Guess Who?

I like people-watching! I like to guess their names, their profession, their lives etc...The eyes, the smile, the wrinkles, frown lines, crowsfeet, and the laughter lines....are all signs of life, testimonies to one's experiences in life....I took my people watching one step ahead....I have begun to freeze frame on their faces, here's some of them -can you guess their lives?



(Hailing from a small town in Kerala, Sindhu led a very conservative life and accepted the roles given to her by the society -daughter, wife, mother! She never thought of anything beyond that. But today, she has stepped out of conventional boundaries. She is a beautician who owns her own beauty parlor and plans to open a second one soon


(Michael -istriwalla or `ironman' as we usually call the people who iron our clothes. A breed that is fast disappearing with fancy clean-n-iron shops sprouting all over the place. His office -a broken down four-wheel contraption, with a plastic sheet overhead to protect him from rain and sun. He's been ironing clothes for the last 20 years from 6 am to 8 pm almost every single day.)



(I didn't want to inclue the above pic in this series, but then...)


(Sudha -a brand new grandmother. Need I say more.)

Unusual Combo

The combination of a high noon sun and the rich colors of terracota can be very heady!

Urban Skyline

Bracketed sunsets, neighbor's underwear, roof-top playgrounds....are all part of the urban skyline. With cities becoming concrete jungles; with your bedroom overlooking your neighbor's washroom and a kaleidoscope of buildings ranging from bad to ugly dotting the skyline as far as the eye could see...you are left with no option but to look for humor and beauty in the most oddest of odd places, simply because you want to remain sane in this jungle called the urban metropolis.

Barreness

An Evening in Cubbon Park

SDM FILTER

This series was inspired by the film Slumdog Millionaire. More than the storyline it was the storytelling that sparked this series. The edgy-gritty feel and tone of the following pics have been inspired by the edgy, gritty and vigorous visuals of Slumdog Millionaire. If you have seen the film you will know what I mean.

LOVEY DOVEY

This little fellow here is an insomniac...just like me. Unfortunately, on those rare ocassions when I actually do fall asleep, he makes it a point to keep me awake with his dove-babble...but he is such a doll and I don't have the heart to chase him away...

EYE OPENER

I believe that when you have a camera in hand you tend to look at things differently. You begin to SEE the world around you. What you see below is actually the fencing around my apartment building. And I have been passing by it for the last six years, without actually SEEING it. It is only today that I woke up to its splendid beauty bathed in the evening sun.

Sunset

FLOWER POWER

Nature will never cease to excite me!

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)