its been a few weeks since I have been back from the workshop in kerala and I thought I had better share all my photos. it was such a great workshop and all of the attendees where wonderful. the resort we stayed in was breath taking, it was called the kumarakom lake resort. when I arrived it was dark so I had dinner with rakhee and went straight to bed but in the morning I was blown away by how stunning the place was. our room was placed along a lazy river style pool so when you stepped out the back door you could get right into it. it was one of the warmest pools I have ever been in (I know your thinking its india of course its warm but I have been in other pools In india) it was like getting into a bath. the bathrooms where incredible too, traditional with open air showers. the resort was perched right on the edge of a big lake that is part of the famous Kerala back waters. all you could see was water for miles it was so beautiful.

the food at the resort was incredible too, south Indian food has so much flavour. we where lucky enough to have a traditional sadhya made for us which is normally eaten on special occasions, I have put a photo in amongst the photos below. it is served on a banana leaf and it consists of lots of vegetarian dishes and is eaten with your hands (the right hand to be precise)

we did some hands on shoots with local fruit and I also made some scones and we talked about motion in photography using flour and making a lovely mess.

the little white bowl was given along with goodies for the attendees by whole grain homes

the resort has this little pottery place where you can make your own pots it is so beautiful. how lovely is this traditional pottery wheel.

traditional teak wood doors where everywhere through out the resort I was obsessed with how beautiful they where

a man making masala chai, oh how I miss this drink.

I helped weave this little mat, the woman was so quick and good at it, I love doing things like this but it took me about 10 minutes to build up the courage to go over and speak to her.

our chai session, I made some English scones and we photographed a the tea by the pool out side our room.

it was rainy season and I have never seen rain so completely beautiful. the sound it made when it hits the roofs was like music it was so therapeutic

the above photo Is by rakhee and the below photo is by david o’toole

our room, all of the rooms and buildings at the resort are really old traditional buildings that they have bough and had rebuilt on site.

 

the rain running down chains

the open air shower