Nature's Salute To The Morning

In The Mellow Sunlight Of An Indian Haven

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

These shots were taken in a friend’s garden in December 2006. I was in Dehra Dun, northern India, for only four days and was revelling in the opportunity to use my camera in a part of the country I had never been to.

Even though I grew up in India, and travelled widely, there are many parts I still have not visited and Rajasthan, in particular, still draws me like a magnet.

I was up early every morning in Dehra Dun, the better to use the soft winter light. The frosts had not started, but there was heavy dew on the grass and the diffused light was great to capture soft tones that might otherwise have been harder to nail down in bright light.


Bougainvillea, as any Indian will tell you, is common in all parts of the country and it’s not unusual to see great bursts of vivid colours across a stark wall or boundary area. The plant is actually named after Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an French admiral who is credited with being the first European to discover the captivating species in Brazil in 1768.

Like many of the older villas in Dehra Dun, a prime outpost in the Raj era, this is a beautiful cottage with an English-style garden. The bougainvillea was growing in large pots, so I was able to shoot at slightly below eye level, choosing my angle so as to utilise the light to best effect.

And if you do grow bougainvillea, I am reliably told that it flowers most profusely if trimmed lightly. Resist the urge to cut it back harshly – and you’ll be rewarded with bursts of long-lasting colour in a variety of shades.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Nice Buffalo, Bill

The Horns Of A Dilemma

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

When I was in India for five days in December, I practically had my Pentax welded to my eye for the entire trip, except when I was asleep. The colours and vibrant scenes of the country really do produce a photo-op at every corner - and I mean that literally.

This was taken en route from Dehra Dun to New Delhi, a few hours before I flew home to Melbourne. I took this through the open window of a moving four-wheel-drive (SUV, to most of you).

There is something quintessentially symmetrical about this early-morning scene. The light was mellow, the colours were intriguing, the buffalo is at rest and completely relaxed in the courtyard, and even those two wonderful symbols of rural India - the tractor and the cycle - are neatly parked beside each other.

Check out the rules at Camera Critters or go to Misty Dawn.

Good Clean Fun

That's One Big Declaration Of Love

Dehra Dun, India. December 2007. Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Goosey Goosey Candour

Okay, Who Just Flipped Me The Bird?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

You know how you drive past a scene, catch a glimpse of something and you just know that you have to stop and go straight back and photograph the scene? That’s what happened to me when I shot this sequence.

I was in north India for five days in December and this was taken early on the morning of 20 December, as I began the long highway journey from Dehra Dun to Delhi, to catch my Singapore Airline flight home for Christmas. Because the scenery was all new to me, my head was swivelling everywhere – and I spotted this tranquil lake, with the sun just starting to come up on a freezing cold day.


We pulled over and I hurried back to the lake. It was a beautiful scene, with tendrils of mist rising off the water and the sun shining weakly through the towering trees. The surface of the water was so still that the reflections were perfectly symmetrical and almost mirror-like.

Because there was a little fog, there was very little colour definition and there was almost a gritty black-and-white quality to the scene. I hit the trigger on this shot (above) and then put the camera down to take a closer look.

That's when I first noticed the gaggle of geese marching imperiously across it. They were at one end and the groundsman was at the other, using a long-handled broom to sweep leaves off a pathway.

The geese began honking and a few seconds later the groundsman completed his task and began walking towards the geese. Like actors in a tableau, the man and the birds all began heading off together, towards the right of the frame. I guess they were chiding him because he was late in feeding them.

Lucky the feathers didn't fly!

Check out the rules at Camera Critters or go to Misty Dawn.

Guardian Angles

For Geometry, We'll Study These Two Triangles

Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. December 2007

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Who Wants To Be A Pillionaire?

How Many Carrots Is Your Diamond?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

When I was in India about three months ago, it was just a quick trip and I was in the country for less than a week. This was taken on my last day, en route from Dehra Dun to New Delhi, to catch my flight home in time for Christmas. We had stopped for breakfast on a cold morning and I made the most of a ten-minute opportunity to wander around and take some pictures of a country I love so dearly. I was concentrating on something by the side of the highway when I turned around and saw this cycle rickshaw go past.

I didn't even have time to change my focal length, so I just swung the camera up and fired off this shot. The cyclist had a thick jumper/pullover under his shirt and a cloth wrapped under his chin and over his head to protect his head and ears from the chill. The load of fresh vegetables was so heavy and took up so much space that the passenger had nowhere to sit. Instead, he stood precariously balanced on the back of the cycle.

The early morning haze on a North Indian winter morning can be a challenging equation for a photographer, but I would have missed the essence of this shot if I'd fiddled with the settings on my camera. Take a look at the long shadow behind the cycle rickshaw and you'll understand just how shallow the angle of the sun was at the time.

(The Odd Shots concept came from Katney. Say "G'day" to her.)

Faith Book

This Shot Is Out Of The Blue

Hindu temple, Dehra Dun, India. Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Dress Circle

Beware Of Curves Above Your Head

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot was taken at the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun, northern India, during my recent visit there. This scene caught my eye not just because of the curve of the balcony, but because I could also include two other curves in the frame - the metal railing and also the gentle arch of the high passageway. Many curves and great shadow and light - you can't ignore a sight like that,

Roads Scholar

It's All About Cross Purposes


Like George Washington telling his father about the cherry tree, I simply have to confess to you, my gentle readers, that I flunked the ultimate test yesterday. I almost failed to cross an Indian road. It's a veritable art form, as I know so well. It can be a foxtrot without a partner, because you have to be fleet of foot, you have to be nimble and you have to occasionally sidestep and pirouette. Like dancing, you can sometimes fall flat on your backside.


Yesterday I airily tried to cross a narrow street here in Dehra Dun - and almost landed in ungainly fashion on my butt. I negotiated the first side of the street, with traffic coming from my right. Then I was almost ninety per cent across the second side of the street, with traffic coming from my left. And at that precise point of time, a motorcyclist roared past me, forcing me to retreat like a quickstep from Torvill and Dean.


How did I make such a basic error? I didn't. The motorcyclist was ignoring all rule of road decency and going the wrong way, at high speed. It was such a close shave I guess I can put my razor away for tomorrow.

Warmest Greetings

Will You Wear Our Wares?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Here is another shot taken out of the window of our four-wheel-drive as it sped up the narrow highway from New Delhi to Dehra Dun on Sunday morning. I had my Pentax around my neck right through the journey and would gladly have stopped at least two hundred times to capture each sight I saw. But we had a long journey to make and this entire series of images was a real test of my skill, resilience and anticipation.

Try framing a shot through the open window of a moving vehicle and you'll understand what I mean. Apart from our speed, there was also the slight juddering across the often uneven surface of the highway (or the road shoulder) when I struggled to keep the camera steady in my right hand, using my left hand as a makeshift tripod.

This was taken just outside New Delhi. The pullovers (jumpers, we call them in Australia) are all hand-knitted and I guess the reason they are displayed in this fashion is to catch the attention of travellers or truck drivers who are slowly succumbing to the bitter cold that grips northern India at this time of year.

You'll never see a display showroom quite like this!

What A Load Of Bullocks

This Is The Slow Lane On The Highway

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

For someone like me, being back in India is like returning to the comforting embrace of an old favourite blanket. It smells familiar. It feels familiar. Its rustle is familiar. I slip into it instantly. I revel in it. This country is where life began for me. This is where I was blessed with an education and an upbringing to cherish as long as I live.

I come here now - as I have several times in the past twenty years - with an Australian passport and a neutral accent that I call a "United Nations accent" because it is hard to place and has inflections that hint of a global upbringing. I come here with an open heart and an open mind. I revel in returning to this wonderful country.

This photograph was taken on Sunday morning, along the narrow two-lane highway from the Indian capital, New Delhi, to the hill town of Dehra Dun in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state. It is a slow procession of bullock carts, impossibly laden but proceeding with stately elegance and steady pace (if you can call it pace) up from the vast historic plains where the three battles of Panipat were fought, centuries ago.

As a child, I was fortunate to make many road trips across this land. But this journey is somehow symbolic. Now I am a novelist and I am a photographer. Now I am in a part of the country where I have never been before. Now it is my pleasure to chronicle the Garhwal hills and to capture the sights that caught my attention as a schoolboy. This slow, creaking convoy is one of thousands, every day, every week, every month. This photograph salutes all the bullock-cart drivers who take their cargo wherever it is required. This image is my salute to them.

Cacophony Of Comfort

Greetings From An Indian Cyber Cafe

You're wondering why I'm on the other side of the world, high in the Garwahl hills of northern India? You reckon I should be back home in Melbourne, getting ready for the gastronomic delights of the Yuletide season? But there is a simple explanation. I'm in India for four days because my nephew is getting married tomorrow. This is a part of India I've never been to before. Last night we were up in the old British hill station of Mussoorie, where the temperature was just one degree and where it had snowed a couple of days earlier. I'm typing this on a recalcitrant keyboard in a cyber cafe in Dehra Dun, where the door is open and all the familiar sights and sounds of this country have embraced me again, like a faithful old friend.