Minimal

Up There!, Manali, Himachal Pradesh

SHADES, At Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur

Extension Khirkee- Street Art Festival

Street Art Festival at Khirkee. Some really cool street art by various artists on the walls of the densely populated urban village.

http://extension-khirkee.tumblr.com/

From Flickr

Kabilan S.'s photostream on Flickr.

Updated here for the moment.
Will be coming up with posts soon.

Dissertation- Impact of Photography on Modern Architecture

Four years after its discovery in 1839, the following appeared in a London Magazine,
“Photography is a young art, but from its present aspect, we can judge what power it will have in its maturity.” – Household Words, Charles Dickens.

Considering the above statement, the power of photography as a tool of visual communication has grown with experimentation and incoming of modern technology. Looking at photography from an architectural point of view, buildings are photographed primarily to be documented, sold or advertised. Does a space feel the same as good as it looks in a photograph? Or has the building just been made to look good in the photograph? Do thecontemporary architects aim all their activities toward getting to the magazine cover and not worrying whether the building will last beyond the photographers shooting session?  The intent of the photograph needs to be studied.

Open publication - Free publishing - More architecture

Another Abstract

This is an HDR image I recently clicked. Some people who saw this felt it also looks like an illusion. Try guess what it is!

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.