Not far from Godwalia in Varanasi sits the Mukti Bhavan. This photo shows a ceremony I witnessed one morning, conducted by the resident ritual priests. The woman was a participant in the ceremony. Later on in the proceedings she would also bring in her baby. I was not sure exactly what the ceremony was for. […]
visual record of seeing in the process of seeing
The two pictures in this post were, again, taken on the trip to Varanasi, India. Both are scenes from along the banks of the River Ganges. Although the trip was actually part of a journalism project, for which the photos needed to be content driven, the two photos here are of a different kind, taken […]
bicycle repair
Immediately parallel to the River Ganges within the city of Varanasi is a stretch of road lined with buildings of final grandeur and disrepair, a mine of material for street photography. I walked down this street on several occasions, looking out for interesting scenes to evolve. These two photos I got on the penultimate day […]
adding colours
There are many reasons why I choose to stick to black and white photography, among them the abstraction of the image, the connection to the history of photography, and the fact that I just like the aesthetic. Another, more prosaic, reason is the fact that I am by now very familiar with the process — […]
temple door
I’m finding these temple festivals increasingly difficult to find the enthusiasm to go to. The interest nowadays is purely photographic, and I don’t even lift the camera to my eye anymore unless the idea is new or, if it is similar to something I have already captured, an improvement on what I already have, or […]
toners
Started looking at toners. It’s complicated. Here we have sepia and copper. The sepia was added first (thiocarbamide), selectively. Sepia, I discovered, will prevent the copper taking. While the sepia only tones the silver in the image, the copper tones the whole paper except, in this case, where the sepia had been applied. I left […]
fuji
In July I met Alex out in Japan, to coincide with the end of one of his business trips. I had insisted on having an epic quality to the trip, and that was to be climbing Mt. Fuji. I have done it before, and remembered it as being one of the most memorable things I […]
crathes
I have several friends make excellent travelling companions. Not interested in photography themselves, they understand there are places, chanced upon, that require time spent. Places which, for some indeterminant reason, have about them potential as settings. You recognise them as you arrive. In Aberdeenshire there is a stately home with a garden, open to the […]
new/ old
Both of these pictures were taken over two years before I actually got around to printing them. This was a deliberate delay, useful because of the changing relationship you have with photos over time. After a certain amount of time you lose the enthusiasm to print because of any lingering associations you have at the […]
nikkor 105
This was taken in south Taiwan in April 2011, although I didn’t print it until a full year later. It was taken using a Nikkor 105mm ltm lens, which I rarely use. The few shots I have taken with it have not been the sharpest but often have quite a bit of character. I bought […]