From The Sunday Times Travel Magazine

Among the challenges you face as a travel photographer is trying to pronounce the names of far-flung places when you’re organising shoots there. I’m half-Indian, and I speak Hindi, but even I found Shravanabelagola, home to the Mahamastakabisheka Festival, quite a mouthful. It’s where the main picture was taken (number 1 in the slideshow, see link under multimedia below).

The festival only happens once every 12 years, so the usually sleepy town goes a bit wild. I had to fight my way to the top of some steps and stand for half a day in sweltering heat to get this angle, but my patience was rewarded – this is the shot that won first prize in the Single Image category of the 2006 Travel Photographer of the Year Competition.

The Bahubali statue in the picture is one of the world’s tallest monolith statues, and more than 1,000 years old. People take it in turns to climb to the top and pour milk, holy water and bright red sandlewood paste over the head – you can pay up to 10 million rupees (£15,000) for the privilege of pouring the first bucket. I spent most of the afternoon protecting my camera from splashes; there are still red spots on it!

Standing among those crowds was nothing compared to the experience of being chased by what felt like the world’s largest gathering of people. I took the photo of the naked sadhu (or Hindu holy man, picture 2) at the Maha Kumbh Mela Festival in Allahabad, India. About 20 million pilgrims had converged to compete for the honour of first dip in the Ganges. I was in a line of photographers, running backwards and taking photos. We were stuck in there for an hour before it was safe to get out, but it’s worth risking a broken bone to get right up close to the action. War photographer Robert Capa once said: ‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.’ Long lenses are great for detail, but try using a wide-angle lens instead and you’ll get a greater sense of drama.

The shot of the Masai tribesmen (picture 3), taken in Kenya, was my first foray into digital photography. I’ve been reluctant to change from slide film as there’s a real danger you can spend more hours sitting in front of a computer than actually taking photographs. For this shot, I used a slow enough shutter speed to capture the colours in the sky, and set the flash to illuminate the foreground.

The picture of the hot thermal springs (picture 4) near Rotorua was taken during my honeymoon last January. We toured New Zealand in a camper van – all very romantic, but I did sneak my camera into the suitcase (my wife’s a photographer too, so she’s understanding). For shots like this, you’ll find the colours will do the work for you – you just need to position yourself correctly. Again, it’s the colours that make the next image work so well (picture 5). I was walking down the lanes in Mehrauli, a village near Delhi, when I spotted the ornamental arch and green door. The boy peering out of the door made the shot.

On our way back from New Zealand, we squeezed in a visit to Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, where I took the picture of the monk (picture 6). The evening light was beautiful, but the place was packed with tourists. As luck would have it, I slipped down a deserted alley just as the monk walked by. I’ve asked people to pose for me before but it never works – it always ends up looking awkward. Some things are better left to chance.

Links

Karoki Lewis
www.karokilewis.com

Travel Photographer of the Year
www.tpoty.com

Interview by Laura Goulden

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