Kolkata 24

I just returned back home from a truly epic 37-day trip to the northeastern part of India with a fellow retired Army photographer friend of mine, Russell Klika. You can find him on Instagram at: rklika

Trip Overview: We started our India trip out from the city of Kolkata and headed north into Arunachal Pradesh and visited the city of Tawang and Ziro. Next we went to Guwahati in Assam for transportation to Nagaland. Lastly we started to make our way home back to Kolkata but not before stopping at Majuli Island for some relaxation. Stay tuned for upcoming stories I worked on in these areas!

Kolkata: After a physically demanding trip in the remote regions of northeastern India we finally made it back to Kolkata where we had a few days to burn before our flight home. Jokingly, Russell said, “We should go out and photograph Kolkata for 24 hrs.” And “Kolkata 24” was born! I then laid down the rules. I said, “This is awesome, and you must produce an image every hour to share on a social media platform, so at the end you HAVE to show 24 images.” The game was born, but little did we know how demanding it would be. A local friend and photographer Raj Maeyukh Dam decided to join in with us and help us around the city. Our little adventure took us to such places as the Chicken Hotel Market, Old Kolkata, numerous Ghats, a railway colony, Chinatown, nightclubs, the train station, flower market and running the streets in the late hours with the dogs. (Next time you see me, ask me about the craziest thing I have ever seen with dogs, it blew my mind!) During our game, we had some great hours where we would stumble upon something cool and shooting would be great. But on the other hand you had the hours were we would be in transit from one part of the city to another or in a place where nothing was really going on and shooting was hard. It didn’t matter the situation, you have to have an image to represent that hour. Which now brings me to my next point. Editing of the final 24 images to produce a well-rounded representation of the city was another challenge. On the good hours you had to cut some of your best images of the day and on the not so good hours you might be posting a fish picture from dinner in Chinatown. “Kolkata 24” was a blast and a great way to test our skills! I hope you enjoy the way I saw this vibrant and energetic city in 24hrs. I would love to hear your comments!

“Kolkata 24” Timeline