The GREAT MINDS' Production's Blog!!*

Sweet Home, Chicago!

2008-08-06T19:17:00.001-07:00

Tour Guide Portraits...and more.

2008-07-15T11:03:00.001-07:00

This is the place where I work. I love this place. Going there is always so much fun especially because the people are fun and friendly, I tried to capture everyone at their best however some were shy and you can see the shyness in the pictures as well!

This is for all my Tour Guide friends, you'll are awesome! :)

Buy some cheap goods designed by me!

2008-07-14T18:17:00.001-07:00

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

"Abstracts" by Parita and Me

2008-07-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

After a really long day in college when Parita and I were talking about the the camera and it's functions I told her about the shutter priority mode and that's it. We experimented and loads of fun taking these abstract pictures.

Most of these pictures are taken by Parita herself.

Alive

2008-06-18T06:24:00.001-07:00

My new project is "Alive" (working title) is about life after a certain incident. This is not only about New York but about the world. New York is not the only place where something terrible happened. I guess, the reason why this incident is so "famous" is because it happened in New York City and all the focus has been shifted to America since then, the rest are forgotten.

Alive shows what is happening after the incident. In the same exact spot.

When I went there, I wasn't intrigued by the site itself, however, I did photograph that to a certain extent but gradually I started getting inclined towards the people around the site and the city in general. Everyone has been showing the disaster with stock footage of the crash, the screams, NEWS, etc. What about the people? What happened to them?

I thought of taking a slightly positive stand, I tried to capture the people just like they are, I haven't edited too much, I haven't spent too much time on trying to frame the images or setting them up I just went with the flow and tried to keep things as natural as possible. And you will see that people are happy doing what they want to, they are trying to move on, and carry on with life.

It is not something that can be easily forgotten but if we keep thinking of it we cannot progress, this is a professional advise from a country that has been prone to many disasters yet have been able to "get back in action." I am not saying ignore the event all I am saying is this event has probably made so many of us aware of the importance of life and interaction. The incidence cannot deter the spirit of New York one must proudly stand and say "I Love NY"

That's what I am trying to show. The people and their resilience, pride and love for New York.

Grand Central

2008-06-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

2008-06-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Holga effect without a Holga lens. I just slightly moved the camera as soon as I clicked with a fairly slow shutter speed.

There was something going on and I don't know what. I could have waited and taken a picture which would explain everything well but instead I tried to hide behind these cops. Since I literally "framed" the man in the middle of the cop and the trash can (which by the way reads, "Keep NYC clean") it makes the guy look like he has been trapped and everyone around him is trying to get a sneak peak of what's going on.

I am not against graffiti but when it is misused, like over here I get upset. I don't think it is fair to spoil such a historic architecture.

This picture of the ashtray is New York for me and I don't think I need to further explain this.

From Chelsea Pier to the Apple Store.

2008-06-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

These are just a few images I took when I went out exploring New York during some weekend. Most are around Chelsea Pier next to the galleries while a few are those of the apple store.

This little band was hanging from a small tree. I read what was written on it and took the photographer's liberty and tried to show just one part of the band. I purposely chose a low angle because now it gives a whole new dimension and meaning to the photograph.

I was trying to get the couple together but I was lucky as the man turned his head as soon as I clicked, the motion of his face and the blurred foreground shows that the subject is just in her own world, thinking of something or a lot of things!

This text caught my attention because, Chelsea is an area with many art galleries. It is truely an art district and then I read this "What is art?" written outside one of the galleries. The reason why I framed it this way is because the answer for the question is right in the background. Graffiti, cars and buildings. All are art but they are blurred (or unclear) because people don't understand it and try to take it lightly and consider it as something that is not important by asking such questions!

The person who wrote this doesn't know that what he has written is an art work in itself.

One of my favourite techniques in film making is the "Vertigo" or "zolley" or "contra zoom" shot. These are different names for the same shot.

In this shot, the DP dollies the camera forward and zooms out simultaneously or vice-a-versa. This gives a "vertigo" effect. The reason why some people call it vertigo is because Alfred Hitchcock used it for the first time in his film, "Vertigo." This technique basically keeps the subject in the middle and depending on what opposing action you choose, the background either gets bigger or smaller. The subject still stays in the same place. I tried to do the same with my digital SLR and it worked!

Here you will see that the centre portion is still while the sides seem to be having a motion.

Macro, YO!

2008-06-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

When I went to Central Park I wasn't interested in taking pictures of people and I didn't really find anything else that was attractive, therefore I decided to photograph some flowers and grass and in a way I tried to move away from the New York theme and tried to swap subjects .

The gold at the back are buildings.
The gold spot here is a building as well, but I tried to make it look like a sun, just to give importance to nature by making it bigger than anything man made, like the building.

Harlem - A new (York) Experience

2008-06-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Harlem was the next stop. My perception of Harlem was like that in the movies. Dark, dirty, crazy and very unlike New York or the rest of America. A certain section dominates this part of New York, this literally segregates the city into, yet another half. On my way to Harlem I knew what I was getting into. I was really excited to explore this rustic location of NY. When I reached there, I realized that finding colours in Harlem is not that easy. You need to look at the smaller things to find colour. Everything is hidden. People are pretty rude and secretive, they seem to be very united even if they are not related to each other. Therefore, it was a conscious decision to change certain images to black and white. You will notice that most black and white images are that of people or where there is a presence of a human being and for the rest the images are slightly underexposed.

The most colourful place in Harlem!

This picture summarizes Harlem as how I see it with relation to what I have experienced. The main fence is like Harlem and the smaller pointy arrows are like the people in Harlem. United, and just coming towards you, pointing straight at you, attaching you. Dark, rusty and sharp.

Just like the image below this one goes with the same theme. You see people doing something and you can't exactly tell what it is. In Harlem you never ever know what you are around. Things might seem normal but when you actually look around nothing seems clear. It is completely different from the rest of the city. The contrast is shown in this picture through the contrasting backgrounds in relation to the people standing in front as well as each other.

Harlem is a place where people are very secretive and you feel suspicious about whatever they do. You see two people, they seem to be doing the same thing but you don't know what. You don't see what they are doing, you can't read their mind, their heads are covered in a dark shadow and a Shrek poster on the booth says, "Be a Player."

A Story

2008-06-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures that I took at Little Italy. I was at an Italian Restaurant eating when I saw this man next to our table. He couldn't communicate properly, he was eating alone and when I took his picture suddenly, he responded in a very friendly way. It is clear that he was a tourist but in my series you don't get too see him closely, you see what is around him and what he sees. This might help you feel what he is feeling and what he is looking at. I've just arranged these pictures in a certain order but the story can be anything. I would like all of you to come up with something and I would like to see how well does the person's emotions translate through these pictures.

China, an Independent Town

2008-06-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

China Town and the people in action, with the common objects the people are holding one can tell where they are all heading.

The shadows of these two objects makes the woman's shadow seem like an object as well. In a very subtle way there is a challenge between the living being and inanimate objects, it kind of brings them in the same plane and makes them seem interdependent.

People call China Town a photographer's paradise, I was a little upset when I went there because I didn't find too many interesting things to photograph. Maybe, I was expected to photograph people but since I don't look for the obvious so my China Town pictures might be a disappointment for some.

On my way to China Town the train behind bars looked very interesting to me. There is not enough space just like what we experience in the trains daily, we forget that the trains are going through the same thing. Every day.

Exploring Union Square

2008-06-02T19:34:00.001-07:00

These two looked like animals or just human beings helping each other. The "posture" is exactly like that of a living being's.
Pixar can start brainstorming for their new film :P

When I saw these NEWS boxes I really liked the colours but I was really amazed by the fact that all of them are together, I feel if its necessary to have so many at one place. Probably all contain the same news. The ways these are placed it also shoes competition between them. This is so NYC the buildings in Manhattan are mainly offices and headquarters competing with each other every time.

I wanted to take a picture of the empty telephone both and this bus came behind it. Both, the bus as well as the booth have the colours yellow and black therefore I zoomed out completely to notice the illusion in the image. The matching colours and the subject placement makes this an interestingly humorous picture.

Even without seeing the whole tree just by looking at the shadow and relating it to the trunk we know the shadow belong to the tree. Sometimes without giving too much information, subtle revelation can leave a strong impact.

I was trying to get the texture of the clouds and the buildings that lead towards it. The slow shutter speed made this picture slightly blur. This mistake works very well as it makes the image look dreamy and surreal.

This is NYC at it's best. It reminds me of Spiderman every-time I see see it. The people at the bottom contribute to a certain section of the society while the building on the side another and the Chrysler right at the end represents a section of the society that is completely different from the other two. While taking this picture I tried to keep the foreground slightly underexposed while the back exposed enough to see the form of the Chrysler building.

I saw these kids having a good time skating and playing I immediately changed my shutter speed to capture New Yorker's in action. The line of buildings and the beautiful sky ads some softness to this hardcore sport.

The vast and empty space was intriguing and I have to take this picture by opening up the aperture completely and using a wide angle lense so that the edges blur making these row of benches seems endless.

A form of life that was posing for me, I couldn't stop myself from capturing this very private moment.

How often does one get to see an empty space like this in NYC. What interested me the most was how the lights were placed and the curve that leads the eye to the Union Square station and eventually showing us a few people filling the frame.

One of my favourite pictures. I call it "Crowd." Union Square obviously represents NYC in this picture. The plants that frame the station in my picture are metaphors for people. Plants are the perfect substitute as they have life just like us humans. The flowers also represent the softer side of people here. It is from personal experience, I haven't met any rude people yet and the flowers fit this environment.

I was sure that the Squirrel would run away, therefore I took this picture with a slow shutter speed and as a result the motion of the squirrel ads a third dimension to the picture making the movement look real. Had I used a tripod the rest of the image wouldn't have been as blurred.

The first picture I took at Union Square was that of this statue. I was still a tourist, but the transformation began as I tried to look at the less obvious.

First Impressions

2008-06-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

An overflowing trash can in one of the world's largest city and a cycle that cannot do anything about it. Welcome to New York City.

This is the very first picture I took in NYC. When I arrived I was shocked to see how populated the city was but this one station was empty at early evening. I immidiately took this picture and was interested in showing the equally placed pillars that divide the tracks. These pillars fill in for the missing people.

This picture was taken at Toys "R" Us. Inside this toy store I observed that every one behaved like a kid therefore, this ferris wheel shows the speed of NYC and how in order to achieve goals people in NYC become kids as they try to move fast in life.

Union Square at night. When people photographed the crowd, the lights, etc I found beauty in this shadow on the corner of a building. I used the trees as a frame within my frame to represent the shadows as the sun's rays amongst something that is man made.

Clicking with New York

2008-06-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Being an outsider one always has high expectations from a place like New York City. Fortunately, as soon as I landed in NYC I was shocked to see how crowded and dirty the city was. I used "fortunately" because, it feels great to know that my country is not the only country that has a reputation of being dirty, messy or crowded. This instantly gave me the idea of showing a different side of the city. These pictures are targeted to all outsiders, people who have a certain perception of New York. This is not a very fascinating fact for those living in this city. Therefore, in order to balance this out I have tried to project my ideas in a metaphoric way. There is no point explaining things to a viewer. To me art, works better if it is interactive and it is always fascinating to see what judgements or conclusions people come up with after looking at these pictures.

What you will see is just the first set pictures, there could be some that are not related to the topic. To clear things out, I am not trying to portray New York as a bad place to visit. In face due to this crowd there is so much diversity. When this city is empty something seems wrong. It is the people that makes the city what it is. Try seeing NYC without the tall building, wide roads blinding lights and it will still be as impressive.

The idea is to see New York like no outsider must have ever seen before. I have tried to move away from the obvious. I am not seeing what I am supposed to see, instead I am looking at what is right in front of me. I am not seeing the Stature of Liberty or the Empire State Building bu as I walk on the streets of NYC I see trash lying all over, I struggle to find a spot where I Can place my foot, I see building walls covered with beautiful graffiti and most importantly hundreds of people, just doing their own thing.

This is how I perceive New York and hopefully this has been represented in my pictures.