Capt Suresh Sharma

The Taj Mahal, Me and My Camera !!!

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Taj Mahal (also “the Taj”) is one of the seven wonders of the world, and established historians have noted that its architectural beauty has never been surpassed. And is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. The Taj is the most beautiful monument built by the Mughals, the Muslim rulers of India. Its stunning architectural beauty is beyond any kind of description in words, particularly when seen at dawn and sunset. The Taj wears different looks in different weather conditions of all seasons and the time of the day, like a married woman looks in different colours of her dresses and jewelry – there is mesmerising glow on it in the light of the full moon, on a foggy morning, the Taj looks as if suspended, especially when viewed from across the Yamuna river, at sunset and sunrise it entices all the photographers as the glow of the last and first light transforms it into a big jewel.

In 1983, the Taj, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.”

Like any other photographer, I was fascinated to photograph the Taj. The day I bought my first digital SLR Canon 20D at Delhi, I drove straight to Agra and spent a week around the marvel. With everyday spent around the Taj, it fired up the intensity of my love to photograph it, which I have never had with any other subject. During all the winter photo sessions, I stood shivering behind the Taj at 0515 hours in winters (used to get get up at 0430 hours), I could not touch my camera tripod with bare hands, it was chilling. Also, I have scorched myself under the Sun of June, I have stood chest deep in the muck of Yamuna, which doesn’t have much of water content, I have slipped and banged my bums on human excreta many times (lost count now), sometimes the level of the muck flow increases and when it recedes leaves an evenly thin coating of muck behind on ground, which is nothing other than the sewerage flow of whole Agra city. But my passion always took over me and I could not see all that.

In June 2007, I went to photograph people congregating behind the Taj for the celebration of Ganga Dussehra. It is a local fair to Uttra Pradesh (one of the states of India). On my first such shoot, while I was shooting large congregation bathing in that murky Yamuna River, composing the Taj in the background, I had to be in my underwear, as I was not prepared for the kind of shots I was being offered by the festival. On my previous shoots, I used to avoid touching the water flowing in Yamuna, with my feet even. I was moving around very carefully, while holding two cameras up in air in my both hands, scared of slipping and hitting the cameras on ground first. But then the inevitable happened, I slipped on the thin layer of muck and then discovered that it changed my life and my view of the shoot. I was sitting on ground comfortably all over to shoot and regain those lost shots, which I had missed in last one hour, it was like losing virginity – thereafter no worries. I sat all over without any hesitation and was rewarded with some excellent photos. All this gets eclipsed when your passion makes you blind for as a while.

Now, I love going behind the Taj Mahal, on Yamuna side, on my each visit to Agra and the kids of Kacchpura village love to tag along with me on each shoot. After the shoot, its a ritual to have tea at the `cart mounted tea stall’, with the whole gang and my driver. My driver has never been able to understand why I visit this area again and again, why I am not tired of photographing Taj. After this ritual, I take my driver to `Ram Babu Pratha Walla’ at Belan Ganj in Agra. You have to visit this place to believe and enjoy the best `prathas’ you can ever taste in India. This routine has been evolved to keep my drivers in good humour and motivated to bring me in the morning hours when he loves to sleep. I get up at 0430 hours to reach the entry point on the road near the village Kacchpura village at 0515 hours and be in Yamuna riverbed at around 0530 hours. And the driver has no charm to get up in the morning and then wait indefinitely in the jeep for me, while I am shooting. So, I pamper my drivers at `Ram Babu Parantha’ shop.

Why I reach there so early? Most of you may wonder about me being there with my cameras, behind the Taj so early in the darkness, much before the sunrise. I am sure some readers may ridicule me being there so early. I like to scout around the right spot in the river bed for the day-break and then have enough time to deploy my camera tripod, lens cleaning, filter mounting rings, etc. I do a stock check of each pocket of my photographer’s jacket, to ensure that I know where is what and in case I need anything suddenly, I can pull out things without any confusion. By being there right in the nick of time, I do not want to be caught running around by the first light of the day and then the rising Sun, likelihood is that one may trip over something as well. I am always there at the right spot and be ready in advance to catch the royal structure making shapes in front of the crimson light, at first light of the day-break. And when fog adds to its beauty, its like newly married lady shows her face through the veil slowly. Its simply mesmerising, ecstasy!

No words can express my joy of each day I spend behind the Taj. Though, I will try to do that through my photos of the Taj, posted here in its gallery.

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The Taj Mahal, Me and My Camera !!!

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