Visitors to the Benicia Public Library can make a side trip to South India beginning Tuesday via an exhibit of photographs by Solano Community College’s photography coordinator Ron Zak.

The exhibit will be on display at the library through March 22.

Zak is known for taking photography students on trips to such destinations as Italy, Greece, the Baltics, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and many more places, all designed as credit-awarding classes.

In addition to being an instructor, Zak has been a professional photographer since 1989 after earning his master’s degree from San Francisco State University, after which he receied a scholarship to the University of Belgrade in what was then Yugoslavia.

The photographs that will be on display at the library were taken during one of his traveling credit photography courses that spanned from December 2013 to January 2014, he said.

“This is the initial exhibition of the photographs,” he said.

But it isn’t the first time he’s shown at the library.

“Solano College photography has been exhibiting at the gallery for five years, with exhibits from Vietnam, Paris, Myanmar and other destinations,” he said.

On this South India trip, the third time he has gone to that country, Zak was accompanied by 18 students.

Despite his previous visits, he did have some surprises, such as when he went to Mumbai and was warned in advance that it was “the best and the worst” of India.

He saw packed streets and towering skyscrapers. When he reached his hotel, he realized his sensible traveling attire was out of place.

“This hotel is where all the beautiful people of not only Mumbai, but the world, come to gather, and it is also home to a galleria that houses Gucci, Farragamo, Jimmy Choo and other similar boutiques,” he wrote about the trip.

“Bollywood stars floated through the lobby; international businessmen shared the elevators; wealthy vacationers shopped with platinum.

“And I looked like I should have been camping. And I felt just about as glamorous. Definitely a fish out of water.”

He saw the world’s largest outdoor laundry, the men who give out 200,000 boxed lunches to subscribers, the train station once named for Victoria but now named Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and its “swarm of people.”

He also realized India is a place where “faith is the cultural norm,” where people literally “wear their religion on their sleeve.”

He also visited an area sometimes called “the Venice of India,” where he not only photographed village boats and their passengers, but also captured the reflective waters in some of his images.

“We titled the exhibit ‘Auspicious India,’” he said. “It is one place on the planet that pulses with the spectrum of life … temples, vibrant colors, poverty and warmth.”

The exhibit will be on display Feb. 18 to March 22 at Benicia Public Library, 150 East L St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and noon to 6 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.