Little Falls, Pachmarhi

This photograph shows one of the many famed waterfalls of Pachmarhi, a hill-station in central India. Pachmarhi was a sanatorium for British troops and served also as a provincial summer capital during the colonial period. Among the attractions for the British residents escaping the sweltering heat of the plains for the cooler mountains was also the change in vegetation, which often reminded them of the flora back in Britain. Thus, scenic views of the Indian landscape were a popular subject among European photographers. The viewpoints and framing of these natural sights, however, removes them from their specific locale and elevates them into universal landscapes.

The British photographer Samuel Bourne (active in India 1863–1870) provides additional perspective on Indian nature photography in the 1800s:

To practice photography in England—say on the grassy banks of a stream, the margin of a quiet lake, in the shady avenues of some noble park, or the secluded recesses of some lovely glen with every comfort and convenience at hand—is one thing; to practise it on a journey amid the wilds of the Himalayas, in the extreme of heat and cold (for it is generally one thing or the other), when undergoing the fatigue of a long march on foot without roads and subject to every inconvenience, is quite another thing.