Sunday Escape (2)

Purana Qila, New Delhi.
Date: 30/10/2011
Others with me: Navaneeth

Here it goes! the second.  Tried out some HDR's (High Dynamic Range Imaging ). They were pretty successful. Managed to walk around the whole complex this time.

Interiors of Qila Kuhna Masjid inside Purana Qila

Around Purana Qila

Qila Kuhna Masjid

Made the collages on Picasa. Found Blogger annoying to get desired compositions.

Centered.

How Cool!! Here are screenshots of my photos on Google Earth. They have had nearly 200 views in the past 2 weeks!
Though I mapped them at the corner, after review these images have been centered on the map. Especially the Rajiv chowk one.. its placed right next to the metro symbol on the map.

Rajiv Chowk on Google Earth

 Photo Link:  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/61313040

Jantar Mantar on Google Earth

Photo Link: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/61313417

Sunday Escape (1)

Its Saturday, 22nd October, 8:00pm. I call Navaneeth and few others to fix a place for escape the next morning that we were planning for quite a while. Anuj and Navaneeth promised coming and we decided to go to Kashmiri Gate with breakfast at Navaneeths home. Anuj was busy with the Courtyard(you must be in SPA to know more about it ;) ) that night, that he was not able to wake up next morning.

So it was just the two of us and after breakfast at around 9, we took the car and reached the place by 9:30. I was excited as it was time to experiment my new 18-105mm Nikkor DX lens. The only thing I was worried about was the haze, as winters have started and with the amount pollution in Delhi the chance of a bad haze is high. As it affects the light and decreases visibility its not ideal for photography.  Lucky us, the sun shined bright amidst the haze thus giving opportunity to focus on the subject more as the background was taken care of by the haze.

After parking the car at Teen Murti Metro Station, we took a walk into Civil Lines, looking for Skinner's Church ( Forgot to take Eicher maps )and with the rickshaw wala's directions we walked for over a kilometer. I immediately started clicking after getting out of the car as the bright warm rays of the sun washed the various things around and the warmth just felt great after the cold morning bike ride.

After the walk searching for the church, though I had a weird feel that we were never on the right way, Navaneeth takes out his camera and realizes that he forgot his memory card. That was a sad start and I clicked some pigeons around and we had to leave back to his home to collect his card.

 

The Images: Fresh fruits on the roadside. Pigeons warming up. The balloon seller's dreams.

Then we decided to go to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib at CP and put Kashmiri Gate for some other time. This was our first experience at a gurudwara and both of us had no clue what to do. After buying a white kerchief and getting our heads covered we washed our feet and hands and proceeded inside the Gurudwara. It was a pretty different experience inside; the white open spaces, the huge pool of water with people of all ages, men and women bathing in it before entering the Gurudwara. The thing that surprised me was the shoe-minding room, people (anyone) volunteered to keep the shoes inside the room there which was a contrast to the practice that happens in South Indian Temples.

The open court at the front of the Gurudwara

The pool

The Escape was more than photography, the morning walk felt great and gave us a reason to wake up early. Most importantly, the Sunday morning never felt like a waste. Now all that was to be done was to keep up the pace and I started planning for the next escape. It was Purana Qila (Old Fort) for the next Sunday. A monument I pass by on my way from college, hardly found time to walk around it.

Sunday Escape

Escaping the lazy Sunday Mornings, the best thing that can happen. So how??
Lets see.. you are in Delhi, you have a bike and you like photography.. Shit! how come I never figured this out all this long. Its been quite sometime that I started realizing many photographers and clubs in Delhi organize Photowalks on Sunday mornings. I tried getting in some of them ( Delhi photography Club specifically, cause they also had complimentary breakfast.. just kidding) but all in vain, and also they were already 100 people for their walks. Seriously?? I'm not going there to click other photographers.

Then it struck me. Come on.. there are enough people in the college who are into photography, why don't we go on our own walk?? Again considering the whole college and the way people promise coming but change plans at their last moment (Had enough of it through the years), I kept it specific to people in my batch thus being more flexible.

So it happened on 23rd October 2011, the first escape. Will be putting up more about it soon along with some of the clicks.

Here is one image I would like to share,though it has nothing to do with the topic of this post, this image had a good response on FB and Flickr.

The walls at Maharani Bagh Hostel

Image edited on Photoshop.

My Portfolio

Finally managed to get it done ;)
Here is the compilation of my selected works that I made for application of Intership during January- June 2012.

Open publication - Free publishing - More architecture

Do check it out and let me know what you feel about it.
Cheers!

Abstract.. What does it mean?

"Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. "

Source: Wikipedia

Why am I looking at this suddenly?

The reason is the photograph below:

Lines at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

This was one of the 5 photographs I sent as an entry to Nicephoto 2011- An amateur photography competition and exhibition. This is one of the most weird photography competitions I've participated. It had 12 categories to participate including ones like 'Others' and 'Can't Decide'. I'm still not able to figure out the idea behind those categories.

Lets get back to that photograph. This photograph was uploaded in the Abstract category, though I didn't have much of an idea about what abstract was all about. Because these lines and the vivid colour made no sense to me other than just being an interesting visual composition, maybe that is why I chose it to be in this category.

It was only when this photograph got selected for the exhibition, I wondered.

Only then did I start looking deeper into the photograph... because for a person like me, who has just been playing with the camera all along, it started feeling like 'think its time for some serious business'.

So, I wanted  to figure out what is the basic idea of abstract is, as the whole study about it will not be feasible by me.

Then as usual, I google to try understand what exactly is ' Abstract'.

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, c. 1913

This is the first image that comes up in Wikipedia.

As usual it made no sense at the first look, though it seems like making a strong and bold statement. But as one reads about it, it has been the turning point in the development of Russian avant-garde.
It has lead to the creation of a of a new movement in Russian painting - Suprematism.

"Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable."- Wikipedia

Thus keeping in mind the basic idea of abstract art, I try relating it to photography.

Now as I look into abstract photography, I find this article by Ron Bigelow, a website where one can find free tutorials,  videos and articles on photography.This extract is from his article on abstract photography.

" There is no standard, universally accepted definition of abstract photography. Actually, it is not easy to create a clear-cut definition of an abstract concept. Thus, for this article series, abstract photography will be defined as photography that:

• Does not represent the subject in a literal way.
• Communicates primarily through form, color, and curves rather than image detail.

There are three essentials to abstract photography: form, color, and curves. It is paramount that an abstract photographer learns to think in these terms."

http://ronbigelow.com/articles/abstract-photography/abstract-photography.html

Some of my observations from my photograph at Jantar Mantar that I feel put it in the abstract category:

The subject has not been literally brought out.  

The first question most people ask me when I've shown them this image is " What is this? Where is it? " and they don't believe when I say its at Jantar Mantar.

The scale of the image is not evident.

The shadow adds to the depth, thus creating an illusion of three planes.

The texture adds to the ruggedness and creates a decaying effect.

The simple lines and the vivid colour creates a mystery.

Photography Gallery Delhi, Photo Gallery Delhi, Online Photography Gallery

Photography Gallery Delhi, Photo Gallery Delhi, Online Photography Gallery

India Gate Silhouette Play

India Gate is one of the places I have visited the most, generally during sunset or at night. One would love the warmth of the lights, the crowd (when I walked with my camera, some asked me to click them in front of the monument and print it for them, and when i tell them I'm a student they ask me to e-mail the photo to them.) , the pani puri and ice creams. Vendors selling cheap, differently lit and attractive objects, where some fly, some rotate, some form patterns, though all these last only for a few days, they help create some memorable moments of this place.

Where is the India Gate..? 
Here are some of my experiments, trying to create an illusion and a mystery using panorama photography to create these silhouettes.
So what has caused the difference in these images..?
Distance of the subject..! As one moved closer, the perspective has caused the distortion.

The first image makes a strong statement of the purpose of the monument, its mass and solidity.
The second image gives one an idea of how marvelous and tall the monument is when one stands below it.
The third image was just an experiment with perspective. Still it shows how the monument stands proudly in its lone context.
The last image.. well here it is.. 'The India Gate'... tada..!
One of my favorite clicks.

 

 

Photography, means to create a Different Visual Experience.

Architecture can be appreciated in various mediums, styles, dates and so on. People, generally don't take the time to evaluate an architectural work the way it should be evaluated - as a work of art, with functionality. Its scope is difficult to grasp as a normal person. It is therefore the architects responsibility to present the work the way he wants it to be interpreted. This is where the architect looks into different media for expressing his ideology and work. The photographer plays a vital role here. Photography is the closest and the most efficient form of universal media we have. This form of visual art fascinates any observer that is open to appreciating its manifestation and discerning the hard work that went into its creation.

The world of photography is changing. Ever since photography has been invented, men have been trying to make the best out of it as a tool, dreaming of new ways to make it what human eyes cannot, of speeding time or slowing it down to learn how things behave actually. The traditional methods are being replaced my Digital means. Experimental photography has given us vast options to express the idea. Image editing also plays a key role in the present times by letting the architects express certain features that cannot just be communicated using a raw image. Photography has also globalized architecture, thus bridging the gap between various architectural communities in this world.

This research will be briefly looking at how this whole process evolved, the way the photographer, photograph and Architecture are connected. Different techniques and post processing work that help reveal a totally different story of the building are also to be documented. Considering the fact that both are from the Design entity they have certain components in common, such as the symmetry, geometry, aesthetics, abstraction, composition. Just like constructing a building, the photographer constructs an image using the various components and the available resources.

EZRA STOLLER:

Ezra Stoller, the American architectural photographer, was modernist to his bootstraps. He made some iconic images that helped establish the hegemony of the modern movement during his heyday, which lasted from the 1930s into the 1970s.

Stoller, who died in 2004 at age 89, was the foremost chronicler of Modernist architecture, using his large-format camera to record seminal 20th-century works like Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Guggenheim Museum, and Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal at Idlewild Airport (now Kennedy).

He had the ability to capture the building according to the architect's vision and to lock it into the architectural canon. His photographs convey a three-dimensional experience of architectural space through a two-dimensional medium, with careful attention to vantage point and lighting conditions, as well as to line, color, form and texture.

Stoller was the seminal figure in a group of talented American photographers who first emerged about 1930. They were devoted modernists and their images were crucial in introducing modern architecture to the larger culture. Architects, in turn, were influenced by the photographers, and designed in the hope of inspiring a great image
from Stoller, Julius Shulman, Balthazar Korab,
Hedrich Blessing, Joseph Molitor, Morley Baer,
or Cervin Robinson.

Stoller's usual procedure was to walk the structure with a rough floor plan in hand. He would mark on the plan the best vantage points, and note the moment of the day when light would be optimal for each shot. He was a master of chiaroscuro, the abstract patterning of shadow and light, in a manner that sometimes evokes Hollywood films of the noir era. He almost always worked in very deep focus, with every detail from the foreground to the horizon pin-sharp.

  

TWA Terminal at Idlewild (now JFK) Airport,
Eero Saarinen, New York, NY

 

Ezra Stoller: Kitt Peak (Myron Goldsmith/SOM), 1962.
Gelatin silver print

Source:

http://www.sauer-thompson.com/junkforcode/archives/2011/01/american-photog-7.html

16^th June 2011, 3:00pm

More about Stoller:

http://cheapandplastique.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/julius-shulman-oscar-niemeyer-ezra-stoller/

Some interesting links... about Photography as an art form...

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/Reflections-Introduction.shtml

http://www4.hmc.edu:8001/humanities/beckman/artclasses/art.htm

http://www.daddysart.com/digital-photography-as-art.html

http://mikegreenimages.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/musings-on-photography-as-art-or-not/

Computational Photography...! hearing bout it for the first time..!

http://www.csail.mit.edu/csailspotlights/Computational_Photography

http://ronbigelow.com/articles/photography-ideas/photography-ideas.html
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds

NIKON Extra Ordinary Angles Contest

Please Vote for ME... ;)
Click on the like button below the photo to vote... !

http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25114
http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25120
http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25202
http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25355
http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25381
http://d5100.nikon-asia.com/en/submissions/25490 




Thanks in ADVANCE...!

Cheers
Kabilan S. 

Iconic House Design

 A  Design Problem done in 2nd Year 1st Semester.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Softwares used: Revit Architecture, Photoshop, Autocad.

An Intervention at BHOPAL

A Design problem done in 3rd year 1st Semester. 

Click on Image to Enlarge

FLICKR Photostream

Also check out my FLICKR  Photostream. The Link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42468071@N06/

A Stop Motion Film

The movie is basically about how the mistakes in designing a building detail can affect a general user.
So we have this badly designed wall section, and using stop motion we tried showing the difficulties he faces.

Credits:
Aishwarya  Bharatkumar
Anuj Mittal
Ammani Nair
Bhavika Aggarwal
Kabilan S.
Kaushik
Priyanshi Shukla
Rohan Patankar
Shruti Jalodia
Vishal Jayan

Sound Track: We Walk by The Ting Tings 

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION AT INDIA HABITAT CENTER

A photography exhibition was conducted recently at IHC as part of the event INDIA at 100, organised by SpireTec. The exhibition happened from the 7th April to 14th April 2011. 

Thanks to our senior Monish Kumar who gave the college photography society, SEPIA an opportunity to put up their work during the event. The photographs looked at issues both good and bad that one sees day to day in  Delhi.

View of the Exhibit

Thats me..! with one of my works.

The exhibition gave the society a good platform to put up its work and 13 people contributed for the exhibition.

This is the second chance I've got to put up my work in public and I feel I've made good use of it. Hoping for more opportunities to come up in the future.

IGBC Green Design Competition Entry.

Indian Green Building Council organized their annual Green Design Competition, with the brief asking us to re-design our Design Departments into ZERO ENERGY BUILDINGS. This was done as a studio exercise in college and this was our entry for the competition. We won the first prize in this competition and got to attend the Indian Green Building Congress 2010, which was held in Chennai.

Open publication - Free publishing - More competition

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Some of the posters and Graphic work I did this Year. Most of them during our annual college fest UTOPIA.
As a beginner I'm just experimenting my Skills.


All the Fest posters were made by me and my friend Navneeth. We kept the graphic simple to explain the event and also wanted to create an illusion at the same time. By arraying some element and providing some perspective and depth gave us the desired result. The fractal form of our college logo was designed by Navneeth. I just love our college logo...!
Software used : Photoshop CS5, Sketch Up

Photography Competition Poster

Short Film Competition Poster

Karaoke Competition

Paint Baloon

Quiz Competition

Street Play Competition

Rock Competition

 If you wanna rock and if you live around Delhi, this is one event you must not miss attending.

Fashion Show/ Competition

Poster for first round of culturals

An Intra-College Logo Designing Competition

ID Cards for Council Members

Sadly these were not made, Time constraints and financial problems.

Certificate Design

Invite Design

Birthday Party Poster for my friends

DELHI

This is where I live..The Capital!
Photography being my hobby.. its gonna be obvious that I'm uploading all this.
Lots of opportunities every moment, its all bout making use of it.
Love the winters.. best time to be out.
Some people might like the summers.. but I prefer being indoors..!
Mostly common places among the public and being an Architecture Student, you will find a lot of buildings.
This part is going to be updated now and then... till the time I'm going to be in Delhi..!

RAJIV CHOWK

A Panorama View of the Place, The Skyline

Also called as Connaught Place, this is the largest financial, commercial and business centers in Delhi. One of the best places to spend your evening shopping or hanging out with friends. Also houses one of the busiest metro station below the park in the middle. If one finds things to be expensive above the ground, then Palika Bazzar, is an underground, air-conditioned market located below the inner circle of Connaught Place, New_Delhi. It hosts several hundred shops selling a diverse range of items; however, the market is dominated by electronic items and clothing. Palika Bazaar attracts many foreign tourists. It is known as a place with a very low level of prices. Bargain as much as you can... & get the lowest prices.

View as a Pedestrian

At the end of Winter 

Recently renovated for the Commonwealth Games 2010, this place is getting back to its ruins. People have to take more care before the place returns to its old state. Even though CP looks soo beautiful on the panorama view, the scene is different at the eye level.

Puducherry/ Auroville

PUDUCHERRY

The Coastline

Puducherry (Tamil: புதுச்சேரி Putuccēri; French: Poudouchéry), formerly known as Pondicherry (and still nicknamed Pondy), is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Pondicherry. The territory was officially known as Pondicherry until 2006 when it was renamed Puducherry. Of late, Pondicherry is also considered an educational hub of southern India.Pondicherry consists of four non-contiguous regions: Pondicherry, Karaikal, and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé on the Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones, and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.

Street Edge at the French Quarter

 Pondicherry still retains much evidence of its history as a French colony. The design of the city was based on the French (originally Dutch, the plans of Pondicherry dating from the end of the 17th century (1693–1694) are preserved in the National Archives at The Hague) grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into two sections, the French Quarter ('Ville Blanche' or 'White Town') and the Indian Quarter ('Ville Noire' or 'Black Town').There is also French influence in the layout of the city. The numbering of the houses is unique compared to other cities in Tamil Nadu, in that the even numbers are on one side and the odd numbers are on the opposite side of the road.

 The official languages of Pondicherry are Tamil and French.

Reuse of old structures

Street view

Panoramic Street View

For more details

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puducherry

AUROVILLE

Matri Mandir

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India near Puducherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (since her definitive settling in India called "The Mother") and designed by architect Roger Anger. Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

A House at Auromodele


The Architect at Auromodele was Andre Hababou.
Do check his website: http://www.andrehababou.com/ 

Bharat Nivas, The Auditorium

For more details

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville

Text Source: Wikipedia

Photographs are copyrighted.