Painting With Light

Photos: My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

samwise — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:09:00 GMT

I studied filmmaking for 2 years after a base in art and design. There are 2 main cinematic concerns that I keep exploring in order to find one’s own poetics of the image: the point of view (as a narrative tool, and a formalistic one), and the constant internal rearrangement of the frame. My way of looking at the world through multiple lenses is by interacting through a camera lens. I have dabbled with many mediums. Water, oils, acrylics...But my favorite kind of painting, is that with light. And in the words of my favorite 11-year-old storyteller, "Art is full of imaginary lines... Like the Equator." So traversing across time, space and thought, I want to collect stories painted with light. And it is People, who take you to new places of thought. I used to be inspired by stories, till I learnt that a storyteller made them so. Then I began to be inspired by storytellers. If selected, this mentorship would help me learn, un-learn and re-learn the ethics and process of authoring images, amidst the backdrop of Greenland. I would also learn how to improve the craft and skill of photography, and experience the life of a photojournalist on assignment for National Geographic!

Catching a Moment - On Table Mountain.

samwise — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:18:09 GMT

Once upon another time, my mother and I were traveling in Cape Town. She had a conference, and I was there to make sure she did more than discover the hotel's multiple plug points for her laptop.
We took the cable car up Table Mountain. Discovering its breath-taking views, and its venturesome terrain, we decided to walk down the mountain.
So began one of the best adventures of our lives.
We had covered quite a bit of ground, when my mother hurt her leg. If we were to head back up, the steep architecture would make for a climb and we would arrive late for the last cable car. We decided to continue down the mountain.
Gravity was being a difficult friend, and our progress became slower and slower.
Enter the beautiful Fleur. Between a shoulder each, she and I carried my mother. Fleur asked two people behind us to help. And so Javed and Artur joined our little group. With each passing moment, the light fell to dusk and we realized we were the last 5 people on the mountain.
It was a great group of people, and what a way to meet! On the side of a mountain in South Africa! We spoke about Lars Von Trier's films, sci-fi, bungee-jumping, and if we would ever make it that party in the evening. Fleur voiced: Javed, from Pakistan and I being from India-how come we weren't fighting with each other and generally being violent and averse to the other.
Javed and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. The world is connected; through globalization, or even through Facebook. We are all human beings. And a geographical or political border can't define our relationships.

Car-lights flashed. Pinpricks of light that showed how far we had yet to go. The horizon merged with the land into absolute darkness.
It happened slowly at first. Then quickly.
The five of us fell silent in the face of the countless lights that came on and masked the city's landscape.
From our birds-eye-view, it was simply magical.
It was the moment when Cape Town was awake! And alive with light!

To know such beauty, was an adventure.

A Rescue Team found us when we were 10 minutes from the bottom. Exhilarated, but now suddenly exhausted, we welcomed them. They were curiously surprised to find us alive. Apparently the animals leave you alone, but there are robbers on the mountain that have other ideas. If we had called them from high up in the mountain, they would have sent a helicopter for us. Exhaustion seemed to disappear, and Javed and I shouted at once, "Lets go back up. Free helicopter ride!"

Photos: Travel Photography Scholarship 2012entry

samwise — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:36:00 GMT

I studied filmmaking for 2 years after a base in art and design. There are 2 main cinematic concerns that I keep exploring in order to find one’s own poetics of the image: the point of view (as a narrative tool, and a formalistic one), and the constant internal rearrangement of the frame. My way of looking at the world through multiple lenses is by interacting through a camera lens. I have dabbled with many mediums. Water, oils, acrylics...But my favorite kind of painting, is that with light. And in the words of my favorite 11-year-old storyteller, "Art is full of imaginary lines... Like the Equator." So traversing across time, space and thought, I want to collect stories painted with light. And it is People, who take you to new places of thought. I used to be inspired by stories, till I learnt that a storyteller made them so. Then I began to be inspired by storytellers. If selected, this mentorship would help me learn, un-learn and re-learn the ethics and process of authoring images, while in the midst of a new culture. I would not only hear new stories, but also be a part of them. And Stories reveal ourselves to us. So one can choose to be conscious, and live deliberately.

My Scholarship entry - Through Local Eyes

samwise — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 06:13:24 GMT

People take you to new places of thought.
My meeting with Mala Khamisha, a lac-craftsmen from Kutch, Gujarat, revealed that his treatment of time was not in hours, but in effort, and in creating his craft. His craft is not just his art form; it is his way of living in itself.
Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed and of course, recorded on film, and in digital form. I think it is important to study its form in today’s context. I studied filmmaking for 2 years after a base in art and design. There are 2 main cinematic concerns that I keep exploring in order to find one’s own poetics of the image: the point of view(as a narrative tool, and a formalistic one),and the constant internal rearrangement of the frame. My way of looking at the world through multiple lenses is by interacting through a camera lens. I have dabbled with many mediums. Oils, acrylics...But my favorite kind of painting is that with light. If selected for this scholarship, I would experience a new culture, new places, and new people. I would not only hear new stories, but also be a part of them.
Stories reveal ourselves to us.
So one can choose to be conscious, and live deliberately.