopefully that´s all fixed now and posting will continue as before with a new post everyday. I´m actually working on something quite cool for tomorrow´s post so come back and check it out.

That was day 26 of 366, come back tomorrow for more

One of the things that always amazes me the most about traveling in rural Asia, and I assume it´s the same in other parts of of the world, is how the children make their own toys out of anything that is available the classic that can be found across the globe is an old tyre and a stick to push it along.

My favorite however has to be these go karts that I discovered in North Eastern India, a very simple design made from a few lengths of bamboo, a couple of nails and what ever is available for the wheels, often more wood. I was fascinated by the simplicity of the design, these things had steering and breaks, although judging from the speeds that these things wizz around on, the latter didn’t seemed to be used all that much.

That was day 23 of 366, come back tomorrow for more

Wake up later than planned at 5:45, have a mad panic to finish packing and get to the 4×4 stand by 6, were we plan to travel the 2 hour journey to a small traditional village. We run down the stairs only to find that the front gate is padlocked and we can´t leave. Have a mad search to find a member of staff to unlock the gate but there is no one else in the guesthouse, we are alone and locked inside. We have no choice but to sit and wait. At 6:05 the housemaid arrives and unlocks the door and we run as best we can, sliding all over the place on the slippy roads, to get to the 4×4 stand in the hope it had been delayed. We arrive but there is no sign of life, we must have missed it. We head to the market where people are hanging around as the stalls are beginning to set up. We ask several different people about our options and get several different answers, any one who has been to India will know that the best thing to do in a situation like this is to have a chai, or 2.

It turns out that the 4×4 hasn’t actually left yet and wont be leaving until 7:30 – great. We wait for an hour until the vehicle arrives, and then wait another 2 hours and it actually leaves, we´re on our way. We travel almost entirely uphill for 2 hours passing stunning bamboo hut villages, women collecting wood and men out hunting with what appears to be some kind of double barrelled musket and a catapult. When we finally arrive we unload our luggage and sit down on our bags to take in the views as the local children crowd around. a minute later a man pulls out and places next to us an a-frame sign post reading ´Tourist Registration Counter´, we find this amusing as there is no counter to speak of, seconds later a girl appears with an A4 notebook we sign in, still surrounded by kids. We find and check in to the government tourist lodge that is to be our accommodation for the next few days, the building is basic to say the least. There is no running water, no electricity and several of the windows are smashed, wandering how long we can live like this. It´s pretty cold here too, at least we have a handful of blankets to keep us warm. Obviously we are the only guests staying here and upon signing in we notice that we are only the 11th guests to stay here since June 2010.

Having skipped breakfast we´re starting to get mighty hungry, we wander off with our cameras in search of a restaurant or chai stall to get something to eat, we soon discover that no such place exists here in this village and feel lucky when we discover a shop that sells rice, sweets and Parle G, a rather bland but extremely cheap Indian biscuit, we get a jumbo pack each. On our way back we walk passed a group of kids one of whom is hold a large dead mouse in each hand, we started talking to the kids and shot a few frames, but the boy seemed nervous and we moved on.

On returning to our lodge, that word sounds far too grand for what this place really is, we discover that we are welcome to eat with our neighbours a local family who live in a large bamboo hut and cook everything on an open fire in the middle of the hut. The sun sets early and upon entering our neighbours home we notice buffalo, deer and pig skulls hanging on the walls along with carvings and statues of tribesmen and various other traditional artifacts, all lit by the soft light of the glowing embers that boils a massive pot of rice.

At this moment our concerns about the accomadation disappear, we sit in the dark around the fire to keep warm and enjoy our first meal of the day. Our communication with the family is limited as they speak no English, but it´s obvious that this is going to be one heck of a journey.

That was day 24 of 366, come back tomorrow for more

Just to show things don´t always go to plan and it helps to have a flexible attitude to this line of work. l think this image pretty much sums up the weather situation here today, super foggy, cold, grey and raining – still I suppose it´s good practice for when I get back to the UK

That was day 20 of 366, come back tomorrow for more