Most travel writing online is shopping advice in disguise. That Ugly Lad isn't. It's a journal kept across half-mapped journeys — old neighbourhoods, slow mornings, the chai stall before sunrise, the bus that ran an hour late and somehow made the trip better.
I started taking pictures because I kept forgetting things. The colour of a doorway. The look on someone's face right before they laughed. The way a particular kind of light falls in a particular hour you can never schedule. The photographs are how I hold on; the writing is what the camera missed.
Some of it happens in the next city over, some on the other side of the world. All of it is about going slowly enough to notice — and being honest, later, about what it felt like to be there.
How I work
I usually stay longer than I planned to. I shoot at the edges of the day — first light, last light, and the quiet hour after lunch when most travellers are still eating. The kit is small enough to disappear into a sling bag.
The best photographs almost always happen on the second visit. The first time, I'm still trying. The second time, I've stopped — and that's usually when a place lets me see it properly.
What this is
- Slow travel and atmospheric photography
- Mountains, monasteries, festivals, ruins
- Honest writing about places I returned to twice
- A journal — not an itinerary
What it isn't
- A bucket-list of must-see spots
- Sponsored content or paid placements
- Heavy filters or AI-edited skies
- A tour-booking site
A photograph is just an excuse to stay in a place a little longer than I would have — and to come home carrying something that won’t fade.
— That Ugly Lad
Where I've been writing from
- Himalayas
- Spiti Valley
- Rajasthan
- Meghalaya
- Nepal
- Delhi
- Agra
- Northeast India
In the bag
- Sony α7C Daily driver — compact full-frame
- Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G Primary, walk-around lens
- Tamron 18-200mm Reach for hikes and wildlife
- iPhone 17 Pro Max Quick captures and video
- Vivo X300 Backup phone — Zeiss optics