Mandir

Taken some where in the state of Uttara Khand as it is now called this is one of many photographs of temples in the his 'heavenly state' that has the sacred of sacred religious pilgrimages in India.

Brooklyn Bridge NY

Yellow Cabs

Looking down from the Empire State Building!

New York 1

When I first visited NY I was cautioned to be careful, I was told that since I was more of a country person (some called me a villager!) it was a place I would not like much at all. Some told me that the busy New-Yorker was rude and never helpful so I needed to be prepared?

About a year ago when my best friend Abhik left for the states to live in Jersey, I told him he'd love NY just as I did. It wasn't just about the authentic Indian cuisine, or the joy of standing inside B&H watching the conveyor belts moving everywhere, or spending a day on the Brooklyn bridge, there was something MORE! The city has character like no other, and yes the people are helpful. Not just the Indian cab drivers, who I think believe that Manhattan is Chandani Chowk, but every one.

As a photographer the life in city is overwhelming, at times I would forget to shoot as I watched the streets teeming with people of all colours and from all walks of life.

Photography Unlimited!

The Beach

Some years ago my good friends Marius and Victor joined me on one of my absentminded walks in the Mexican town of Cabo San Lucas on the west coast that took us a secluded beach. We spent the afternoon shooting the walls of water that violently broke on the shore as we made sure the cameras never got wet.
After 3 hrs of fun we were told to leave the spot, the previous week had sen two your men sucked into the ocean. Every time I had failed to beat the waves and held my camera high never did i fear for my life, all i thought about was the camera and the shot I wanted to get. It might have been different if some one had told me the story before we began shooting.... hmmm I don't think so!

Movement

Initially when I started shooting like many others my aim was to produce those crisp clear images that would have ever one go WOW! In those days it was sin to have anything blur in the Image, one aimed at freezing everything.

Then with time once one had perfected the freezing it was time to thaw... I began experimenting with motion in a new way. Rather than have a crisp image the aim was to have a certain amount of blur in the shot to highlight the movement.

A theater environment often forces you to choose a low shutter speed to get the right exposure and this usually gives you blurry images, but if you get the balance right you can get a shot that has that crispness to it and yet highlights movement.

Lajja (लज्जा)

About a month ago I was shooting in the villages of UP where the little children were always eager to have me point my lens in their direction. Young girls however usually are very shy of being photographed and don't always look straight at the camera as many of you might have discovered, they tend to be shy. At times this tends to be rather frustrating because when you see something and begin raising your camera all at once the face will turn or hide, but when you can find some one who will give you more than a second to take the shot you are often rewarded with something that makes up for all the runaways. Lajja is the Hindi word for feeling shy.