 |
San Diegan Craig M., whose travel photography appears below, stands before the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. One of the world's most celebrated architectural landmarks, the white marble mausoleum was commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. Construction began the following year and was completed in 1648 under the direction of court architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, the Taj Mahal remains a monument to enduring love and Mughal artistry. Scaffolding surrounding its minarets is part of ongoing restoration work by the Archaeological Survey of India to repair masonry cracks and preserve the historic marble. Editor's note: Captions for Craig's photographs appear at the end of this article. MORE ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER: CRAIG, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA Earlier this year, we introduced readers to Craig, a good friend of this publication and a retired professional pianist who makes his home in North Park, San Diego's historic Arts & Crafts neighborhood. After a rewarding career in music, Craig now enjoys the freedom to travel the world, trading concert halls and piano keys for distant landscapes and the click of a camera shutter. Recently, he generously opened his portfolio of travel photography to PillartoPost.org. Our first photographic journey with Craig took readers to the Netherlands on September 1, 2026. This time, his camera takes us to India. For Craig, the transition from music to photography has been a happy discovery. As a professional musician, he learned that every performance demanded precision. A wrong note could not be retrieved once it reached the audience. Photography, he discovered, is music for the eyes, with one welcome difference: It's considerably more forgiving. Nobody boos when you miss a picture. Still, the two art forms have much in common. A piano and a camera are instruments that reward patience, discipline and an artistic eye—or ear. Both challenge the performer to capture something memorable. Craig has found enormous pleasure in approaching each photographic outing as another artistic performance, this time with light, color and composition replacing melody, harmony and rhythm. PillartoPost.org thanks Craig for sharing his travels and his remarkable photographic eye with our readers. And where will his camera take us next? Craig has promised a surprise destination in Italy. Stay tuned. |
INDIA PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1.
2.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
CAPTIONS:
1. Boats at Sunset — Ganges River, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Golden-hour sunlight silhouettes traditional wooden rowboats on the Ganges River. The wide river, misty atmosphere and timeless boating activity capture a serene evening in India's ancient spiritual city.
2. Market Boy — Northern India, Possibly Delhi or Uttar Pradesh A smiling young street vendor stands beside his weighing scale and fresh bananas at a bustling local bazaar. Devanagari writing on the background wall suggests a Hindi-speaking region of northern India.
3. Cycling with Dad — Possibly New Delhi A father pedals his young daughter to school along a leafy, tree-lined roadway. Wearing her school uniform, she rides balanced on the crossbar of his classic black bicycle.
4. Kedar Ghat — Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Young men perform synchronized exercises along the distinctive red-and-white striped steps of Kedar Ghat, overlooking the sacred Ganges River in Varanasi, northern India's spiritual capital.
5. Dal Lake — Srinagar, Kashmir A vendor rows a wooden shikara boat loaded with colorful marigolds across the calm, glassy waters of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir.
6. Golden Temple — Amritsar, Punjab Seven young women pose beside the sacred reflecting pool of Amritsar's illuminated Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine, where pilgrims gather for prayer and religious observances.
7. Historic Doorway — Possibly Ahmedabad, Gujarat An old bicycle rests against weathered wooden doors beneath a crumbling brick archway. Faded paint and remnants of a Calico Cloth sign suggest Ahmedabad, once famous for its textile mills.
8. Qutb Minar — Delhi Framed by intricately carved sandstone ruins, Delhi's thirteenth-century Qutb Minar rises above its historic courtyard. The 72.5-meter victory tower represents one of India's most celebrated examples of Indo-Islamic architecture.
9. Dal Lake — Srinagar, Kashmir Two boatmen navigate the tranquil waters of Dal Lake beneath dramatic white clouds and the majestic backdrop of the Zabarwan mountain range.
10. Sadhu — Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh An ascetic Hindu holy man, known as a sadhu, dressed in traditional saffron robes and a turban, sits peacefully on the stone steps of a ghat in Varanasi.
11. Traditional Tailor — Possibly Srinagar, Kashmir Wearing a patterned skullcap and warm cardigan, a smiling tailor guides white fabric through a vintage manual sewing machine inside his compact, fabric-lined workshop, possibly in Srinagar, Kashmir.
12. Woman in red — Rajasthan An Indian woman dressed in a vibrant red traditional sari or ghagra choli smiles warmly while standing outside a village home in rural Rajasthan.
###
