How the image took shape

We recently spent a lovely few days in Coorg where I fell in love with the iPhone camera all over again.  Somehow the freedom of the phone camera gets my creative juices flowing rather freely and images start to appear in the most unlikely places.

Anyway, after a morning spent at the elephant camp, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch.  It was quite dark in there which as you will see eventually worked to my advantage.

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My wife who by now is quite proud of her image spotting ability (trained by me of course!) took a close up image of a lamp that was hanging above our table and proceeded to show off about how cool she was.

I had to admit that there was potential and then took a similar image only not from so close.

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To me this image resembled a planet in dark space and that is when the idea struck.

I could try and line up the lights above all the tables in a way that they looked like planets.

And voila!

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Needless to say my wife loved this image but she was not very gracious in defeat🙂

Mumbai racecourse – hope they never ‘pave paradise to put up a parking lot!’

Spent an hour at the racecourse with the family and as usual decided to grab a few moments as we explored the magnificent green lung of our city.  The camera makes life so much more interesting – and the phone makes photography so much more convenient! Love the combination of my compact camera and phone…never miss a moment.

 

My new photobook is available to order!

With much excitement, I’d like to announce that my first self-published photo book, Fragments of a Spinning Rock, is available to order. The book is a culmination of almost ten years work, fiercely edited down to what I think is a coherent flow of images with an artistic bent.

The book contains 65 black and white images made across India and a fabulous little essay, by the talented Tara Sahgal, that ties the images together perfectly.

I am really happy with how the book has turned out and hopefully you will be inspired by what has truly been my labour of love.

You can read more about the book and place your order at http://kaushalp.biz/product/fragments-of-a-spinning-rock/.

It is a small price to pay for a large chunk of my life🙂

A few images of the book are shown below:

Traveling light to GOA (with just a Sony RX100 M3)

Spent 2 days in Goa with the family and so once again the scope of photography was limited.  But I have come to enjoy these limitations and try and stretch myself within them.  For starters I always end up carrying a small camera on these holidays (Sony RX100 m3).  And then I am always on the lookout for images within the resort and a small stretch of the beach.  Photographing within a demarcated area actually heightens your senses. One thing is for certain – types of cameras matter so little today because they are all so damn capable! From our phones to impressive compact cameras we can always have a camera with us so there is never an excuse to stop shooting.

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Mumbai looks impressive from up here

Heading straight for the Goan waters

The tiny camera holds up really well even at night

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Photographing Hong Kong

I recently spent a few days in Hong Kong and fell in love with the city for its energy and vibrancy.  And even more so for its photographic potential.  I was traveling with my wife and son and so image making happened by-the-way.  Pushing a stroller and keeping an eye on the wife who kept disappearing into every little shop was my priority. But carrying a tiny camera made photography a lot easier and a lot more fun.

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Hanging out around religion in Mumbai

Visited a church and the area around the tomb of a saint in Mumbai.  Again I enjoyed using my phone to capture moments in these situations where speed was not vital.  And of course the quality of phone images continues to impress. Having said that, while liberating, the phone is also quite limiting, and I still prefer a small point and shoot with a viewfinder that gives me a bit more control and makes composing easier with my ageing pair of eyes. 

B&W film development back to normal

Thanks to all the helpful comments in response to my last blog I managed to figure out a good temperature balance for developing my film to achieve decent grain:- Pushed Tri-x in xtol at 20 degrees. Remove the fixer, hypo clear and stop bath from the fridge and let them sit in a cool environment before starting the development process.  Mix one-third cold and two -third room temp water for the film wash.  This even resulted in less curled film.  Oh and also in the last batch for some reason I agitated very vigorously.  This time I did gentle agitations which i think also helps in nicer grain.

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