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M a r c o P o l o E x p e d i t i o n s
Kulasai Dasara
4 Day Photography Workshop
4 Days · 3 Nights · Tamil Nadu · Small Group
18 - 21 OCTOBER 2026
D A Y 0 1
BEFORE THE FIRE
D A Y 0 2
Find Your Way In
D A Y 0 3
LET THE NIGHT UNFOLD
D A Y 0 4
Make Sense Of It
T H E F E S T I V A L
A whole town dresses as gods and warrior queens for one night, and somewhere in that noise, a photograph is quietly waiting.
Kulasekharapatnam turns itself inside out once a year Devotees transform into gods, goddesses and mythological characters
others transforming into characters from stories older than anyone can date. It is loud, crowded, and relentless, running past 4AM at its peak. Over three days, we don't just photograph the spectacle we learn to find the quiet frame hiding inside the chaos.
T H E W O R K S H O P
Four Days, One Festival
Arrive · Observe — Lose Yourself In It — Edit · Sequence · Tell The Story
D A Y 0 1
Arrive · Slow Down · Get Ready
Arrival & Check-In
Settle in, have lunch, and take the time to recharge before the festival begins to pull at your attention.
Arrival & Check-In
A short briefing on photographing Kulasai working in crowds, approaching people respectfully, finding moments in difficult light, and starting to develop your own visual language rather than borrowing someone else's.
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No Rush to Photograhy
Tonight is about arriving. Getting comfortable with the place.
And being ready for what comes next.
D A Y 0 2
Observe · Discover · Before The Fire
Late Afternoon - First Walk
We enter the festival before the main rush, while it's still possible to simply watch.
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Devotees preparing
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Makeup and costumes
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Characters coming to life
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Portraits
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Small candid interactions
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Streets before darkness takes over
Evening → Night
Our first proper photography session available light, street lamps, fire, and the changing atmosphere of Kulasai as the town starts to lose its daytime shape. Dinner, then one more short night walk before returning to the hotel.
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D A Y 0 3
The Main Festival
11:00 AM
Daylight
Begin
We enter Kulasai and start photographing at a relatively manageable pace devotees, characters, preparation, street scenes, human interaction, the environment itself.
Afternoon
Beyond The Costume
Crowds Build
As the crowd thickens, we shift how we look beyond the colour of the costumes and toward gesture, expression, relationship, atmosphere. Lunch and short breaks worked in as the day allows.
Sunset → Night
The Town Turns
Everything Changes
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The character of Kulasai changes completely. Low light, fire and lamps, slow shutter, movement, layers within the crowd, silhouettes this is where the technical work of night photography begins in earnest.
"This is not about getting the photograph. It is about staying observant long enough for your photograph to happen."
10:00 PM → 4:00 AM
Where It Peaks
The Main Event
The crowds, the rituals, the movement and the energy all reach their limit. We stay with it rather than leaving when things get difficult. Everyone has the freedom to work independently, Return to the hotel around 4AM.
D A Y 0 4
Edit · Sequence · Tell The Story
Breakfast
After a long night, the final morning stays deliberately relaxed. Late breakfast, checkout preparation.
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Departure
Check-out, and the workshop concludes.
Editing Session
We sit together and go through everything made during the workshop.
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Selecting the strongest images
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Removing repetitive photographs
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Editing colour and exposure
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Building a visual sequence
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Creating a coherent story from the chaos of Kulasai
T H E E X P E R I E N C E
As daylight fades, faces change, streets come alive, and fire begins to take over the night.Kulasai is not something to simply witness.
It is something to walk into, get lost in, and slowly understand.
We follow the light, wait for the moment, and leave with fragments of a story that could only belong to us. Four days. Three nights. One festival. One photographic journey.
I S T H I S F O R Y O U
Who Belongs In The Crowd
Story Seekers
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Portrait &
Culture Shooters
Comfortable In The Chaos
Respectful
Observers
Candid Observers
T HE V I S U A L J O U R N A L
Frames From The Chaos
Meet Your Expedition Leader
Maharshi Patel is an acclaimed travel photographer whose work spans landscapes, travel, festivals and visual storytelling. He has been associated with Sony India, Google and Peak Design, and is known for his work with people, places and culture.
Maharshi first came to Kulasai in 2017, photographing the Dasara festival at a time when it was still relatively unknown among photographers outside the region. His repeated experience of the festival has given him a rare familiarity with its people, rituals, characters, movement and the extraordinary light that unfolds through the night.
For this expedition, Maharshi joins us as a workshop mentor, bringing that firsthand experience into the field. He will help participants navigate the festival from a photographer’s perspective - understanding where to look, when to wait, how to work with firelight and available light, and how to find meaningful moments within the movement and intensity of the crowd.
Having photographed Kulasai from the inside of the experience, Maharshi brings something particularly valuable to this expedition: not just an understanding of how to photograph the festival, but how to see it.
T HE D E T A I L S
What's Included
I n c l u d e d
N o t I n c l u d e d
✓ 3 nights accommodation in Tiruchendur
✓ Local transportation & festival logistics
✓ Breakfast & Dinner during the workshop
✓ One dedicated editing session
✓ Daily image reviews
✗ Flights or transport to/from Madurai
✗ Camera gear
✗ Personal travel insurance
✗ Tips for guide and local contacts
R E S E R V E Y O U R P L A C E
Join The Workshop
B E F O R E Y O U G O
Frequently Asked
Is Day 3 really 11AM to 4AM?
"Yes Day 3 is the entire workshop's center of gravity. We build rest into Days 1 and 3 specifically so everyone has the stamina for it."
Do I need to be an expert photographer?
"No. You don't need a particular camera system or years of experience — just a willingness to walk, watch, wait, and stay observant."
How do you approach photographing people respectfully here?
"Day 1's briefing covers exactly this how to work in crowds, when to approach, and when a photograph simply isn't yours to take."
What happens in the editing session?
"You leave with a small, sequenced Kulasai photo story not hundreds of disconnected images. Selection, RAW processing, colour, and sequencing, all covered."
Kulasai Is Loud.
Some Of It Is Quiet.
Come Photograph Kulasai With Us 4 Days, 3 Nights