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Travel Photos - IndiaHaving just graduated in Social Sciences from a University in Melbourne in the late 70’s, John wanted nothing more than to travel the world. As fate would have it, his Dutch cousin ‘Hans’ was on a working holiday in Australia and had the same dream to hitchhike to Darwin and then travel overland through Asia, including Afghanistan and Iran, on route to Europe. Hans was a highly technically skilled
& accomplished photographer and it was during their travels together that John fell in love with photography and promptly bought his first SLR camera, a Canon AE1 on the duty free Malaysian Island of Penang. It was also on this trip in 1978 that John first encountered India, at the infamous port city of Calcutta. Like most ‘Westerners’ who first experience India, John struggled to come to terms with the poverty, dirt and squalor, particularly the millions of people living, eating and sleeping on the city streets. However, the amazing kaleidoscope of sights, smells, colours, architecture, sounds and most of all the consistent friendliness, spirit and happiness of the people had an uplifting, albeit confusing impact. Combining his two loves of travel and photography, John continued travelling on alone for the next five years, whilst developing his own particular photographic style, before finally settling back in Melbourne. Following an earlier career in Youth Counselling, it was at this time John began a new career in Management, whilst he simultaneously commenced etching out a part-time career in professional photography. In a few short years, John became a much sought after wedding
and portrait photographer, using his same inclination for sensitive people shots, natural light and capturing that special moment (photojournalist style) that he developed in his travel photography. John’s thirst for travel precipitated his return to India in 1984. It was during this trip that John’s love affair with India began in earnest. Like many
others before him, John recognised that despite the materialistic poverty of India, exacerbated by many of India’s serious social and political problems, including disease, the Kashmir and Punjab situations and the caste system, it is
a spiritually rich country. John found a place full of caring, friendly, open, happy and spiritually
inclined people. The people, country and cities are all visually stunning and an
absolute Mecca for photographers. For those who adjust to the most unique ways of India, there is a magic feel to the country, difficult to describe in words. John has attempted to capture an aspect of that Indian ‘soul’ in his photographs. Since that second trip in 1984, John has returned to experience the joys of India on seven more occasions, most recently
in 2004 just prior to the devastating Tsunami. Until fairly recently John had chosen not to exhibit his travel shots publicly, other than when he entered and won the prestigious ‘Melbourne Camera Club Photo Journalist Print of the Year’ Award with the print “Old man and his supper”. This has now changed and he had his first exhibition at the beautiful Convent Gallery in Daylesford Victoria a few years ago. The photos below (just click on the link) represent that particular exhibition, entitled ‘Shiva’ the Sanskrit word for ‘soul’. Note - to see the image using the full dimensions of your computer screen, press F11 on your keyboard to turn this functionality on and off. The images will change automatically every 8 to 10 seconds, however if you wish to speed this up or directly view a particular photo just click on the thumbnail image on the left of the screen. Travel Photos - General John has also travelled extensively to other parts of the world, including an overland trip from Australia to Holland (including war torn Afghanistan and Iran), living and travelling in Europe for 3 years and then spending two adventurous years hitch hiking around the USA and Central America, plus numerous later trips to West, Central and South East Asia, and some parts of the Pacific Islands. The following photos highlight some of those journeys. Travel photo prices
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