Dan Eckstein | Horn Please

Photo © Dan Eckstein-All Rights Reserved

The first time I traveled in India I had the rather unnerving experience of riding in a bus from Jaipur to Jodhpur in pitch darkness. I shall never forget my growing terror in watching an incoming truck blinking its signal light which I thought meant it intended to turn right into the path of my bus.

It was an enormous relief to realize the truckers were doing so to indicate their presence (and the limits of their carriages) to other incoming vehicles.

The Indian truckers usually belong to a certain caste, and are generally treated with contempt by their employers. Their trucks are often decorated with beautiful artwork, colorful gewgaws, religious icons and slogans, making a convoy of such vehicles look like a circus is moving to town. These long-distance lorry drivers transport cargos of freight across the whole of India; tea from Assam, computer parts from Bangalore and exotic flowers and vegetables from the southern states of the country.

Dan Eckstein's project Horn Please documents the trucks, drivers and roadside culture of India.  Having driven 10,000 kilometers over two years to document these truckers, Dan produced "Horn Please: The Decorated Trucks of India"; a book that is to be published by powerHouse Books on December 2nd, 2014.

Dan is is a photographer based in Los Angeles and Brooklyn, who spent four years studying photography at Skidmore College. He assisted Magnum photographer Bruno Barbey in Paris. His work has been widely published and exhibited and he was included in The Collector's Guide to Emerging Art Photography. He was awarded Best Photo Essay in PDN's World In Focus photo contest and included in American Photography 30.