A Photographer’s Perspective

Spending those four days taught me that Holi isn’t just about the colors—it’s about the people. It’s the grit in the eyes of a devotee, the laughter of a child , the ancient stones of the temples that have seen these colors for centuries.

Gears used in this project

At Vrindavan, What we discovered over those four days was a spiritual and cultural marathon— a week-long celebration deeply rooted in the divine pastimes of Radha and Krishna.

Dynamics of Devotion

The festival can be unfolded in distinct, powerful chapters:

Lathmar Holi (Barsana & Nandgaon): The energy here was electric. The women of Barsana playfully drove back the men from Nandgaon with sticks, a rhythmic reenactment of Krishna’s ancient teasing of the Lord Krishna-Gopikas’ episode. The dust, the shields, and the sheer chaos made for incredible action shots.

Phoolon Ki Holi (Banke Bihari Temple): This was a sensory shift. Instead of the sting of dry powders, the air was heavy with the fragrance of crushed roses and marigolds. Being showered in petals inside the temple felt less like a festival and more like a divine blessing.

Widow’s Holi (Gopinath Temple): Perhaps the most moving segment. Documenting this modern tradition—where widows, once marginalized, celebrate with vibrant colors.

Dhulandi: The grand finale. A literal explosion of music, dance, and processions across the twin cities that turned every street into a living canvas of pink, yellow, and blue.

Challenges in Photographing Holi

Holi crowds are unpredictable, high‑energy, and often chaotic — and for a photographer, the biggest challenge is balancing safety, gear protection, and creative freedom.

Another major challenge is the sheer volume of people — including hundreds of photographers crowding the same space.

Protecting your Gear

• Use a rain cover or transparent plastic wrap for the camera.

• Keep a UV filter on the lens at all times(only time,i feel UV filter is really useful).

• Carry a microfiber cloth and blower in a sealed pouch.

Personal Safety

• Use a bandana or mask to avoid inhaling powder.

• Keep valuables in zippered, waterproof pouches.

• In case you wear spectales,keep a spare in your bag.

Avoid wearing expensive clothes or sandals. Choose items you won’t mind discarding later, and footwear that won’t bother you even if it gets lost.

Ethics Behind the Lens

Meet my friend Paddy (Padmanabhan), a highly acclaimed photographer with many awards to his name.

Here are some more Photographs of Colours

Moments Between the Madness

And thanks for reading the blog

Deep in the alley near Dashashwamedh Ghat, the streets get so narrow that technology gives up. You have to rely on the locals, who can guide you.

Ustad Ji was the embodiment of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. He saw the Ganges as his mother and revered Kashi Vishwanath and Allah as one. They say as a young boy, while playing at the Balaji Temple in Varanasi, he once reached a state of pure Nirvana through his music -an experience he never elaborated much, as his Guru (his maternal Uncle) didn't want him to share that spiritual experience with others.

This small house, perhaps 800 sq. ft., two floors was his world from youth until his final breath. There were many offers from his rich, aristocrat fans to move to Delhi or Dubai or USA, he wanted to lived in the banks of Ganges.

Today, his descendants keep his memory alive, and his room has become a small, sacred museum.

Standing there, you realize: Greatness doesn't need a palace. 🇮🇳

I was first introduced to Khushwant Singh through his novel Train to Pakistan.

Later, I went on to read his History of the Sikhs, which struck me as both authoritative and deeply authentic. Along the way, I also explored a few of his short stories. Even so, I hadn’t realized how deeply attuned he was to the natural world.

His observations about nature are truly remarkable. In this particular work, he devotes an entire chapter to each month of the year, capturing the changing rhythms of the seasons with a clarity and sensitivity that surprised me.

The book features stunning illustrations by Suddhasttwa Basu, which perfectly complement Khushwant Singh’s lyrical prose.

By bringing translations of Urdu poetry, classics like Kalidasa , Guru Nanak and English poems and along side the naturalist in him makes a meticulous observations - blooming of flowers, shedding of leaves, colour changes, from time of sunrise , birds that come and go,the rain and seasonal sky changes.

Here is a beautiful description of owlets behaviour(by Sudraka, translated from Sanskrit by John Brough)

Slowly the darkness drains away the sunlight.

Drawn homeword to their nests,the crows fall silent.

And now the owl sits in the hollow tree,

Bolder,neck sunk inside his body,

And stares;swivels his head; and stares

The portrait he creates of the city makes you fall in love with Delhi.

The book is available in Amazon.

Its forests, together with the Ken Gharial Sanctuary and the surrounding territorial divisions, form an important part of the drainage basin of the Ken River—a 406 km (252 mi) river that flows northeast for about 72 km (45 mi) through the park.

The park hosts more than 200 species of birds, though this blog highlights just 20 of the most common of them.

Here are some photographs of Birds taken from Panna for the past few years.The photographs are taken with Nikon Z8,Nikon Z6II,Olympus OM1 MarkII, Olympus E1-MX cameras and using Nikkor Z series 400mm/4.5 Lens, Nikon 180-600mm Lens and OMD 300mm/f4 Lens.

Nubra Valley is also known for wildflowers and endemic and migratory birds. However, I have attempted to photograph only the Landscape of the Nubra Valley.

This is a kind of infinite landscape offers countless ideas for abstract photography. In this short series, my focus was to capture wide gamut of the Landscape. As well, I decided to stick to monochrome as there was no scope for colorful frames.

Here are few photographs of the sand dunes, taken with Nikon Z8 and Carl Zeiss 25mm Lens. All the photographs are taken at afternoon time on a sunny day in the month of September.

Pulicat Lake is known for the Greater Flamingos, waders and other migrant birds. The road we wanted to explore is not the best route to reach Pulicat. Many years back, this was the one of the major roads used by villagers of Pulicat to reach Chennai. It takes less time to reach Pulicat with this route. This road is sandwiched between Kosasthalaiyar River and Bay of Bengal Sea. There are few private shipping ports present in this area. The major hindrances are bad roads and Container lorries which blocks the road. Hence it can take longer time to reach Pulicat , as well in many places, road is not good.

However, we wanted to explore this route for its scenic views of River and untouched beaches which can offer some good birding spots. Our guess was right. The route was scenic. There were many villages surrounded by waterbodies, small temples and clean beaches. Enroute to Pulicat, near the village called Kattupalli, we came across beautiful clay warrior idols under a banyan tree. They belong to nearby Amman temple. By the time we reached this Temple, it was mid of the day. Not a best time for photography.

After few weeks, we again came to this temple. This time, we decided to photograph the idols in the morning hours, just after sunrise. The idols are facing east under the shades of banyan tree. We were lucky. As the sun started to rise and move up, it created a perfect lighting. There were deep shadows, light was warm, constantly changing which brought out the details of the dolls. Our photography just ended within twenty minutes. After 7:30 AM, more or less, the light was flat, and we wrapped up the work and retuned back to home.

Here are photographs of the clay warriors. All the photographs are taken with Nikon zF camera with 24-70mm/f4 lens.

These clay dolls belong to Sri Devi Amman temple and every year at the end of May Month new dolls are installed as a part of the festival.

This Kattupalli village is 40 KM from Chennai.

Later, I have photographed the dances in Hemis, Matho Monastery and few other monasteries in Bhutan. I learnt, all the dance happening in these festivals and the dance forms signify the deep philosophies of Buddhism.

In Himalayan region, Vajrayana Buddhism is practiced. Vajrayana Buddhism is one the three forms of Buddhism, the other two being Hinayana Buddhism (now mostly practiced in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar), Mahayana Buddhism (once practiced in India).

The Vajrayana Buddhism said to be derived from Mahayana and Hindu scriptures and started to spread across Tibet, Bhutan, parts of China and Mongolia.

The sacred dance is considered as form of ritual which brings subtle messages on the various Buddhist teaching, morals of living and attaining a state of no-rebirth.

The Buddhist Festivals are known as Tshechus. They are grand events where entire communities come together to witness religious mask dances, receive blessings and socialize.  In addition to the mask dances, tshechus also include colorful dances by women folk and prophesy.

Tshechu is a religious festival celebrated on the tenth day of a month of the lunar calendar.

The mask dance is performed with various animal masks and different animal masks has deeper philosophical meanings.

The clowns are part of the Buddhist Festival as a primary source of entertainment. They dance along with the dancers with some funny and exaggerated movements and lewd expressions.

The Clowns are knowledgeable in various dances and ritual performances and guide the dancers who do mistake in their movements and steps. The importance of clown’s role is equal to that of head Lama.

Photographing the Festival

The festivals happen inside the open area of monasteries so that everyone can watch the events. The festival happens for two days or more, various mask dances are performed on different days. Locals from nearby villages attend the festival. The place wears a typical festive outlook of any Indian village.

What to Photograph?

The monks perform various prayers, mask dance is performed, and traditional music are played by musicians. There are variety of subjects that can be photographed:

• Candid expressions

• Documenting dance movements

• Capturing dance movements in slow shutter speed

• Musicians & Children

• Activities happening outside the monastery - like games, life style

• Videography

• Portraits of Locals, Monks

What Lens Combination?

The festival events happen in open hall with adequate sunlight falling inside the hall. A 24-70mm/24-120mm lens is suitable to cover the dance movements, videography and portraiture. The lenses like 70-200mm are very useful for candid photography. A wide-angle lens like 20mm can bring a different perspective of the place. Two cameras or a prosumer camera or one 24-200mm lens can bring lot of flexibility in capturing moments.

I have used Nikon and Pentax 645z Cameras and Nikon 24-120mm Lens, Sigma 50mm Lens, Pentax 45-85mm Lens combination to photograph the events.

A word of advice

Some of the dance events or prayers are considered very sacred. The organizers would not allow to photograph it. Don’t get into argument. Value their belief systems. In such cases, just keep the camera inside the bag and watch the performance.

While most of the monks or general public do not mind being photographed, some may not like it. When they show a displeasure, don’t take photographs even in candid. I’m not a great fan of Candid people photography. I have photographed candid expressions, people in early stage of photography life. Over the last 5-7 years all my photographs where the people are clearly visible, especially single or two people in close focus, they were aware of being photographed. Often, i get permissions to photograph them, try to communicate with them, get their name, all such to make them feel comfortable.

Here are few photographs from various Monasteries - Mongar, Trashigang of Bhutan, Matho and Hemis from Ladakh region. The photographs are not in any particular order.

Slow Movements

The Buddhist festivals are festival of colors. It is a visual treat to watch and photograph the dances. You are limited by your creativity.

With Parwali staying close to the FRH, it has been frequently sighted during the wildlife safari in Dhikala Region. In fact, Parwali crosses the Safari Jeeps, Ramganga river without any inhibition even when hundreds of cameras are pointing to it.

This attitude actually made the Rest House more popular, as many flock to Dhikala for almost guaranteed sighting of Tiger.Over the years,Parwali has started to rear cubs.

In one of the summer, Parwali had a cub, an one year old, young and curious. Every day, Parwali leaves the cub in a safe place and go for the hunt. The hunt may be deer or sambar or any small mammals. Till the mother comes back with the hunt, the cub waits patiently.

In one of the days, Parwali started to teach cub to fight. This is essential for the survival of the cub. As well, cub has to learn skills of fighting for to hunt individually. The mock fight happened in the Ramganga River with Parwali and her cub charging each other without anyone getting injured. The mock fight happened for ten-fifteen minutes.

After a month, the Tiger cub had a fight with another male Tiger and got severely injured and died subsequently.

The fight sequence was taken during the Corbett Wildlife trip in May 2018.

Imagine a mountain captured by 14mm or 24mm Lens. It tries to capture the gigantic mountain or large endless land faithfully within our point of view. However, what it fails to capture are the details - beautiful curves of a mountain, patterns created by the water, rain or air over the millions of years of its existence. Often, a wide lens fails us to bring the proportionality of the mountain with its allies - lakes, land and sky.

This Panorama show cases the large vista of Pangong Lake. While grandeur of the lake is captured, what is missing are the details.

Intimate Landscape brings back what is lost in wide angle’s unprecise landscape.

Put it another way, Intimate Landscape Photography is

A way to showcase smaller details of a larger canvas.

• When the landscape is photographed with Tele-lens, we start looking into the patterns of the rocks, harmony between the boulders and curves of mountain, relative magnitude of lakes and mountains.

• A tele lens, by the way of design, isolates the scene and brings attention to the small part of the vista. While tele lens are used in wildlife or sports for the purpose of isolation, this can also be used to show case our take on Landscape, isolating the unwanted clutters and distractions.

• Subject isolation has the capability to transform an ordinary scene to a thought-provoking abstract image. Intimate Photography is often connected with creating such abstract images.

• Light and Shadow - Mountains of Ladakh, its high altitude and cloud movements often tricks us. We would be witnessing play of light and shadow in some part of the mountains, while the rest of the mountain may be either in shadows or flat light. Tele lens can isolate the light and shadow and create abstractions.

Gears

Intimate Landscape Photography can be created with Tele lens with focal length from 150mm and above. Depending upon the vastness of the Landscape, kind of composition determines the focal length. I have used focal lengths between 150mm to 500mm in my photographs.

Do you meant to say, Wide angle lens are not at all needed for Landscape Photography?

No. Definitely Not. The perspective offered by wide angle lens, tele lens, panorama images are all different. It is a personal choice of a photographer to go with kind of images he or she wants to create.

Here are few selected photographs of Intimate Landscape.

This photograph of Rain forests of Borneo taken from a watch tower at Danum Valley, my first Landscape photograph taken with 300mm Lens. However, the intimate landscape photography was not my intention while taking this picture. I had an urge to photograph the place with a tele lens. After a decade later, as I started to photograph the landscape using tele lens, i realized this Rain Forest photograph also falls in this genre.

Here is a closeup of Pangong Lake. A part of the Landscape, Yet, the relative enormity of lake, mountains and sky are captured.

Some more Photographs related to Light and Shadows, abstraction and fill the frame.

3. Fill the Frame - A closeup of Mountains and its ridges.

Intimate Landscape Photography is one of the ways to look the Landscape around you. For me, Intimate Landscapes takes a step closer to Himalayas. It’s a personal choice.

If you like to see the photographs in large screen, you can visit here:

Intimate Landscape | nara

Is this the deep dark jungles with sun rays piercing through the branches of tall trees? Chirping sound of birds?
or Continues Croaks of Frogs
And those Colourful and colourless wild plants or
the tall, short trees, with large and slender trunks
Smell of the land filled with dungs of dead animals, plants,trees or
Smell of yesterday rains?
Or the fear of predators like Tiger or Leopard
Or those gigantic, yet a gentle creature aka Elephants?

Forests brings us both the feel of peace, serenity and the fear of unknown.

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