My thoughts after India...

Running up to my journey to India I began my research and really had a set idea of what I wanted to do. My idea was to create a book that documented my journey, however I didn't want to focus on what I seen but more on colour and the colour of the country. I had seen books that showed India as a bright and vibrant country, so this is what I wanted to portray. The book that held particular interest to me was ‘Colourful World’ by Amandine Guisez Gallienne, I even took this book away with me for reference while I was there. 

The reason behind me been drawn to this book in particular is that I wanted to portray colour, pattern and style rather than typical pictures of India. This seemed like a perfect reference point as it did just that. What I found interesting is the way that the book had dividers running through out that colour blocked the images. The images included full shots that were mainly of the colour chosen but also close shots of fabric, lights, patterns and other bright and vibrant areas. This was my main point of reference and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do when I arrived in Goa.  

The Problem:

HOWEVER, this wasn't as easy or really as realistic as I would have hoped. See Goa is a small state in India and doesn't really have the vast culture that other states in India hold. You can drive the full length of Goa in 2 hours and the majority of it is beaches. The buildings and surroundings didn’t seem to have the colour and vibrancy that I was expecting to be overrun with, in fact it was rather bland. There was no roads or paths, this made everything dusty, the buildings were run down, and at first appearance I was really concerned about my project. A couple of days in though I found my feet and started to follow little paths were I came across the colourful buildings that I was expecting (however not nearly enough). To be honest I feel like the goals that I set myself before arriving in India and the expectations that I had built up were ambitious, and rather naive considering I had never been to the country before and I was basing my idea on preconceived ideas. I think that this may be the biggest lesson I have learned. Don’t expect things to be as you imagine them, you have to work with what you have.