So the story goes like this; a German company (let’s not mention names here) wants to improve their reputation and decides to spend some money in India to help the poor. They check and find a legitimate NGO that works in the field of microfinancing and contact them. The loans are very small in European standards, but are exactly what people in Raipur need, so all looks well.

The NGO appoints CROs (Client relationship officers) that go to the slums and form groups of women who already have a small business but need some help to grow. The loans will be given to carefully selected women that will be responsible for the other women in the group as well, thus ensuring that the loan will be paid back.

The initial loan given is of Rs 5,000 (€ 72) and the weekly return on this loans is Rs 224 (€ 3.2). This is enough to enable women like Devo Bhagel (48) to grow her small scale business, selling Gupchup, a famous street food savory delicacy, on the streets of Raipur.

Devo Baghel (48) at home, preparing Gupchup, a savory street food snack, that she sells every night on the streets of Raipur.

Devo Baghel (48) and her husband work together at her Gupchup cart on the street of Raipur, Chhatisgarh.

So far so good. Once the initial loan is returned, Devo will be able to apply for another loan of up to Rs 25,000. She already has two helpers and it seems that her business is going in the right direction. So, what else you must be asking? well, this is what happened.
We (myself and a journalist) arrived in Raipur on Sunday night and checked into our hotel, where we also met the NGO coordinator, Vinney Vani. He was a very pleasant man, and obviously very eager to help. We explained what we were looking for and he said he will help locate a woman that could be a good example for the project. “We cannot just go anywhere looking for people” he said, “as people might think we are trying to convert them” (!). Now what would Sigmund Freud have to say about that? I could feel my left eyebrow raised.  Anyway, before we parted, he suggested that we join him and the other office staff at their office in the morning for “Devotion”. “it is a half-hour program” he said, ” we pray and sing for the Lord”. I was not very excited, but could not really refuse.

Vinney Vani from Growing Opportunities (India) Pvt. Ltd. at Devo Baghel's home in Raipur, Chhatisgarh. "My wife is originally from a Hindu Brahmin family, but she had found the Lord"

The morning program was a bit embarrassing. We were seated in front of the twenty or so workers and were garlanded with flowers. Prayer and devotional christian singing followed. As it turns out, Growing Opportunity (India) Pvt. Ltd., a legitimate and reputed organization with a head office in Chennai, seem to be a very religious Christian organization spread all over the country.

I would not want to jump to conclusions here, but a quick internet search brought up a story on the NYTimes Christian-run companies increasing in almost every corner of the globe. NY Times: Their Mission: Spreading the Word Through Business (click to read). An interesting read!

Innocent? incidental? only good people trying to help? I leave it up to you to judge, but it does look a little suspicious.

* Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services.

UNDP works with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to respond to HIV and AIDS in India and reduce its impact by supporting the national efforts and offering knowledge, resources and technical expertise to effectively implement the National AIDS Control Program.
Almost 15.6 million people across India were provided with information, training and services to improve their capacities to deal with HIV. People living with HIV as well as trafficking survivors receive livelihood training to expand their employment opportunities and skills.
On an assignment for UNDP in Orissa I visited an HIV clinic in a town about twenty kilometers from Bhubaneshwar and met some of the people who need to live with HIV.

Usharani Behera (30) and her daughter Rani (3) at the community care center at Cuttack, about 20km from Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. They were tested HIV+ in 2007 once her husband was seriously ill. © Sephi Bergerson / UNDP India

Bipin Das (42) is an HIV+ truck driver. He now receives the HIV pension thanks to the advocacy of UNDP as part of the HIV mainstreaming project, and uses the money to travel for his ARV treatment. © Sephi Bergerson / UNDP India

Mandakini Behera (22) at the HIV community center at Cuttack, Orissa. She has tested HIV+ in 2004 and now receives the HIV government pension. © Sephi Bergerson / UNDP India

The list of photographers mentioned in the invite, and I am certain most of you will recognize many of the names. Each photographer contributes two images. I am going to show two images titled ‘Gods of Earth and Heaven’ 1 & 2. Print size is 20″x30″, limited edition of 10 prints.

A poster of Shirdi Sai Baba and a street food vendor's sieve, on an MTNL telephone box in down town Mumbai. 'Gods of Earth and Heaven 1'. Print size is 20"x30", limited edition of 10 prints.

A village God on a construction site of a new temple in Vallapalam, Tamil Nadu. 'Gods of Earth and Heaven 2'. Print size is 20"x30", limited edition of 10 prints.

Please come by the gallery to view the exhibition. I look forward to seeing you there.

The sights and smells, noise and fervour, pomp and grandeur, rites and rituals… Can any other occasion on earth ever match the great Indian wedding saga? Yet, ask any married couple about the big day and they’ll tell you it was a blur, when they did as commanded – to keep the head low or dive for someone’s feet; to stand up or sit down; to hold hands or let go. Our weddings are a heady cocktail of religious and social commitments laid out like a cultural extravaganza. Rites and rituals form its backbone and every region, religion, community and sect has its own take. They celebrate the beginning of a shared life, assign roles, break the ice, and seek promises of loving and living together. Photographer Sephi Bergerson began documenting weddings two years ago.
His camera became an excuse to study this interesting social and cultural phenomenon. The original idea for Sephi’s book was to shoot five ceremonies. “But the subject kept growing,” says the Israeli photographer, who is stumped by how each wedding is different from the other. “I set out assuming a lot will be similar but there are so many different customs, they adapt and absorb.” And then there is Bollywood with its mehendi and baraat. Yet, when he asks people what is special about their wedding ceremonies, he is met with a dismissive shrug, “Oh, it’s nothing special, just a regular Indian wedding!” So it is.

Potpourri: (Top left) The bride was from Nagaland, her father a Sikh, the groom Swedish. As Bergerson says, “It was a mix of people that was so unbelievable that only India can provide.” Here, the bride, is being led down the aisle by her father at the breathtaking venue in Udaipur. Flying High: (Top) A Bengali wedding involves many elaborate and colourful rituals. On the night of the marriage, the bride sits on a low stool called piri, which is lifted by her brothers, and from her ‘elevated’ position, she circles the groom seven times, to indicate being wound-up securely to each other. The bride and groom then exchange garlands. Kabool Hai: (Left) A muslim bride signs the nikahnama before a Maulana. The bridegroom signs the Nikah separately and then the couple are pronounced married. “The entire ceremony took one minute and the wedding was over.” All In A Name: (Right) A Ladakhi Buddhist bride enters the wedding shamiana. Called bagston in the local language, weddings here are not religious but a social event. They don’t need a priest or a Lama. A couple can mutually decide to get married and inform the parents. This couple had been together for over 10 years and have two children. Relatives began to pressurise them to organise a ceremony where they could bless the couple by wrapping the sacred scarf or kathak on the pair as a symbol of their blessing

Quite An Earful: (Right) The sister of the bride examines the piercing for a dejhoru, an ear ornament that hangs from the middle of the cartilage. Young Kashmiri pundit girls get the painful piercing done as they prepare for their wedding. These ear ornaments symbolise marital status. Blown Away: (Below) Wedding games are part of most Indian marriages. In this wedding in Vishakhapatnam, the couple blows confetti into each others faces. “Sameera lived in Australia and Pradeep in the US and they came to their hometown to get married,” says the photographer. Strands of Love: (Above) In a Syrian Christian wedding, the sari that the groom presents his bride in church is called the mantrakodi. The night before the ceremony, strands of thread are drawn from this sari by the groom’s sister and twisted to form a cord. On this cord is tied the thaali, a leaf-shaped gold pendant with a cross. The mantrakodi is placed on the bride’s head by the priest, as he blesses her. Bangle Up: (Bottom right) The mother of a bride picks up the chura which is soaked in milk at a ceremony performed early in the morning on the day of a Punjabi marriage. The bride’s maternal uncles then slide the bangles down her wrist. The chura symbolises marital status and is worn by the bride for the next few weeks, or sometimes months. Tip Toe: (Left) In the temple town of Madurai, a groom slides a ring on his bride’s toe. The groom too wears his wedding ring on the second toe. The story behind this, says Bergerson, is that in the past, when women were expected to keep their heads down, the toe rings indicated to them the marital status of others.”

Last night I went to Old Delhi for the Ram Barat procession that went through Sadar Bazar and Chandni Chowk. I wanted to photograph the trucks for the trucking book, but it turned out there were no trucks and the procession was all bullock carts. A bit disappointing, but I did manage to get these fun pictures that I might end up using for my book on Indian weddings. It is just that I couldn’t understand why they were so serious and didn’t even give a single smile. Are they told to be serious, or were they simply boiling inside the costumes? We finished the evening with a quick bite at Paratha wali gali. They still make some mean parathas there :-)

A young boy dressed as Lord Shiva, and a girl dressed as his wife, Parvati, on a carriage during the Ramlila procession in Old Delhi. Why do the have to be so serious? must have been realy hot under this costume . .

Uniformed members of a wedding procession band ride on horses during the Ramlila procession in Old Delhi, September 2009

Besides producing these unique works of art, this village has a living tradition of performing art known as Gotipua, the earlier form of Odissi. Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra, an exponent of Odissi dance, was born in this village and had his early trainings in Gotipua tradition here. Now a Gotipua Gurukul Dance School has been established here under the guidance of Guru Maguni Charan Das. The trainees of this school present their performances in different cultural events, in India and abroad.

The government of India has selected Raghurajpur village for the promotion or rural tourism in the country as a part of a program to highlight tourism potential of villages. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) takes an active part in this initiative as  part of it’s Endogenous Tourism Project (ETP).
all images © Sephi Bergerson / UNDP India

A man walks past a temple in the middle of the artists village of Raghurajpur in Puri district Orissa. The village runs from east to west with houses arranged in two neat rows, facing each other. At the centre, runs a line of small temples and the lone Bhagabat Tungi, the community meeting place of the villagers. The temples are dedicated to the lords, Radha Mohan, Gopinath, Raghunath, Laxminarayan, Gouranga, and to the village goddess, Bhuasuni.

Drawings on a house wall in the artists village of Raghurajpur in Puri district Orissa. Raghurajpur was selected to revive the ancient wall paintings of Orissa. The work has already been completed and now the village looks like a living museum of paintings.

A practice performance of the junior level Gotipua dancers at Gotipua Gurukul, a part of UNDP's ETP in village Raghurajpur, Orissa.

Guruji Maguni Das (99) winner of the Padmashree award 2004 is the Gotipua Gurukul's Orissi dance Guru.

Dyes on the floor of an artist studio, Raghurajpur, Orissa.

An artist at work. Raghurajpur village, Orissa. each family is engaged in one craft or another. There are 103 households having 311 artisans in the village. Some of them are winners of National Awards. One comes across the best tradition of Orissan paintings and some of the finest pieces of work in this village.

Daily life in the artists village of Raghurajpur in Puri district Orissa.

An artist showcasing his creation. Raghurajpur village, Orissa.

The exhibition titled ‘Juvenilia Juxtaposed’ will stay open September 10 till September 26th daily from 11am-7pm. The Gallery Ragini is at F213C, Lado Sarai, New Delhi (see Google map). Please join us for an exclusive preview of the works on September 9th at 7pm.

The images I am showing are from two projects; the ‘Street food of India’ book, and my series ‘Mall Generation’ in Indian malls. All prints are 20″x30″, printed on archival fine art paper and are a limited edition of eight prints.

Fast food, Ludhiana mall, 2008

Movie ticket, Ludhiana mall, 2008

Dosa, Khao gali, Mumbai 2007

Fruit vendor, Khan market, New Delhi 2006

This eleven-day festival called Ganesh Chaturthi begins with the installation of beautifully sculpted Ganesha idols in homes and large tents where they are worshiped with family and friends. The festival is celebrated over ten days at the end of which the idol is taken in a big procession around the city’s streets and immersed in the Indian ocean. Tens of thousands of people gather on Chowpati beach in south Mumbai to witness the immersion of the biggest idols.

A pair of Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) in the tree in front of our window in Delhi

And some information about the Spotted Owlet from Wikipedia:
The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is a small owl which breeds in tropical Asia from India to Southeast Asia. They are very common species and have adapted to living in cities. They roost in small groups in the hollows of trees or in cavities in rocks or buildings. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae. The Spotted Owlet is a common resident bird in open habitats including farmland and human habitation. It nests in a hole in a tree or building, laying 3-5 eggs. Nests near human habitations were found to show higher breeding success with the young being fed a greater number of rodents.

I have a weakness for the half-plate — the ‘adha chai’ in a tiny kulhar, the half-portion of jhalmuri in a minuscule paper packet offered by some Calcutta vendors, the miniature dosa that would be slightly less than half a classic Udupi-sized portion. Sephi Bergerson’s Street Food of India is halfway between paperback book and coffee-table book, and in this format, his gentle photographs become alluring precisely because he’s offering an indicative, not authoritative, guide to eating out, Indian-style.

Bergerson flouted the two dictums handed out to every foreigner — don’t drink the water, and don’t eat the salad. From Paharganj and Chandni Chowk in Delhi to the bylanes of Bombay to Varanasi, Bergerson seems to have lived and travelled in this country using his eyes and his palate as a guide, falling in love with everything from the humble bread pakora in multiple variations to delicate daulat ki chaat. The South is under-represented in comparison, with just a few pictures and recipes — a sad omission that dilutes the value of the book.

Bergerson’s introductory essay is actually a thinly disguised love letter to the grand tradition of eating on the streets, a tradition that he fears is threatened by the explosion of food courts, and the demand for clean, hygienic fare that ignores what he considers the freshness, variety and the sheer spontaineity of street food.

The recipes that accompany his pictures are accurate but almost superfluous — his goal is to tempt you out onto the streets, not into the kitchen. This book is not definitive, nor is it an instant classic, but Bergerson’s carefully taken shots of everything we ignored, from a row of Banta bottles to the intricate curlicues of fruit juice vendors’ signs to a garlanded water cart makes it worth your while. This, like the street food it describes, is tasty, snack-and-go fare.

Four hour drive from Cochin, at an elevation of about 5000 ft above sea level, Munar is a beautiful destination for a vacation. Very often we drove in dense fog that only added to the mystery of the landscape. God’s own country indeed.

A coconut seller on the road to Munar, Kerala

Local nuns stop to pray at a roadside christian shrine in Munar, Kerala

Decorated cows in meadow approaching Munar tea estates, Kerala

Local women picking tea in the plantations, Munar, Kerala

Workers of the tea plantations carry fresh picked leafs to the road where they will be collected for further processing

Transporting the freshly picked tea leafs form the plantation to the factory, Munar, Kerala

A decorated Kerala truck loaded with timber, Munar, Kerala

I don't have too many pictures of myself. When I do finally pose for a one it really does feel a little strange, but hey, if I don't do that I will never have any picture at all :-)

My late mother used to say in Yiddish; “A sach meluches, a kleine bruches”, which would roughly translate to “you cant get any blessings in your work if you are not focused”. In other words, if you sell sardines than don’t be selling tissue paper. let your clients know what you sell and come for that. Be an expert. You must be asking yourself why am I saying this here?  well, because I am not one of those photographers who do one thing, and I often think of what my mother had said. It would be very simple if I decided to be a food photographer, or a travel, or wedding photographer, but I can’t. I love photography and I love doing different things all the time. Like I wrote in my previous post, this is what I learned, on the negative way, from Ansel Adams.

How focused are you as a photographer?

So, I ran across Clayton Cubbit’s website yesterday. A very interesting and inspiring fashion photographer. I don’t do a lot of fashion photography, but used to do more in my earlier years as a commercial photographer in Tel Aviv. Looking at Clayton’s work brought back some good memories, and reminded me of this fashion project I shot last year for Lecoanet Hemant in India, and have never actually put on my website. The reason was because I didn’t want to spread the website to thin,and maybe try to focus it a bit more. But then, it is who I am, and I also do this kind of work. A blessing or a curse?

Interestingly, PDN had recently published their own list of twenty most influential photographers and have obviously listed many of the photographer that have been my influence, and would most probably made it to my list.  Helmut Newton, especially his book Polaroids, and his clear vision of how he directs models. Marry Ellen Mark and her project Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay,  Nan Goldin who pissed me off when I first saw her book, but then I saw her exhibition in Prague and understood her simplicity and greatness, and of course all the rest of them. Albert Watson who’s book I actually shop-lifted one day (a long long time ago) as I had no money to buy it but could absolutely not bring myself to leave the store without it. Wow, there is something fantastic to say about every single one of them, but as I said, I do not want to repeat the same list.

I have decided to make a list of photographers who are not on the PDN list. A list of photographers who have made an unforgettable impression, and have made a mark on who I am today as a photographer. Some are really famous, and some who are maybe less famous, but were there at major turning points of my career. This list is far from finished and there are many others I would have loved to mention if I had more space, and if I thought you would want to read… So here it is, and not by order of importance :-)

Ansel Adams - Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941

1. Ansel Adams – Who doesn’t know Ansel Adams!? why would I mention him, right? Adams was my first idol as a young photographer, and made me drive all the way down to White Sands national park in New Mexico looking for what he saw. He is important on this list because from him I learned not only the zone system, but also not to do the same thing all my life. He was the greatest master of black & white photography but did the same thing all his life. With all my respect to his work, I knew that I would not go the same way.

W. Eugene Smith - A Country Doctor, 1948

2. W. Eugene Smith the grand master of photojournalism who was the hero of my first B&W teacher in photography school, Glen Richmond. His refusal to compromise professional standards and his amazing feature stories, the most memorable of all to me, maybe not his most famous, is the one about the Country Doctor from 1948. This was in my mind when I was working on the Polio initiative in India.

Joel-Peter Witkin - Gods of Earth and Heaven, Los Angeles 1988

3. Joel Peter Witkin Finding beauty within the grotesque, Witkin pursues this complex issue through people most often cast aside by society — human spectacles including hermaphrodites, dwarfs, amputees, androgynes, carcases, people with odd physical capabilities, fetishists and “any living myth … anyone bearing the wounds of Christ.” His fascination with other people’s physicality has inspired works that confront our sense of normalcy and decency. His constant reference to paintings from art history, including the works of Picasso, Balthus, Goya, Velásquez and Miro, have always intrigued me and set me on a quest into art history books. Witkin seeks out his collaborators visiting medicals schools, morgues and insane asylums around the world. The resulting photographs are haunting and beautiful, grotesque yet bold in their defiance – a hideous beauty that is as compelling as it is taboo.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard - Cranston Ritchie, still life, mannequin

4. Ralph Eugene Meatyard Regarded by his peers as among the most original and disturbing imagery ever created with a camera, Meatyard’s images had nothing to do with the street photography of the east coast or the romantic view camera realism of the west coast. His best known images were populated with dolls and masks, with family, friends and neighbors pictured in abandoned buildings or in ordinary suburban backyards. Meatyard’s work challenged most of the cultural and aesthetic conventions of his time and did not fit in with the dominant notions of the kind of art photography could and should be. While others roamed the streets searching for America and truth, Meatyard haunted the world of inner experience, continually posing unsettling questions about our emotional realities through his pictures. After his early death at the age of 47, It was left to friends and colleagues to complete an Aperture monograph on Meatyard and carry through with the publication of The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater (1974) which he had laid out and sequenced before his death. He was from Normal, Illinois.

© Joyce Tenneson

5. Joyce Tenneson is an American photographer known for her distinctive style of photography, which often involved nude or semi-nude women. Tenneson shoots primarily with the Polaroid 20×24 camera. She has had her work displayed in over 100 exhibitions around the world. Her way of working with Polaroid, the amazing use of light, and the angel-like portraits, have all set me on an experimental journey that lasted throughout my years as a commercial photographer. Even today I sometimes find myself building my frames with her images in mind.

photo: Ireland 1972. © Joseph Koudelka

6. Josef Koudelka Throughout his career, Koudelka has been praised for his ability to capture the presence of the human spirit amidst dark landscapes. Desolation, waste, departure, despair and alienation are common themes in his work. His characters sometimes seem to come out of fairytales. Still, some see hope within his work — the endurance of human endeavor, in spite of its fragility. Koudelka’s sense of balanced composition and his way of dividing his frame has always been a subject of fascination for me.

Trichur, Kerala, 1985 © Succession Raghubir Singh

7. Raghubir Singh is considered a pioneer of color photography. In the 1970s he was one of the first photographers to reinvent the use of color at a time when color photography was still widely disconsidered. His photographs, acclaimed for their organization of space, reflect the multiple aspects of contemporary India. Raghubir Singh was the first Indian photographer I ever heard of, when I was still living in Tel Aviv. I had bought his book River of Colors online, and still to this day I keep trying to see images through his eyes. He had showed me how to work in the chaos of India and still make sense and put it in order.

Alex Levak, Jerusalem 2001

8. Alex Levak is a one-of-a-kind street photographer of the old school. Awarded the ‘Israel Lifetime Achievement Award’, (Pras Israel) in 2005, he is maybe the photographer who best captures the irony of the Israeli life. Committed and disciplined and with a sharp eye, his work belongs to the ‘decisive moment’ genre. I met Alex as a student of photography when he came for our school’s documentary series critics. Not everyone liked my work that day, but Alex said that it was “good photojournalism” and ’saved’ me. I never forgot that, and probably never will. I met him a couple of times after that day, a simple, down-to-earth man who simply “works in photography” as he says. He gets up in the morning and has work to do. A wonderful man.

© Amir Weinberg

9. Amir Weinberg I met Amir Weinberg when I was still a commercial photographer in Tel Aviv and admired his freedom and his ability to travel and shoot the subjects that he likes. My decision to give up the commercial studio and come to India in pursue of my dream has so much to do with him. He is also the one who gave me the courage to print my work in large size. The first big size print I made after seeing his work is still hanging in my living room. Born in Israel. Studied at  ICP (International Center of Photography) in New- York. Weiberg was a Press photographer for Time Magazine, Yediot Achronot, Stern Reuters Agency, AFP and Sygma. With inconceivable obsess, Amir Weinberg creates a photographic frame that provides the viewer with a new concept of the visible and invisible in nature. The concept of light and space created by Weinberg offers the viewer a brand new world, sometimes hallucinated and sometimes accurate.

Philippe Lopez - Pushkar camel fair, 2003

10. Philippe Lopez A long time staff photographer and photo editor for AFP, Philippe is now chief photographer in Shanghai. We met in Delhi when I first arrived in India and had really no idea about photojournalism and working in the field. Philippe’s experience and dedication to his work, as well as his amazing ability to deliver great ’sellable’ images out of every situation, had given me a very strong base for my comfort and ease of work today. From him I learned not to neglect myself in the name of getting a good image. Have a proper lunch, and only then go to work.

I have only mentioned ten people but cannot close this post without at least mentioning Gary Winogrand, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, and of course, James Nachtway and Sebastiao Salgado whom I recently had the pleasure of meeting in person here in New Delhi. I am forever grateful.

P.S Oh my God! I’ve been so serious :-) how could I forget David LaChapelle and Pierre et Gilles?! they deserve a whole new post just for them! :-) who is on your list?

David LaChapelle

Pierre et Gilles

Artist Jatin Das holding one of his fans at his studio in New Delhi. His collection of fans (Pankah) from all over the world counts more than 6,500 samples and has been exhibited worldwide.

Jatin Das, born in 1941 in the Mayurbhanj district of Orissa,  is acclaimed for his dynamic human figures. He also has a unique collection of over 5000 hand fans. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

Artist Anjolie Ela Menon and one of her works at her home in New Delhi

Anjolie Ela Menon, (born 1940) is one of India’s leading contemporary female artists. Her paintings are in several major collections. Most recently (2006), a major work “Yatra” was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California. Her preferred medium is oil on masonite, though she has also worked in other media, including glass (pictures of glass sculptures) and water colour. She is a well known muralist. She was awarded the Padma Shree in 2000. She lives and works in New Delhi. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

worldwide photo walk in Old Delhi from Sephi Bergerson on Vimeo.

As part of Scott Kelby’s worldwide photo walk event, a group of fifty photo enthusiasts headed out to the by-lanes of old Delhi on a hot and humid saturday afternoon. Old Delhi can never be a disappointment and indeed we had some fun experiences. After the walk we reassembled at a local bar & restaurant in New Delhi and only broke the party later at night. Next time we should plan for winter :-)

we waited for 20 minutes before we took the group picture but regretfully we left about ten people out.

40 kilometers towards north of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, lies a region that has only recently come to the attention of the rest of the world. Today, it has risen as a rich wine producing area which was once known as Tipu Sultan’s and later, the British summer retreat. Nandi Hills is a picturesque region dotted with sloping green hillsides and miles of forestland, inhabited with incredibly beautiful wild life. Grover Vineyards and Winery in the heart of Nandi Hills is one of the most well respected and reviewed emerging wineries in India.

Founder of Grover Vineyards in 1988, Kanwal Grover (center) decided at the age of 60, when normally people think of getting retired, to transform his passion for wine into a lifetime dedication. Kapil Grover, Kanwal’s son (L), is today the owner of Grover Vineyards, and his daughter Karishma Grover (R) is the third generation to the Grover family wine making family.

Michel Rolland at Grover Vineyards near Bangalore, India. Michel Rolland is the foremost wine consultant in the world. He has a Bordeaux-based consulting practice which takes care of the most prestigious estates across 12 countries around the globe. He consults some of the greatest Bordeaux Great Growth such asChteau Angelus, Chteau Lascombes, Chteau Loville Poyferr, Chteau Belgrave. Among others, he also consults Casa Lapostolle in Chile, Robert Mondavi, Harlan Estate in California and Chteau Saint Michelle.

The beginning of May is the time of harvesting at the Grover Vineyards at Nandi Hills outside of Bangalore, Karnataka.

For more images and for licensing, please visit the archive.

It is already July and we are getting close to the day of the Old Delhi photo walk.
The response has been overwhelming and we have filled up the list within a couple of weeks, way before the schedule. There are still many people who would like to join and I keep receiving emails all the time. I have requested all the registered participants to confirm their arrival or write and ask to be removed from the list to make room for others who wish to come.

The Old Delhi photo walk will also be a tasting experience and will focus on the street food of the old city. We will go from Chandni Chowk’s Natraj Dahi Bala through Paratha wali gali, Nai Sarak to Chowri Bazar and will follow the vendors of Chhole Kulcha, bread pakora, chai and other seasonal delicacies that will be on the streets in that time.

Unfortunately, there is no place that I know of in Old Delhi that can host fifty people for some drinks and snacks, so after the photo-walk we will take the metro form Chowri Bazar station and head to CP (Rajiv Chowk) where we will re-assemble at a restaurant to show our work and have a couple of drinks together.

I look forward to meeting you all on July 18 for the WorldWide Photo Walk in Old Delhi.

A traditional make-up for a Bengali bride. Maxima was definitely one of the most beautiful brides I've photographed. I simply loved how happy she was and how her face shined in this picture. A simple shot, and such a happy one. (Maxima and Abhijit's Bengali wedding in Delhi)

During a wedding in Chennai, I could see the bride was going to cry so I picked up my second camera with 35mm lens and waited for this shot to happen. A split second later she wiped the tear and was smiling again. (Nitya & Sharath's Tamil-Brahmin wedding in Chennai)

A quiet moment in the dressing room. A Rajput bride just before the wedding ceremony. Rajputs are instructed by the family members not to show any sign of happiness during their wedding and behave in a 'Royale' manner. There was not one smile during the entire wedding. (Kanupriya & Ravindra's Rajput wedding in Gwalior)

A bride waiting for her husband-to-be behind a veil during a wedding in Andra Pradesh. I had to pick up the veil and almost go in with her in order to get this intimate picture of solitude. (Sameera & Pradeep's wedding in Visakhapatnam)

A baraat procession during a Hindu punjabi wedding. I wanted to get the shot of the people carrying the lamps and had to work without a flash for that or I would have changed the image completely and loose the entire feel of the night lit by the lanterns. The light falling on the bridegroom and his horse came out just the way I had hoped. (Karishma & Rishabh's wedding in Delhi)

I loved the tired face of the couple waiting for the photogrtaphers to finish harassing them. A photo session like this takes place before the wedding and could sometime last close to two hours! The couple is seated on a podium and the entire family and guests come up to great them and have their picture taken. It was otherwise, a very happy wedding indeed. (Karishma & Rishabh's wedding in Delhi)

The ultimate close-up of an Indian bride's hands during the wedding ceremony. (Karishma & Rishabh's wedding in Delhi)

During a Kashmiri Pundit wedding I saw the priest holding a plastic miror in his hand. I had a feeling it was going to be used for the bride and groom to look at each other so quickly positioned myself just behind them and was ready as the priest held his hand out just for a second in front of the couple. It is one of those shots that one can never get unless you wait for them to happen. (Anuradha & Nikhil's Kashmiri Pundit wedding in Delhi)

A muslim bride signs the Nikha in front of the mulah. The bridesgroom signs the Nikah separately and then the couple are pronounced married. The entire ceremony took one minute and the wedding was over. (Aashti & Zahid's Muslim wedding in Delhi)

No wedding in India is complete without Hijras. One cannot anticipate when or where they will show up so cannot plan to photograph them, but I needed pictures of this 'ceremony' for my book. I finally got 'lucky' outside the gate of a large farm house where a Sikh wedding reception was taking place. Shot with available light under the street light. I absolutely love the colors and the feel of this image.

For more images of Indian weddings, please visit  FotoWala | Wedding Photography in India | Sephi Bergerson