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Uttar Pradesh

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Boat padding on Yamuna River beside Taj Mahal.

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Overview

There are few states more quintessentially Indian than Uttar Pradesh. The subcontinent's historic and religious roots – Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and secular – intertwine in this land of sacred rivers and vast plains, manifesting in sights of profound importance.

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Attraction in Agra
Taj Mahal

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Attraction in Agra
Agra Fort

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Attraction in Lucknow
Bara Imambara

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Attraction in Varanasi
Manikarnika Ghat

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Attraction in Lucknow
Residency

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Attraction in Agra
Akbar’s Mausoleum

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Attraction in Agra
Mehtab Bagh

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Attraction in Varanasi
Assi Ghat

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Uttar Pradesh and beyond

Beyond Uttar Pradesh

Boat paddling past Taj Mahal on Yamuna River.

Agra & the Taj Mahal

Crowd of people bathing in the Ganges.

The story behind this image involves me spending some time with my ageing father doing what we both like doing best… exploring the local town. On a cold January morning, we headed down to the banks of the Yamuna to catch a ferry. We had made arrangements with a local boatman the previous evening to be there for a sunrise shot..The current of the Yamuna proved to be too strong for Manoj, our boatman, as he struggled to get me to a vantage point that would have gotten me to the dead centre in front of the Taj. What I got out of camera was a less than perfect image that was slightly askew..This image has been reconstructed in Photoshop, to establish the symmetry of this monument reflected in the turbid waters of the Yamuna in the foreground..In 2013, I began reworking a lot of my older images. I had taken this one in early 2011. The original version was done in HDR – which I have personally started stepping away from in an attempt to get more right when shooting the image. This exercise has shown me how my own workflow has developed over the years, and how much my appreciation for subtle processing techniques has developed. The workflow that I employed to achieve this is available here.

The third Nawab of Avadh, (Husainabad Imambada), Uttar Pradesh, India.

Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir is a Gaudiya Vaishnava temple in the holy city of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state of India

Jama Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh, India

Beyond Uttar Pradesh