Rajasthan

Where

REGIONAL CONTEXT · RAJASTHAN IN INDIA

Rajasthan within IndiaINDIA

AGRA–UDAIPUR ROAD ROUTE

Agra to Udaipur through RajasthanRAJASTHANINDIAAgraJaipurJodhpurRanakpurUdaipur

Description

We travelled the Golden Triangle – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur – before continuing west through Jodhpur to Udaipur over Christmas 2025. I had wanted to visit the region for years, drawn in part by its intertwined history with the British Empire.

The Taj Mahal was something of a let-down: on the day we visited, it was cloaked in winter fog. Jodhpur was the clear highlight. Mehrangarh Fort is massive, and the blue city below is a photographer’s dream – faces, light, colour, geometry and the busy choreography of ordinary life.

These photographs accompany India – Not Bad, my first impressions after ten days on the road.

Date taken

December 2025

Tools used

Leica M10-P
Thypoch 28mm f/1.4
Leica Summicron 50mm f/2
A patterned marble walkway and long side wall of the Taj Mahal receding into dense fog.The red sandstone entrance gateway to the Taj Mahal rising behind visitors in heavy haze.The upper facade and minarets of the Taj Mahal appearing faintly through dense grey fog.Decorated elephants and their handlers gathered inside a sunlit courtyard at Amber Fort.A vertical view over the ochre ramparts of Amber Fort towards a hazy Jaipur valley.An ochre tower of Amber Fort overlooking its ramparts, Maota Lake and the hazy Jaipur hills.The Amber Fort approach and Maota Lake seen through the dark openings of a stone screen.A high vertical view of visitors walking through a sunlit marble colonnade at Amber Fort.A woman in a hat standing among repeating pale stone arches and columns at Amber Fort.Two women standing in sunlight against a weathered floral wall inside Amber Fort.An arched palace ceiling covered with fine floral, geometric and figurative painting.The pink and white windowed facade of Hawa Mahal rising above a crowded Jaipur street.A small gilded double door set within deep layered stone arches and decorative carving.A black Royal Enfield motorcycle parked tightly among red and silver motorcycles.Two visitors seen from behind against a bright geometric stone lattice window.Red sandstone buildings of Mehrangarh Fort framing a wide hazy view over Jodhpur.Highly carved red sandstone walls around a courtyard, divided between sunlight and deep shadow.A woman in a hat seated in shade while looking across a sunlit red sandstone palace courtyard.Students and visitors walking beside a sandstone wall while a group pauses for a photograph.Blue and white houses of Jodhpur seen through a deep rectangular opening in the fort wall.A colourful mural of a seated woman beside yellow doors on a blue street corner in Jodhpur.A narrow Jodhpur street with blue walls, tangled overhead wires, scooters and pedestrians in hard sunlight.A dark marble temple corridor framing a large twisting tree and figures in bright light beyond.A carved stone elephant standing among richly detailed marble columns inside Ranakpur Jain Temple.A woman in a white sari posing beside a smiling schoolgirl in a busy palace courtyard.A dense white city seen through an ornate scalloped palace arch in Udaipur.People crossing a long arched footbridge reflected in the still water below.A small red boat crossing Lake Pichola in front of pale palaces along the Udaipur waterfront.A small motorboat crossing Lake Pichola below a bright hazy sun and distant hills.
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