The Hindu : Kerala News : Capturing Kerala at its best

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Capturing Kerala at its best

John L Paul

ROMANCING NATURE: The team from Phototravel.

Tourists who combine professional photography with travel cannot resist clicking their cameras in picturesque Kerala. No wonder then that Phototravel, an international agency that arranges tours for those with a passion for photography, selected Kerala among the few destinations in southern India to be captured on camera. The three men and three women team (who include a couple), were seen copying scenes of dusk at Kallenchery Retreat in Kumbalanghi, India’s first mo del-tourism village.

They were led by Frangi Bruno from Switzerland, the founder of Phototravel, for whom it was the 46th visit to Kerala. Three years into the business, Mr. Bruno, a professional photographer and teacher of photography, is quite at home in the State. He had been a partner of an IT firm in Kakkanad, Kochi, till about a decade ago. He tours different countries and identifies locales, following which he fixes an hour-by-hour itinerary that is non-negotiable.

Despite travelling in three sports utility vehicles, the group found the road-ride through Kerala tough, thanks to severely-potholed roads and traffic snarls. “Kochi has been growing too fast, but roads have not kept pace. Because of this, our schedule has been badly hit,” said Mr Bruno. Though the group focuses on taking photographs of nature in all its splendour, they just cannot miss out on India’s effervescent people, “who seem to be there everywhere.” “The colourful dresses that they wear capture our attention. We can afford to focus on nature alone, in countries which have small populations,” said Mr. Bruno.

The group was more keen on staying put in a scenic locale and capturing its hues, rather than cover too many kilometres in a day. They stay in a locale for one to two hours, covering three places or a maximum of 100 km every day. Their itinerary included a stay in a traditional house-boat in Alappuzha. The places that they covered include Varkala, Valpara, Palani, Madurai and Rajapalayam.

The team was accompanied by Althaf Babjan, business development head of Trailblazer India, their travel agent in India. Sanjeev Kumar P, area manager (southern India) of the company, said that Mr. Bruno will be calling in Kerala next November, with two groups of people, and cover southern India. The group will fly back home on Thursday – Nov 22. Further details can be had from the websites www.phototravel.ch and www.brunofrangi.com.

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