2 years ago I studied architecture over the Spring semester in Jaipur, India. I was looking over my thousands of pictures from the trip today and came across this impromptu photo series that I took at 7 am at the Taj Mahal. We had spent the previous day traveling by bus through the Indian countryside and had stayed the night in Agra in order to be at the gates when the monument opened at 6 am. We were told that the fog would lift. When we got through the first courtyard and on to one of the most photographed-from plinths in the world, this is what we saw:

We walked in the direction that we were promised the Taj Mahal was in and we arrived at our destination.

After exploring as best we could, and using our trained architectural minds to put it all together, I started to notice other things. Mostly, the way that my fellow sightseers were making sense of it, up close. I turned my attention away from the wonder of the world that I had traveled across the world to see, and toward everyone else. This is what I saw:

I am happy that the fog was so thick that morning. Rather than take the obligatory pan shot of the entire building, we were all forced to take it in with a more critical and curious eye. As is true with cities, it is the people that make the place, and it is how the people make sense of their place that is most important.

And don’t worry, I paid another 750 rupees to get back in later that day.