Thanks to Hanuman, I did choose the right camera bag--my old Lowepro 200 AW and was able to fit my Canon 5D Mark 2, my Rebel Xti, a 70-200 L IS 2.8 lens and a 24-105 L IS lens + battery chargers and extra batteries. What a trip. And yes, dogster, I was SO glad I lugged all of that around. It's true--India happens before you know it, but I was a little bit ready. If I could figure out how to post photos here, I would attach a few. Maybe later. The bag fit my back so well--it was easy to handle.
We flew to Mumbai where we stayed with the family of my friends for several days. Then we were off to Indore to see more family before just sightseeing in Delhi, Agra, and Udaipur. I loved the outdoor market areas; the Taj, of course; shopping for custom-made Punjabis--only $ 4.00 for the sewing part; and the food was great. A highlight was staying at Udaivillas at our last stop. The market in Udaipur was perfect for photos, although our guide for the day kept us moving quickly. Silver jewelry in Udaipur was also a highlight. The cultural experiences we had with elderly grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of my friends were unforgettable. Thanks for all of the great advice!
I did post some photos on Facebook, but was unable to copy the link to this note.

Welcome back Patty. Glad to hear that your trip went well and I look forward to seeing your photos once you've uploaded them.

Excellent! Glad you survived Patty! I found mysel rather taken by the [not-so silver] jewelry in Sth Rajasthan, too. I look a bit silly dressed up in it, but once I put my sari on, nobody seems to mind.

O'm sorry - I've got diverted. Patty's road test proves Hanuman's acumen once again. Is there anything this Thai wonder cannot do?

I bet you went crazy, Patty, clicking away. What was your technique to catch all those fleeting moments? What was your % of pics where someone walks in front of the lens?...of hopelessly blurry photos? ...of the back of somebody's head?

lol. Maybe I'm just talking about me - not you. I'd love it if you could expand on your thoughts - not so much about capturing the architecture but about capturing that Indian MOMENT.

I hope you can find that link. Great to have you back.


You're incredibly fortunate having relatives there - wow, what a great opportunity.

I can't dance!

I'll write more later, but first I'll try these links to a few of my pix--click the "next" button to see more of each series.Each goes to a "public" Facebook link. I have lots more to post one day.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=4cf5c9f1e7

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1444632074

Okay--a few brief comments: I did have a lot of photos trashed by people walking in front or blurred and rarely did the photos from inside a car work. My first 1/2 hour on a Mumbai street, a woman and her child pressed their faces against our car window--just like the Steve McCurry image on his South Asia book cover--BUT I had been warned--and didn't photograph them--much as I wanted to. I wanted to give them money but was quite aware of the potential for being mobbed if I did.
But to my surprise, most people didn't mind being photographed at all. I "asked" permission by gesturing to my camera and to them with a questioning look and most complied--some by actually posing. Showing them the digital image on the back of the camera sometimes brought delight and once--clapping. (very different from Morocco--another favorite place)
BTW, dogster, my favorite photos are not of architecture! I love the open markets or people doing whatever they do in daily life. What made my task difficult was being with a small group who wanted to keep moving. When it's just my husband and myself, we can poke and wander and take whatever time is needed. I'm still sorting out photos and discovering some colorful and lively images hiding out with the many more ordinary photos.

The links above worked for me if I dragged and dropped them or maybe you could copy and paste them.

Great photos Patty! You should consider uploading them to flickr, pbase, smugmug or some other photo hosting sites as I don't feel that facebook offer the best presentation on photographs and make them look a bit dull.

Anyways I enjoyed them very much and hope you will upload more, only 17?

PS. You might already know this but in case you didn't - http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/fir.../firmware.html

Thanks, Hanuman, and I do have lots more. I have my other photos at pbase, so I should upload them there. Also--I did not know about the firmware update, so thanks.

You're welcome Patty. The firmware update came 1 week too late for me as I just came back from Hua Hin where there was a Kiteboarding competition. Wish I had the 24/25 fps video option as the 30 fps does not play very well on my computer and media streamer.

Look forward to seeing more of your photos.

P.S. I haven't added more photos yet, but I wanted to add that India wasn't as scary as I had heard it might be. I loved it. It wasn't as challenging as other countries, to my surprise. Even the traffic, which is daunting, wasn't as bad as, say, Mexico City. None of us got sick or hurt and the color and passion of life is worth it all!

I loved the photos. Did you shoot RAW or jpeg? Even compressed for Facebook the quality of the full frame sensor (and the L series glass) shows.

Thanks, Silverwool! I shot some photos in JPEG and some in RAW. At the Taj, I shot in RAW and some of the other close-ups of people. At first I was afraid I wouldn't have enough cards to shoot RAW all of the time (since it's also 21 MP and eats up space)--then realized I did.

Patty,

There's a small problem with the new firmware - http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/fir.../firmware.html

I still think it's worth it to update the camera but I just want to let you know.

Wonderful pictures. Still trying to convince my husband to journey with me to India.

I've been thinking...

Next time you're planning to go to India, grab a list of Festivals, Patty - structure your trip around those. Your sweet camera will explode with excitement.

Thanks, dgunbug! Hope you convince him. My husband wasn't interested before, but now hearing our stories and seeing my photos, I think he would. No one got sick on our trip and we all stayed safe.

Dogster--I love your idea--I know I would go a bit crazy with a festival in India. I wished I could have stayed for the Holi celebration. I think the camel fair in Pushkar would be awesome also.

The great thing about them is that everybody expects to be photographed - they didn't dress up in all that tat to be ignored! Even though the festivals are becoming relentlessly stage-managed by the State govcernments in the tourist areas, you won't notice that when you sort thru your pics. I was in Eastern Gujarat for Holi last year, tribal festivals, definately NOT stage managed...

Ahhh, but the pictures..