Call 'em Colored

All of a sudden, after long time, I got some enthusiasm to publish my photographs again. This (not 'these') photograph was taken last December at Bhimtaal near Nainitaal.

The second photo is a desaturated version of the first one. A prank came to my mind. There used to be a lot of racist people in this world few decades ago who'd call others 'Black'. There number has decreased a lot over time but those who still exist, have devised a better name 'Colored'. In any case, Black or colored, a photograph needs at least one of them to be a photograph.

Now please tell me which one of these looks better. I need to learn a lot....

To colour or not to colour....

Got hold of my camera after around 3 months except for capturing friends and family. Anirban Mukherjee, my school buddy has the claim to credit this time. He was too eager to test his skills and new camera at Kumortuli, Kolkata. A new thing happened this time. Well, this is not new, it used to happen when I didn't have a digital camera. Took just a few photographs as if I had limited gates in my film roll.

Upon seeing the photographs, I realized that I've mostly captured photographs with a co existence of monochrome and colours. Honestly, this idea of grouping never came to me before I started creating this blog post.

The building blocks of clay Idol. Hay is used to make the basic structure of all those clay idols we see. This beautiful colour is eventually covered with black mud and then again colour is used to make those beautiful idols we see. Isn't it kind of resurrection?

Does chilli taste hot in the ears too? Mahishasur doesn't seem very happy with a chilli pierced through his ears to make a hole for ornamentation.

Peace in war zone. Actually something else came to my mind on seeing this scene. Can the cats distinguish between human beings and fierce human figures? Leave apart the human figures. How could he sleep so peacefully in front of such a big cat?

Red & White. No really, I don't have any intention to promote any brand here. actually, it seemed to me as if the provider of success and the well renowned savior are sitting in front of a court house. Redemption guaranteed.

Colours of muse. What else could I say?

The Wild Urbane

The early days of almost everything are tough. Reaching out for the camera inside the backpack, changing the lens, setting the exposure and shooting with a limited number of photographic film...and all this, on a Sunday afternoon beside Jama Masjid in Delhi among a pushing crowd of thousands of people and vehicles. Memorable days of enjoyable struggle.


The story and location is already told


Patterns fascinated me. Although i still have no idea if this signifies anything at all. Near Majidia hospital, Tughlaqabad Extension, new Delhi.


This one seemed funny. Looks like someone has been hung and the crow is making sure the someone dies. The location is same as above.


I could have named this 'Parallel Vision'. Anyways, this DTH antennae used to block the Sunset from my terrace at Lajpat Nagar in Delhi. I decided to exploit it.


My beloved 'Model'. He tried his best to block the beauty but I turned him into a block of beauty.

A Golden Morning

Not the very first time in this blog, I'm telling about the weird stuffs I do. Guess what, I did not sleep last night. This is months or may be years after the last time I did it. But this time there was no cause. But purpose is a tricky thing. If I don't have a purpose, what's the use? To freshen up, I looked out of the window and rushed to the terrace. Well of course with camera.



It is nothing new to see pigeons during the sunrise. But this time the models for my 'light-painting' included Crows too. The crow family in the backdrop of 'soon to be red' sky is may be one of my best photographs in recent times. And also, I was satisfied enough to have a peaceful sleep.

She sells Sea shells on the Sea shore

Sorry, I got no mermaids or fisherman's daughter on this post. Neither am I putting in too many beautiful photographs. But these are some interesting(to me) photographs I took last weekend in Mandarmoni, West Bengal. This beach is new enough to tourists. Hence, finding sea shells is a rather natural thing unlike other popular beaches.



I was walking on the beach when suddenly this 'dead yet dazzling' washed up near my feet. The shells were not detached yet as is normally found. Who could say, this one might have carried a tiny pearl inside it.



Met another dead one, the above one. It seemed to have been alive not much before I met it. I don't know their scientific names but I can bet they are 'piece of art'.



But this guy was too alive to let me picture it and it was moving fast on wet sand. And it vanished as soon as it touched water. What amazed me is, the little divine looking guy was acting as a parasite on this clumsy beast.



I think this above one was also some kind of parasitic act. The leaf like thing must be part of some creature as I found many like it being washed ashore. Well, the shell must have had a good surfing experience riding on it.



The thing shown above looked interesting. I found another same thing but that didn't have any such shells on it. The surface was smooth. At first, I thought it might be some kind of egg but later realized that it was nothing but a lump of clay which took this shape due to continuous rolling on the flatbed surface of the beach.



For the first time in my life I saw a starfish out of the TV or zoology lab. Don't ask me if it was alive or dead. I did not feel the urge to poke a dead or may be nearly dead person on my first meeting. And of course it was the most beautiful thing I saw in Mandarmoni.

I know that you are really pissed off seeing clumsy things which I think are beautiful. And I should not deprive you of nice pictures. I hope you'd like the next two photographs. Well, although not a 'she child', but a 'he child' was selling those sea shells on the sea shore.







I thought of bringing a few to my home so that I could take a few more pictures. But somehow, we missed the opportunity. Next time, I promise to be more careful in picturing them.

Road to Ornamentation

Earlier this decade, Page 3 articles and several literary write ups concentrated on the so called 'Junk Jewellery'. I remember those faint paragraphs where party revelers used to flaunt their unconventional ornaments and boast that they bought it from an African tribe. Actually, this was the entry of those 'big stone' and 'alloy' jewellery in the pavements of India. The pavement in front of Grand Hotel Kolkata was among the first outlet. Gradually, now we find them everywhere. Well, the prices get doubled when the outlet is a stall in some shopping mall, the factory remaining the same. While on different casual walks on the roads of Kolkata I got a few glimpse of those, thanks to my lady friends.



People chose hair clips of different colors. Igot a glimpse of how colourful they might look when placed together on the pavement of Lindsay Street, Koilkata.



The previous and next photographs are of jewellery shops beside the Hogg Market, Kolkata.



The handicrafts fair 2011 was indeed a photographers delight. Those Ganesha lockets were to me, the latest of 'Brand Ganesha' improvisations.





Can you imagine Indian ladies without bangles? I guess no. You should see their facial expressions when they look at those. The expression shifts from 'Yuk', through 'Poor Bangle' and 'Cool One' till 'I just love it'. You see the aggression on her face and listen to the sweetest words, 'Can I have it?'



Well this lady did have those bangles.