Agra's Iconic Red Fort - A Glimpse of the Mughal Empire
I hadn't visited the Red Fort in Agra since 2010, and Dustin had never been before. So, we decided to take a two-hour journey on the Agra-Delhi highway through the fog and cold of the Uttar Pradesh winter by motorcycle in order to take some photos of this historic remnant of the once-mighty Mughal Empire. It didn’t disappoint.
Table of Contents
Getting There
Winters in Uttar Pradesh are no where near as bad as the Himalayas but it’s still darn cold. 45°F (around 7°C) is cold enough when you are flying down the road on a motorcycle. In the early morning the fog was so thick we couldn’t see 100 feet in front of us. The only image I managed to capture was this shot on our way back.
The Red Fort
The Main Gate into the outer keep of Agra Fort
Luckily it didn’t look like this when we arrived in the morning. I took this shot as we were leaving and the crowds of tourists starting rolling in.
Tourism in India is booming bigger than it ever has. When you go to places like the Red Fort there are a few foreign faces but the majority of people visiting are Indians. There is a lot to see in India and Indian people are traveling more than ever to see what’s right on their doorstep.
Architecture of the Red Fort
The Red Fort has some fantastic Mughal Architecture in sandstone that has been weathered by generations of occupants and battles. Inner chambers are clad in marble and covered in intricate carvings.
The History of Agra Fort
Agra is generally known for the iconic Taj Mahal but there is another jewel in it’s crown and it is this Red Fort which has been around in various forms for nearly 1000 years.
The Red Fort is an impressive Mughal stronghold located in Agra which is most famous for being rebuilt by Emperor Akbar the Great in 1565. Agra used to be Akbar’s capital before he moved it to modern day Delhi several hundred kilometers to the north.
The Agra Fort’s history is actually much older and unclear beginning before Mahmud of Ghazni’s invasion of modern day Pakistan and India in the year 1001.
To put things in perspective … by the time the British East India Company showed up in India and Britain was becoming the dominant power in the subcontinent the Mughal’s had invaded and been around for nearly 800 years. India has a lot of amazing history…
Shooting for Quality
When you go for a day shoot and come back with several hundred images a piece…
It can be a little difficult to narrow down a selection of photos, even from a single day of shooting at an amazing location like the Red Fort in Agra. We are trying to provide quality prints, so that when people view our gallery, they recognize the time and energy that went into the selection and editing process.
We picked out 4 images total from our shoot that made it into our prints gallery.
India Photo Prints
The most rewarding part of these journeys is to find the few photos that really stand out to us and can be counted amongst the our prints for sale. You can check out all our prints here www.indiaphotoprints.com/prints
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