Why would India be hell for photographers? Some might argue it is one of the most photogenic countries in the world. Therein lies the rub, practically everything you see in India seems deserving of a photograph. Potential themes are endless: transport, notices, traditional crafts, wildlife - I could go on. But how to discriminate? do you choose an area to focus on, or do you snap indiscriminately at everything that catches your eye and hope to theme them later? I chose the latter route and am now busy post-processing 2000 + photos. I have themed a few for you to give an idea of the scope, but in doing it this way I am very aware of the lack of place and context.

What works best? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Transport

Bullock Cart on the road from Ooty to Coimbatore

Elephants used for transport Bandipur Tiger Reserve

Traditional Crafts

Lighting a cow dung fire to put with bananas in the 'banana cave' to ripen them Madurai Banana Market

Wildlife

Signs

Notice seen on station while riding the 'Toy Train'  from Ooty to Coonoor — Notice seen on station while riding the 'Toy Train' from Ooty to Coonoor

This is a tiny selection of the pictures I took and the themes explored during my travels in South India. I would love to know about your journeys and how you decide what to focus your camera on.

It seems a long time since I posted here. The principle reason for this is that blogging and builders don't go well together. We had builders, of one sort or another, in for most of 2105 and it felt like a year when art or artistic endeavours were constantly interrupted by life. Hopefully things should be calmer this year and I shall probably spend some time refreshing my blog and website - but for now I will just say 'Hola from Cuba' in what will almost certainly be the first of several posts as Cuba was a bit of a photographer's dream!

Cuba is a country of colour music and dance. It is also a country of poverty, hope and pride. I know a lot more about Cuba than before I went and from a different perspective. There is much that is good and much that is not so good. The country faces huge challenges in the immediate future as the old revolutionary leaders pass on and the US embraces the nation. I don't feel qualified to comment on any of this, though I am so hoping for a positive outcome for the Cuban people, so I am just going to share with you some of the colours and sights of what is a very special place.

In order to make some sense of what I saw I am going to theme the posts starting with transport. To start off with there are those wonderful classic cars, many of them used as taxis

Few have many of their original parts and most have been mended and remended over the years - but they still look stunning

Next come the vans and lorries - just as attractive in their own way

Next up is two wheeled transport, with cycle rickshaws much in evidence

as well as bikes for individual use

The further east you go in Cuba the more horses and mules you see. Horses pulling commercial vehicles, taxis and ridden by cowboys - we actually saw someone lasso a steer on the motorway between Havana and Santa Clara! there were also oxen and buffalo carts but unfortunately I didn't manage capture any of those.