piquant - march 2015

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

So

ura

bh

Ga

te

Indulging into new life, black signifies the darkness of my past and white depicts the change into a new life .

EDITOR’S NOTE

Photography, if someone loves with all their heart and passion, can suck you in. It could make you its slave and keep you want-ing for more. It’s like that one girl-friend who always made you feel like you are not good enough. No matter how much you learn, you will always be made to feel like you have barely scratched the sur-face. There will always be something new to learn and if you feel you have learnt everything about photogra-phy, you are probably delusional!

Ts h u l t h r i m N . Wa n g d i

Sub - Editor

Photo Editor

Copywriter

Creative DirectorCreative Director

Sub - Editor

Nikhil Chivte

Ankur Karkar

Durgesh Kumar

The Team

Naveen KadamRajiv prabhu

Shwena keni

CHIEF EDITOR -

SUB - EDITORS -

PHOTO EDITOR -

CREATIVE DIRECTORS -

COPYWRITER -

T. N. WANGDI

NIKHIL,DURGESH

ANKUR

RAJIV,NAVEEN

SHWENA

PUBLISHER -

SUPPORTING FACULTY -

SUPPORTING STAFF -

EQUIPMENT TEAM -

BHARAT BHIRANGI

CHANDRAKANT KUMARMAYURESH MOGHESHILPA SUCHAKMADHUSUDAN TAWDE

APARNA PAWARSURESH GORADDIPAK PATIL

DILIP GHAGSHIRISH ZINGADESAMBHAJI MOHITE

SPECIAL THANKS TO

RAJAN CHAUGhULEAND

SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY, BHARATI VIDYAPEETH - puNE

DIRECTOR

Editor’s Choice

Street Artist- Banksy

Jimmychin - Photographer

Climber –Alex honnold

One of the most elusive street artists till date no one knows what this man looks like in the age of such huge social media. His work mostly is a very satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with spray paint.

A Natgeo photographer. A professional climber, mountaineer, skier and a director. Jimmy chin is one of the biggest names at the moment for adventure photography. He has climbed numerous mountains climbed a lot of rocks, and amazingly has also skied the south face of Mount Everest. His introduction to photog-raphy was completely by chance. When a friend of his was shooting he took one shot from his friend’s camera and when his friend went to sell his images the buyer just took one image and that was jimmy chins. And so this is how the Natgeo photographer was born.

Worlds best free soloist (a rock climber who climbs without any ropes) a really young calm com-posed guy. Who lives in his van right outside Yosem-ite valley just to pursue his love for climbing. The most seen landscape photo by Ansel Adams of the half dome in Yosemite valley which people take 2 to 3 days to climb, Alex does it in a mere 3 hours. Its just amazing how this guy works and is so calm climbing a vertical wall which is thousands of feet high.

1. Your work looks pretty easy. How come you make a living from it?Read: I bet your parents give you pocket money, you douchebag!Answer: I sometimes wonder about this, too. I work two hours a week and ride a Jaguar. Funny thing, eh? 2. Why don’t you invite girls to a shoot to make a move on them?Read: As silly as it is, the question is usually direct.Answer: I do, but they always run away and call the police.

3. Why don’t you watermark your photos?Read: Unlike you, I always watermark my photos, because they, unlike yours, cost a fortune!Answer: No need to worry, no one wants my crap even for free.

4. Can you add some makeup in Photoshop and make me thinner?Read: Maybe I should finally start eating less and…ah, screw it. It’s not my problem anyway.Answer: Sure, I will also make your face look like you’re as smart as having read 50 books last year.

5. Why don’t you have a BIG lens?Read: I strongly doubt that you’re a pro.Answer: I actually had one, but the FBI confiscated it because I was making headshots of Martians.

6. What are the correct settings for night shooting?Read: Don’t give me all that exposure theory nonsense. Just tell which button I should press.Answer: Just use the settings for daylight, only with a minus. 7. How many megapixels does you camera have?Read: Is your camera modern and expensive?Answer: You know, what matters more is the size of the matrix, not the megapixels because…ah, whatever! It has 1 trillion megapixels.

8. How do I zoom in on your camera?Read: Stupid, big camera!! :(Answer: With your legs, it is a prime lens.

9. Why do you tell me to turn off the flash? This landscape is totally dark!Read: You must be really, really stupid to tell me to turn off the flash at night!Answer: Just turn it off–it will scare the Yeti!

10. I am starting to pursue nude photography. What would you recommend?Read: Yep, I am that sophisticated.Answer: Exposed nipples make a photo a work of art automatically. There’s nothing to master anymore.

TROLL PAGE

Source - www.photodoto.com

Book Review

This is by far the most unique book that I have ever read. The artist Mihir srivastava draws nude freely in the art form. The title of the book “Conversations in the nude” is a reflection of what goes on in his mind when he

Conversations in the nude- Mihir Srivastava

draws nudes. As an artist he encounters very unique personalities ranging from a wrestler to a technology enthusiast. This book has the power to make the reader quit reading after the first few chap-ters or make him or her think deeper than any other book can do. Sketching is an integral part of the book, which is so uniquely rep-resented that it visually fights a battle to win against the text. This book is unlike the usual books having titles such as “train our mind to see world differently” and so on. If the reader has a touch of emotion he or she will get trained., The author will take you to an unknown place as your guide; exploring a world never explored in a way that he has.

“Sketching is just an excuse to open the book. It`s a form of reading I find meaningful, that I enjoy”, says Mihir and I too agree with it. The book contains beautiful nude illustration so that the au-thor doesn’t need to stretch that effort in his writing. As a photog-rapher the book contradicted to my beliefs; the text made me visu-alize more stunning Images over the sketches were doing. Overall I recommend this book for those who have patience to think and want to see things in a very different perspective of emotions. Mihir will train your mind without using the word training.

Reviewed by Durgesh Kumar

Photographer: Athul Krishnan

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

Ya

dnye

sh J

osh

i

Photographer: Yeri Yash sanjeev

Photographer: Durgesh Kumar

Photographer: Sudhanshu Singh

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: D

urg

esh

Ku

ma

rK

iran

Ch

au

dh

ari

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: D

urg

esh

Ku

ma

r

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: Ya

dnye

sh J

osh

i

Photographer: Kavan Chaudhari

Photographer: Nikhil Chivte

1. What are you doing at the very moment,After you have graduated from bvsp?

Learning. Photography is so wide and deep that everyday I have something new to learn. After BVSP, I am still exploring new stuff, trying to get better, understanding the commercial aspects.

2. How is what you are doing right now differ-ent from what you were doing in college?

Aesthetics, technicalities and basics will always act as a strong foundation. What’s new outside college is the commerce involved.. managing clients, making contacts, updating knowledge about whats new, in trend.

3. What does your image represent for you personally. We Also see your images are very low key. Why that choice?

It is a reflection of me, my taste, and personal-ity. It comes from movies that I watch, stories that I read. Every thing that I observe. Talking about darkness, I find it very mysterious. I like to keep certain elements hidden in the frame.

4. Exactly what is it you want to say through your images? And how do you get your photos to do that?

It depends on what the concept demands.

5. Any few words for the college you would like to share.

I owe who I am as a photographer to every member of BVSP family for their unconditional support. There was a time when I packed my bags and left photography. I will always hold special respect for Bharat sir who pulled me back and made me realize my dream.

Namita HasijaPhotographerBatch - 2013

- Interview by Tshulthrim Wangdi

Photographer: Namita Hasija

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

Ya

dnye

sh J

osh

i

Photographer: Athul Krishnan

Photographer: Sourabh Gate

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

Tsh

ult

hri

m .N

. Wa

ng

di

Photographer: Naveen Kadam

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: K

ava

n C

ha

ud

ha

ri

Company School painting was a style of painting that developed in India during the

British Empire in India. When the fascination of the British who were visiting or living in India

during the regime crossed ways with the traditional Indian practice of miniature painting, it

gave rise to a hybrid style of painting, which was influenced as much by the British approach

to the landscape painting during the 18th century as by the historical Indian tradition of min-

iature painting. The school received its strange name from the British East India Company.

The patrons of these paintings were mostly British people who were employees of the British

East India Company also know widely as the ‘the company’. As the patrons working for “the

company” often commissioned the paintings from local Indian artists, the school got the

name of Company School. The company school was highly popular from the late 18th century

till after the mid 19th century, before it went on a decline with the advent of photography in

India. The company style paintings were characterized by the use of watercolor, a distinctly

European color palette and by the appearance of linear perspective and shading. This style

simultaneously arose in different cities and was influenced by the earlier local traditions in

those places.

Company School of Painting

Bibliography1. G.H.R. Tillotson, The Indian Picturesque: Images of India in British Landscape Painting, The Raj: India and the British, ed. C.A. Bayly, Na-tional Portrait Gallery Publication, 142-1512. Geoff Quilley, William Hodges, Greenwich: National Maritime Museum, 2004 3. Mildred Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London 1972.4. Mildred Archer and Graham Parlett, Company Paintings: India Paintings of the British Period, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, in association with Mapin Publishing, 1992.5. Mildred Archer, Early Views of India: The Picturesque Journeys of Thomas and William Daniell, 1786-1794: the Complete Aquatints, Lon-don: Thames and Hudson, 1980.6. Mildred Archer, Natural History Drawings in the India Office Library, London 1972. 7. Richard H. Davies, Lives of Indian Images, Princeton, 19978. Robert L. Hardgrave, Portrait of the Hindus: Balthazar Solvyns and The European Image of India, 1760-1824, Oxford University Press, London, 2004

Company school was directly a derivation

of the miniature tradition of painting, which exist-

ed in India more than 200 years before the com-

pany style came in to existence. The Indian art-

ists worked within a patronage system of courtly

schools and ateliers and on most occasions the

paintings were not done for those outside of the

court. The Indian court painting was divided into

four major traditions defined by religion, polity

and geography. The Mughal tradition centered

around Delhi, the Deccani tradition on the central

plateau, the Rajput tradition in the plains of Rajasthan and the hills of Punjab. With the spread

of the Mughal Empire during the 16th century the other court traditions merged in to the Mu-

ghal tradition.

Article submitted by: Mayuresh Moghe Sr. Faculty

Photographer: Tshulthrim .N. Wangdi

Photographer: Durgesh Kumar

1. What i noticed was i saw you did your graduation from SRCC and also you are a C.A. this huge radical change in profession how did you decided after all the degrees you got to move over to photography? I changed for two reasons. First CA was a challenge that I wanted to be capable of meeting as I was good in school and college. It was a challenge that I wished to accomplish. Second, my late father was an ace photographer with two studios. I took charge of Kinsey Bros in 1971. I have been taking pictures since 1954, as a child of ten since I saw this profession very, very closely.

2. Your photos seem to be very pure, clean and eliminates post processing. What do you feel about the new age of such high amount of photo manipula-tion on landscapes? You are right, I take simple pictures and do hardly any photoshop, though I understand it better than many. Being a purist I believe that a picture should be as the photographer saw it. No false manipulations for me. Also I dislike manipu-lated images, which is so apparent in millions of shots. I just take what Almighty gives, keeping my interference to zero. Being an ardent fan of Ansel Adams, this came naturally to me that truth, beauty and goodness lie in simplicity.

3. What motivates you to continue taking pictures economically , politically , intellectually or emotionally? Good question. As somebody said, your first 10,000 images are the worst. Landscape looks overwhelming because we see it in three dimensions and utter disappointment comes when we see it in just two! Depth goes away, which is what excites us the most. It has taken me over forty years to make out if the image would be good or not. I too took all kinds of images thinking they would be liked but I got lots of disappointments. Good judgement comes from expe-rience and experience comes from bad judgement! One has to keep on honing skill, there being no limit to it. Now I take extremely few shots, knowing well that this is not it!

4. What is it that you look for in a landscape image how do you decide what looks good and what does not, because at time the landscape tends to over whelm the photographer? Frankly I have no answer to this question! Solitude, ever changing light and new compositions keep coming to me all the time which I love about Himala-

- Ashok DilwaliTHE MASTER CLASS

Interview of the landscape Master Mr. Ashok Dilwali.He has pub-lished 23 books in a span of 32 years of his work which shows the volume of work he has done. He has done extensive trekking in the Himalayas i feel he knows more about Sikkim then i know my own state. When i spoke to him for the first time he was in Goa, he spoke very gently and was very kind and promised to do the interview, and also sent us his latest body of work that he did in Goa.I am in awe of his work and the way he sees landscape.

He was kind enough to take some time off his busy schedule to answer these few questions. We are honored to have him in the first issue of the Piquant.

yas. Once you fall in love, there can be no second love. It could be see or even desert;everyone has the choice of his own poison! Mine is Himalayas.

5. The Himalayas seem to be your second home what magic does it have that it beckons you every time? and So for the students or generally anyone what would you tell them if they want to walk towards a career in landscape photog-raphy any knowledge you would want to share? Landscapes, as Ansel Adams has said remarkably well is the most reward-ing as well as the most frustrating field in photography. It is 1 % inspiration and 99% perspiration. I know it better than many. After completion of every trek in the evening I used to drive all night and reach home at 5am or 6 am, depending from where I started. This I did for 25 years and trekked like a mad man. Un-fortunately landscape photography is not a paying proposition in our country. There is much job satisfaction, not enough to run the kitchen in style. Name one landscape photographer in this country who can make two ends meet with this subject! What pays is silly weddings and fashion. This is the ground reality. I could fill up my dreams because I had a good studio to back up my crazy de-sires. I would suggest that if possible one should keep it as a hobby only. Times are very tough and there is no appreciation turning into cash in this work.

6. Why is it that you do not want to publicize your work like the other photog-raphers do? Does it help you concentrate on your work more? I dislike publicity, reason being that when I was trained as a CA in Bombay, self promotion, canvassing etc were bad words in that profession. I got wedded to this and hate self promotion, beating ones drums etc. Besides taking you away from your “SADHNA”, it pushes you into wrong by lanes of chasing fame. I do not go with that. I love what I am doing. One writer has put it so well “Sing your song like a bird, not caring who is listening!”I would be much like that bird, shoot to please your self.

- Interview by Tshulthrim Wangdi

Photographer: Ashok Dilwali

N a r r at i v e

“My purpose is to make my narrative as truthful as possible” – George Armstrong Custer.

Narrative art is like story telling. Nar-rative uses the power of visuals to ignite or illuminate imaginations, evoke emo-tions. That is why it gets distinguished from other genre of art. It is self-explan-atory and draws reference from events from daily life, current affairs, text, well known folk tale or myth.

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

Bri

jesh

Ch

ira

nje

evi

Team Members:Ankur KarkarSourabh GateYayati HajareNikhil ChivteSavni Chaughule

After ages there was a time when the widowed women of vrundavan were allowed to play holi. We just tried to create a moment of what could have been on that day.

Kaafal pako-fight for highest state human can attain “nirvana”.

Team Members:Durgesh KumarSourabh GateGautam DuaKiran Chaudhari

With these simple objects the cobbler manages to earn a living for the family and was also successful to make his son an engineer, who is interning with a big company at this very moment.

Team Members:Tshulthrim .N. WangdiNaveen Kadam

Team Members:Kirthi KumarSulove KhaitanDeepi Das

TITLE: Hooked much.Our concept behind the image is “Addiction to Alcohol” which often results in death. We showed a Hook inside the bottle approaching the man’s throat while he is drinking, symbolizing “Addiction to Alcohol”. Once hooked, consumption becomes compulsive and uncontrolled. This effects negatively on a man’s health, personal relationships and social life.

Team Members:Brijesh ChiranjiviTshulthrim N. WangdiAthul KrishnanTanisha Chaube

MIDAS TOUCH

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: A

thul K

rishn

an

Photographer: Vira j Korgaonkar

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: K

ava

n C

ha

ud

ha

ri

Photographer: Kirthi Kumar

Photographer: Naveen Kadam

Photographer: Brijesh Chiranjeevi

Photographer: Kunal Gawas

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: K

iran

Ch

au

dh

ari

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er: K

irthi K

um

ar

Ph

oto

gra

ph

er:

Ga

uta

m D

ua

Photographer: Ankur Karkar

Photographer: Brijesh Chiranjeevi

Photographer: Shubhangi Kumbhar

-A Series by Yadnyesh JoshiIn the Hunt for GEOMETRY

Minimalism has been in photogra-phy for a very long time now, and it con-sists of composing the concept with the basic elements of design like, shapes, forms, lines, texture, colour etc It has a very simplistic approach, in-spired from the works of Andre Kertesz, Uta Barth, Michael Kenna, my ongoing series is on the same approach, it is ex-citing to see things in a very different way. It becomes a very good visual ex-ercise while wandering on the streets looking at the buildings and colours in the markets, how light defines the the shape , forms, texture of different things and how shadows compliment it . Minimalist form of photography excite me a lot, and challenges me to push my boundaries in every aspect of my work.

Manish Mamtani is an avid nature photographer who has travelled widely across exotic destinations in the United States. He focuses on landscapes that reflect the beauty of America’s majestic national parks. Born and brought up in Nag-pur, India, he came to the U.S. to work as an IT/finance consul-tant where he discovered his love for photography. He travels during the weekends to the national parks and takes pictures.

Landscape PhotographerManish Mamtani

His work includes landscapes, night/astro and infrared and has been published in various magazines and books including National Geographic, Better Photog-raphy, Vanity Fair, Digital Photo and Arches National Park Newspaper. His work has been featured on various social media pages including National Geograph-ic, Whosay, the Department of the Interior, EarthSky, Space.com, Milky way sci-entists and International Dark Sky Association.

His work can be seen atwww.manishmamtani.comhttps://www.facebook.com/ManishMamtaniPhotography

Manish Says –

I do Landscapes and Astro Landscapes for my love of Nature and infrared is something that brings out the artistic side in me. I take Landscape and Astro Landscape pictures to show how beautiful the Nature is and Infrared photos to show how I imagine this world to be.

Photographer: Manish Mamtani

Photographer: Tanisha Chaube

Photographer: Sudhanshu Singh

Such lights being used to protrude shapes and curves of the human face. Also I tried to portray “Discipline” in this image by using extremely controlled light

Photographer: Durgesh KumarI do not cluster my head with the thoughts. I persue and make productive use of them so new thoughts can take their place.


There are moments when its good to be lost, only to find yourself again.

Photographer: Nikhil Chivte

I am perceived as a person who always surrounds himselfby the things I love to do and my eyes tell my story.

Hungarian-born André Kertész had been living in Paris for less than a year when he visited the studio of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. Mondrian’s Eyeglasses and Pipe is one of a group of beautiful still lifes that the photographer took that day. Within the austere clar-ity of these simple geometric forms-common manufactured items that Mondrian used dai-ly-Kertész captured the essence of this master of abstraction, both his aspirations to order and his slight and human divergences from it. The insistent angularity of the stark white table is offset by the sculptural curves of the glasses, bowl, and pipe, curves that were rigorously excluded from Mondrian’s art. Throughout Kertész’s long career, he sought the revelation of the found still life, of an abstract or resonating image discovered in an elliptical view. His sig-nature practice of snaring and fixing these lyrical perceptions was facilitated by his later use of light, portable handheld cameras that enabled him to remain mobile and agile even when making still lifes. Kertész’s work significantly influenced that of his contemporaries Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Source - Entry, Essential Guide, 2009, p. 277.http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/50157

- André KertészSTORY BEHIND THE IMAGE

piquant - march 2015

Documents