I was in Pushkar, Rajashtan, about one week before the Pushkar Fair last month. Too bad. Pushkar Fair is the camel and livestock fair held annually in Pushkar, Rajashtan. Too bad I was one week earlier, but I was able to see a little bit of it, as there were already families and camels at the fair site. They have come from nearby villages to participate in the fair. I assume they came early in order to choose the best location to set up their camps.

There were already lots of camels, so imagine how crowded the place will be during the actual fair.

All photos taken using the Olympus PEN E-P3 and Zuiko 12mm f/2 lens. Enjoy !

I shot these in front of our hotel in Jaipur, Rajashtan, in the early morning of our second day there. People started their day by having tea, setting up their roadside fruit stalls, sweeping the street, etc. under a cool October morning weather.

All photos taken with Leica M9 and Zeiss Planar 50mm ZM f/2. The first few were taken by shooting into the rising sun. Enjoy!

He was having his cup of tea to start the day.

A group of locals at the roadside tea shop.

Making tea.

Cycling in front of an old Jaipur palace which has become a museum now.

I am back from India today. Covered Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Agra and Lucknow. I was traveling light and it was quite liberating. I fit my Leica M9, four small lenses and Olympus PEN E-P3 with 12mm lens, into a small Domke ‘school bag’ (F-803) and I could walk for hours without breaking my neck and back.

First up here are few photos I took in the late afternoon at the Old Delhi, near the Red Fort, on Diwali day. The road was packed with people, rickshaw, bicycles, motorcycles and cars and continuous sound of horns. One of the best locations I went to shoot at during this trip. I would love to go back to the Old Delhi again one day as I only managed to cover one lane as we didn’t have lots of time.

I will post more later, but for now, enjoy these four photos from the Old Delhi. All four were shot with Leica M9 and Voigtlander Color Skopar Classic 35mm f/2.5.

I have been very busy since I came back from India. So, my apology for being quiet here in the past one week. I am back now and excited that I may be able to go to India again in October. Not for work !!!!!  I also have other thing I am excited about, but can only share when it really happens. For now, only hoping it will happen. 

I shot the above photo near the Shivaji Nagar market in Bangalore. I asked the guy using my sign language if I could come in and they agreed. So I came in and helped myself with shooting some images of them working and when I saw the big mirror, I couldn’t resist to shoot everybody including me! Cool huh. I was blocking the two guys who were waiting for their hair to be cut, otherwise you could see all 7 people in the photo clearly. The contrast was way too high for the sensor to handle. The outside lighting was too bright, hence you could see the white areas in the background.

I love interacting with people when I am out shooting in a foreign land regardless whether or not they allow me to shoot them. How I wish I could speak all languages, but I have learned that the best language to start a conversation and/or connection with others is our smile. Never mind if you don’t get to shoot them because they don’t want you to. Just try to make a conversation with them.

By the way, I have the black and white version of the first photo above. Which version do you like the most? All photos shot with Leica M9 and Zeiss Planar 50mm f/2.

And last but not least … have you voted today? If you are new here, this blog has been nominated as one of the 10 Finalists for Singapore Best Photography Blog 2011. Voting is open until July 3. Anyone can vote, including those outside of Singapore. Just register and vote here.

Thank You everyone!!!!!

I experienced the great hospitality of India at the old Mysore Tobacco factory in Whitefield. Read more below.

I always love shooting old buildings. This factory has long been closed down and it’s now being used as warehouses. I went inside the factory compound and asked a guy I met there if I could take pictures. I was told later that the guy was hired as a security guard there. He said yes, so I walked further inside to shoot.

The security guard probably felt uneasy, so when I met him again inside the compound, he politely asked me to leave. So, I did. I made my way to the gate where I then met this man below.

His name is JC. I hope I got it correctly. He used to work at the tobacco factory there and now living in a house inside the factory compound. I had a quick chat with him and told him that I was leaving. To my surprise, he invited me to have tea at his house. I politely declined as I had promised the security guard that I would leave. The guard was also there when I chatted with JC. But the man insisted, so I obliged. I followed him to his house and was introduced to his family members.

I was served nice hot tea, some snacks and mango. He had few relatives visiting from another city. Some of them had visited Singapore, so we had some common topics to talk about. By the way, the mango was from the tree they have there. They said it wasn’t completely ripe yet, but it was nice. They gave me one to bring back too.

After a good half an hour chat, it’s time for me to go. That’s when I found out that they apparently needed to go to downtown Bangalore to visit the man’s eldest daughter who just got married recently. They delayed it so they could host me first. I felt bad but grateful at the same time. Great hospitality!

As the man sent me off, I stopped few times to shoot some more on the way out.

All photos shot with Leica M9 and Leica Summarit 35mm f/2.5 lens.

Now, time to rally for my blog again. Have you voted today? If you are new here, this blog has been nominated as one of the 10 Finalists for Singapore Best Photography Blog 2011. Voting is open until July 3. Anyone can vote, including those outside of Singapore. Just register and vote here. Thank You!!!!

I visited a brick factory in Hoskote, Bangalore Rural District, but unfortunately the workers had stopped working for the day. Instead I met these very friendly people who apparently live inside the factory compound. They also work there. I asked my driver to ask them if they would allow me to take their pictures. They said yes. So I took few shots of them. 

They may not have many things, but they have great hearts. Before I left, I asked for their address so I could mail them the prints from Singapore.

All photos shot with Leica M9 and Zeiss Planar ZM 50mm f/2 lens.

Now, time to rally for my blog again. Have you voted today? If you are new here, this blog has been nominated as one of the 10 Finalists for Singapore Best Photography Blog 2011. Voting is open until July 3. Anyone can vote, including those outside of Singapore. Just register and vote here. Thank You!!!!

Hello from Bangalore! Arrived safely and on time earlier this afternoon. Hotel was nice but far from the city even though it’s close to where I will be working from on Thursday and Friday. The wet markets I went to in 2006 are all far from here, but I will spend time shooting there this coming weekend. 

I had about two hours shooting around the hotel after checking in and before dinner. All shot with Leica M9 and Zeiss Planar 50mm ZM f/2.

The man below was selling chat masala. He was constantly busy serving people who just left their office and stopped to buy dinner from him.

The two guys below were waiting for a car to ride home. There was a strong backlight and hence their faces were almost in silhouette.

You need to have the right skill to get on to the bus while it’s moving.

The three modes of transportation: the bicycles, the motorcycles and the car.

And finally, my dinner, mutton biryani and mango lassi, back at the hotel.

It rained hard on Sunday morning. I came early to our church in Katong area as I needed to run some errands. While waiting, I shot some street photos. Can you see the rain drops in the photo above? See one more below.

I saw this man walking initially and he made a stop and sat in front of the OCBC bank on East Coast Road. He was tired and resting for a while.

Orchard Road … full of actions and busy people walking. I thought of capturing the motion of people walking  by using slow shutter speed. See two images below from Orchard Road.

The following photos below were taken at Joo Chiat Road. One of my favorite locations for street photography in Singapore.

Chinatown … another great location for street photography in Singapore.

And last but not least … Arab Street, also another great location for street photography.

All photos except one, were shot with Leica M9. I am getting in love more and more with this rangefinder camera. I enjoy the manual process of shooting with it. I don’t miss the auto focus of my other cameras when shooting street photography with it.

If you have not seen my status on Facebook, this blog has been chosen as one of the 10 finalists for Singapore Best Photography Blog 2011. The voting has started and will end on 3 July. The overall winner will be based on 30% public voting and 70% judges’ scores. Few things to note on the voting:

1. you can vote everyday and please vote everyday.    One vote per category per day.
2. voting is open for everyone in Singapore and overseas. You need to register before you can vote to ensure legitimate voting.

If you have a moment to spare, I would be very grateful if you could vote for me. Go here to vote. Thank you everyone for all the supports.

I am very tired now. Very little sleep in the past two days, but I just want to post these before I go to bed. I shot these on the same day when I shot the Kuda Kepang / Kuda Lumping dance at Joo Chiat. After that performance, I saw the nice sunset colors in the sky. I didn’t have my tripod with me, so I had no choice but to shoot handheld with Leica M9 and 90mm Summarit lens. Shooting low light photography without a tripod is tough. Hence, technically, these photos are not the best, but I would like to post them anyway, so when the weather is good and there is a good chance that the sunset would be nice, you can go there to shoot. Bring your tripod and have fun shooting the sunset.

What to shoot in Singapore? How about the people playing chess in Chinatown, near the Kreta Ayer market? It’s fun to watch and it’s easy to shoot. Respect them though since they usually concentrate on their game very much, so don’t just keep shooting. Pause, watch them and shoot. You can be very close to them, so using wide angle lens is fine. Get high, get to their eye level, get close and get wide. Vary your shots. All photos shot with Leica M9 and 35mm Summarit f/2.5 lens. I only spent about 20 minutes as I needed to go pick up my prints at the photo lab near there.

For those visiting Singapore, here is the map. The nearest MRT station is Chinatown.