Freespirit

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

India | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

Being a Perfect entertainer
Ramlila (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramlila) is a dramatic enactment of the life of Lord Ram which is staged throughout India for 10 days during the festival season of Dussehra.
I got a chance to go back stage in one of the Ramlila's to photograph & interact with artists who come from various parts of India.
What I noticed included the chaos of preparations during a live event, Stardom gained by these artists during 10 days while being anonymous the rest of year, effort of an artist that goes into being a character, effort of support staff to create a facade for the artist to play his/her character. At times, I found it humorous, like artists being given massage while he is rehearsing his dialogues, being clean shaven to play a positive character while putting artificial mustache for a negative character.
I found life of a Ramlila artist to be a perfect mix of gaining stardom as well as enjoying anonymity rest of the year, something movie actors can only wish for.
Now why do i wish to be selected for this competition. To be very honest, to learn tips & techniques by being with Pro photographers. I have been writing in past to couple of photographers hoping to get a chance to assist them & may be because i don't possess formal photography education, i was turned down. I think this is a perfect opportunity for me to learn & be with a professional & to understand what are my strong points & to improve my weak areas in photography.

My flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/45911115@N00/