We learn most from our suffering and the changes and the challenges on these trips. You don’t learn much if everything goes great. Or if you are not scared shitless by bears. You don’t learn much on the groovy little trips you sign up with to see some nice scenery. You need to be challenged to see your character and soul. Some of your scarier and better parts. The scariest places have always been when I have been by myself on these long trips. My learning grounds. Those are the places that I learn most–the scariest, suffering spots. We learn by our confusion. That fear of dying–trying to let go of that fear. The terror that this is such a scary place. – Don Gardner, Arctic explorer, mountaineer.

I came across this quote many months ago and it so resonated with me. After this trip to India, it does now more than ever. No, India wasn’t “scary” to me, but it did challenge me in other ways. I knew there would be poverty. I knew there would be filth. But nothing prepares you until you’re in the thick of it.

I never gave it a second thought on photographing under these conditions, but when they presented themselves…I couldn’t do it. There were so many opportunities, but I just couldn’t record it.

During many taxi rides, children and women would approach the car window wanting money or trying to sell something. As much as you would want to roll down the window and hand them 20 rupees you couldn’t, for many reasons. I couldn’t photograph it. But looking out my window and seeing this child approach this car window just touched me so much that in one second, I reacted to get this shot. Priceless, and a moment that gives such meaning to why we photograph. I want to remember this forever…Incredible India…a country of contrasts.