New Exhibition of Stepwell Photographs
We've refurbished the ground floor showroom at the Silk Road Gallery for a new exhibition of our photographs of the ancient stepwells and monasteries of India. We think the white framed photos stand out better against the new darker walls.
The reflections in the glass are unavoidable - sorry!
These are the views when you first enter. On the right are the dramatic yellow geometric steps of the popular Panna Meena ka Kund at Amer, Rajasthan.
The large photo straight ahead measures 90x120cm and of course can be ordered in other sizes. The image is of the huge 9 storey deep stepwell at Neemrana, one of our favourite stepwells. Neemrana is halfway between Delhi and Jaipur and easily reached with a short detour. The title is Neemrana with Eleven Parrots and the image is a composite of three separate photos taken with a full frame Sony camera.
Another photo in the exhibition is Neemrana with Six Parrots! Dozens of parrots nest in the cracks in the masonry overnight and emerge with the morning sun.
The stepwells to the right of the Panna Meema ka Kund are the coloured arches of the dramatic Banjaron ni Vaav at Vadod near Ahmedabad and the lovely L shaped Bhawaldi Baoli in the blue town of Bundi, another of our favourite stepwells. The lovely town of Bundi is blessed with a spectacular old palace, an intriguing fort and dozens of stepwells - and is the subject of our You Tube slide show The Stepwells of Bundi.
To the right of Neemrana is a photo of the Buddhist monastery of Karsha from Zanskar in the far north of India. The high altitude Buddhist landscapes of Zanskar and Ladakh are another favourite part of India and the other main theme of our photographs. This is an area where we go trekking in the summer months when Rajasthan and Gujarat are too hot for comfort!
This stripey stepwell is at Lohargal on the edge of the Aravali hills in the Rajasthani region of Shekawati. A similar design to Neemrana which is just a few hours drive away, Lohargal doesn't get many visitors but is a spectacular and atmospheric stepwell, 7 storeys deep.
Neemrana again, to the left, another morning photo with cooler light and six parrots! Neemrana is an intriguing well - the lower levels are dark, crumbling, dank and a little spooky - and we've been here four times to see it at different times of day.
To the far right is another photo, in different light, of the Panna Meema ka Kund. If it looks out of place next to the Karsha monastery, this image of the gallery was taken when a photo of another Zanskar monastery had just been sold.
On the long wall in the gallery are a large selection of ready to buy A3 and A2 size prints. What's also included in these photos are images from Nepal and Tibet. Below them are, left to right: the flooded Baoli Wale Ganeshji stepwell at Datia, another image from Lohargal and the Ratba Vav stepwell at Rampara in Gujarat.
