SMOKY SATURDAY

I read about photographer Steve Paxton's methods of photographing wisps of smoke. I fell in love with his `smoky' photographs. According to Steve anyone can do it, all you need is incense sticks, strobe light, reflector, black cloth and a few other parphernalia along with some imagination. I definitely had incense sticks (I'm Indian right?). No strobe light. But had a pencil torch. No reflector. But had white paper. Black cloth. Check. But then I realised it was just me and my camera and I could either hold the torch light or the reflector but not both. There was noway I could place or clip these items to act as stand alone accessories. So I just improvised a lil bit on Steve's method.Chucked the reflector away and held on to the torch. Once I began clicking, it was more like a game -catching the wisp of smoke with the torch light -it was great fun. Beats going out on a Saturday night! In the bargain I got some lovely photos too. Well, atleast to me it looks lovely...:)

PHOTO GURU

This is one of those photographs that I always turn to when I get a little doubtful of my abilities with the camera. This pic gives me the confidence to pick up the camera again. It also reminds me that one doesn't create any beautiful images, they are already there, we just need to allow ourselves to see it and then capture it.

STORIES WITHIN A STORY

My friend and I went to see Iranian photographer Shadi Gadhirian's works. There was a series called `Out of Focus' (OOF). It was about women in Iran who remain invisible inspite of their acheivements and accomplishments in life. They are always relegated to the background -out of focus!

Here my friend is in front of a photograph from the OOF series. To me this picture was all about creating a new story within a story. And the beauty of it is that the interpretations of this story vary depending on the individual.

Sometimes, your mind distorts what the eye sees because at that moment in time distortion gives you a feeling of euphoria-something that we all crave for from time to time. Distortion helps you create something unique which you know is not possible in real life, yet you want a glimpse of it. There are many layers of distortion in this pic -in its mood, in its intepretation, in its colors, in its message. This pic represents `that moment in time' for me.

I always believe that a picture tells different people different stories. It speaks to them. And there is no right or wrong stories. They are all true stories. True to the individual that tells them and those that hears them. This pic tells me a story, which is entirely different from what it tells you. So you hear own story and if you have the time write and tell me your story.

TALKING HANDS -PART 2

Humans hands speak a universal language. Watch the hands of fellow human beings and you can hear the unspoken language. It's a dialect of life. And that's why I like freezing frame on human hands -to capture the meaning of the unspoken words!
(Go to archives for TALKING HANDS -Part 1)

FASCINATION CONTINUES PART 2

(Click on photos to enlarge)

A LIFETIME IN THE MAKING

I think these photos are going to be few of my all time favourite portraits of my mom, especially the first picture. And to think that one cannot even see her face in any of these pics....but each picture is loaded with emotions and feelings.....
(Click on the photos to enlarge and see the hands talk)

GINGU'S EXPRESSIVE EYES

I brought her home in a shoe box. She was 15 days old. I named her ginger. My mother was appalled. `How can you even come up with something like that -it is something that grows underground, it is no name for a child of this house....."she said. I forgot, she was the same mom who refused to name my earlier pet Jimmy because it was a "dog's name" . But it's also the name of an ex-American President, I said. She gave me a look that translated into "Why was he named after a dog?"

This time around I stood my ground, `Ginger she will be" I said. I forgot that my mom's a mallu and like all good malayalees she too suffixes a `uuu' and `dhe' to all pronouns. So Ginger became Gingu and I could do nothing about it.

Gingu is my seven year old German Shephard. She has the most beautiful eyes -it can be mischeivous, arrogant, stubborn, angry and downright wicked. Most of the time she just tolerates me....and she thinks, no she believes, that she is the daughter of the house and that I am her pet-dog. Believe me, she treats me very badly! But she also has me wrapped around her big paw.

The butter-won't-melt-in-my-mouth-look

Okay now-I'm-getting-really-pissed-off-with-you- look

Okay I'm-bored-with-you-and-you-need-a-brain transplant-while-I-need-a-nap look

You-are-still-here, now-I-AM- pissed- off- with- you- look

MORE CLOUDS

Today, I struck gold. It was a dance of clouds and a play of light...my day's made!
(And it is as natural as it can get with no digital manipulation!)

DUSKY SKY

This picture evokes in me a myriad of emotions -love, loss, melancholy, mystery, danger, eons gone by.....-but all these emotions come tinged with a sliver of beauty.

A BYGONE CHILDHOOD

In the evenings kids come out to play in the little play area in my apartment. Most of these kids are accompanied by their `ayahs' or baby-sitters. There was something about this particular lady. When I look at the photograph below I wonder what is this lady thinking? A childhood of yore? A wonderful happy childhood where she dreamt beautiful dreams? And now, after all these years has she discovered that those dreams have remained just dreams and will remain so forever? I don't know, but the picture she portrayed was haunting.

EYES AND SOUL

If eyes are the messengers of the soul then what message are these eyes carrying?

LIFE IS A PICTURE STORY BOOK

My mom has a very imaginative and creative mind. I think whatever little creativity that I have in me is a hand-me-down from her. When I was little, as she hand-fed me my dinner (yes, I was a spoilt brat) she would not tell me stories, instead she would encourage me to come up with wonderful stories with characters that were around us. And most of the time these characters were not visible to others -they were just visible to us. Like the old lady in the moon frying pancakes or the huge fish having dinner with its children on a wall with peeling paint or the mountains and valleys in the clouds...she taught me to see things that were'nt there for the naked eye to see; these were characters that you could see only with your mind's eye. Even today, I am perfectly happy being on my own, watching the sky from my balcony and seeing a giant of an old, bent lady going on a trek over the mountain which transforms into a lion and then a sheep that accompanies the old lady to her destination....you think i'm crazy? Next time around when there are dark rain clouds on an evening sky try and see it with your mind's eye...I'm sure you will be able to see the old lady....or even a naked women a la Pamela Anderson on her back....!
So, when I shot this picture and told my mom, "Look ma, don't they look like those tiny creatures, which you find in the Ocean bed." She just looked at me and smiled, as if I made completely perfect sense. If you are wondering what this is....

It's the seasoning in a bowl of Rasam soup...:)

SHORT AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE

They lasted 24 hours. Dawn to dusk. In that short period they provided great joy with their beauty, fragrance and vivid colors, to those who stopped by to look at them.

GOLDEN HOUR

My favourite time of the day -golden evening, when my world is bathed in magical sunlight.

BRAVE MOTHER SON DUO

I have known Aaditya from the time he was a tiny tot. He is my neighbor and friend Tasneem’s little boy. They are the bravest mother and son I have ever come across in my life.

(Better Days: Aadi singing`Country Road' along with mom Tasneem)

Aaditya is afflicted with a rare and fatal childhood disease called Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC). Frequently referred to as `Childhood Alzheimer’s,’ Niemann Pick Type C is a genetic lipid (cholesterol) storage disease that causes progressive neurodegeneration of the brain just like Alzheimers, Parkinson’s or ALS does to adults. Only 500 children worldwide have this horrible condition.

Aadi was slowly but steadily going down hill, even as his parents ran from pillar to post trying to find a cure for this disease. There's no known cure for NPC.

Two months back Aaditya seemed like he was losing the battle. He lost his ability to speak. It was toughest on mom Tasneem to come to terms with the fact that she might never be able to hear her son speak. Aaditya lost the ability to walk, sit and even swallow food.

Then came the breakthrough....

(Aadi - a week after his operation)

Last week history was made as the first ever intracranial stem cell transplants ever conducted on children was performed on Aaditya at the BGS hospital in Bangalore. The procedure was approved by the Indian government a few weeks ago. This treatment is not available even in the US.

A few weeks ago we were losing Aaditya. But today, after the path-breaking procedure we can see slow, but definite signs of improvement in his condition.

(Mother and son sharing a quite and precious moment)

I have been filming Aaditya for many months now for a documentary on NPC. I remember asking Tasneem, “Why do you allow me to film such personal moments of your life? Why do you permit me to film your son’s life ebbing away?” And she replied: “I know and hope that my son will get better and lead a normal life one day. I also know that His will be done in our lives. But amidst all this I shouldn’t forget that there others like me out there.... There is a bigger purpose here….I’m sure it’s not just about Aaditya and our family…definitely not.”

(Tasneem -the activist mom and caretaker)

She and her sister Duriya are relentless in their pursuit to reach out to as many NPC families as possible from around the world. Here’s to the brave mother and son… Let more NPC afflicted families benefit from this path-breaking medical procedure.

http://www.hopeforaaditya.org/

http://www.addiandcassi.com/

MERITS OF A KERALA TOWEL

My friend Sujin is an experienced amateur photographer. He faithfully and patiently tries to drill into me the nuances of photography. And he's beginning to understand that it's not an easy task. Yet, he courageously and generously plods on trying to make a good photographer out of me. "Try and use a Kerala towel to diffuse harsh light. It gives a `soft-box' effect," he said. So, I promptly went and borrowed (without her knowledge) my mother's fine cotton, meshed, kerala towel (she is fanatic about it) and tried to experiment with `Sujin's Soft-Box'...but there was no way i could clip the towel, so I held the towel in my left hand and shot the picture with my right hand. I don't think this is the photographic effect Sujin had in mind when he asked me to do what he asked me to do. However, I should say that the towel infact forms a fetching background!

SUNLIGHT

For me there is nothing more exciting than shooting in natural light. You cannot dictate to the Sun. You just got to be assured that he will give his best. And he never fails. It is exciting to see how sunlight is constantly changing by the minute and gives a different hue to everything it shines upon, again by the minute. The following photographs are a classic example