black n white photography – Page 3

The Podium!

August 9, 2008Posted in UncategorizedTagged architechtural marvel, architechture photogaphy, black n white photography, churchgate, Gothic, mumbai university, Olympics, oval maidan, rajabai clock tower9 Comments

With the Olympics round the corner I thought of trying to get that essence into my photography. The Rajabai Clock Tower and the fencing around the Oval Maidan came to my rescue. Rajabai Clock Tower, for the uninitiated, is quite a famous landmark here. Located in the Mumbai University Campus. Its 260ft tall. The Gothic architechture is lovely. The clocks on all four sides are properly synchronised. One special feature of the tower is that it chimes a tune every 15minutes.

Yea so i tried to incorporate the idea of the Olympics Medals podium onto this photograph. Where the Gold medalist is on a comparitively higher podium as compared to the other 2 medals. In the photograph, the clock tower is defintely a Gold Medallist. A metal that India hasnt got as yet in the Games.

Take Care

Ciao

PS : Abhinav Bindra won a GOLD medal in the Air Rifle shooting competition at the Beijing Olympics 2008! Yess! Finally India won a Gold at The Games. Lucky timing:D I had discussed about how India had yet to win a Gold a coupla days back and Abhinav helped achieve that for our country. Its indeed a proud moment for every Indian!

Towering!

August 2, 2008Posted in UncategorizedTagged architechtural marvel, architechture photogaphy, black n white photography, British architechture, cst, Fountain, Gothic, LIC building, mumbai, Siddharth College, Standard Chartered Bank, vendors2 Comments

I am a sucker for the British Gothic Architechture across the CST – Fountain strech. I have been there on countless occasions with my camera, trying to capture the beauty of the buildings all around. Needless to say, the appetite for that is insatiable.

This is the LIC building located just after the alley separating it from Siddharth College. The spot from which i took the photograph has many Vada Pav, Chai vendors, as its a major junction for college students as well as Office going janata. The Standard Chartered Bank is just behind this LIC building.

I had captured this building before as well ‘Old World Charm’. But at that time i had just concentrated on one aspect of the building. This time though i wanted to showcase the structure through a different perspective. I wanted to highlight the architechture, as seen from a person standing below the building. I love trying out various angles.

Take Care

Ciao

Jaane Ye Raahein Ab Le Jayengi Kahaan….

July 24, 2008Posted in UncategorizedTagged abstract photography, asymmetry, Banganga, black n white photography, life, stone stairs, Walkeshwar16 Comments

“Tanha Dil” is one of my all time favourite songs. Its so meaningful yet catchy at the same time. I particularly love those two lines in it,
“Aankhon me sapne liye, ghar se hum chal to diye,
Jaane ye raahein ab le jayengi kahaan..”

Life isnt always straight. Twists, turns, changes are a part and parcel of life. Lets face it, that adds a lot of salt, spice, chaat (take your pick) to our lives. I myself am at a similiar such turn in my life, careerwise. Lets see what happens:D

Photography has some rules for sure, but its fun bending those rules at times. Afterall, as the saying goes, rules are meant to be broken.

Whilst jaywalking around the Banganga district in Walkeshwar, i came across these stone stairs leading out of Banganga, and after having taken some standard shots of the stairs, i decided to click at an angle, thus making the composition asymmetrical. Luckily around the time i was composing the shot, a local seemed to be coming my way, i waited till he arrived at just the right spot and captured the moment. The idea behind keeping the man in the frame was to show some kinda action in the frame, which otherwise would have looked very static. I have observed that none of my photographs have the human element, and i am trying my best to work on it.

Take Care

Ciao

Showstopper Shadow!

July 4, 2008Posted in UncategorizedTagged black n white photography, bridge, light and shadow, native place series10 Comments

Afternoon, my friend once told me, isnt a very good time to practise photography as the sun is fierce and it can cause the photo to display bright highlights or too much shadows. I dont agree completely with that maxim, as a change in the subject and sensitivity towards the play of light can help you make decent photographs.

This photograph is from my native place series. I was strolling in the farms in the afternoon and decided to hike to a nearby village by crossing the farms. The bridge seen here is a very old structure, useless during the summers but very important during the rains. The shadows of the skeleton of the bridge particularly interested me. They seemed to proclaim that till the angle of the sun changed, donot dare step on the bridge. I had a ball clicking many photographs from various angles. One dosent really come across such bridges “accidentally” anymore:d

Take Care

Ciao

Bombay Mix & FujiFilm SuperSix Photography Exhibition

January 26, 2008Posted in UncategorizedTagged black n white photography, Bodhi art gallery, Jehangir art gallery, Kala Ghoda, NCPA, wildlife photographyLeave a comment

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!