As an official photographer in the British colonial service in India, Linnaeus Tripe traveled through Southeast India in 1857–58 with a mandate to document sites “that are interesting to the Antiquary, Architect, Sculptor, Mythologist and Historian,” while also noting that, “the Picturesque may be allowed perhaps, supplementally.” It was surely that artistic impulse that led Tripe to fill the sky above the ghats, or sacred bathing places, at Trivady (Triviar) with clouds painted on his photographic negative.