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The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine.  Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Dec 2013 back issue
The Travel Bug
by Ingetje Tadros
Travel is in Ingetje's blood.  Her images are about the journeys she takes with the people she photographs, which allow her to build up an intimacy with her subjects and to capture their spirit. Ingetje says of her own approach, "I am very impulsive.  Sometimes I get a feeling of being drawn to a place or a person, and then I just have to do it". What Ingetje captures in her images is more than just a casual shot.  Within each image she makes is the trust and access that she has worked on tirelessly with that subject.  This does not just happen instantly.  She prefers that a subject invite her into their world and that she then becomes almost transparent to them, allowing her to capture them as if she wasn't there.    "It's a great feeling when people take you into their homes and share their lives.  It's not always easy to get the access, but for me, the harder that access is, the more driven I become and the harder I try."
Rabari elders line up as they are waiting for the Priest to attend a Ceremony, Southern Rajastan.
When the Rabari move from one village to another, they throw all their household belongings on a reversed bedstead on a camels back.  Even small children and young animals will be transported by camel, Gujarat.
A family (with a small baby) gather fish and sell from a Coracle in the backwaters of Kerala.
Transport home.  Families and friends packed together on a tractor, leaving a ceremony in Southern Rajastan.
Rabari women busy collecting water at a large water reservoir.  After filling up all their metal jars they walk long distances back home, Southern Rajastan.
Rabari couple preparing cheese in their family kitchen, Southern Rajastan.
A butcher preparing in a small cubicle in the back of a butchery shop , Kerala.
A waiter serving customers lentils and rice from a metal bucket and trays, Kerala.
The Malik Ghat Flower market is under the Howrah Bridge.  The Bridge used to be the only way across the Houghly River and is similar in size to Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. It is considered the busiest bridge in the world and everything from pedestrians, bullock carts, push carts to automobiles and bicycles cross every day.
The Kolay Market is the largest wholesale vegetable market in Kolkata.  Kolkata receives most of its vegetable supply from rural areas. Rows and rows of trucks line up filled with cabbages, potatoes, eggplants, pumpkins and any other vegetable available in the season.
A street scene in the Kolay market in Kolkata.
In the Little Rann of Kutch, India's salt producing heartland, thousands of families (incl. children as young as 10) work in the desert using a harvesting technique unchanged for centuries.  Wages are low and offer few changes for the children of saltpan workers to escape a cycle of poverty and poor health.  Gujarat.
The elder of a Gypsy village, Southern Rajastan.
Rabari men commonly wear white dresses and red turbans. They used to be a Nomadic tribe but nowadays, more and more, Rabari live in small settlements where they attend their animals, Southern Rajastan.
The elder of a gypsy village in Gujarat.
The Jat have a distinct cultural history that can be traced back to ancient times. The woman wear very large nose rings, Northern Gujarat.
For Rabari men the moustache is a very important asset and it gives them a high status, Rajastan.
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