December 2006, Neuschwanstein.

December 2006, Salzburg.

February 2005, Hyderabad.

An art installation at the State Art Gallery by an artist whose name I cannot recall. The gallery had been recently opened then and is housed in a building made up of assorted design elements. It was as if the architect was trying to put in everything he had learnt in architecture school. But the whole experience was rather interesting from a photographic p.o.v. The outdoor gallery cafe has an amazing view, perfect for having a cup of coffee in the evening and watch the sunset. The gallery mostly exhibits modern art but ironically it does not even seem to have a presence on the net! In addition, although the gallery was built at great expense, like most government galleries/museums in India it was languishing in a state of semi-obscurity. When I visited it with a friend, I think we were the only two visitors in the whole building! There was not even any basic security for some of the art installations and paintings. I hope the situation has changed now and more people in Hyderabad know about its existence. I also hope they take better care of whatever art they put on display there as it is a nice place to check out the results of the contemporary art scene in India.

July 2006, Wurzburg.

This photo is my way of spoofing all the cheesy, campy, melodramatic and kitschy moments that most mainstream Telugu, Hindi (Bollywood) as well as other regional language films of India have made (in) famous. My thanks to everyone in the shot for quickly and graciously agreeing to pose in this ‘special’ manner. The next round of drinks is on me!

Hyderabad 2002.

Another one from the University of Hyderabad. This is actually a Neolithic burial site of a tribal chief. Apparently, the surrounding area has been settled since the Stone Age by various tribes. The top of the standing stone is roughly sculpted in the shape of a snake’s head as befitting a tribal chief’s burial site in that age. The site is a protected architectural dig although, as far as I know, very few people in the university even knew about its existence.

That is one reason I love the campus so much. There are all these little surprises tucked away in various corners. All you need to do is wander around through the vast campus. There are plenty of wonderful things to discover. Sadly though, most of the campus is being turned over for ‘development’ and the pristine greenery and interesting rock formations are being destroyed slowly.

Berlin 2006.

Hyderabad 2002.

This is a really old photo, circa summer of 2002 if I remember correctly. If I’m not wrong it is from perhaps the first roll of film I used on my then recently acquired, Zenit XP, my first ever film SLR. The Zenit is an old Soviet era workhorse apparently based on the Zorki rangefinder camera series, which itself was a copy of Leica. I got it from the grey market in Cochin through friends for what was a sizable amount of money for me as a student back then. It came with a nice bag and a Mir-1B 37mm/2.8 M42 screw mount lens attached (apparently this lens is something of a marvel). Of course, all this information I didn’t know then. Lacking a manual I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was only today that I realized (after doing some research online) that this camera has TTL metering but since I didn’t know this then I used this camera without batteries and therefore with no metering whatsoever! Except for the loading of the film, setting aperture and shutter speed and focussing, everything else was pure guesswork! Even then, somehow, I managed to get a few photos that I still like. So you will see a few more photos from this camera over the next few days. Now that I know a little more about this camera I think I’ll put some b/w film in it and start shooting with it once more.

Today’s photo was shot in my old alma mater, University of Hyderabad, which has a huge and very beautiful campus. Most of the campus is wilderness and has some amazing rock formations. Once I return to India I intend to go back there, camp there for a few days and shoot these unique rock formations to my heart’s content!

Berlin, January 2007.

Edinburgh 2007.

Vienna 2006.

For a long time I thought I had lost the negatives containing this photo but to my joy found them on a roll I had given for developing. The man on the right is from the Philippines and has lived in Vienna for the past 11 years. We got talking when I went to take a walk along the Danube while visiting Vienna while he had come there to while away the evening by listening to some music on his boom box. As our small talk began to end I surprised myself by asking him if he would let me take his photo. And I won’t foget his reaction. His face lit up with a big smile and he actually called his son (the guy on the left) to join him in the photo! I was somehow touched by his gesture. I wish there was some way of sending a print of this photo to him. I’m sure his face would brighten up in a similar fashion as before.