|
With the most
photographed monument of the world "Taj Mahal" in India remains an
attractive destination for photographers. On the very first day of
your travel in India you would find plenty of pictures to shoot. It
may by the sight of the first cow on the street or colorful dressed
families in their ethnic costumes in this vast and vivid country.
It would not be seldom at a monument that you will be accompanied by
some local people who would like to have you as foreigner on their
photograph. Many of these curious people are themselves tourists and
live perhaps in the places where they have not seen the people from
other countries. Most of these people are families or the young
school students who take pride being photographed with foreigners.
Indian people are friendly when it comes to be photographed. You
should not wonder if everybody would like be on the photograph.
On the streets or where you are not sure of taking pictures one
should pay attention to the body language of the person you are
willing to photograph - most of them would smile and pose till you
have clicked with the flash light. Should you get an opportunity to
photograph an Indian marriage ceremony this would be one of the
highlights of your journey. Ask your Indo Vacations driver and Guide
to get to a particular location and they would be glad to assist you
on this.
There are many "false Gurus" who are dressed in the saffron color
and appear to be an inviting photo object. However if photographed
they expect to have some money from you. If you need to have them
photographed, keep some change of 10 - 20 Rs. notes of Indian money
with you. The same is with the good looking snake and his charmer
who appear to dance on the flute music but dances only due to the
movement of the flute as it fears to be beaten otherwise (snakes can
not hear and reacts only to the movements of the surroundings). At
the end of the snake dance the snake charmer may try to sell you his
flute for some handsome amount of dollars - please ask your driver
or Guide of Indo Vacations to assist you on the right value of the
flute. Indo Vacations do not recommend on photographing the beggars
that you may find near the tourist places nor one should photograph
the poorest of poor. Already considerable harm has been done to the
image of the normal people of India by some of the photographers by
selling the poverty images of India.
Indo Vacations also do not recommend on photographing the dancing
monkeys or bears or other animals driven by a stick by the owner as
that is more cruelty with animals than having fun. Our Guides and
escorts colleagues have stopped since few years to make a photo
breaks and the number of these animals along the street with their
owner has also reduced and some of them have been freed into the
jungle where they belong to. Tourists should respect the culture
while entering the holy places of any religion. Religious values are
to be regarded and if not allowed or refused by the people at the
happening you should move the camera away. Especially funerals
processions and cremations should not be photographed – by doing so
you will hurt the feelings of the local people and specially of the
concerned family.
Unfortunately since few years in India there are charges on
photography at many of the monuments which are visited frequently by
the tourists. At some monument it would cost you only Rs. 25 - 50
but it can exceed up to Rs. 300 at some of the Fort and Palaces.
Still cameras are cheaper than the video cameras. Always take the
receipt of the money you have paid to photograph the specific
monument. Though it is not always easy, so you have to decide if you
really need to have photograph of every monument for the demanded
money. Good postcards of every monument is normally available in the
post card shops. Do not take your camera out or try to photograph if
not paid or not having the permission to do so. You may find some
fellow tourists doing this and may find that the regulations are not
followed strictly in countries like India but an officer in mad mood
can spoil your day if caught !
However in the countries of South Asia you would have so many photo
objects and happenings that you may run out of the stock of the
films. This should not be a reason of panic. Film rolls are easily
available in India, but the imported film rolls are a little
expensive. It is therefore recommended to bring enough films for
personal use. Photographic equipment should be checked, and if it is
new, make sure to test it by shooting a roll. Films processing
facilities are available even in small towns and often this can be
done within 2 to 24 hours. The best time for shooting in India is
two hours after dawn and two hours before sunset. The weather may be
dry or hazy during the summers that demands special care from the
photographer. Photography is prohibited at airports, defense
installations and certain ancient monuments, for security reasons.
Special permission is needed for using artificial lights at ancient
monuments. Photography is also not allowed in some tribal areas.
Your Indo Vacations Guide will be there to assist more on this.
|
