Monday 14th December

Home! I had a fantastic time in India and experienced things that I would never have if I had just come on holiday to Mumbai. I would absolutely love to go again in the future and hopefully get to do some more sightseeing of this beautiful country.

Sunday 13th December

Had a walk along the beach this morning, completely deserted apart from a few local boys playing cricket. Took a beach buggy out for a ride this afternoon and after being encouraged to drive along the tide, came back splattered in mud!

Saturday 12th December

Checked out of the hotel this morning and went to stay with Andres’ friends in Alibag, we took a speedboat to their beach villa! It was so relaxing and I was able to catch up on my sleep and eat and read lots!

Friday 11th December

Third and final day of shoot! Four sets to do again, easy peasy! Models were great and images looked fantastic! Thats a wrap!

Thursday 10th December

Second day of shoot, we had four sets again to shoot (originally three!) The day followed the same format as yesterday. Andres is doing a great job, the photographs look stunning!

Today we were so tired, we grabbed a quick chinese in the hotel, which was amazing but I was almost too tired to really appreciate it! Feel asleep as soon as I got back to my room.

Wednesday 9th December

First day of shoot and still jetlagged! We were supposed to have three sets to photograph but it turned into four so it was pretty intense. It went fairly smoothly, except for there being too many cooks, which unfortunately hindered things slightly! I shot a bit of HD video of the shoot as it was happening on my gorgeous Canon 5D Mark II, it has fantastic depth of field and great ability to shoot in low light.

After a very busy day we went to the opening of a new bar called Aer, on the top of the Four Seasons Hotel! Very swanky!

Tuesday 8th December

Today was the first day of the shoot, unfortunately not everything was ready and so we begun testing with the lights and props. The lights came with their own operators. We worked through til 10pm and ate cheese sandwiches and masala dosa.

They have a new bridge in Mumbai called the Sea Link Bridge which we travelled across many times and it always took two men to work the tolls. One man to collect the money from the driver, who passed it to another man in the booth who then passed out the change to the first man who would pass it back to the driver.

Monday 7th December

I had Dragon Fruit for breakfast, delicious! Visited the studio today to see how the sets were being built. I had my first cup of Char in the Good Luck Cafe. The traffic in Mumbai is mental, all you hear is horns honking. Rickshaws are everywhere!

Was chaffuer driven to a restaurant called Trishna (I think that was how it was spelt!) We then went to the CCI and sat on the cricket ground with a Kingfisher.

Then on to Olive for dinner.

Sunday 6th December

We arrived at the 5* Taj Landsend in the early hours of the morning.

After a few hours sleep we went to visit the Gateway of India. It was brimming with people and I begun snapping away but I soon became the focal point due to my pale complexion and people began snapping me! Very surreal.

We then stumbled upon a film set! We pushed our way through the crowds and were pulled in to become extras!

We then visited Queen Victoria Station, where scenes from Slumdog Millionaire were shot! Men and women are required to travel in separate compartments and the carriages have no doors! Very impressive place with lots and lots of people.

In the evening I had my first curry in India! I tried Wasabi Peas, Chicken Makhani, Dal Makhani, Lasooni Palak Paneer and Gulab Jamun! Then afterwards on the street I had Paan!

Mumbai

India was amazing!! I took my laptop with me, prepared to blog everyday but unfortunately the hotels wi-fi connection was very slow and so I was unable to. I had kept a hand written diary whilst I was away instead.

I got back last week and have been super busy so this is my first chance to be able to write about everything!

To give a quick overview I was in India to assist the photographer Andres Reynaga, he was shooting advertising shots for Nitco, a company that specialises in luxury floor and wall tiles. We were working in Mumbai’s biggest studios, Meeboob, where many Hindi films are staged.

We obviously were working very hard out there but I did have some time to see some cool things and take photos!

The difference in financial situations is astonishing. From tiny children begging on the street to luxury apartments over looking the slums.