…especially the 3 min mark in India.
It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of Tina, the mother of our wonderful children, a few days ago. She fought courageously, but complications from cancer took her from us. Tina was deeply loved, especially by our amazing, clever kids, and we will always cherish the memories we created together. While life won’t be the same without her, the family and I will continue to honor her by ensuring the kids are surrounded with love and support. This photo is from one of our unforgettable ‘round the world family trips to India, a beautiful moment in time we will always treasure. It’s hard to pick a photo… we have so many special family photos, and she looks beautiful and lovely in all of them.
Just like when I was playing a little with Fuji cameras to see what they might do for my workflow, I spent some time with the Medium Format Hasselblad H5D. Wow that thing was huge and being a little crazy I decided that a trip across the world including India, the Middle East and Europe (a good chunk by train) with the family was an ideal situation for it. It did give me a lot to think about in terms of what I needed or wanted in a camera system, and it also created some epic images.
But which? Is it a Sony? Have I moved to something completely different? Is it finally time to go mobile phone only? While you mull that over, here’s a favorite shot of mine from the trusty old D2X back in the day…
The Thiruvalluvar Statue, located atop a small island, near the town of Kanyakumari on the southernmost point of the Indian peninsula. Here two seas (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) meet an ocean (the Indian Ocean) creating some epic scenes.
Beautiful details on the towers in Mahabalipuram. I could stare at them for hours. When standing there, you can see monkeys all over the place. They blend in really well, but there are a ton. They run and jump and swing all over the place, making the whole façade feel alive and ever-changing.
It was nice to get way off the tourist track in India from time to time. This city, Pondicherry, actually has had a name-change like so many cities in India. Now it’s called Puducherry, although I find that most Indians I talked to still call in Pondicherry, so I’m calling it that too. Other names seem to stick better. Like, for example, Bombay is now called Mumbai, and most Indians call it Mumbai. It all comes from those tricky Englishmen who came in, could not say the regular name, and the Englishified it!
Where three seas meet on the southern tip of India you’ll find this massive statue just out of the ocean. I took this at sunrise one morning after we got off the train. It was a disorienting morning because the train rumbled down the tracks all night then we got out off at about 4 AM. Everything is a bit confusing when waking up at 4 AM! Then it was even more confusing navigating a bunch of tiny and crowded Indian streets in the dark of morning. I had no idea what I was really seeing until a little bit of light hit the scene, and then I was totally blown away!
Tina, my first wife, as I liked to refer to her when we were married, had a small panic attack here. Our youngest, Scarlett, kind of got lost in a mass of tourists. We found her about a minute later and of course, being a true extrovert, Scarlett was not worried at all and didn’t even notice!
While on our trip through India I liked to stop in each location and take some time to wander around the local markets. They were all filled with their own uniqueness and always packed with color.
I probably visited over 50 of these amazing temples in India. Besides the ancient structures, it was fascinating to watch remote villagers also making the same pilgrimage. I think I averaged about 1,000 photos a day, and I still have only processed about 20% of them.
