chandigarh

there is nothing like standing amidst rock gardens made in solitude by a self taught artist and a planned city designed by le corbusier to make my heart swell with joy and glee. i dont know what it is about concrete and modernist architecture but it just makes me feel good. maybe it was also the palm trees and a short break from the cold.

this city is a mystery, a paradox in this context. its altogether extremely clean and well organized and feels very little like the rest of what i've grown to love about india. i crossed the street at a cross walk. strange.

Swan

Discussion

the himalayan queen

"…the silence that reigns inside while the wheels beat in rhythm against the rails outside, the dreaminess fostered by the noise and the view from the windows - a dreaminess in which we seem to stand outside our normal selves and to have access to thoughts and memories that may not arise in more settled circumstances… Journeys are the midwives of thought." - The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton

The Himalayan Queen

Friends

Train

Laura looking

sarahan

Bhimakali Temple in Sarahan, an archive of mountains, a funeral procession down the side of a mountain to take a body to be cremated, tiny fires, smoke in the afternoon, cement factories, new piles of cement, young hippies at the temple, sleeping dogs overlooking the mountain, a small conversation with laura about cement, a desire to visit the jaypee cement factory, more smoke and a drive home that felt like we were in a snow globe made of stars. stars above and then below lights in the hills, so it was dark black everywhere except for the tiny dots of light as far as the eye could see. no moon.

Dark Landscape

Pilgrim

Young boy, local bus

Smoke

shimla skating rink

today i filmed in the shimla roller skating rink. it claims to be one of the oldest skating rinks in the world, started in 1955. before it was a roller skating rink it was the ballroom for the british officials spending their summers here. 

Shimla Skating (video still)

chail palace

Chail, deodars and long sunsets.

Loveseat

Chail Man

Shimla Sunset

dust and snow

Dust 

Snow

shimla wedding

with all the honeymooners i've been photographing its amazing to see where it all begins. our driver randomly invited us to his friends wedding tonight, how could we say no?

Newlyweds

Dance Floor

Gerber Daisy

Reception Hall