Kabootars

Another “deep dive” (ok, maybe today isn’t such a deep dive) in to one of the photos featured in “scenes of india“.

Prior to heading to a new location I like to do research, identify interesting locations, customs, buildings, etc. in search of photo opportunities. When reading up on the city of Agra, you have the obvious locations like the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, but with some investigation I also discovered Kabootars. Kabootars are pigeons, and Kabootars Baz are people who have trained pigeons to fly high above the Agra city using high pitched whistles. This was definitely something I was interested in photographing if time permitted.

Tired from an afternoon of sightseeing I journeyed to the patio at the Agra Sheraton for a nice cold beer and cigar. When I arrived at the patio, which overlooked the city of Agra, I could see the Taj Mahal in the background, and hear the Kabbotar Baz high pitched whistles and see flocks of pigeons in the afternoon sky. Along with the Kabootars, I also received a glimpse of daily life, as kids played on the Agra rooftops.

Unfortunately a small group of pigeons a quarter of a mile away, doesn’t make for exciting photography…but I did come away with a few photos that I enjoyed, including this one. A glimpse of the Agra rooftops with the Taj Mahal dominating the skyline. I wonder what it would be like to have that in your window or visible from your rooftop every day?

Scenes of India is currently available through Blurb, for $59.95+tax/shipping. The first edition is limited to 250 copies.

For information on autographed copies, follow this link.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 6:01 pm and is filed under black and white, india, scenes of india, urban landscapes and tagged with agra, black and white, india, kabootars, silver efex pro, traditions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.