“I want to have a long string of images, held together by grace, because grace is that undefinable  non rational, non linear word that I am looking for…. “

Working on a photographic project?

The second edition of the Delhi Photo Festival has just announced an open call for submissions for stories and projects based on ‘Grace,’ the chosen theme for the Delhi Photo Festival 2013, as a tribute to the late Prabuddha Dasgupta.

{Prabuddha Dasgupta’s Talk at the DPF}

The organizers are keen to showcase varied interpretations of the theme across genres and visual languages within photography. Submissions are being accepted on the official website for the festival at already! One can submit either online, or through snail mail by downloading the entry form.

For those of you who might have work that doesn’t fit the theme, you can still apply for digital exhibitions, audio slideshows and multimedia sessions, which will be held during the festival as well. Only those applicants sending work for print exhibitions need to conform to the theme.

The last edition of the festival was an intensive fourteen days of photographic exhibitions, artist talks, workshops and presentations with senior photographers, such as Dayanita Singh, Raghu Rai, Shahidul Alam, Sooni Taraporewala and Ram Rahman.

The biennial Delhi Photo Festival is an initiative of the India Habitat Centre & Nazar Foundation to bring photography, into the public space to create an awareness of photographic arts and initiate dialogue among its many practitioners and lovers.

While, we expect the usual suspects to be present this year round as well, the festival organizers have promised us a lot more events, workshops and exhibitions as well.

Entry and participation to the festival is free and open to all nationalities.

Applications are being accepted till the 20^th of April* so open your photographic archives or take out your cameras and explore the idea of ‘grace’ in your own way!

*UPDATE | DPF is now accepting submissions until April 25! The theme for the festival and its print exhibitions is ‘grace’ as a tribute to the Indian photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta. For digital exhibitions your work need not conform to the theme. Please read submission guidelines carefully : http://delhiphotofestival.com/delhi_photo_festival_2013/submissions.html

For more information, click here: http://www.delhiphotofestival.com/delhi_photo_festival_2013/home.html 

The post Delhi Photo Festival 2013 | Open Call for Submissions appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

PIX, India’s first photography quarterly, launches it’s 7^th edition this Saturday, the 9^th of March, 2013 at the Japan Foundation, New Delhi. PIX recently completed its first international special feature on Sri Lanka with an exhibition in Colombo and a subsequent launch in Delhi at the Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhawan last month. The upcoming issue of PIX marks its first launch at the Tenshin Okakura Gallery at the Japan Foundation in New Delhi. The venue is a fitting location for the event as it marks two years of the massive earthquake that struck eastern Japan, most specifically the Tohoku region, on 11^th March 2011.

PIX conducts an open call for submissions for every edition, which is based on a different thematic every quarter. It also juxtaposes the photographers’ bodies of works with write-ups by authors who are able to give a ‘response’ to the images. The genre of writing can vary from journalism, fiction, poetry, prose to anything that may be the selected writer’s forte.

This upcoming issue features 12 photographers and 8 writers from India, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal and USA. For this issue of PIX, the idea was to come up with a theme that commemorated the tsunami that hit the Tohoku region in March 2011, without the obvious connotations of destruction and deluge. The idea to choose the theme of ‘recovery’ was to invite submissions that dealt with the recuperation period that generally takes place after one is confronted with a tragedy or disaster; be it social, political, ecological or cultural. It could also deal with personal narratives about gradual changes in an individual’s personal/family life or even how the nature of one’s relationship with space changes over time. The idea was to deal with the healing process in the aftermath – the cure, reconstruction, rescue and restoration.

The featured contributions in this issue are varied and interpret ‘recovery’ through personal narratives of an individual, as well as, that of a people as a whole. Paolo Patrizi’s haunting images of the aftermath of the tsunami in the Tohoku region bear witness to the displacement and mass evacuation caused by the disaster. The figures state that nearly 400,000 people were forced to evacuate the cities post the tsunami. His images are windows to what now seem like ghost towns, with obvious visual ironies, like a bathtub laying exposed on the middle of a street, or a car perched on top of a two-storey building. Besides this, the interpretations of the theme range from more literal interpretations of recovery, with the works of Bindi Sheth and Soumyadip Ghosh, to that of the recovery of a group of people persistently ridden with strife, as in the work on Kashmir by Zishaan Akbar Latif, or the photographs shot by Zann Huizhen Huang of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. The issue also features narratives on the recovery of relationships over a period of time, such as Mitsu Maeda’s body of work on her grandmother, or Aditya Kapoor’s images of ‘bouncing back’ from a failed marriage. Paolo Patrizi’s interpretation of the difficult recovery of a physical space resonates with Prasit Sthapit’s work on the Narayani river on the border of India and Nepal, with its changing course and the resulting effects on the people and the landscape. In this issue, PIX also features its first ever international feature by California based photographer, Talia Herman, who is a self-proclaimed product of the counter culture movement of the 1960s and 70s. She explores the long term effects of this activism on her life, looking at the ideas of communal living, experimental gender behaviour, casual marijuana consumption and cultivation and other unconventional and alternatives lifestyles as eventual by-products of the change. 

Soumyadip Ghosh | From the series ‘A Hand to a Recovering Nation’ | December 2012, Mae Sot, Thailand

Talia Herman | Dory in Sonoma County. From the series ‘Unconventional Currents’ | California, USA, 2011

Zishaan Akbar Latif | From the series ‘The Other Kashmir’ | Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara, Lolab, Uri, Gulmarg, 2008-2012

Zann Huizhen Huang | Children fight a mock gun battle game in Shatila Camp. Life in this crowded camp provides little space for children to play, so they make up their own games, often inspired by violence. | From the series ‘Remember Shatila’ | Shatila, Lebanon, 2012

Cover | The interior of a severely damaged house in Ishinomaki where many lives where lost. From the series ‘Limbo’ Tohoku, Japan, 2011/2012. 

The exhibition accompanying the launch of the issue will feature a preview of the works in the publication. Featured photographers Niha Masih and Zishaan Akbar Latif will also give photo presentations and speak about their work. The exhibition is ongoing till 30^th March 2013.

Notes in our Little Black Book |

What | PIX –Volume 7: Recovery Launch

When | Saturday, 9th March, 6 PM

Where | Japan Foundation, 5A, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi

Entry | Free Entry

The post ‘Recovery’ | PIX Launches Volume 7 appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

You could typecast him as a Fashion Photographer, but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the body of work that is Rohit Chawla. His works aren’t just composed of interesting clothes on interesting looking people; they’re a manifestation of a culture, a representation of a frame of mind and an amalgamation of the history of someone’s being. He’s behind the most riveting shoots we’ve seen in some of the glossiest magazines. His works on the ‘Wanderlust’ and ‘Goa Style’ series are a true representation of his approach to story telling through photographs and prior to his upcoming exhibit at Religare Art Gallery, LBBD gets an exclusive peek into the concept behind the display {which goes on show on the 8th of March, 2013}.

The truth is that scale makes the difference; when represented in a larger frame, the work talks to you and you are convinced to talk back.  Rohit believes in the larger than life approach for ‘Goa Style.’ Prints will primarily be 4’ x 7’ in size and you will mesmerized by the portraiture of these global nomads. The larger prints also accentuate the opulence of their style, their clothes, furs, bows, lace, leather, tattoos and piercings, and last but not the least, their expressions. Additionally, Rohit has shot the series in isolation against the stark white walls of his Asagao house, bereft of any and visual distractions.

While working with Rohit on the display of the show, when I thought of the word ‘big’ in art, I remembered the famous James Rosenquist, and his 86’ long painting, F-111, which covered the walls of Leo Castelli’s gallery at some point.  Rosenquist painted very large murals with pop subject matter, such as sex and consumerism. The most fascinating thing about his work was how he used colour, scale and composition in a surrealist manner.

{Rosenquist’s Exhibition, F-111}

“If you are close to it, a big painting {photograph} is just a feeling around you, that’s all.” James Rosenquist

The size and scale of the images coupled with Religare’s expansive viewing space is the basic notion behind the display of ‘Goa Style.’

{Photographs from the Goa Style Series}

While, we’ll wait for you to come and experience this exhibit for yourselves, we spoke with Rohit about his upcoming projects, inspirations and a few of his favourites.

LBBD | What did you think of the India Art Fair?

Rohit | I think it was a great way to create awareness about artists as it fulfils that barometer. I do feel that the awareness needs to be created, as collectors have not kept pace with the market inIndia. Until and unless there isn’t a demand and exposure to contemporary art, the market can’t grow.

LBBD | Which is your favourite Art book? Why?

Rohit | Any Richard Avedon book, as he walks a very fine line between fine art and design. I would also pick up any Cartier Bresson book. When you look at an artist’s works so fervently, it unconsciously becomes your own personal taste and a part of your own style and sensibility.

LBBD | What is your favourite space in Delhi?

Rohit | Personally, the size and scale of a gallery is very important to me. This is also due to the fact that I create large works. I would say Religare Art Gallery is a great space and is well located, as well.

LBBD | Favourite art show last year?

Rohit | I think Ashish Soni’s retrospective at the Aman Hotel last year was one of my favourites. It was refreshing, clever and quirky. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

LBBD | Which work of art, or series, was the most challenging, yet rewarding, for you to create?

Rohit | The ‘Wanderlust’ series is closest to me. Firstly, I have this baggage of being a fashion photographer, but this shoot was a completely unique experience. Shooting the ‘Rabari’ Nomads in Kutch was challenging, because they weren’t really willing to be photographed. I had to gain their trust to shoot them, and I did this project over 6 months. It is a huge honour, because this exhibition has gone toChina andLondon, where it has done extremely well.

{From ‘Wanderlust’ Series}

LBBD | What projects do you have lined up this year?

Rohit | Currently, I am working on a series where I am recreating Indian miniature paintings from the Company Period, titled ‘Pixiatures.’ I have chosen this period because it has a certain graphic sensibility.

The post Scale Matters | Rohit Chawla’s Goa Style appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

First up – Dhruv Malhotra’s ‘Sleepers’ at PHOTOINK marks his second show at the gallery, showcasing his nocturnal wanderings which started from Noida {part of the show ‘Noida Solliloquy’}, and then gradually moving over to other places in India that caught his fancy in the dead of the night. Long exposures on his Mamiya 6 X 7 portray these scenes as surreal landscapes of cities, breaking away from the usual dark and elusive interpretations of the night. From Malhotra’s insomniac recollections, we move to Sri Lankan artist, Anoli Perera’s show ‘Memory Keeper,’ which uses photography as one of the mediums in her explorations of recollections from an era gone by. It would be a fitting combination to see both exhibits in succession to get an understanding of the art scene not so far from the Indian mainland. And finally, moving over to two {large} group shows – ‘Seven Contemporaries’ at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, and ‘Homelands’ at the British Council. Both these shows exhibit the works of celebrated photographers, such as Dayanita Singh, Martin Parr, Tim Hetherington, and the photomontage artist, David Hockney, alongside other artworks, far removed from the photographic realm. Perhaps, it’s a way to start thinking about photography as an art form, whose interpretation changes, especially, when not viewed in its usual isolated form but in conjunction with other visual media.

SLEEPERS | Photographs by Dhruv Malhotra

{Untitled | Dhruv Malhotra}

Sleepers, the second series of colour photographs made by Dhruv Malhotra, emerged from his first work, ‘Noida Soliloquy,’ which was exhibited in 2010. Being a chronic insomniac, Malhotra has consistently photographed the night. What sets his night photographs apart is his pointed intention to reveal what is concealed in the shadows of darkness. It was while wandering through the streets and parks of Noida that he photographed the sleeping figures he stumbled upon. The desire to continue photographing ”sleepers” led Malhotra to travel beyond Noida. He began to seek them everywhere he went. If photographs from Noida Soliloquy were largely marked by the absence of people, Sleepers is defined by their presence. Sleepers is as a much a commentary about urban life in India as much as it is a self-reflection of a photographer, who found himself, as he says, ”drifting through life without purpose, waiting for an awakening of dormant potential’.”

About the Photographer | Dhruv Malhotra {born in 1985} grew up in Jaipur. He majored in Economics from Mumbai University in 2006. Being chronically unable to sleep at night, he wanders the streets with his Mamiya 6 x 7 and a sturdy tripod. His work focuses on urban areas and cities at night and engages with issues of progress, modernity and the otherworldly.

When | On view until 2^nd March, 2013. Gallery hours: 11 AM – 7 PM, Tuesday to Saturday.
{Closed on National Holidays.}

Where | PHOTOINK, MGF Hyundai Building, GF, 1 Jhandewalan, Faiz Road, New Delhi – 110005

Contact | +91-11-28755940/41/42 or visit: www.photoink.net

 *

MEMORY KEEPER | Photographs by Anoli Perera

{Rose Wallpaper Series II | Anoli Parera}

This exhibition deals with remembrance; recollection from the danger of erasure. Perera’s exhibition takes viewers to and beyond private and public memory, mediated by the passage of time as well as war, and traverses through a number of other discourses that include migration, globalization, and advent of homogenous cultural forms and the expelling of the local. However, in all cases, the artist’s point of departure and obsessive focus is what is remembered and what would lapse from memory.  As she observes, “what we lost was our innocence and our common sense.. We, for sure, lost the trust. Then it stopped.. Soon the pain and what was lost might well be forgotten too. Amnesia sets in.. People want to move on. I keep memories for posterity.. ”

About the Photographer | Anoli Perera is one of the most renowned contemporary female artists from Sri Lanka, and is currently based in Delhi.

When | On view until 18^th February, 2013. Gallery Hours: 11AM – 7PM {Closed on Sundays.}

Where | Shrine Empire Gallery, 7, Friends Colony {West}, New Delhi – 110065

Contact | +91-11-9910444354 or visit: www.shrineempiregallery.com

 *

DIFFICULT LOVES | A collection of nine most accomplished women artists over the last 100 years

{The Water Diviner | Sheba Chhachhi}

This mega three part exhibition serves as a birth anniversary tribute to National Art Treasure artist, Amrita Sher-Gil; the world’s biggest retrospective of acclaimed Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi, and an exhibition of cutting-edge installation works of seven contemporary artists.

Inspired by Italo Calvino’s famous book ‘Difficult Loves’ and curated by Roobina Karode, Director, KNMA, the exhibition proposes to talk about adventures, misadventures, complex relationships with objects, subjects, desires and life itself, about trials and errors in the individual artistic journeys of these nine participating artists.

When | Permanent exhibition on view from 30^th January 2013.
Gallery Hours: 10:30 AM – 6:30 PM {Closed on Mondays.}

Where | Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), 145, South Court Mall, Saket, New Delhi.

Contact | +91-11- 4916 0000 or visit: http://www.knma.in/

*

HOMELANDS | A 21st century story of home, away, and all the places in between

{Bedlam, From A Rake’s Progress}

Touted as India’s biggest exhibition of 2013, this collection brings works by twenty-eight top international artists for a groundbreaking four city tour. A unique take on contemporary British art by an Indian curator, ‘Homelands’ asks what, in the 21st century, ‘home’ really means.

Curated from the British Council Collection, by Latika Gupta, this exhibition features works by 28 of the world’s leading contemporary artists. From this esteemed group of contemporary artists, there are 8 Turner Prize winners and nominees namely Jeremy Deller {winner, 2004}, Richard Long {winner, 1989}, Grayson Perry {winner, 2003}, Gillian Wearing {winner, 1997}, Mona Hatoum {nominee, 1995}, Langlands & Bell {nominee, 2004}, George Shaw {nominee, 2011} and Cornelia Parker {nominee, 1997}. Tim Hetherington was the winner of World Press Photo in 2007.

When | On view until 14^th February, 2013. Gallery Hours: 11AM – 7PM {Closed on Mondays and National Holidays.}

Where | Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts, 11 Mansingh Road, New Delhi – 110011

Contact | arts.india@britishcouncil.org or visit: www.britishcouncil.org.in/homelands

The post Photography Exhibits You’ve Got to See This Month! appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

PIX, India’s first photography quarterly, launches its sixth volume this coming Friday at the Max Mueller Bhawan, New Delhi. Vol. 6 is a special issue, under the thematic of ‘Metamorphoses’, with a focus on works created in Sri Lanka. This is the first region specific international edition of the quarterly, which until now was featuring works first from India, then from all of South Asia. PIX functions on the basis of an open call for submissions which is based on a different thematic every quarter. It also juxtaposes the photographers’ bodies of works with write-ups by authors who are able to give a ‘response’ to the images. The genre of writing can vary from journalism, fiction, poetry, prose to anything that may be the selected writer’s forte. This upcoming issue features 18 photographers and 8 Sri Lankan writers.

What is unique about the upcoming launch is that this is the first time PIX is re-launching an issue that has already been released. The Sri Lanka special issue was first launched in Colombo on 12^th October 2012 with an accompanying exhibition of the works at the Harold Pieris Gallery {Colombo}. Judging by the response to the launch, PIX members felt that it was imperative that this work be shown outside Sri Lanka as well, so as to introduce audiences to a section of the contemporary photography scenario in the country.

The launch will feature slideshows of some of the works as previews to the images featured in the quarterly followed by a talk by Suresh Jayaram, co-curator of the Colombo Art Biennale {CAB}. The second edition of the biennale, held in February 2012, had the theme ‘Becoming’, a fitting phrase to surmise the atmosphere in the post-war years. The themes ‘Metamorphoses’ for PIX and ‘Becoming’ for the CAB resonate with each other, showcasing works produced in a country ridden with civil war for 30 years. Suresh Jayaram will speak on the theme of ‘Becoming’ in art practice.

Notes in our Little Black Book |

• 6th volume of PIX launches on 8th February, 2013, 6.30 pm onwards
• Where | Max Mueller Bhavan Library, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Contact: 011 23329506
• You can pick up a copy of PIX at the launch itself.

The post ‘Metamorphoses’ & More | 6th Edition of PIX appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

For some of us, writing about travels is not that simple. So, let me take the easy way out by giving you the most abused quote since the day the camera came into being: “A picture is worth a thousand words” {cheap shot – but hey!}, and tell you about my recent wanderings in and around Udaipur.

I suppose the moment you think ‘Udaipur,’ you conjure up images of a lake {Lake Pichola} surrounded by rolling, low hills and a stunning lake palace hotel amidst this all. Udaipur, as we discovered by meandering off the beaten path, is that and so much more.

It wasn’t a budget trip, but we weren’t staying at the Lake Palace either. We got ourselves amazing ‘tents’ {they were actually rooms with tent-like structures} right next to the Leela Kempinski – at the Raas Leela, a gorgeous boutique property situated along the edge of the Lake, on one side. The bathroom—which was the selling point, and almost always is—was on level with the lake and overlooked the Lake Palace. Mornings were spent in the gardens of the Raas Leela devouring masala omelets, fresh juice, and lemon tea. An evening, which carried on to the wee hours of the following morning, was also spent enjoying a meal in the picturesque gardens of our boutique hotel, on level with Lake Pichola, overlooking the whole city. We decided that when we might visit again, we would come in a larger group, rent the whole property, and wander.

Interestingly, considering the location of our resort, that was all of Lake Pichola and the Palace that we saw; most of our time was spent exploring the outskirts of Udaipur. This is the bit no one really writes about, and my words may not do justice either – A lot of the places and people we stumbled upon were by virtue of getting lost! We drove {on a rented scooter/bike} through small green hillocks {where cell phone reception was not found, nor needed}, winding past smaller lakes, and solitary thatched huts juxtaposed against the greenery of a lolling landscape, stopping only to capture what couldn’t just be absorbed in a fleeting glance.

My friend and I decided to venture out by ourselves, splitting from a group of five, to explore some more. We had with us half a bottle of white wine which we decided we would have once we found the perfect spot. He wanted to go towards the hills, I just wanted to keep going – not sure what I had in mind. We took all the turns that led to nowhere, got sufficiently lost, and 45 minutes later – I spotted her. He waited by the road, as I climbed down. There were a few women {two women, two younger girls, and one baby boy}; I introduced myself, jumped in the water with them, talked, and once their permission as sought, began shooting. This lasted about 10 minutes, when I finally said that the “bhaiya” waiting for me won’t be too happy if I kept him waiting all day {although, I could have!}. He was too shy to come down, but the women couldn’t understand why. They insisted I call him down, which he did, as he crossed the stream, and went and sat on the other side, looking the other way – still shy, I’d reckon!

I continued interacting with the women. They gave us food. I gave them my bangles and showed them their pictures; they said I should meet them here in two days with the copies. I said I would be in Delhi, but they didn’t seem to get it. I explained again, asked for their postal address, but they didn’t have one.

 {The House on the Hill}

Moving along, we spotted this hut that seemed right out of a screensaver image.  This exists; sadly, the money in my bank account doesn’t. On the drive to nowhere, I had found my ideal home.

{The Group and the Bullet}

The six of us traveled together for much of the trip, and after doing our own thing in the morning, we met here – at Fateh Sagar Lake. From Fateh Sagar, we started off towards Tiger Lake {outside Udaipur}.

 {Riding at Tiger Hill}

Tiger Lake, right outside Udaipur, with nothing else in sight {minus a few army men who ran by}.

{Woman with the Anklet} 

We continued driving—I couldn’t tell you towards where—after Tiger Lake and met another lady. She carried grains on her head and wore these beautiful anklets that cried out to be clicked.

{Kataria Pariwar}

The Katara Pariwar – so welcoming! They live in a village ahead of Tiger Lake.

 {Katarias’ neighbor!}

 {Udaipur Morning with Birds}

And finally, we were back in Udaipur City, at the Lake Pichola, early in the morning.

 {The Artist}

As we decided to explore Udaipur’s interiors, we chanced upon ‘Artist number 25,’ somewhere in the hidden streets of the city.

 {The Frames}

These are the frames I should have bought for all the pictures from this trip, but couldn’t for fear of missing our train back to Delhi.

{The Door} 

A befitting shot to symbolize what was the end of a truly memorable journey – the locked door to our bedroom in Raas Leela.  Until, I knock on this door again.

About the Author | Kanika Bhatia hails from Mumbai, is now living alone in Delhi, and spent her formative years ensconced in the environs of Mussoorie, where she studied at Woodstock, preceded by the chaotic urban landscape of Tokyo, and most recently as a free spirited flower child learning the liberal arts in the bustling metropolis of NYC.  Her interests and views are about as multifarious as her cross cultural, liberal, and well travelled upbringing.  For a person who appears to have seen it all, yet craves to see much more, and never ceases to be fascinated by every little thing around her, Kanika is all these things in equal measure: a gypsy, an artist, a seeker, and a firm believer in love.

The post Faces and Spaces from The Lakeside appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

The term, ‘Suggestive Dichotomies’, signifies a division into mutually exclusive, contradictory ideas. Including mixed media by Kanchan Chander and fashion photography by Ridhima Sekhri, this show is inspired by the inner and outer experience of the subjects of the artist, and an eventual middle ground between the two forces.

The show is divided into 3 sections: ‘Vainglory: The Outer World’, ‘Rebirth: The Inner world’ and ‘Deconstruction: The Neutral Territory’.

{Rebirth | Ridhima Sekhri}

“We live our life in darkness; the light is always there for all of us but we are oblivious to it. We are in blindness and in absence; controlled, limited and contorted. We are in an illusion forgetting the reality, but when we look at it, the illusion starts to dishevel. This can be called the journey into our ‘Self’, the rebirth from the cocoon.” Ridhima Sekhri, for ‘Rebirth’. This series is a contemporary depiction of the transition from the world of maya or illusion caused due to materialism and façade to the “new reality of the self ”. It evolves from the depiction of the false impression of beauty to the struggle of coming out of the world of materialism to eventually attain inner recognition  

{Vainglory | Kanchan Chander}

Semblance isn’t always someone’s inner personality. Portraying the ‘outer world’ by embellishing prints of ‘embellished’ timeless women icons, Kanchan has tried to depict the façade put up by people to satisfy the needs of a situation. The ‘embellishments’ stand to show that this veneer can be different from what lies within the person. This section of the show, by Kanchan Chander, is called ‘Vainglory’

The result is an interesting combination of a Ridhima’s works, which are a result of intense scrutiny into her life portraying spirituality and inner recognition, and Kanchan’s works, where the embellishments on the prints make them look flamboyant and represent excessive vanity.

Between the two, lies a grey area, ‘Deconstruction’, which is a metamorphosis and integration of the two concepts to question the conformed ways of looking at something. This middle ground has the subject disconnected from his natural surroundings, to create an ambiguous, neutral zone. This section has four one-of-their-kind works created in collaboration by the two artists.

There is a beauty behind every contrast. A mystery behind the every extreme. A reason behind every disguise. And a challenging middle ground between all of these.

Sakhshi’s thought behind the show resonates with me in a way since I constantly find myself living in a kind of dichotomy; snapping out of my ‘inner peace’ moment and transcending into one that’s hectic, being subtle at one moment and being brash-loud-bling in the other. More often that not, I’ve found myself wondering if there is a middle ground. Which one of these is actually my real self and which one is the way it is because of the situations around me. Carrying forward the idea of a dualism, ‘Suggestive Dichotomies’ is using art and photography to throw light on this prism of thought.

What | ’Suggestive Dichotomies’- Curated by Sakhshi Mahajan

When | Saturday & Sunday, October 20 to 21, 2012

Where | A 10/6 Vasant Vihar, Delhi-57

*UPDATE* | The show has been extended till the 4th of November. Gallery timings are from 11 am to 7 pm

The post ‘Suggestive Dichotomies’ | An Art Exhibit appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

I have been quite fascinated with the surge of new Micro Four Third format cameras for a while now, so when a quick tweet to Olympus India resulted in them sending me a camera for review, it wasn’t something I was going to pass up!

For me, the interest in this format lies in not using it as my main camera for assignments, since I already have a full frame DSLR for that, but to use it as a everyday/walk-around camera.  Whereas it is more than capable of handling a wide range of professional work, I was interested in finding out where, how and if this camera fits in with my style of shooting. APS-C sensor cameras are shrinking in size and losing their mirrors, it remains to be seen if there really is a space for another format between a prosumer bridge camera and budget DSLRs.

Although this review is based around the Olympus OM-D E-M5, its a larger take on the format rather than just this particular camera.  For detailed camera specifications look here.

Camera Body and Ergonomics |

If you’re approaching the EM-5 after using a DSLR for a while, the first thing you’ll notice is the size. This is a tiny camera.

It’s a simple 3 dial setup. 2 dials on the right hand side of the camera to control shutter speed and aperture, and one dial on the left, to select between modes. Its easy to just flick a switch and start shooting. The buttons on the back of the camera are well placed and muscle memory kicks in soon enough. Making the direction buttons customizable is a nice touch and helps you navigate the deep menus better. I just wish the image review and delete buttons were larger. Some of the buttons do feel quite fiddly, but that didn’t bother me much. Didn’t quite need to use the buttons as much while shooting.

With prime/pancake lenses, the form factor feels comfortable, but the added battery grip might work better for those wanting to use telephoto lenses, or those with larger hands!

It’s small, light and easy to carry, but at the same time, if you like a little bit of weight when you’re shooting you might be slightly disappointed.  Its sturdy, rugged and well built but it’s deceivingly light!

The styling on both, the black as well as chrome bodies feels like it’s a bit of a tip of the hat to older film cameras and the square-y edges make it look a little bit like some rangefinders.  Sure, it doesn’t ooze vintage goodness like the Fuji Xpro-1 but hey, I’m not complaining.

Lens |

The kit lens is a12-50mm f/3.5-f/6.3.  I haven’t used a lens designed like this before.  There’s two ways to zoom – The regular way{M-Zoom}, by turning the lens ring to the right or left or something Olympus calls E-Zoom, , where you zoom with short turns of the ring to either side – There’s no need to fully turn the ring since releasing it and turning again zooms in/out further.  I don’t quite understand why they’ve put this there – just the traditional method works perfectly fine.  Pressing down the Macro button and pushing the ring forward puts the lens into a nifty macro mode.

This is a slow lens. A widest aperture of f/6.3 on the 50mm end is quite limiting. I ended up shooting on the wide end mostly and because of the stabilization options and high-iso capabilities of the camera, it is possible to get by even on the telephoto end of the lens.

Autofocus is snappy and accurate. It is perfectly comparable to a DSLR and just as responsive. And I must point out that this is rare for a camera of this form factor. Although, I’m not sure how the choice of lens will affect focus speed/accuracy or if it does affect it at all – So I can speak for the AF performance with this lens only.

Combine a fast AF with a responsive shutter {no lag} and a large RAW buffer and you’ve won half the battle already. That said, all in all I’d get the body only and drop this lens. There are some nifty lenses available for this mount. And for my style of shooting, I’d much prefer a prime lens.

Electronic Viewfinder |

This was actually the biggest surprise for me. Looking through the viewfinder and seeing a screen felt strange in the beginning, but its something you get used to very quickly. Since it’s a mirrorless camera, there is no other way for you to see what the lens sees!

Since its an electronic viewfinder, changing the exposure affects what you see before you even release the shutter. So as soon as you put the camera to your eye, you know if you’ve got the exposure right.  Its easy to tweak shutter/aperture without removing your eye from the viewfinder and see the result before even pressing the shutter. Now for some people this is very strange and they might never get used to it and I admit it look me a lot of time to get warmed up to the idea, but as I used it more, I realized that the chances of completely screwing up the exposure are very rare with an EVF. Focusing is also quite quick and accurate using the EVF and I had no trouble. That being said, the widest I could shoot is f/3.5, I don’t know how easy/hard it is to focus at f/2 and wider. I suggest using the OLED if you’re shooting in Macro mode, though {The OLED swivels out too, for low-level photographs and hard-to-compose angles}.

 Other information/guides inside the viewfinder can be turned off and if you’d like, you can review the image within the viewfinder as well – I didn’t go that far, however!

 I didn’t end up composing using the touch screen OLED, which is normal for a camera this size and somehow comes quite naturally, only because of the fantastic EVF.  There’s a cool auto-detection feature that automatically switches between the EVF and LCD depending on if the camera is held up to your eye or away from it.

Once you get over the fact that its digital, its actually perfectly usable and much much better than any other electronic viewfinder I’ve used.

To conclude the review, here are some shooting and usage notes |

• - Apart from 4:3, there are several other format choices, 1:1 being my favourite. Although it’s a cropped image, you retain the full 4:3 RAW file.  Also, if you’re used to 2:3, Four Thirds does take a bit to get used to.
• - When I’m shooting using manual focus, I zoom in to check if the focus is correct between multiple images. Just like in a DSLR, the Olympus allows you to zoom in and retain the zoom amount while switching through images, so that you don’t have to repeat the LCD zoom in procedure each time while checking focus.
• - The On/Off switch is far away from the shutter. You can’t switch the camera on and off while its in shooting position.
• - For a Micro Four Thirds camera even f/2.8 is not wide enough in terms of getting a shallow DOF.  Light wise, you’re fine. But if you’re looking for an uber-creamy bokeh, you’ll need faster lenses.
• - The fact that there is in-camera image stabilization is great. It works really well. There’s a slight, almost inaudible hum that’s constantly being emitted from the camera’s stabilization mechanism whether its active or not, this might pose a problem for those shooting video – For stills, this is fine apart from situations where you need to be very silent.
• - 9fps. This camera is very very fast and responsive.
• - Olympus f/1.8 lenses for this format are far more affordable, lighter and smaller as compared to equivalent lenses on other systems.
• - You can adjust curves in camera. I don’t think this is a very useful feature, but its fun for when you have the camera, but no computer and are curious to see how a particular image might look after some adjustments.
• - Art Filters include Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Cross Process, Gentle Sepia, Dramatic Tone, and Key Line.
• - Long exposure buffs will love this camera. The LCD shows you a preview of the exposure while the shutter stays open. No need to guess the exposure when holding down the shutter/remote in bulb mode.
• - The O-MD doesn’t have a built in flash, but an accessory flash can be hooked on to the hotshoe.
• - Weather sealing is very good. Didn’t face any issues shooting in mild rain.

The post {LBBD} Review | Olympus OM-D E-M5 appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

Now before anyone reaches for the phone to raise the authorities, allow me to clarify. I shoot planes with a camera.

Ok, that was a pretty awful pun. I’ll stop there.

I’ve been a huge military/aviation geek for as long as I can remember. As a child, I was the only oddball in the house who actually enjoyed waking up to the sweet strains of jet engines early on Saturday mornings. I got into photography in a big way two years ago {early 2010}, after purchasing a Canon EOS 50D and a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens practically on a whim. At the time, I was driven more by an obsessive need to document things around me than anything else.

A few months of trial-and-error ensued, until my cousin {who’d actually studied photography} stepped in and gave me some pointers. My photos went from casual snapshots to images with some modicum of artistic merit. I posted them on Flickr, where I received a few polite comments and {more importantly} some brutally critical opinions.

By that time, I had my first opportunity to seriously photograph airplanes, however, my skills behind the camera had improved only modestly. Full of enthusiasm, I attended my first air show in the summer of 2010, but it turned out that I was woefully under-prepared. It’s one thing to wander around a city and shoot static subjects –architecture, people and places– and quite another to get some halfway-decent shots of a tiny fighter doing nearly a thousand kilometres an hour! I did get a few keepers from that trip, but I vowed to attend more shows and get better pictures.

{US Navy Super Hornet, Santa Maria}

{North American T-28 Trojan, Santa Maria}

{CH-53 KC-130J Refuel, San Diego}

{Blue Angels Tight Diamond, San Diego} 

{F-22 Raptor Afterburner, San Diego}

By that time my backpack had expanded to include a battery grip for my camera {probably my favourite accessory – I never take it off} and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS telephoto zoom lens. I would later find out that the old adage of “it’s the photographer that makes the photograph” only holds partially true for aviation photography. Gear is vital. 

• - The first and most important thing is a long focal length {200mm and up} lens. Zoom lenses afford extra flexibility, but sometimes at the cost of image quality.
• - A reasonably fast {f/4 apertures or wider} lens. The more light the lens lets in, the easier it is to keep the shutter speed high and “freeze” motion.
• - The camera body is slightly less crucial but there are certain things that set a good body apart from the rest. The things to watch out for are the autofocus module, which will affect how quickly and accurately your subject will come into focus; the burst rate, or how quickly the camera can take a succession of shots; and the ergonomics, which is one of the most under-considered aspects of buying a camera. If you’re carrying a 5kg+ camera-lens combination at some windswept airfield trying to nail a shot of a speeding jet, it helps to have something that fits your hand and is easy to use.

The shots I got at my first few shows are what motivated me to be more focused when shooting. My biggest lessons were to be careful, attentive and quick. Above all, shooting planes got me off my lazy backside and prompted me to dive into the deep end of post-processing digital images; I was so in awe of the aircraft that I desperately wanted my pictures to do them justice.

From then on, I was regularly interrupting my photowalks around campus and the city to head to LAX to shoot commercial airliners. I made trips to more shows the following year and even found an excuse to travel to Seattle for a week to shoot at the Boeing production facility there. 

{Saab Formation, Sweden}

What you see above is where my love for taking pictures of planes has brought me. I went to Sweden at the end of May this year to attend a conference and air show commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the Swedish aircraft manufacturer, Saab AB. Saab has been making planes since the Second World War, and military jet aircraft since the 1940s. The “Historic Flight” – a formation of all the combat jets that Saab has ever manufactured was the biggest draw of the show, and I was determined not to mess anything up. This shot was taken at 105mm with a shutter speed of 1/800sec and an aperture of f/5.6, with the ISO set at 320. It was a gloomy, overcast morning, so my settings were not ideal. Had I been shooting into a clear sky on a sunny day, I would have shot at a faster shutter speed {I try to stay above 1/1000 seconds as much as possible} and a lower ISO. Most of the lenses I use do not benefit too much from stopping down the aperture, so I tend to keep the aperture value between f/5.6 and f/8.

In these shots, I exposed correctly for the aircraft, which left me with a bright white overexposed sky. I spent a few minutes with the file in Adobe Lightroom to make the aircraft stand out a little more and the sky a little darker, to more accurately evoke the overcast nature of the day. This picture quite clearly illustrates why I prefer zoom lenses over fixed ones. Had I been out that day with only a 300mm or 400mm lens for distant shots of aircraft in flight, I would never have been able to fit this large, low-flying formation of aircraft into one frame.

{Saab JAS39 Gripen 2, Sweden}

{Saab JAS39 Gripen, Sweden}

{Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, Sweden}

On returning to India, I’ve joined a research organization involved specifically in aviation and defence, and a lot of my work involves covering aerospace-related events. Aviation photography in India is a tiny field, and the legal aspects of photographing aircraft of any kind, be they civil or military, are daunting to say the least. That’s why one of the things I love most about my job is that it serves up regular opportunities to take pictures that elude most photographers {and aviation enthusiasts} in the subcontinent. So if you see a figure silhouetted against the evening sky on a rooftop in Delhi, pointing something at planes coming in to land, don’t be alarmed, it’s likely just someone like me, taking pictures of one of mankind’s coolest achievements.

{Embraer Legacy 650, Hyderabad}

{Dassault Falcon 7X, Hyderabad}

{Airbus, Delhi}

For more of Angad’s photography, have a look at his Flickr Page here | http://www.flickr.com/photos/angad84

About the Author | Angad Singh is a researcher and journalist based in New Delhi. He enjoys writing, photography and woodworking. He is also a dangerously addicted video-gamer. Not exactly an outdoorsy person, he does enjoy a game of golf now and again.

The post I Shoot Planes appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.

While she studied comparative literature at college and has no formal training in photography, over the years she’s honed her skills and today is a professional photographer. She started shooting in college with a DSLR, gifted to her by her father. Two years ago, she moved to New York City, drawn to it like many others, yet a little skeptical of what lay ahead. “It has a certain quality.”she says, not being able to put a finger on what exactly that endearing quality is. Though she usually relies on words to express herself, New York evoked a writers’ bloc of sorts. “I couldn’t authentically describe the sense of being there, and writing has largely had a distracting or distortive effect. I only began to get at it when I started shooting the City in Black and White film.”

New York City is possibly the most photographed city in the world and according to Devika, “Photographing a city that’s already been photographed so well, by many and for so long is an exercise in near total redundancy. I had no luck in the beginning while I was trying to produce pretty pictures. After a while, it became an excavation of sorts, searching for that unique sense of being in New York. Its sheer size, its detail, its architecture and its people.”

When asked about these photographs specifically, she says “Several rolls later, I still can’t tell what sort of narrative or feeling these photographs produce in other people. I derive satisfaction from them because they reproduce in me the peculiar sense of being there— which, to give words another shot, is something like nostalgia for an alternate universe, or a lucid dream about a more interesting reality, saturated with possibility.”

Which photographer’s work does she most admire? “I’m ashamed to admit I’m very poorly educated as far as famous photographers go, but, like many other young shutterbugs, I’m mesmerized by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Frank Capa. I look at a lot of photography, old and new, on facebook and photoblogs and in newspapers and magazines, and a vast array of it gets to me. I suppose I’m not very discriminating. Of what I’ve seen recently, Prabuddha Dasgupta’s personal work knocks my socks off.” 

We’d love to see Devika photograph Delhi!

Catch Devika’s work online at devikabakshi.com. 

The post Meet the Artist | Devika Bakshi appeared first on Little Black Book, Delhi.