Sunset over Bundi, Rajasthan

As the sun sank into the perpetual haze over the Aravalli hills, I picked my way down the darkening hillside from the old fort, through thorny scrub, over dry, dusty, rubble, past strangely silent troops of macaques that watched me like goblins as I passed.
[26 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 105 mm, ISO 200, 1/50 at f8]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Goats at Bundi, Rajasthan

A street scene in Bundi. 

  [26 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 85 mm, ISO 200, 1/80 at f8]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

The old fort, Bundi, Rajasthan

 

The Taragarh, the old fort on the hill overlooking Bundi, is a complex maze of crumbling buildings, walls, wells, terraces and other structures. During the day, visitors roam and peer. Some scrawl graffiti on the walls. Towards evening they vanish and the past emerges from the shadows.
[26 February 2007; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 10 mm, ISO 200, 1/50 at f14] 

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Decommissioned temple, Bundi

At Bundi in the evening I climbed to the ruined fort overlooking the town. The only inhabitants were macaques, an occasional melancholy bird, frogs calling from the echoing darkness of the step well. Ghosts and goblins too. Even the gods seemed to have departed.

[26 February 2007; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 20 mm, ISO 400, 1/4 at f6.3]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Evening sky, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Udaipur, in the mid south of Rajasthan, is most famous for its lakes, but on occasions while I was there the sky beat anything the lakes could offer. 

 [25 February 2007; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 24 mm, ISO 200, 1/30 at f8]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Kids in the Barda Hills, Gujarat

The kids at the wedding party assembled for a photo. Before they'd settled and replaced their smiles with formal faces, I snapped a photo.

[19 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 24 mm, ISO 200, 1/160 at f5.6. One third of a stop underexposure.]


All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Young guy in the Barda Hills, Gujarat

He wore a big grin most of the time, but as soon as the camera came up he got serious. I wonder what difference three years has made?
[17 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 47 mm, ISO 200, 1/60 at f5.6]
 
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At the wedding, Kileswar [4]

Also at the wedding party near Kileswar, in Gujarat's Barda Hills. The man on the left is an expert in the area’s medicinal plants.
[19 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 45 mm, ISO 200, 1/200 at f5.6. Difficult, contrasty light. I reduced the exposure by two thirds of a stop to minimise loss of detail in the highlights]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

At the wedding, Kileswar [3]

One of the men at the wedding party in the Barda Hills near Kileswar.

[19 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 93 mm, ISO 200, 1/160 at f5.0]  
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Langurs nit-picking, Ranthambore

I almost tagged this photo "People".
Ranthambore (or “Ranthambhore”) is one of India’s most famous National parks and is renowned particularly for its tigers: Machali (or Macchli) alone has been estimated as being worth over $US100 million to the Indian economy. Even if the estimate reflects a degree of wishful thinking on the part of the bestowers of the award, there’s no doubting Machali’s economic value. While I’d like to think her true worth far exceeds her economic value, it’s likely to be the latter that will carry most weight in decisions about tiger conservation.
Oh — and langurs like the two above do end up on the menu for tigers.
[28 February 2007; Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L, ISO 400, 1/1000 at f5.6]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Minder at Kileswar, Gujarat

His job was to look after us and make us feel welcome, so he showed us around, took us for long walks in the terrific heat, slashed with his knife at the vicious, thorny vines that threatened to ensnare us, introduced us to the locals, showed us where a leopard lived. He'd been a paratrooper, was proud of it, and had a delightful way of explaining his plans in a way that made them sound like orders.  His English was almost as rudimentary as my Gujarati. He was our friend.

[19 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 105 mm, ISO 400, 1/160 at f5.0]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Jungle babbler at Kileswar

I loved these crazy-eyed birds. When I return to India, meeting them again will be like meeting old friends. [The Latin binomial is Turdoides striata (often cited as “T. striatus” — I’ve used the name listed in Gill & Donsker (2010))].

Gill, F., & Donsker, D. (Eds.). (2010). IOC World Bird Names (version 2.4). Retrieved 16 April 2010, from http://worldbirdnames.org/n-warblers.html


[18 February 2007; Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L, ISO 400, 1/125 at f4.0]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Girl at Kileswar, Gujarat

The light under the trees near the temple at Kileswar had almost disappeared completely. I added a little light from the 20D’s little built-in flash.
[21 February 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 at 88 mm, ISO 800, 1/10 at f4.0; built-in flash]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Evening at Kileswar, Gujarat

At Kileswar (pronounced, and sometimes spelled, "Kileshwar") in the Barda Hills. A warm wind, the screams of peafowl roosting, a dog barking. After dark, the possibility of a leopard prowling. 
 
[19 February 2007; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 10 mm, ISO 200, 1/15 at f7.1]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Beach stone, Birdlings Flat

The day after our visit to Godley Head we headed to Birdlings Flat. A few people prowled the long shingle beach looking for sea-polished agates or whatever else of interest one might find on beaches like this, or perhaps just for time alone with one's thoughts. Someone had dropped a stone from higher up the beach onto the damp shingle; it lay in its small depression as if waiting for the beach to swallow it.



[19 January 2010; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 10 mm, ISO 200, 1/250 at f10]
There’s a new (short) post up on Pohanginapete.
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Godley Head, Lyttelton harbour

After watching the paragliders we continued to Godley Head to walk a little way along the track on the Lyttelton harbour side (that's the entrance to the harbour). A grey day, cool although it was midsummer.

[18 January 2010; Canon 20D, 10–22 mm f4 at 10 mm, ISO 200, 1/200 at f11]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Paragliders over Taylor's Mistake

In January this year, when I was in the South Island, we walked along the clifftops at Whitewash Head (Christchurch) and later drove out to Godley Head (in the distance in the photo). From the road we watched paragliders sailing over the coast; the sense of height and freedom even as an onlooker was simultaneously giddying and exhilarating.

[18 January 2010; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 47 mm, ISO 200, 1/320 at f11]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Tin whistling

Few musical instruments are simpler than the tin whistle, yet played well it's a delight either alone or accompanied. Paul at the Celtic in 2007 (Movember, if you hadn't guessed), playing with Slate Row.
[Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 105 mm, ISO 3200, 1/13 at f4.0. A hint of grain added in Lightroom at the very end of the processing.]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

I'm watching you [duck eye]

At Days Bay on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour, I spent some time photographing the colony of little shags in Williams Park. The ducks, well used to people, simply kept an eye on me.
[12 September 2007; Canon 20D, EF 300 mm f4 L, 1/30 at f4.0]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Nyika Plateau, Malawi

On the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi I finally felt as if I'd found somewhere remote. (After being closed for two years, the plateau re-opened for visitors late last year.)
[21 May 2007; Canon 20D, EF 24–105 f4 L at 105 mm, ISO 200, f16, 1/80s]
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Aloe flower, Nyika Plateau, Malawi

Aloe spp. flowering on a rock outcrop among grasslands on the Nyika Plateau, northern Malawi.
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Applying the tikka, Rishikesh

One has to concentrate when applying the tikka (or tilak).

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Sunset at Moeraki

Moeraki, on the southern coast of the South Island, is most famous for its boulders. They must be one of the most-photographed subjects in the region; this is one of my attempts from January 2005, not longer after I'd bought the 20D.
All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Beached tree at the Cove of Giants

Nine months later, the old beached pine had sunk further into the sand and its trunk, bleached paler, had begun to desiccate. [This is a larger and slightly tweaked version of the photo on the most recent Pohanginapete post.]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor