"India, you love it or you hate it", is sometimes said. There is no middle ground. A country of extremes. Quite a few years ago I had been to New Delhi with my camera and I have fond memories of that afternoon. It resulted in some beautiful and colorful photos, but above all I remember the nice contact with the enthusiastic people, who sometimes literally come to you to have their picture taken.
In April I spent a short 24 hours in Bangalore, a city in the south of India with about 8.5 million inhabitants. The few hours I spent walking around the streets of Bangalore were actually one big déjà vu. At the time, I went out in New Delhi without knowing what to expect and therefore without a plan. Now, however, I knew somewhat what to expect and so I had thought in advance what I wanted to photograph.
Naturally, I hoped for some spontaneous moments of contact with the people on the street, which might result in a nice portrait. But above all, I wanted to capture what makes India typically India: life on the streets, the chaos (in traffic), the smells and colors, but also the enormous mess and stench that you will undoubtedly encounter if you wander around the street for an hour.
However, the circumstances were not easy. The bright high sun often created great contrasts. This shows once again how limited a modern digital camera sensor is in terms of dynamic range compared to our eyes. Fortunately, some things can be corrected quite easily in Lightroom. This time I found it difficult to make a small selection of the photos I took that day. Hopefully the 25 photos below give you a good impression of this impressive country and its inhabitants.
