The Beauty of Street Photography!

Street photography is an art almost as old as photography itself. With the advent of portable cameras, photographers began exploring and documenting the world around them, capturing unstaged moments, interpreting life and challenging the perceptions. But I find myself very timid when walking down a street taking pictures of absolute strangers. I start off hesitant clicking a picture here, another there. And soon you will find me clicking away to my heart's content, approaching and talking to strangers, the original misgivings forgotten. I still prefer being invisible; it gets amazing candid shots!

Busy public places are fantastic for street photography as its easier to be invisible in a crowd. In the words of Joel Meyerowitz, "There is something exciting about being in a crowd, in all that chance and change - it's tough out there - but if you can keep paying attention, something will reveal itself - just a split second - and then there's a crazy cockeyed picture."

Madivala market, just a stone's throw from my place, is an ideal location for street photography. Having someone like Pattu along definitely helps soothe the nerves. While shooting on the streets, I find him quietly confident, observing the scene with an open mind ready to capture whatever appears in the viewfinder. He can easily strike a conversation with absolute strangers, complimenting them and requesting permission to take their portrait.

Street photography is all about gestures and expression. Subjects and settings can vary greatly and spontaneity helps. The goal is to tell a story in a single frame, communicate an emotion. Henri Cartier-Bresson, considered the father of modern photojournalism, has opined "Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oops! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever." He termed this the decisive moment. Street photographers strive to capture the life and culture of city streets, searching for the decisive moment.

I normally prefer black and white for this genre as it helps remove any distractions of colour from the frame, allowing the viewer to be more drawn to the subject. The best thing about street photography is that it is possible for the final viewer to see more than the original photographer. There are lots of stories out there waiting to be told. And I am ready with my camera to have some fun!

Gudiya Sambhrama

With the aim of reviving the fading age old traditions and culture in contemporary society, the Heritage Trust conducts Gudiya Sambhrama, the Bangalore Temple Festival, across different temples in the city. Since its advent in 2010, this annual festival has emerged as one of the city's and probably South India's most innovative and energetic temple festivals.

The event organized across 22 heritage temples, a few of them thousands of years old, endeavors to reverberate the city with traditional dance, music, theatre, puppetry, story-telling and more with artists hailing from all over the country. Traditionally temples have not been limited to only religious activities; they had served as centers of communities for centuries, a platform for performing arts. Gudiya Sambhrama is an attempt to take the classical arts back to the temples and in the process reduce the ever growing chasm between today's generation and our rich culture.

I was lucky to catch the Odissi dance event organized at Sri Siddhivinayaka Devasthana in HSR Layout. All the dancers were from Sharmila Mukerjee's Sanjali Center for Odissi Dance institute in Bangalore. Sharmila Mukerjee, who learnt Odissi dance from the notable guru Kelu Charan Mahapatra, and her troupe kept the audience enthralled with their scintillating performances.

The event was special for me as Odissi dance originated from Odisha, my native state. Considered my many as the oldest surviving dance form of India, it is distinguished from other classical dance forms by the importance it places on the independent movement of head, chest and pelvis, the Tribhangi and the basic square stance known as Chouka which symbolizes Lord Jagannath. The dance is characterized by various stances, called Bhangas, which involve stamping of the foot and striking various postures as seen in Indian sculptures.

Golconda Fort - A Visit!

I was in Hyderabad last April for a friend's wedding. Being in Hyderabad, I couldn't forgo an opportunity of visiting Golconda Fort. My curiosity was piqued when I came to know many famous gems including the Kohinoor diamond were kept in the vaults of this fort. The head quarters of the Qutb Sahi dynasty, Golkonda fort is among the biggest and most famous fortresses of Southern India.

Easily one of the strongest forts of medieval India, it had three lines of powerful fortification walls with a deep trench surrounding the outer wall. The first line enclosed the town while the second, a double wall ran around the foot of the hill on which the citadel stood. The third line further up the wall is formed by connecting walls of masonry to natural boulders. The outer fortified wall, varying in thickness from 5m to 10m, has 8 gates - Fateh, Bahmani, Mecca, Patancheru, Banjara, Jamali, Naya Qula and Moti.

The outer wall is further strengthened by 87 large bastions present at short intervals. At various places, on the fortified wall, vents can be seen pointing downwards. Soldiers manning guns used to command the foot way immediately below. Teak doors covered with iron sheets and studded with sharp spikes protected the gates. Cannons were pointed at the gate entrance to deter invading enemy soldiers in case they managed to break the gates.

One of the most interesting aspects of Golconda Fort is the signalling system incorporated in its construction. The various edifices are so placed as to transmit sound to different far away points. If one claps standing at the centre of the entrance portal the sound is deflected by the opposite building which is constructed at an angle to the entrance. Similarly, sounds of hands clapped at the entry gate can be heard clearly at the hill top.