Mandy and Ian
I think that part three will be the last in this miniseries of posts, so I will write about some of the people I have met along the way, whilst travelling and shooting, along with my cameras and the bag(s) I carried them in.
Perhaps I mentioned this in a previous post, I can’t remember…sorry. In the early days of my photography and travelling…for some reason it never occurred to me to buy a proper camera bag, I made do with a rucksack, padding it out with cardboard boxes and foam packing sheets. Actually, this rings a bell, perhaps I’ve already mentioned this…no matter if I have. For years and years, this is how I travelled with my cameras ~ we’ll come back to this later.
...sadly ~ I can't remember!
One of the trips I made, on a bus, in India, was a day trip from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari, or Cape Comorin ~ the southernmost tip of mainland India. The most southern part of India is actually Indira Point on the Great Nicobar Island, I haven’t been there, but I would love to go! By now, you know me, I like company and make friends easily, and this was the case today.
Isagawa, Mary and Brad
On this day, long ago, soon after the bus set off at one of the stops, I made friends with an English couple ~ Sheila and Lewis and soon after we were joined by a quiet young German man ~ Frank. An enjoyable day was spent together…and it was a very long day, but one thing I will tell you about the day was when we were at Kanyakumari. Sitting in a little café having tea, the sun beginning to set, we had become quite comfortable with each other…Frank decided to impart some interesting information to Sheila, Lewis and I. Being a typical German, he had allocated a budget for each day, whilst on holiday. If Frank told us how much his budget was, I’ve long since forgotten, however, this fact I do remember. Franks daily budget was broken thus: a portion was for accommodation, some for travel, some more for spending/expenses, but by far the greatest portion was set aside for food. Frank was tall and lean and his frame belied his eating prowess, we listened in fascinated amazement as he told us that he enjoyed four, yes four, hot meals a day and at least one of them had to be lobster!! The story was related in all seriousness, there was no bragging, it was all very matter-of-fact ~ typically German. That was the first and last time we ever saw Frank. Lewis, Sheila and I had dinner that evening (it was my birthday) and we spent the next day together roaming around Trivandrum, we had lunch (it was that lunch I suspect that made me ill ~ another story I have already related). Neither dinner, the previous night or lunch that day was lobster!!
Sheila and Lewis...and me
Travelling around with my camera (bag), I have met a few people, some of them were encounters of just a few moments, some lasted a whole day and a few people I kept in touch with over a few months. In all that time I have never seen or heard from any of those people again, with one exception, the story of which I will tell you now…
The years rolled on and in 2012 I have a growing family, we live in Canada and since leaving England in 2007, we haven’t been back to India. When we lived in England, it was easier (all our circumstances taken into consideration, not just the distance) for us to travel to India, and there were frequent trips there. It was also the first time in a long while that I was making a trip with new equipment, I had just gone full frame, I was so excited. The gear is not important to this story, but it was the highest megapixel camera I had ever owned by far and the lenses were something special too.
Sarah
It was the day we arrived in Agra (2012 remember), my wife (it was her birthday ~ 18th December) and our two children were exploring Agra Fort, there were many people around and along with shooting the majestic architecture and vistas of the fort, I was also shooting images of the people there. Two young Chinese women who were there, I stopped to ask if I could take their portrait…and they agreed. I swapped my contact details with one of them and promised I would email her a copy of the image, which I did. We also connected on Linked-In and that was that, until a few weeks ago ~ as I write this now, it’s May 2023.
One evening, earlier this month, an email arrived in my inbox, it was the daily Linked-In news and a posting from Clair, one of the young women I had met that day in Agra. On an impulse I wrote to her and asked her how she was if she remembered me…I didn’t really expect a reply, but a day later I received one…
“Wow what an amazingly surprising email! Seriously if there’s anything in this world that proves humanity is still very much alive, it is moment like this. Your email made my weekend 10x better so really thank you!
Yes, I do remember our brief encounter in Agra Fort when you took that amazing photo of Karena and myself. It was one of our favorite memories from the trip. And yes, you did send us the photo afterwards and we were really excited about it. Thank you for capturing that beautiful moment of us in the golden hour…Seriously this is the best email I have ever received. Thank you so much for the lovely surprise”.
It really made my day too.
Aunty Carmel, Michael and Dheeraj
I very often think about the many people I have met and wonder what they might be doing now and if any of you should ever read this post ~ get in touch with me, it would be lovely to hear from you and hear what you’re up to. Pretty much no one reads my posts!
Well, I will tell you from the early days of my travels when I made do with makeshift camera bags, I now own a good few. I’m really fussy about my camera bags and the ones I own are mostly good bags some are for travelling, others for days walking around town, and a couple really nice bags that you’d take your camera out in when going to someone’s house for the day or dinner. However, you can never have enough camera bags and despite the many I own, I have not found the ideal bag for travelling as yet, the search continues!
This post is dedicated to all the wonderful people I have met, talked to and spent an enjoyable time with over those many miles ~ thank you for your friendship and company.
Clair and Karena