An engineer turned journalist's story
I like this picture, as i have left it incomplete. Had attended a photography workshop, as a part of KGAF ’08, last saturday morning where the expert David Desouza, told us about ‘out of frame’ pictures where in we leave some part of the picture off the frame. that part is filled in by the person who’s seeing the picture. I loved that concept n tried putting it to use here.
Take Care
Ciao.
Photography. Its slowly but surely turning out to be an addiction. Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2008 brought along with it a seminar on Creative Photography. It was to be conducted by a gentleman called Mr.David Desouza. The seminar specifically required that the participant be more than just Hobby Photographers. I liked the sound of that. Seemed like totally my kinda thing.
Initial hour went in giving introductions and the expert gave his views on photography based on the participants affinity towards the art. It was good to see discussion on different forms of photography, like Night Shots, Blind Shots, Music in action etc etc. It was good to see so much variety in the participants.
David, was a great orator, and seemed very enthu about photography as an art form. He did deviate from photography to study of words on more occasion than one, but it was quite interesting to hear him talk. He gave us all a new verb to associate with photography. ‘Making Photographs’, rather than taking photographs, cus according to him when one made a gesture of taking, it went from outside-in, where as in the case of ‘making’ the gesture was inside-out. He called himself Professional Amateur, cos according to him, amateur was derived from amore – which is to love. Like i said, deviation from photography to other topics was on more than one occasion.
The next hour went in a slideshow of pictures of a particular photographer going by the name of David Hockney. This fellow was a maverick according to me, cos most of his photographs defied my idea of composition, framing, hell even the shape of the frame. I found the pictures pretty wierd, till he showed us this picture. PearlBlossom Highway. The special thing about this picture was, each fragment of the picture was taken by the photographer actually having to move back and forth, so as to prevent the varying DOFs that would otherwise become too obvious. Indeed, this guy was a Maverick.
David Desouza then showed us some of his photos. Most of them were monotone. He showed us a new concept. Negative space, Incomplete pictures. As in pictures which showed some part off the frame. The mind of the viewer would fill in the rest of the frame he said. I liked that part.
Finally in the end we were given an assignment to photograph the buildings in the art district, in such a way that we personalised it. As in the photographs had to be unique, no cliched shots. Proceeded to Kala Ghoda after the seminar. Needless to say, went mad photographing.
Take Care
Ciao
Flora Fountain, is an architechtural beauty. Have clicked many a pictures of this structure during daytime. Clicking at night was a disaster many a times before this, but not this time. I always thought that without a tripod, clicking this structure would be well nigh impossible, and it was wierd in a way cos all that was needed was a bit of stability. Got the right technique this time. Next time will try clicking it from the divider of the BSNL bldg.
Take Care
Ciao
Seen above is the picture of the very modest wall section of the kitchen of my ancestral home. Except for the plastic bag, everything else is atleast 50 years old ;D The uneven light seen in the picture is the sun’s rays entering the kitchen via a glass roof overhead. Thanks to the ray, the wooden hangar jutting out of the mud wall is prominently visible.
Hi,
This time i am not going to put up any photograph, as i am just back from my first ever Photography Exhibition viewing. I have been wanting to attend one since ages but never really gave it that much of a thought. Not this time though.
Kala Ghoda, the undoubted Art District of Mumbai nagariya, was the destination. This place is so creatively charged, with artists putting paint to canvas, a cartoonist creating a mind blowing replica of your for a mere 100 bucks, or the regular Art-y junta hanging outside Jehangir Art Gallery, with along flowing beards, kurtas and that oh-so-cliched Jholas around their shoulders. Exibitions are the lifeblood of this art district showcasing the works of some of the cities finest artists in the hallowed Art Galleries, or, of upcoming artists, in the Open Air Art Gallery on the pavements. Any which way, for a person inclined to the visual art medium, Kala Ghoda is a mecca!
Bombay Mix – an exhibition by a documentary photographer named, Ketaki Seth. It consisted all B/W prints, taken from a period of over 10 years, documenting Mumbai’s street life. All the pictures had a human presence in them. What attracted me towards the pictures was its rawness and at the same time the photographer had some definite funda behind each click. The pictures, most of them were unconventional to a novice like me. As in i observed that in most of the pictures, symmetry and focussing wasnt as stressed as i would have expected it. But then when i read the title of each photograph, i knew that it didnt matter cos each picture had some definate story in it. That was left to the imagination of the viewer. Like there was this picture of 2 girls and a granny, or the one of the boy sleeping on the footpath and another man playin the flute, or the nuns at Walkeshwar, or the two men and a shadow etc. All i can say is that it was a visual treat.
After the Bombay Mix exhibition at Bodhi Gallery, Kala Ghoda, i headed to NCPA . It had an exhibition by a group of 6 photographers, called FujiFilm SuperSix Wildlife Photography exhibition. The Photographers are : Gul Gulrajani, Hira Punjabi, Ramnath Chandrashekhar, Sanat Shodhan, S. Tiwari and Sarvana Kumar. The concept was cool. Fujifilm and Jindal Photo selects 6 photographers every year and organises this exhibition to promote photography. The theme here was something that i have never tried in my experiments with the lens, so was really looking forward to it.
Contrary to previous exhibition, this one was a color photo exhibit. The pictures documented the wildlife in India and at times Africa. One distinct quality in all the pictures was the use of DOF in almost every picture, most of the time shallow DOF. Needless to say, the hardware used by the photographers must run into lakhs of ruppees, but the photographs were just mindblowing. The tiger was captured in so many candid moments, just brought a smile on my face.
After having seen these two exhibitions, i just realised how much more i have to learn in this field. These 2 exhibitions were a real eye opener for me. From here on i have decided to see atleast 1 photography exhibition a month and keep the photography flame in me alive by reading more on the topic, till the day i host my own exhibition someday;)
Take Care
Ciao!
This picture was taken when i was Photowalking once around the immensely photogenic districts of Mumbai, CST – Fort – Churchgate strech. Saw this spire just beside the Standard Chartered office, with its traditional Gothic Architechture. Had taken this picture in color mode, but then played with Photoshop and gave it a Sepia tone, to give it that old world look. The slightly darken borders and noise gave the final picture a completely old worn out look.
Take Care,
Ciao
Just clicked this one today after over 20 days of waiting for my camera. experimented with the Vivid mode of my camera. it really made the red part of the hibuscus more brighter. i also set the AWB mode to cloudy, i think that sorta added a bit of warmth to the composition.
take care
ciao
Diwali of 2005. Thats when i got my Canon Powershot A400, after months of researching the digital camera market. Between that day and the present, must have shot close to 7500+
pictures. On doing the math,
Nov 2005 to Jan 2008 = 27months.
7500/27 = 277 approx pics/month = 277/30 = approx 9 pictures a day since the day i have brought my camera.
Phew, thats some maths. although the stats shouldnt be taken literally!!
Travel oppurtunities started to follow once i had got the camera. The very first being the Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty IV that i had been to with college buddies. That was just a start!! Followed by Harihareshwar that year end. Ofcourse the college Tie -Day and Traditional Days need a definite mention. Finishing off with the Farewell Party.
Engg exams being over, the wanderer in me headed off to Goa with my buddies. Another oppurtunity to explore my camera. A week after returning, i was off to Pune for ILP.
ILP did i say?? well yeaah it was a training period all right, but with the rains around the same time, could the trekker in me be sitting in one place??? Sinhagad and Lonavla were covered within a weeks time, a coupla days before the end of ILP.
With ILP over i had migrated to Kolkata, West Bengal!! Camera followed there too. The Durga Poojas, local sightseeing was an advantage, but what really made my Kolkata stay memorable was the accidental and completely unexpected trip we made to Gangtok, Sikkim.
Ok Enough of kolkata, i was back in Mumbai in March of 2007! A dream finally fulfilled. Exploring the Queen’s Necklace when the rain clouds had populated the skies above the seaface was an experience in itself, giving rise to the Photowalker in me.
June-July-August of 2007 brought along with them the trekking trips. Yeaah i had finally been able to see my dream of trekking the Sahyadris seeing the light of the day. Harishchandragad followed by Lohgad and concluded by Peb, over a period of 3 months. The treks used to be of a day each, but that one day i used to exploit the camera to the max. Clicking pictures against nature, of nature itself.
Then came the Xaviers Institue of Communications’ Photography course. From the 1st 2 lectures i got a hint that this wasnt going to be a very good course, but then what the heck i stuck with it, as it really took me back to college. Mind used to be occupied in those weekends by the various concepts about photography. Sundays used to be practical session days, which i really enjoyed. The interaction with fellow classmates was really good n most of them being from the creative field really gave me a break from the regular techie crowd that i am surrounded by.
A trip to Bassein Fort was my first real outing totally for photography’s sake. n by this time, photography which had started as a hobby had developed into a passion. I had begun to notice object with a photographers perspective. Cursing myself had become a regular chore if i didnt have my camera in time to capture a moment which deserved being captured. Light wasnt just light anymore, but a means to race my mind as to how would a photograph under such lighting conditions appear?
So far so good. Konkan Darshan was what was next in the line, followed by Hyderabad, then Gujarat!
So have decided to trace my photographic journey right from the beginning! The pictures of this Journey will be tagged as PR-number as above. Lets see if i have actually improved! so heres my very first proper picture! the angel is my neice!
!GUNJAN!Take Care,
Ciao!
The picture says it all, indicating my passions, music and reading. Time seems to fly when i am accompanied by a good book or great music. the various genres in either keep me on my toes, prodding me on to try out uncharted territories. Sometimes the experiences are everlasting, at other times its a complete waste of time, but still love the experience on the whole of exploring newer avenues. That reminds me, i should have a go at the whole collection of Heavy Metal junk that my cousin has given me, also time to start reading that book on stocks more sriously!
Take Care
Ciao
The picture seen above was clicked at my native place. This is one of my ancestral homes. Had clicked it in color but then edited it to make it a B/W pic to get that old world charm. Its located in the Konkan District of Sindhudurg.
A very charming bungalow, where i had spent my kiddo days playing hide and seek, or just plain lazing around on the upper apartment. This picture really takes me back to the days when mobile phones, internet connectivity, ipods were still science fiction. Ah life was so damn simple back then.
Take Care
Ciao
Shutterbugged 
