Jonny Seymour captures life around the bathing ghats on the Ganges

Photographer Jonny Seymour travels to India each year to work with the charity Hope. Having visited Calcutta a number of times in recent years he was drawn to the bathing ghats on the banks of the river Ganges and observed the daily rituals of the men who washed there. “I shot solidly for three days taking around 1000 shots,” says Jonny. “Nothing in this project was posed, I wondered around for a few days capturing life as it happened around me. That is my favourite thing about a personal project, I can shoot what I want when I want with no pressure knowing I need to get certain shots.”

“I created this project as I thought it would be interesting to show how important such a simple activity as bathing can be for communities,” he says. The series captures the characters and locations that define daily life in Calcutta.

Jonny will return to India later this year and hopes to continue this project. “I’d love to continue to travel around the country and work up a series over the next five years,” he says. “My career is just starting out and I am picking up more commercial work, but this is an ongoing project that maybe one day I will curate into a book or exhibition.”