India 2005/2006 - Chennai, Mamallapuram and other cities in Tamil Nadu Photo Gallery by Maciej Dakowicz at pbase.com

India 2005/2006 - Chennai, Mamallapuram and other cities in Tamil Nadu

India again, my 4th trip to that wonderful country. This time I spent four weeks there, mostly in Chennai working on three documentary projects. I have also visited Mamallapuram, Pondicherry, Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai and Chidambaram.

Welcome to India again!

thank you for all your comments and votes, much appreciated

Dancing in Mamallapuram 1	Devi Hotel - Chennai	Prayers - Mahabalipuram	Evening on the beach - Chennai
42 people died on that morning there - Chennai	The beach in Mamallapuram	King Kong Rooster - Chennai	Four Dancers - Mahabalipuram
Him and four of them - Chennai	A horse and the temple - Mahabalipuram	Boy living on the street - Chennai	On the beach in Mamallapuram
Praise the Lord - Mahabalipuram	At the Five Rathas - Mahabalipuram	Two in the mosque - Chennai	Paneer Masala and Veg Biryani - Chennai
Gentle Barber - Mahabalipuram	50% - Chennai	Waiting at the door to Pondicherry Prison	Reading in a mosque - Chennai
Shopping at the entrance to the temple - Thiruvannamalai	Yellow sunglasses - Chennai	wall near the market - Pondicherry	Shops around the bus stand - Kanchipuram
Monsoon 1 - Chennai	Holy Fire - Thiruvannamalai	a second - Chennai	Two bikers in front of the mosque - Chennai
Living on the street - Chennai	Late evening walk - Kanchipuram	We Preethi - Pondicherry	Praying on the ground - Kanchipuram
Shopping at the market - Chennai	big face - Mahabalipuram	Roses from Thiruvanamalai	Big Cart - Thiruvannamalai
The temple in Tiruvannamalai	spitting - Chennai	On the promenade in Pondicherry	temple on a rock - Mahabalipuram
in the temple in Thiruvanamalai	under Ghandi Monument - Pondicherry	Sir, wanna buy? - Mahabalipuram	In Arunachaleswarar Temple in Thiruvannamalai
Bombay Fashion in Pondicherry	Tata Police - Pondicherry	A group photo from Taj Mahal in Chennai	The Dance Festival in Mamallapuram 2
Mom... - Chennai	Rue Suffren - Pondicherry	two men in the temple in Thiruvannamalai	Poor people - Chennai
a catholic - Chennai	tears and rickshaws - Chennai	Red sleeve, red wall - Mahabalipuram	Problems - Chennai
At the market, Pondicherry	Geometry of the temple in Tiruvannamalai	baby - Chennai	Mamallapuram - Crows on the beach
Mamallapuram - street scene	on the corner - Chennai	Dreamer - Mamallapuram	Prayers time - Chennai
Red and yellow - Thiruvannamalai	in the rain - Chennai	Public Toilet - Chennai	Running down - Mamallapuram
The dance festival in Mamallapuram 3	Coca Cola Dreams - Chennai	Arm on the beach - Mamallapuram	A policeman shopping for fish - Pondicherry
Chennai - Jesus on the wall	Sleeping on the stairs - Chennai	Smiles from Chennai	Chennai Railway Station waiting hall - Chennai
A boy drinking tea - Chennai	The beach - Mamallapuram	a warning for tourists - Mamallapuram	Boys posing to a picture - Chennai
Talasayana Perumal Temple - Mamallapuram	Halal Chicken - Chennai	Living under the bridge - Chennai	Jesus on the wall - Chennai
Boy with umbrella in Triplicane - Chennai	Holy Wall - Chennai	The big rock - Mamallapuram	Sculptures - Mamallapuram
tsunami village - Mamallapuram	Dancing in Mamallapuram 2	a photo with a star - Chennai	on a bike with a star - Chennai
Which star do you like? - Chennai	Lawyers - Chennai	south Indian Thali - Chennai	kwality - Chennai
glass - Chennai	night at the market - Chennai	being cool - Chennai	Jalita on the wall - Chennai
souvenir photos - Chennai	Red Church - Pondicherry	a couple on a bike - Pondicherry	Gandhi Statue - Pondicherry
portrait from the market - Pondicherry	Kanchipuram traffic	on the beach - Mamallapuram	movie poster - Kanchipuram
Harry Potter bag - Pondicherry	golden necklace - Chennai	let's go - Kanchipuram	kids and goats - Thiruvannamalai
outside a temple - Kanchipuram	sculptures - Mahabalipuram	nice street - Pondicherry	men bathing - Thiruvannamalai
go! - Thiruvannamalai	a beach creature - Mamallapuram	interview - Pondicherry	street scene - Chennai
hair dresses - Kanchipuram	sunset - Mamallapuram	political posters - Chennai	green mosque door - Chennai
snacks vendor - Puducherry	beach scene - Puducherry	candyfloss - Puducherry	temple entrance - Thiruvannamalai

comment |

Algis Kemezys		24-Jul-2007 14:34
I was just there 4 months ago...beautifull and fun images ... see my short film if you want on Orcha, if you want. Thanks for sharing... http://exposure.cbc.ca/video/quantum-physics-india

yves pons		10-Jun-2006 05:31
Putain, Maciej, tu es vraiment un des meilleurs sur pbase, j'adore tes cadrages et les couleurs . Si tu repasses a Pondichery, contactes moi. Je passe mon temps a faire de la photo et du foot. Tu me donneras quelques conseils. yves

jljacobs62		01-May-2006 17:35
Another amazing gallery from you! vote.

Hari		25-Mar-2006 13:13
Pics of India are always great ;-) and so are the comments or the names you have given these pics.Great sense of humour :-)

Abdul Rahim Al Maimani		19-Mar-2006 19:00
Well done. Stunning pics and well captured.

ank		12-Mar-2006 13:08
I discovered you today and I spent some amazing hours with you , with your gallery. Thank you ! I feel happy now , and I was sad few hours ago . You have the feeling in your eyes ... BRAVO ! I am impressed of your all galleries .

kianro		03-Mar-2006 18:38
Maciej!!! I am so enamoured with your incredible subject matter in all of your photographs!!! I am new to this site where I can find moments that not only make you smile (Yellow Sunglasses) but are also thought provoking (Two in the Mosque), beautiful (All the people in your photographs), colorful (Roses, Temples, attire, food), heart wrenching (Those living on the Streets)and those that can make you cry (The lost & forgotten) and can even make you feel resentment towards how others in power and the rich treat others with less or nothing at all. The poor, homeless, and those trying to survive, who have been forgotten by their own governments, caste system and their own people who HAVE more than they need while they see others suffering all around them all the while keeping their blinders on pretending that the other side of the equation doesn't exist!!! Yes, it is nice to view pretty pictures and to see how countries are developing, growing and changing BUT if it doesn't include everyone in this journey then what is the point. I LOVE seeing the REAL India, the REAL China, the REAL Canada, the REAL people in these countries. Those people all around the world who not only work hard with nothing to show for their labour and those who are also struggling just to put food into their childrens moulths, to have a safe place to live with a roof over their heads, sanitary conditions, clothes to wear, medical care, a job nomatter how menial to others it might seem.... Without YOU Maciej how would the world SEE what is really going on in this great big world of ours!!! Since ALL governments and the rich do their best to sweep anything that is inconvenient, universally distasteful, matters that interfer with the advancement of their countries which bring in investors under the rug hoping it will disappear. Without YOU Maciej and your intense photographs (Problems, Prison, the poor and homeless) how will anyone know what is REAL in this problem called LIFE!!! Maciej, you have the gift to capture not only the forgotten side of India but also all of its beauty, variety, color, uniqueness, hidden treasures, relaxation, the laughter and everything inbetween!!! Keep doing what you do best!!! Capturing all these wonderous moments, and when you least expect it your creative juices will once again flow strong and free as a strong river current...and when that happens their will be nothing stopping you on this amazing path which is to photograph from your heart and soul...a gift that is forever yours to share with all of us here now and 'Forever and a Day'!!! Metta, KIANRO

IP		07-Feb-2006 17:51
Some great pics. Not sure why you have to keep re-arranging them though.

Kartikeya Cherabuddi		05-Feb-2006 00:01
Truly amazing.. Looks like you have an understanding of the people. Thought provoking. Reminds me quite a bit of the photos that I had taken back home in Hyderabad. Love the one of the two people in the mosque. K.C.

Allan Lim		30-Jan-2006 16:15
great gallery A+++ check mine http://www.pbase.com/droonsta

Morgan Ommer		11-Jan-2006 23:47
Hey Maciej, the crisis you are feeling we all do at one time or another. keep at it you are good. all the best for 2006. Cheers Morgan

Sandip Debnath		11-Jan-2006 16:48
I second with Maciej, The developed part is ONLY as half energetic and colorful as it is in " poor" India.. The richer part of it is emotionless,colorless and ambitious for personal things always.. wherewas you will see the other part is not much greedy, they will be satisfied with whatever they have, they dont ask for more and more.. they live happily even though they dont have proper food and life insurance... I live in Bangalore but i found it is less colorful as compared to Kolkata , Hyderabad or Mumbai or Chennai... People here want to imitate others and forget their own culture and heritage..

Maciej Dakowicz		11-Jan-2006 10:51
hi Sameer, I am aware of developed India, I am very happy that India is growing so much. I wanted to visit Bangalore and Hyderabad during this trip, but I just did not have enough time to do that. Maybe one day I will go to India to photograph only its rich and developed side - I hope it is at least as half colorful and full of life and energy as, how you call it, this "poor India" shown here...

sameer		11-Jan-2006 10:44
Hey how about showing the richer more developed side of india . Well theres a lot to my list .Lets start from bangalore - silicon city , Mumbai - the financial hub of Asia , Hyderabad and Chennai where Microsoft has recently started development and R&D centers the only of its kinds in Asia , The institutes of Manangement and technology - which graduate the best business school brains of the country at par with probably Havard , MIT or whartons ...... How about showing these places for a change rather than poor india ..... We are the second largest economy in Asia after China we might as well get due credit for that .........

isogood		09-Jan-2006 12:54
Hello Perhaps you have seen to much people and colors in India, perhaps you are at the moment when it is necessary to explore other countries, others horizons, to find other ideas, other ways of inspiration. It is so difficult to do better than you have done here...And if you think you do worse in december, I understand why you feel frustated. remember you are only at the beginning. Good luck for the future, and thanks again for all these beautiful images. You said you have no inspiration now, but you give inspiration to some of us, like some other good photographers here, you give inspiration to me sometimes, showing us those expressions and colors our poor eyes cannot see, and you may be proud about that, even if you are not proud of your last shots. Not many photographers can do that. so smile and go again. Some painters or musicians have gold in their hands, you have gold in your eyes. We need you here.

rkomenda		06-Jan-2006 08:58
hello maciek. Great gallery. Esspecially "Monsoom", "Him and four of them", "A hourse and a temple", "Gentle barber". You know what I think? - you are "master of moments".

Ishai Gonda		02-Jan-2006 13:42
Hi Maciej Remember me? (TE) I read in your introduction that you are out of ideas, unable to take photos and no joy at all, Well then the best thing to do in this kind of moments is to leave the camera at your hotel, and not to try too hard to make the picture. Walk around Talk to the locals Dare, to do the thing you are afraid to do. Explore Take a day or too off It�s ok ot feel the way you feel And don�t forget why you like to take pictures (its not for the fame) Ishai http://www.pbase.com/ishai/abstract

koreanczyk		01-Jan-2006 07:39
Maciej, nice shots. Love the last shot of the Bata sale and the Two in a Mosque photo. Hey man, dont be foolish. Dont give up photography. You know you love it. Sometimes it can be hard and we lose inspiratioon, lose our eye but thats temporary. Keep shooting man. Your career is just taking off. Congrats on the Outdoor photographer spread.

Denny		30-Dec-2005 22:32
Just read your note posted Dec. 29, 2005 from Chennai. Sounds like you're having a bad day but remember, better days will come. Quit photography? You can't, photography has chosen you, you have no choice. Good luck and thanks for all of your beautiful images.

Paul		29-Dec-2005 21:51
Picked up a copy of Outdoor Photography this afternoon and saw your photos for the article about India. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Nino di Bari		29-Dec-2005 12:56
Amazing gallery. Very nice.

pingupingu		24-Dec-2005 13:51
voted too. merry christmas maciek....

Didier Vanderperre		24-Dec-2005 01:20
What a collection, can't wait to see the rest ! Voted

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