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“A kind of golden hour one remembers for a life time… Everything was touched with magic.” ~ Margaret Bourke-White
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The Making of “A Day In The Life Of India – NH 8”
National Highway 8 (NH 8) is a highway that connects the Indian financial capital Mumbai with India’s capital Delhi. According to estimates, it is the busiest highway in the subcontinent.
I’d started off very early that day from Mumbai; my final destination was the picturesque hill-station of Manali in the Himalayan region of India, with a night’s stopover each in the cities of Udaipur and Delhi. By late afternoon I’d passed the city of Ahmadabad in the state of Gujarat, and it was then that those few moments that defined this one day in the Life of India on NH 8 came to pass. The huge – and I mean HUGE – herd of cows, with several cowherds in tow trundled onto the highway. Step on brakes – check! . Leap out – check! Grab camera from backseat – check! Stop drooling long enough to make this fine art photograph of A Day in the Life of India on NH 8. Check!
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The Photograph
Apart from the sheer spectacle that presented itself to me, what really caught my eye was the play of light that was perfect for photography – soft , golden angular light, the magic of which was accentuated by the dust kicked up by this bovine herd. The pattern of U-shaped horns of these magnificent creatures does a lot for this image. I needed something to break the pattern, something that would yet provide context – the two herdsmen. I made several shots of the spectacle as it played out before me before settling on this one. On the technical front, it was vital I get my exposure right, mastering your dslr and exposure helps.
In post-processing I adjusted contrast to do further justice to the play of light and shadow. I also gave this image an impressionist touch. To be quite frank the image as viewed here does no justice to the final fine art print; if there was ever a fine art photograph that portrays the essence of India, this is it!
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