In Dougie Wallace’s photos of Mumbai taxis, the chatter, yelling, and constant horns of the city are almost audible. A selection of his images is on show at Gayfield Creative Spaces, Edinburgh, as part of the Retina photography festival until 30 July. For four years, the Glasgow-born Wallace focused his photos on one kind of taxi in particular: the Premier Padmini, a 1960s workhorse painted in black and yellow. Locally known as “Kaali-Peeli”, there were once more than 60,000 of them in the Indian city. But thanks to laws restricting pollution, the cars now are fast disappearing from Mumbai’s streets. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





Each taxi is a riot of personalisation, featuring speakers blasting Hindi pop, posters of Bollywood stars or icons of gods sat on the dashboards. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





All of Wallace’s photographs were taken between 5.30pm and 6pm, when the sun is low in the sky and provides a good ambient light. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





Using a flash gun, Wallace takes shots through the windscreens, or side on through windows as the cars drive away – typical of his brazenly confident style. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





In all, Wallace has been to India 18 times to take the photos in the series, shooting for a week at a time. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





“I’m not scared of breaking the fourth wall”, Wallace has said of the photos where the subject is clearly aware of him taking the shot. “If they are looking at you in a photograph most photographers will think, oh, that’s not a good image. (But) people like to be involved and in the picture. You can see what they are thinking, see them talking”. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





His confrontational yet even-handed style is one he’s also used in Blackpool, taking photos of bedraggled hen and stag parties, and in Knightsbridge, shooting the super-rich as they parade around Harrods. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





He has also documented glamorous shoppers in Milan, bleary and indignant bus passengers, and malls in Jeddah where women in advertisements have had their faces eerily pixelated. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





“It’s like being a writer”, Wallace has said of his style. “When you pick up a Stephen King novel, after one paragraph you know whom you’re reading”. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)





As well as the current exhibition, a book, Road Wallah, is published by Dewi Lewis. (Photo by Dougie Wallace/The Guardian)