I have some very cool family in Mumbai! This is the view from the roof of my aunt and
uncle’s home in Bandra, which is a suburb that has been described to me as the
Tribeca of Mumbai. Well it’s also kind
of the Beverly Hills of Mumbai because some of Bollywood’s leading movie stars
live on the famous Bandstand road featured in these photos. It’s interesting to note that according to my
uncle, the fishing village in the foreground of the top photo is older than the
city around it. As a result, the fishing
village has land ownership rights that predate the city and thus cannot be
pushed out to make room for new condos.
It’s so India to have a humble fishing village in the middle of one of
the most expensive and high demand neighborhoods in the world! This is why I love India, I never know what
is going to be right around the corner and I’m in a constant state of amazement
as a result. Thank you to my amazing
family in Mumbai for showing us such a wonderful time!
Tips for photographers: Stay ready to shoot and don’t be
lazy! Some of the best photos are made in a matter of a moment. Part of the reason I only took my Sony A7 to
India and not my big heavy Canon 5D Mark III, is so I could always have my
camera with me without it being too cumbersome or conspicuous for travel and
street photography. On this night our
family threw a fabulous dinner party so I didn’t do too much photography, I was
busy eating and drinking. But when we
went up to the roof for a drink the view overwhelmed my laziness and I went
downstairs and grabbed my camera bag. I
didn’t have a tripod so I propped the camera on the ledge of the roof using the
camera strap under the camera to level it out and get the angles I wanted. I knew the wide angle shot with the fishing
village in the foreground was going to be my favorite, but I had the 135mm on
and made a quick image with it (the bottom photo) before switching to the 35mm
for the top photo. Both of the exposures
are 30 seconds taken with the Sony A7 and Canon L lenses. It took me about 5 minutes of shooting
between drinks to make these two photos.
I am always amazed at how quickly beautiful photos are made compared to
how long it takes to find them sometimes.
The afternoon these photos were taken we flew back to Mumbai from
Goa. I thought Goa would be a very
inspiring place for photography, but it turned out that Bandra would steal the
show.
I love Billings MT, the city we live in, but I don’t think
there is any better way to pass the time than travel. Everywhere I travel, whether I like the place
or not, gives me a new perspective. Sometimes
that new perspective is not much different than my normal perspective. But there is no doubt in my mind that India will
always give me a wildly different perspective than the one I am used to. I can’t wait to go back soon. http://portraits.paulbellinger.com
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