Elephant proof door

I prefer to call it my Indian bed!

Tents and awnings

Stopping at small restaurants between larger cities, I was often pleasantly surprised by the colors and shapes of the tents and awnings that protected us from the sun.

Bikaner

That famous rat temple.
They do feed the rats but thankgod, they look more like cute little mice than rats. They will crawl over your feet though so do not go if you have a phobia.
Other than that, it is a very unusual place to visit.

Cows

In Rajasthan there are small towns where you find more cows than cars.

At the very South

Sunset on Kovalam beach was spectacular and different every night.
I wanted to capture the beauty of the sky as as well as the refection in the puddles that are all over the beach. The coconuts trees are to the right, you cannot see them here but they are there and making the whole scene much more memorable.
More on that later.

This is still India

Dharamsala up North.
Each day there was spectacular in its natural beauty.

Smiles

Most people I encountered loved to have their photo taken.
Sometimes they even requested it and then could not wait to look at the screen on my camera.

Cows and me

Every image is attached to so many memories.
I remember the heat, the smells, and every kid I met that day!

Yellow flowers

These have to be the most common flowers in India. A mum of some sort.
In French they are called oeillets d'Inde which would mean a variety of carnation.

An other rickshaw

In Thailand and in some other parts of India and Asia, they are called Tuk-tuk.
They can pollute more than an enormous bus. (Buses are starting to run on cleaner fuels. Hard to notice a difference yet...)

Favorite in Delhi

Humayun's tumb is by far my favorite monument in Delhi

Kids

I find Indian kids to be beautiful with genuine smiles. They look you in the eye and straight into your lens.

Evening shopping

These 2 women were buying a few potatoes for their next meal and were trying hard to have the price lowered.

Shared Ride

Just outside of Delhi, people sharing a local "taxi".

Camels

Camels are still used as a mean of transportation or to carry heavy loads around.
They are often decorated and wear "jewelry"

Scaffoldings

A lot of construction is still done using bamboo scaffoldings. You see this even in high rise buidings.

The way things work

I was told that many people die during the monsoon season
because of this type of "installation"

Lace

Stones can be carved with such care and detail that they remind you of lace.

(Near entrance at Delhi Red Fort).

Rickshaw

Rickshaws in Delhi have the same visual impact as yellow cabs in NYC. They are everywhere. Ride one and you will know the difference! OMG! First time I took a riskshaw I thought I was living my last hour. Do not know how they manage, but they always deliver you at your destination safe and sound (safe and speachless is more like it!).

Delhi Mosque

Prayer rugs inside the Old Delhi Mosque.

Delhi

Since my first contact with India was in Delhi, I will start with photos of Delhi.

This is inside the Red Fort.

In French we call those arches "arcatures polylobées". You can see a lot of them in Delhi and all over India.

There is an other Red Fort in Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and a third one in Lahore which is not a tourist destination right now.

I often try not to include people in my architectural photos.

India

Taking photos in India can be very overwhelming as there is always so much going on and you are constantly visually bombarded with images and colors, shapes and textures. It really is a photographer's paradise there and people also enjoy having their photo taken.One thing I tried to do was "keep it simple" as illustrated in these photos.