Jaipur: The Pink City

Jaipur is India's pink city, its old section of town made entirely of pink sandstone and surrounded by a high wall. We entered the city through one of the archways and made our way to the famous Hawa Mahal, or "palace of the winds". During the day we visited Amber fort, the observatory and spent time having our picture taken on the street by a man with an ancient view camera...

While touring the Amber fort, I was struck by the simplicity of color in this scene. Using a bit of underexposure to increase the color saturation, I made two frames. I like this one, which was the first one, with both subjects looking off camera.

Using a shutter speed of a 20th of a second to blur the moving subject, I was able to hand hold this shot with my 70-200 mm f2.8

The Amber fort in Jaipur, with reflection, framed in the scalloped archway.

Nicki, photographing the Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds, from a rooftop across the street.

As you already know, I love to photograph people smoking. This gentleman was sitting near a tea shop on the main street in the old section of Jaipur city. I probably spent about 5 minutes photographing him as he smoked. A always try to shoot a variety of images from different angles and by using both my 70-200 (below) and my 17-35 (above)

Panning, is a useful technique for creating a sense of motion in your photographs. In these images I set my camera to shutter speed priority at a 15th of a second, and positioned myself under an archway. Using my 17-35 I panned rickshaws, motorbikes, people walking and just about anything that went by.

8 Responses to “Jaipur: The Pink City” Subscribe

  1. Rodney November 21, 2010 at 7:54 am #

    Great shots, as usual. I really like the first B&W in this series, the girl with the broom. For me that is a good example of when I would look at the result in the camera’s LCD screen and think it was a too underexposed, but when on the computer it’s a total keeper. I like that there is just enough light on her face to show that she is looking at the camera, wonderfully subtle.

    And the smoker, wow, you have guts. You must have been so close to his face with your 17-35 you were probably afraid the ash from his cigarette was going to melt the coating on your UV filter:-) I don’t have that wide of a lens yet, but I still cannot get out of my comfort zone and get that close to subjects.

    Great job, thanks for sharing!

  2. Karl Grobl November 21, 2010 at 12:41 pm #

    Thanks for the comment Rodney!
    I love shooting smokers…there is something about checking to see if you’ve captured the smoke in just the right shape or position. In terms of getting close, it’s just a matter of getting used to it. India is a particularly good place to start because folks are friendly, and the idea of “personal space” is almost non existent. Keep shooting and you’ll soon be getting closer and closer with whatever wide lens you have.
    Cheers.
    Karl

  3. ellen November 21, 2010 at 7:41 pm #

    Thanks for taking those of us left behind on this magical (virtual) tour of India! I have enjoyed & looked forward to your daily updates. Your work is always inspiring and glad to see you shooting Nikon again…keep them safe *~* !

  4. Vineet Dhanawat November 22, 2010 at 10:06 am #

    Thanks for sharing them. I am from Jaipur only and must say, they are amazing 🙂

  5. Mien November 22, 2010 at 12:26 pm #

    Woow, great shots! Really like the Amber Fort of Jaipur!

  6. sheila gardner November 23, 2010 at 3:23 pm #

    Hi Karl, Loving your images as usual especially the ones of Pushkar. Beautiful. Brings back happy memories. Wish I were there again.
    Sheila.

  7. sheila gardner November 23, 2010 at 3:25 pm #

    Hi Karl, Loving your images as always especially the ones of Pushkar. Beautiful! Bring back happy memories. Wish I were there again.
    Sheila.

  8. Gustavo November 26, 2010 at 6:04 am #

    Hey Karl, hope you had a good Thanksgiving! Great shots as always! Thanks for keeping your blog so up to date. You have to teach me that Panning technique. The photos are awesome! I was just talking about you with some of my colleagues and friends from EDC. Hope you can carve out time to shoot for us in Honduras. A big hug wherever you are and hope to see you soon. Gustavo

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