A Photography Guide to the East India Coast: Bengal and Odisha

It was a sunny afternoon some twenty-odd years ago when I, as a toddler, first stepped foot on a sea-beach and heard what I thought was probably some kind of a prehistoric beast, hungry and roaring in the distance. Turns out, it was just the ocean.

This incredible sight of water as far as the eye can see, with waves breaking all around was something which made a lasting impression on my childhood fantasy, and many years hence, this is what contributed to my decision to work in Bhubaneswar, a coastal town in Odisha, India.

Throughout my stay in Bhubaneswar, I happened to spend a lot of time photographing the coast, starting from all the way back at West Bengal’s Ganges delta and going up to the Odisha border.

Consolidating all my experiences, this article will be more of a tour guide rather than a manual of photography technicalities.

Bakkhali

Our trip down the Eastern Coastline begins at Kolkata in West Bengal.

A hundred and thirty kilometers drive from Kolkata across the countryside will get you to a very busy fishing town called Namkhana. There happens to be a recently constructed flyover that will take you over the wide channel of water below, and within an hour from here, you will reach the wide-open seashores of Bakkhali. The tiny village is located on the Southernmost point of a huge island which is adjacent to the famous world-heritage-site mangrove forests of Sunderban.

At first glance, you may be inclined to assume that there is no sea here, given the fact that at low tides, you can barely see the sea, which recedes a good three or four kilometers, thus leaving behind an endless desert of black sand. But at high tide, like an enraged ex who has scores to settle, the sea comes back with vengeful ferocity! With wide-open beaches, clear skies, and zero light pollution for astrophotography, you won’t be short of things to shoot here.

The adjacent Kargil beach has even more opportunities to make images, as I found out only a few weeks back when I was there, and got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. Exhibiting questionable behavior, as I’m sure the photographers among you would do as well, instead of running for cover, I was looking for compositions and came up with one of my favorite images.

Tajpur

Moving down the Eastern coastline, our second destination lies a hundred and seventy kilometers from Kolkata. A few kilometers away from the huge and bustling holiday destination of Digha, Tajpur is like the younger brother who is overshadowed by his sibling’s good looks, but quietly passes all examinations with distinction. Shielded all over by a forest of casuarina, the tranquil beach is the perfect holiday destination for those among us who are fed up with the dreary Mondays and wants out.

With excellent Bengali cuisine and freshly caught fish, the food here is a real ecstasy. For the photographer, the casuarina forests offer deadwood all around to use as a foreground for great seascapes. Even with no good light, like in the dead of winter when it’s cold and windy, minimalistic images can be found all over the place.

Chandipur

Crossing the West Bengal border and into Odisha, the first destination you will be arriving at is called Balasore. Being a huge and bustling town, you will find no shortage of transportation. A half-hour auto-rickshaw ride will get you to Chandipur, one of my most favorite destinations.

Hotels are few and far in between, which is why you won’t find hordes of tourists flocking here like in some of the places in Bengal. Spend your afternoons with one foot over the other while the salty sea air gently caresses your face. At sunset, however, it’s showtime! A boring sunrise or sunset here is as uncommon as Elvis in a rap battle. Color fly left right and center, with pinks and magentas all over. It really is not extraordinary to see double rainbows arching over the crystal clear sea at sunrise: this really is paradise. When the sun creeps down the horizon, clear skies can provide great opportunities for astrophotography as well.

Puri

Crossing over a huge distance of similar beaches, two hundred and seventy kilometers away from Chandipur lies the holy town of Puri. The town houses one of the most ancient temples in India. Constructed in 1161 CE, this temple houses incredible architecture and history. A short distance away from here, lies a beach which a very heavily frequented by tourists. With shops and markets all around, you will struggle to find an inch of space to walk. However, a long walk along the beach will take you to the confluence of the Dhaulia river and the ocean, where you won’t really find a soul in sight.

The ocean here can be very moody, mostly always roaring like an angry bear. For the photographer, Puri is more of a place to practice street photography, rather than landscapes. Early mornings in Puri beach are a great place to be in, as the fishermen return with their catch and try to dock their boats without flipping over. Rough seas also mean that a long lens can get you great wave abstractions, given the light is good.

Rambha

A short distance from Puri lies a tiny hamlet of a place that can easily compete with some of the best places in the country, but only the locals are aware of it. Rambha is a tiny railway station close to Berhampur. Most trains coming from Bhubaneswar towards Vizag take a five-minute break at this forlorn station, from where you need to take an auto-rickshaw to reach your destination.

The Chilika lake, which starts just after Puri, is Asia’s largest brackish water lake and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The huge and sprawling lake, on entering Rambha, is transformed into something out of a photographer's dream. Hills surround the entire region of Rambha with the lake centered in the landscape.

For the wildlife photographer, the marshland has plenty of migratory birds flying in during the winter as well. If you are feeling adventurous, you can take a long and meandering boat ride in the lake, and go even closer to the surrounding hills. With some luck, you might also find a group of Gangetic Dolphins racing alongside your boat.

Gopalpur

Our long journey across the Eastern coastline of India ends at Gopalpur, the southernmost beach of Odisha. About forty kilometers from Rambha, Gopalpur is unlike any other beach that we have come across in our journey. First impressions might make this place feel very ordinary, but look closely, and you will find huge rocks jutting out of the water, making the water swirl and twist all in a single, beautiful motion.

There is a cliffside adjacent to the sea, where a large and dilapidated fort stands guard, looking out at sea like a silent observer. The sea here can be very violent, as the rocks provide a lot of resistance to the breaking waves. If you are in luck, the light here can be absolutely gorgeous, as I found out so many times in all my visits to this beautiful location.

Apart from the locations I have mentioned here, there are plenty more along the Bengal-Odisha coastline which has possibilities for spectacular imagery, but most of these places are crowded throughout the year and lack breathing space, which as a photographer I really value. Heavy commercialization and easy access have made most of these locations lose their natural charm, and plenty more of the same 'development ' is ongoing.

Here’s to hoping that the tiny, off-the-beaten-track locations along the Eastern coast that I have had the fortune to visit and photograph remain as they are now: untouched, unadulterated.

Wild.

About the author : Ranit Dholey is a landscape and street photographer based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Dholey's work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

Image credits: Header illustration of India by Nichalp and licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

#travel #bengal #india #landscape #location #odisha #ranitdholey

5 Top Places to Shoot in Kolkata, a 400-Year-Old Indian City

Since time immemorial, the majority of street photographers among us chase a singular objective when they walk out with their cameras: chaos. There are, of course, exceptions to this generalization. But the most happening places mostly always give us the maximum to work with.

Kolkata, a city off the Eastern coast of India, is a place that was the capital of India between 1772 and 1911 during British rule. The proximity to the Indian Ocean, fertile lands, and easy access to Eastern Asia through the legendary ‘Silk Route' in Bengal is what made Kolkata the fulcrum of the British trade machinery. Being the mixture of sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice it was, Kolkata was home to people from all over the planet.

People from Persia, Central Asia, and of course, England, had made Kolkata a unique blend of cultures and cuisine that is hard to find anywhere in the world. You should not be surprised if you find a two-hundred-year-old sweet shop while walking through a narrow North Kolkata alleyway, and neither should you be surprised when a passerby tells you that the rickety house standing just beside a modern-day skyscraper, was a place where the pioneer of Indian Independence Movement, Subhash Chandra Bose made his residence.

The most astonishing part of this story would be to tell you that a large percentage of the four-hundred-year-old history of Kolkata is still preserved for all to see. Here are the top five spots where you must visit if you ever have the opportunity to explore this age-old city.

Kumortuli

Starting extreme North, a walk through the banks of the Ganges will take you to Kumortuli, which literally translates to ’The Potter’s Brush’.

During British rule, Lt Holwell, under directions from the British East India Company, allocated sections of North Kolkata to workers from different sectors of the society. The Kumortuli was a place that was home to the many pottery workers, who fashioned idols from the mud found by the banks of Ganga. Presently, the pottery workers at Kumortuli manufacture and export hundreds of thousands of idols for the famous ‘Durga Puja’ as well as several other Bengali occasions scattered throughout the year. A short stroll through the narrow alleys of Kumortuli will show you the incredible artistry the people here have developed over hundreds of years.

Girish Park

Coming out of Kumortuli, heading towards Central Avenue will get you to a place that is one of the oldest localities of the city. The Vivekananda Road and Kali Krishna Tagore Street will lead you to a square that looks like it has endured hundreds of years of traffic passing through it, because it really has. The streets here still abound in hand-drawn rickshaws, and traveling in them will give you an experience quite common to the 1800s. The road takes a left turn underneath the Howrah Bridge, which is again an incredible place to take photographs. The winter mornings at this dark corner of the city are a joy to behold, with incredible side-light streaming from the East. There are images to be taken everywhere.

Armenian Ghat

Heading straight underneath the Howrah Bridge will get you to the Armenian Ghat. It is said that during British rule, the Armenians contributed quite a lot to the growth and prosperity of Kolkata. This ancient ‘Ghat’ by the Ganges was built by Manvel Hazaar Maliyan in 1734. This ghat’s actual purpose was to facilitate the docking of merchant ships, and this exact infrastructure has withheld the test of time. The modern-day Armenian ghat is home to fifty or so people who are mostly workers or priests from the local temples. The place is also in close proximity to a huge and bustling flower market that houses any and all flowers that you can possibly think of.

A short walk from here will get you to the biggest market in the city: Burrabazaar. Climb a little higher in any of the buildings around, and that will give you a panoramic view of the legendary Howrah bridge.

Maidan

Crossing central Kolkata will get you to a huge open field that looks like it never ends. With a healthy population of large trees and plenty of open space, ‘Maidan’ is known as the lungs of Kolkata. The Indian Army’s fortress, Fort Williams, lies underneath this huge field, away from the public eye. At any point of the day, you will find people from all over the city at this juncture, some playing soccer, others cricket, and some having a cup of tea, away from the humdrum of the city. Winter mornings here completely change the look and feel of the place. Dense fog makes it impossible to see even a few feet ahead, but this in turn gives plenty of atmosphere to shoot images lit with the soft warm rays of the rising sun.

Victoria Memorial

Just behind Maidan, you will find the crown jewel of Kolkata, Victoria Memorial. Akin to its namesake, this heritage building was built as a memorial to Queen Victoria by Lord Curzon in the year of 1906. This huge central building houses a museum that exhibits guns, bullets, and canons that were used during the First and the Second World Wars, along with other artifacts. For the photographer, the sprawling campus, along with the flower gardens and excellent planned construction, presents lots of opportunities to take photographs.

Apart from these five, there are quite literally a hundred or so places in Kolkata where you can find old Persian guesthouses, authentic Chinese breakfast, or old temples that house idols decorated in pure gold: the list goes on.

While you walk in these centuries-old streets, you will find a friendly and welcoming city underneath all the layers of history, with people willing to help you out at a moment's notice, or strangers striking up conversations with you out of nowhere.

This is the place that I call home.

About the author : Ranit Dholey is a landscape and street photographer based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Dholey's work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

#inspiration #tips #travel #city #india #kolkata #locations #ranitdholey #streetphotography #travelphotography

Landscape Hunting at 18,000 Feet: Photos of North Sikkim, India

Landscape photography is as much about photography as it is about travel. I believe it would not be very outlandish of me to assume that for most of us, our hunt for stunning landscape images began at some moment of epiphany, in some corner of the planet, when some awe-inspiring vista was rude enough to make us realize how underprepared we were to photograph such a scene in all of its glory.

In the spirit of the first love of any landscape photographer, travel, this piece will be more of a travel guide than an instruction set of focus-stacking or HDR.

Grab a cup of tea, sit back, and relax.

The Indian Subcontinent is guarded by the mighty Himalayas in the Northern and North Eastern boundaries, starting from Jammu and Kashmir in the extreme North, and ending somewhere near West Bengal. Somewhere in the middle, the Himalayas arch into Nepal, China, and beyond. In the northeastern edge of India, from where the mountains cross into Nepal, lies the state of Sikkim.

You the traveler, starting from West Bengal, must take a flight or a train to Jalpaiguri station, from where you can hire a cab which will take you to Sikkim. Your journey starts from this busy railway station: your head aches from all the chaos and the people, you try to peek beyond the tree line hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountains you have heard so much about. But alas, you see nothing. Your cab speeds off into the busy town of Siliguri, and before you realize it, you have nothing but endless forest on either side of the road.

Goodbye, civilization!

You keep following the turquoise Teesta River upstream as it swerves and turns below, and all of a sudden you see the mountains up ahead!

From here, begins the long but soothing journey through Sevoke town, and into Sikkim.

The capital of Sikkim, Gangtok, is where you would want to begin your arduous 120Km car ride to North Sikkim. It is advised you stay a night here to acclimatize yourself to the cold and the altitude. Gangtok is at an altitude of 5,500 feet. The city center of Mg Marg might surprise you with its bustling market and sprawling restaurants.

Your morning should start early, and after a quick breakfast, you get a car and be on your way. The North Sikkim Highway sweeps across plenty of waterfalls and thousand-foot drops a few inches from your car’s tires: trust me, this is as exciting a seven-hour car ride as it gets.

A quick shout out to the cab drivers who will be responsible for your safety: their driving skills are really nothing short of Schumacher taking the third turn of Circuit Paul Ricard in the French Grand Prix.

If you are like me and you make multiple stops on the way for tea, you will enter North Sikkim at some point in the evening as the tiny Town of Lachen swims into view. The moment you open the door, you realize the sudden drop in temperature. Lachen is at an altitude of 8500 feet and is surrounded by huge Himalayan peaks at all sides. The tiny town ends just as it begins, home to a few hundred people and a few shops. It is advised you don’t go meandering into the dark, as Himalayan black bears are quite common, and they don’t take any nonsense from puny humans loitering around with f/2.8 lenses and Photopills.

As your 3 AM alarm wakes you up from your deep slumber, you will find your car and driver ready and waiting for you. As the morning slowly dawns, that’s when you realize the beauty of this place. Snow white peaks and thousands of feet high waterfalls all around. It really is nirvana.

Your car lumbers over rough roads for hours at a stretch, when slowly you start seeing snow on the ground. Every few minutes you gain elevation until at one point, wherever you look, you see snow. The car rumbles on still, and when it finally stops for you to get down, your head spins a little.

Turns out you are at Kalapatthar, at an altitude of 17,000 feet. Breathing feels like a chore, and every step has become strenuous. But you don’t take a breather, not when you have a camera with you: because this is probably one of the most incredible vistas you will ever lay your eyes upon. The frozen river has reduced to a stream, and from thousands of feet above it looks like a silver snake, swimming into oblivion. As the sun peeks behind the clouds, it feels like heaven.

A quick detour from here will take you to the sacred Gurudongmar Lake at 18000 feet, which is surrounded by huge peaks at three sides. The moment you leave your car here, you are hit with ice-cold winds and dust. But you bear it, a little cold blister won’t hurt, but not taking a photograph surely will.

The descent feels quick, and before you know it you are back at Lachen gulping down food like you’ve never eaten before: it really is quite a tiresome journey. But wait, you aren’t done yet!

Your car takes you through another three hours of rocky roads and freezing cold winds to the town of Lachung, your last stop. You call the night early, and your paining knees get some rest as you sleep and it rains cats and dogs outside.

The morning brings a fresh feeling, as you see you are once again in a tiny mountain town, surrounded by enormous peaks in all directions. It turns out the sound of rain wasn’t rain at all, it was a huge waterfall coming down from a mountain peak close by!

Nonetheless, a quick breakfast and you are off once again, this time to the origin of the Teesta River, Yumthang Valley. All of your fatigue is washed away in half an hour as you sit by the riverside, gently touching the ice-cold water, and trying to spot unknown birds chirping all around. You are rejuvenated.

The next morning you are back at Gangtok, sorting through your clothes and trying to cram everything in before you leave.

Of course, it was tiresome, and surely it was more traveling than photography.

But travel is what got you in this game in the first place! So, like a weary soldier, you head back to catch your train with blistered nose and fingers, all the while with a smirk on your face, cracking your knuckles, yearning to come back as soon as you can.

The thrill of the chase.

About the author : Ranit Dholey is a landscape/street photographer and IT professional based in India. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Dholey's work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

#features #travel #india #landscape #landscapephotography #northsikkim #ranitdholey