Yash Sheth Documents India's Monsoon

Yash Sheth, a Mumbai-based photographer, began documenting the monsoon season in 2021 through his ongoing project Varsha Ritu. He describes the season as a childhood ritual that brought relief after long summers, when he would play football or cricket with friends in the rain. Over time, the project evolved beyond beauty to study climate change and its impact on communities across India. Sheth now focuses on low-lying, flood-prone neighbourhoods where heavy rainfall forces families to shift to upper floors or leaves homes waterlogged for days. His work has taken him beyond Mumbai to agricultural communities whose livelihoods depend on predicting rainfall patterns. He notes that climate change has delayed monsoons and intensified rainfall when it arrives, leading to regional flooding. To anticipate rain, Sheth studies meteorology and uses the Indian Meteorological Department website to track where rain is falling or predicted. He then takes a local train to the area and waits for the rain to begin before photographing. Sheth emphasizes that he does not stage scenes, saying he is often just in the right place at the right time. His images include a goat on a beach with watermelon in its mouth, a muscular man painted metallic at a bodybuilding championship, and children in playgrounds that appear composed despite his assurances of spontaneity. He also photographs underground queer parties, fishing villages with gold pomfret necklaces, and residents in informal settlements affected by flooding. Sheth says he builds trust by speaking with people, sharing images via WhatsApp, and returning to villages where families now invite him for lunch. He describes The Monsoon Project as a tree with one trunk and many branches, now including writing, research, and archiving community stories. Photography remains central, but his practice is deeply intertwined with the people he documents. He says the project has given him a bridge to connect with strangers through mutual respect and shared moments. fixtures and squad are referenced in his approach to timing and movement, much like tracking weather patterns. He continues to walk Mumbai daily, sometimes briefly, sometimes for hours, photographing whatever catches his eye. Sheth recalls buying the cheapest DSLR as a student and spending hours studying compositions on YouTube and Magnum Photos. After working three years supervising fibre-optic cable installation, he left the job feeling miserable and committed to photography full-time. He says he wanted nothing else but to make a career out of the art form. His work reflects an attentive use of light, including intense flash even in Mumbai’s glaring sun, and tightly framed, crowded compositions that feel surreal. Over five years, he has found something new to photograph every day in overlooked lanes and neighbourhoods. The source does not provide comparable figures across items for a table. He remains focused on documenting how rain shapes lives, from crop dependence to urban adaptation, as the monsoon continues to change.