Colors of Bengal Photography Expedition
A unique photo experience in the heart of South Asia
The Colors of Bengal photography trip is the most exclusive photography expedition of the Image tours. The best season for Red Chilies drying on country-yard, women sitting in the middle of a million chilies, sorting them by hand. The most spectacular spring festival where Hundreds of people join the cultural ceremony to celebrate the spring festival wearing colorful traditional dresses. Riot of colors in the largest tie-dying fabric villages. Immerse in a tapestry of fishing activities and the innocent joy of children at play. The rhythmic dance of fishermen casting their nets against the backdrop of crashing waves becomes a visual symphony. Thousands of drying fish, colorful moon shaped boats and fishing activities. Discover North to South of Bangladesh. In this expedition, you will explore Bangladesh’s rich cultures, vibrant festivals, ancient traditions, peoples and daily lives with amazing photography opportunities.
Trip Date
Date: 13-26 February 2025,
2026 and 2027
Duration: 14 Days 13 Nights
Extension: 2-5 days extension available
Extension: More details
Day 01: Arrival in Dhaka, Bangladesh
An Image Tours representative will greet you at the airport and then take you to the hotel for check-in and rest. This evening Introduce our Photo guide, Mr. Yousuf Tushar followed by a special welcome dinner & enjoy the slideshow presentation by Yousuf Tushar, interact with Tushar, and you will get more information and ideas which will be helpful for your journey. If you arrive early you may have a chance for street photography of your hotel’s surrounding areas or you can rest and get fully prepared for the tour. (L.D.)
Day 02: Spring Festival, Leather & Old Dhaka
The morning session explores the most spectacular spring festival where Hundreds of people join the cultural ceremony to celebrate the spring festival with folk music, dance and rally. The spring season is not only the trees painted with flowers but also the lives of Bengali young people colored. Therefore, on the eve of the first Falgun, people wearing colorful traditional dresses, girls & women wear sarees and flowering in the bent, and boys wear Punjabi pajamas. The second session enters the leather processing area where people dry leather in the sun and leather workers work in small industries. Next, we will visit the Plastic recycling area where men, women & children work on plastic recycling, sitting in stacks of plastic bottles cleaning and sorting thousands of plastic bottles. Next, visit old Dhaka city, People & their costume, and rickshaws (Three-wheeler bicycle). Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh, the World’s most population-density city but people are the most friendly so it’s easier for you to capture people’s photos. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Spring festival, Portraits, Leather processing & plastic recycling, Rickshaws, People and Streets Photography.
Day 03: Asia’s Largest Shipyard
In the morning explore the old Dhaka city riverside, you will capture hundreds of people crossing the river by local small boats and many boats anchored like flowers on the river bed, also capturing the markets and activities of the riverside. Next, we will enter the Shipyard, a slum home to Asia’s largest shipyard. A labyrinth-like city in which giant skeletons of old ships provide work for around 15,000 workers, with the task of dismantling ships, repairing and creating new boats with the recovered parts. You can see the bustling activity of one of the largest cargo ship maintenance facilities in the city. Take a short boat ride across the river to the area where the towering ships are propped up along the riverbank. Observe the skilled workers performing various tasks, such as molding new propellers from recycled metal, grinding the ship’s carcass, and replacing damaged sections of the hulls with huge metal plates. You will also learn about the harsh working conditions and the low wages that these workers endure while capturing portraits of their faces and expressions. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Riverside life, Country boats Shipyard; ship making, dismantling & repair
Day 04: Dhaka-Northeast: Batik Village & Rice Factories
Drive through to northeast districts, and on the way you will explore the largest tie-dying fabric center in all of Bangladesh, a place where workers dye fabrics by hand and spread them on the ground or on racks to dry in the baking sun. This riot of colour changes every day and we will spend some time creating images of the workers of the cloth while exploring lines and composition in photography. Continuing our visual odyssey, we delve into the captivating world of rice factories. Amidst the rhythmic symphony of bustling workers, our cameras artfully frame the choreography of labor, capturing the intricate processes that transform rice from field to table. The lines of rice paddies stretch their lush green hues, a testament to nature’s bounty.(B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Batik Village, sun-dry rice process & children playing.
Day 05: Stone Mine at Northeast Region
The Stone Mine is Located at the foothills of the beautiful Meghalaya Hills in the northeastern region of Bangladesh known for its lush green hills & Natural beauty, rolling tea gardens, and a mosaic of stones and rocks, where you will explore humanity and beauty merge into one. It is Every day at the crack of dawn, hundreds of little black and grey boats descend into the river. Laborers of all ages clamor about the river with buckets and spades in hand collecting the stones. They dig, pull out the stones, carry them on their heads and crush stones. More than 20,000 men, women, and children work as stone laborers. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Whole day stone mine area.
Day 06: Garbage Field-Village Life
Drive through to Dhaka City, on the way we will enter the enchanting realm of a dump yard. Here the ethereal blend of morning fog and swirling smoke of garbage fires creates a dramatic and evocative setting, offering photographers a unique opportunity to create visually striking and powerful compositions. You will explore unconventional landscapes, where the convergence of human perseverance and atmospheric elements reveals the extraordinary beauty hidden within the ordinary. On the way, we will also explore and photograph village life. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Garbage field and village life.
Day 07: Brick Factories-Train Station
Around 300 brick fields surround Dhaka city, where brick laborers make brick by hand in traditional processes. Clay to red brick-making process using the mold, you will explore every step of brick-making. After making raw bricks by hand stack them in rows to dry in the sun, after drying in the sun raw bricks are carried by workers on head to the brick kiln by a line for burning. You will also capture portraits of workers with red dust covering their faces, brick laborers living conditions in small slums around the brick field. Next, explores the local train station and street photography. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Brick-field, Red bricks carry by the head, Train station & Street.
Day 08: Dhaka – South City
In the morning drive through to the south city. after lunch we will enter the biggest aluminum factory zone in Bangladesh, around 100 aluminum factories there, a place where aluminum products are manufactured, such as kitchen utensils, and other metal products. The processes are highly manual; you will witness workers in very hazardous and grunge environments, allowing some very strong images.(B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Aluminum factories.
Day 09: South City – South Bay
Early in the morning, we will explore the country’s largest marine fish port and wholesale fish market. Every morning in this port is festive, where you will capture the enchanting scenes on camera. Fishermen, with weathered hands and unwavering determination unload fish from the boats, with meticulous attention they repair their fishing nets and dry nets in the sun. We will then drive to the South Bay, where the world’s longest sea beach stretches out in all its splendor. Here, we are immersed in a tapestry of fishing activities and the innocent joy of children at play. The rhythmic dance of fishermen casting their nets against the backdrop of crashing waves becomes a visual symphony. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Fishing port, fish market, seaside fishing & Sunset.
Day 10: South Bay World’s Longest Sea Beach
The morning session drive to Chokoria local market to explore the biggest betel nut market in Bangladesh. Hundreds of villagers carry betel nuts to the market for selling, it’s a wonderful scene, the market is filled to the brim with colorful betel nuts. Next, we will drive to the Moheskhali sea beach where Hundreds of colorful moon-shaped fishing boats line the shore, fishermen pulling fishing nets full of fish out of the sea, making fishing boats, silhouettes on fishermen, their nets stretching gracefully across the water’s edge, become ethereal forms against the vibrant hues of the setting sun. These images, infused with a sense of serenity and reverence, evoke the timeless connection between humanity and the sea. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Betel Nut Market, Fishing activities, Mooon-shaped boats & Sunset on the beach.
Day 11: Dry Fish Village – Dhaka
In the morning we will turn our lens to the largest dry fish village in the country, where around 30,000 workers, with two-thirds women, work in 1,040 dried fish processing units and most of them work on a daily wage basis. The activities of their drying process, the arrangement of dried fish on the rows of bamboo, children playing under the decorated dry fish, fish eyes and human eyes merge together all together to create a wonderful and charming atmosphere. After the morning session, we will come back to Dhaka by flight. After arriving at Dhaka Street Photography in the central city area. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Dry fish process and Street Photography.
Day 12: Dhaka – North Bengal
Drive through North Bengal the most rural beauty of Bangladesh. On the way stop at the riverside unloading area, where you will be amazed to see hundreds of daily workers’ hard work and the skill of the workers who unload tons of coal, cement, and sand every day for a handful of dollars. You will witness the incredible strength and endurance of the workers, who carry heavy loads of coal, cement, and sand on their shoulders, heads, or backs. The second session explores rural traditional 4-boat fishing on the Jamuna River. Next, we will stop villages and photography on curd and yogurt making by traditional process. You will explore every step of curd making from collecting milk to the final production of crude. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Daily laborers are carrying coal’s baskets on their heads, Traditional 4-boat fishing and Yogurt factory.
Day 13: North Bengal – Red Chilies
On early morning visits to the local vegetable floating market on the river, local people bring vegetables by their local boats for sale. We will also explore the biggest vegetable market in North Bengal. Next, we will enter the biggest hub of red pepper/chili in Bangladesh, explore the most spectacular red chili processing on sundry, village people drying red chilies sundry on the courtyard, While sorting the peppers they create peppers lines in the yard. You will enjoy a wonderful feeling while sitting at the end of each line picking the chillies and capturing this scene on your camera. Next, drive through to Dhaka and you have free time for shopping at the market near the hotel during the day. Special Farewell Dinner tonight, spectacular views over the city, and time to review your images by Yousuf Tushar. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Floatig Vegetable market on river and Red chilies.
Day 14: Chicken Market- Departure
Early Morning Explore the chicken market. In this market poultry vendors display live chickens in pyramid-shaped baskets made of twine so that customers can buy the chicken of their choice. After breakfast prepare to check out the hotel. According to your individual Flight departure time, we will drop you at the airport and bid a fond farewell. We hope your unforgettable memories call you again to this land and show up your Bangladesh’s great images. (B.)
Photoshoot: Chicken Market.
Learn post-processing like a pro
We know what your images need
Bring the touch of perfection to your digital images
Our photography expeditions are not only a simple photo trip it’s a photography workshop. Whether you are a beginner, keen amateur or professional photographer we want you to get the best possible pictures on every our tour. Each of our participants will get the right infield guidance from understanding all camera settings, creating outstanding compositions, perfect exposer on the different light conditions, developing a personal style to finalizing ideas in image editing software.
We also put emphasis on Image Post-Processing which is extremely important nowadays. We will hold post-processing panels where we will teach you the workflows in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and some additional plug-ins we use to make your pictures stand well apart from the rest. We will try to allow enough time for you to post-process your pictures while on the tour, and hopefully you will go home with your prime shots ready for the showcase.
You will learn how to
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Recommended Gear and Other Information
Yousuf Tushar EFIAP, Tour Leader
Tushar is recognized as one of the leading freelance documentary photographers based in Bangladesh. As well as he is a Travel & Art photographer, writer, instructor, organizer, and judge of National & international photography competitions. He has years of experience guiding photo tours & workshops. His wide & long-time experience in Travel photography, Organizing, teaching, and prestigious international award-winning made him one of the best photographers in Bangladesh. He has excellent knowledge about the perfect places to capture a photo of every location in Bangladesh. He loves to help with hands-on experience in a Creative learning environment while out in the field, and he absolutely loves leading photo tours! Since 2000 he has been working full-time professional photographer, he has traveled to many countries as a travel photographer. His works have been published in Times UK, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Forbes magazine, BBC, National Geographic, Daily Mail, Sunday Post, Express UK, The Sun, The Atlantic, USA Today, and renowned international photo agencies. His photographs were exhibited in different international photo exhibitions in Asia, Europe & USA. He has owned more than a hundred National & International prestigious photographic awards including HPA-UNESCO china, Emirates photo contest, Asahi Shimbun Japan, United Nations IYC Singapore, People & Planet Australia, PX3 Paris, CBRE Urban photographer of the year, Link Lady, SIENA International, A Photo Reporter, New York-Manhattan, celebrating Life Bangladesh and numerous FIAP & PSA patronage Award. Presently he is the Secretary-General & FIAP Liaison officer of the Bangladesh Photographic Society. More Details about him
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