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| Cosmic Chaos Photography Tour to The Pushkar Camel Fair, India If you thought a photography tour, workshop or photo expedition to the Pushkar Camel Fair was all about photographing camels, think again! Of course there are the camels - a whole sea of them. A riot of colors. A mass of humanity. A celebration of culture. A carnivalsque atmosphere. And of course, idiosyncrycies enough to the confound the most seasoned of photographers. These, are my impressions from the various Photo Tours I've led to the Pushkar Camel Fair. The whole experience can be summed up in two words: Cosmic Chaos! |
A very dour looking camel sports a colorful turban on its head. A camel cart driver feels the need - the need for speed - and puts the pedal to the metal (in Pushkar, that means kicking the camel in the balls). Camels Ramu & Jhumri - the local versions of Romeo and Juliet - have been exchanging furitive looks, and their owners get them engaged (after due consultation with the local astrologer, of course!) before they go out and do something that may dishonour their clans. The barbers are having a field day, with both camels (and their owners) lining up for a trim. A character at the the barber shop could be mistaken for one of the itinerant holy men who spend their lives standing with one hand raised - a closer look reveals he's he's getting his armpit shaved... that's Pushkar for you: chaos on a cosmic scale, where every turn throws up sights and sounds galore. |
Pushkar throws up sights and sounds galore. It is my opinion that neither photographs nor images can truly recreate the magic that is the Pushkar Camel Fair. To experience and photograph the Pushkar Camel Fair is to gain an insight into the Cosmic Chaos that is India. |
Having arrived late in the afternoon, my group and I headed off to the trading grounds for a quick orientation tour. As the group split up, each participant took off to discover things to photograph, I decided to park myself in one of the countless makeshift tea-stalls on the grounds and partake of the rather milky brew. Was it camel milk? I'm not too sure, and I don't think I wanted to know either! |
I watched the world - well, actually camels - go by while I had an animated discussion with the local herders and traders over several glasses of tea. Time has litle value in rural India (hey, we believe in re-incarnation after all, and time is measured in lifetimes), but I did keep an eye peeled on the sun and the light. I'm fanatical when it comes to matters of light - a lightchaser if ever there was one - and I was waiting for the light to get just right. |
Scores of photographers (or rather, people with cameras) passd by. Several eyebrows shot up at the sight of me hobnobbing with the locals. Some took out their long lenses and made some shots of the locals before scurrying away, much to the discomfort of the locals; and I can understand why the locals tend to throw rocks at them at times. A well-meaning guy from Delhi (armed with the latest Canon DSLR) walked up to me and inquired what on earth I was doing having tea with the locals, instead of photographing the camels. He gave me a strange look when I said that I was "participating"; he probably thought I'm nuts, but then it's the nut behind the gear that's the most important component in photography, isn't it? I did sneak a quick look at his camera, sure enough it was set on the "green button" (fully automatic) mode... oh well!!! |
By now the light was right, filtering in as it was through the semi-translucent tarpulin that shaded the stall. I asked the locals - whith whom I'd struck up quite a rapport by then, if I could make some images of them. They were more than glad to participate as I shot off several exposures. Here's one that I like the most: |
Pushkar is as much (if not more) about people photography as it is about camels, and I took this opportunity to make more shots of some locals. Interacting with local communities is something that I stress on in my photo tours, workshops & expeditions; it does take time to strike up a rapport, but it is such a rewarding experience at the end of the day, and makes for so much better intimate portraits what with the hearty participation of our subjects. |
The sun was now lower in the sky as I moved out in search for - what else, camels! Camels come in all shades and hues, both in terms of color (well, mainly brown and black), and temperaments. I was looking to make some images that reflected their temperamental nature, and I came across one who hadn't taken too kindly to being sold by his owner. Based on my previous experiences at the Pushkar Camel Fair, I can vouch for the fact that camels are bastidges (more on this later, you'll know just why I use that term in due course), but I'm digressing... |
I chanced upon two traders having a rather heated discussion over the price of a camel; the potential buyer was in quite a hurry, and agreed to the ridiculously high price quoted by the seller (much to the undisguised glee of the latter). Money changed hands, but glee rapidly changed to dismay as the ex-owner realised that the camel prefered him to the new owner! The camel obviously didn't consider itself a tradable commodity, and decided to drive home that point by spitting in the face of its new owner (something I've been told, is quite common). Good sport that he was, the purchaser took it in his stride (it was a very large stride - he leapt back several feet!) while letting loose a string of expletives at the camel, its mother, ancestors et al. I guess one needs to be a good sport - and good at sports of an athletiic nature - if one's dealing with camels on a regular basis. |
By then time the camel had firmly parked itself on the ground and refused the budge, and the new owner was hollering away that he needed to get back to his tent asap, lest he be adminstered a sound dose of tongue-lashing by his wife. And if the camel didn't wan't to come along, well then he wanted his money back. What followed was a veritable tug-of-war, with a sound beating with a stick thrown in for good measure. And in case you're confused, let me be quick to clarify that it was the ex-owner beating the camel with the stick and NOT the purchaser being hammered by his wife! |
I walked around as the sun sinks lower, making several images, both of the camel grounds as well as the areas around it. Most visitors stick to the grounds itself, which is quite a pity, as the surrounding areas present several photo-ops of traders and their camels making their way to the fair, or just lounging around. As the sage once said, photo-ops abound everywhere, one just has to see them! |
Innumerable bornfires light up as the sun finally set and the locals start cooking their evening meals. Like the tea stalls, they're great places to catch up on the day's activities and the latest gossip (mostly revolving around local politics). I decided to make some images - and horrors of horrors, I wasn't carrying my flash or tripod on me! I ended up shooting hand-held, and this is what I came up with - nothing outstanding, but it does demonstrate that you can shoot without a tripod at extremely slow shutter speeds , given the right techniques: |
Early next morning we land up at "The Yard" - an area removed from the regular trading grounds, where camels are washed, groomed, fed, fussed over and otherwise made to look their best before being led off for the day's trading. It's much like a railway yard, far removed from the public gaze, where the mechanical eqivalent of "camel trains" get the "once over" before pulling into a railway station. Needless to say, camel trains heading to the trading grounds are quite a sight to behold, and I knew that my trip participants would be more than glad to make shots of sights other than the conventional ones of the fair. |
All things come to one who waits, and travel photography is a waiting game - waiting for the right light, waiting for the right elements to enter a frame, and at times, waiting for the unexpected. Our waiting resulted in some rich dividends, including this shot of a herder leading two of his camels to the yard just as the sun peeped over the hills. |
It wasn't too long before the camel trains showed up. Unlike their mechanical counterparts, they aren't given to sound a warning whistle, nor make any attempts to slow down for obstacles, and one should keep that in mind before parking oneself in their path. By the time I made the shot I'd visualized, I was faced with two choices: end up making news in the local newspaper ("Photographer run over by camels; camels plan to protest over increasing encroachment on their turf"), or be a good sport and take a rather large stride - or rather leap - out of harms way. |
Our Photo Tour to the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan - India, will turn on it's very head every notion you may have had of photography, India, and maybe of life itself. truly, to experience and photograph the Pushkar Camel Fair is to gain an insight into the Cosmic Chaos that is India. The chaos will leave you confused. Bewildered. Overwhelmed. Yet, you will discover that there is a deep, abiding order to the chaos, a systematic method to the madness. You will begin to understand the very nature of Nature. And in doing so, you will begin to understand the paradox that is India. This is not just a photography tour to Pushkar - it is a discovery of the culture of India - and maybe Life itself ! |
Please visit our Five Stops of Light India Photo Tour & Expedition page for a detailed itinerary and information regarding our November Photo Trip that includes the Pushkar Camel Fair. |
| Herder amongst camels Photography Tour to Pushkar, India |
Photographic Workshops, Tours & Expeditions to India for the Discerning Photographer
Note: For 2010, we do not have a trip devoted exclusively to photographing the Puhskar Camel Fair. Pushkar is however included in our Five Stops of Light India Photo Tour & Expedition. This extended photography tour and expedition to India covers the best of colonial and Mogul-era Delhi, Rajasthan and the Pushkar Camel Fair, Agra, and Varanasi. |
Tip: Once familiar with a location - head off on your own to make images. The worst thing you can do on a photo tour or expedition is go where everybody else is, and photographing what everybody else is pointing their lens at. |
To add relief to what would otherwise have been an almost monochromatic image of this man and his elaborately wrung turban, I positioned myself so as to include the other herder in the background. Since the gent in the background was not the main subject, I chose to throw him slightly out of focus (a signature style of mine when it comes to portraits), using the depth-of-field preview button on my camera. The setting was a tea stall, so I wait till the background subject raises his glass to take a sip before taking this shot. |
Tip: Get close to your subjects but do keep a healthy distance from the camels! Especially the black ones - they're the devil incarnate! To be on the safe side, don't get too close to the brown ones either, I'm sure they're trained in karate (or some other martial arts) - they pack a nasty sidekick, |
Repeat after me: "For all the megabucks I spent on it, my SLR is nothing but a friggin' glorified point-and-shoot camera, if all I'm doing is using that "green button" to make images - and that's the truth!" Get that into your head, and then do something about it. Learn about metering and exposure modes & how to put your DSLR to best use. The quickest way is to join us on one of our photography workshops in India - end of shameless advert ! |
Tip: Backlighting can make for some great images, especially when the sun is relatively low in the sky. The presence of dust - or water droplets - in the air yeilds great results. One must meter with care however, if one wishes to ensure that foreground subjects don't get rendered as silhouttes without any detail in them. |
This shot illustrates two vital points I impress upon participants during my photo tours, photographing workshops and expeditions: The science and the craft of ensuring you manage to capture details in the shadows (the dark areas of an image) where you want details, and the art of shooting hand-held at extremely low shutter speeds (as the use of tripods may not be viable at all times). To put things in perspective, I made this image at 1/4th of a second. And I didn't have IS / VR enabled. To learn this - and more - ummm, I think I've already mentioned shameless adverts elsewhere on this page. |
This was a tricky exposure to get right, and I used my camera's spot meter to take a reading off both a part of the sky as well as the camels to determine if the tonal range fell within the latitude of the sensor. I worked out an average that would do justice to both the highlights and the shadows before tripping the shutter. |
Having spotted this camel train, I chose a position that placed me directly along their path, and got close to the ground. By the time I'd made the shot, the lead camel was a mere six feet away, and had no plans of slowing down or changing directions. Wide angle lenses (I was using one for this shot)exagerate distances. And camel trains - unlike their mechanical couterparts, neither toot their horns, nor slam on brakes! |
