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Of DSLRs and Monkeys

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“Erm, just what exactly are you doing??” I asked the guy.

 

He’d been lying prone on the floor, his eyes glued to the viewfinder for the last minute or two. And I’d have understood had that been the only thing he was doing, but that wasn’t the half of it. His finger was visibly pressing down on the shutter button, and I could distinctly hear the whirring of motors as the lens tried to focus – and failed miserably in the process. My legendary patience notwithstanding, I just couldn’t take it any longer, and so I asked (again!) – “Hey, what are you doing?!?!?!”

 

“Can’t you see?” he said, tearing his eyes away from the viewfinder and casting a baleful look my way. “I’m trying to take a photograph similar to the one I showed you earlier today on my phone. The one I liked on Flickr – the low perspective shot with a strong object in the foreground. However, the damn camera just won’t focus!”

 

Luckily, there wasn’t a sharp pointy object within reach, else a bloodbath would have followed. Mainly as a result of stabbing myself repeatedly in the chest. Being around DSLR monkeys does that to me, and this guy was definitely from that species.  What with the fact that he was trying to copy a wide-angle shot, with a telephoto lens to boot, and trying to focus with that-there lens on an object less than a foot away. Oh well!

 

But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me rewind a bit…

 

A few months back, I wrote a post about my not-too-pleasant experiences on most photo-walks, and except for the fact that this one wasn’t in Mumbai, it wasn’t too dissimilar. To summarize it in eight words: A troupe of DSLR toting monkeys.

 

Now don’t get me wrong! Before you get all red in the face (some monkeys – the actual variety – do have red faces. And red behinds!), know this: I’ve been one myself. Metaphorically in that, I was a DSLR toting monkey at one point in time. And, in that I’ve supposedly (if Darwin is to be believed) fallen off the tree I used to swing on at one point and taken to walking on two feet instead. Essentially, I evolved. And oh yes, I still use a DSLR. But I’m no monkey because I chose to evolve!

 

By now you must be wondering what my beef is against a certain section – and it is an extremely large section – of monkeys – oops, I mean “photographers”, my bad! – of the DSLR kind. None whatsoever. My only problem – if any – is with the troupe (oops, I meant crowd) that refuses to evolve (while insisting that it has). For if those monkeys insist that they have evolved, all I can say is that it’s very obvious to me that they obviously haven’t walked too far from that tree they fell off in the first place, going by what I see of them.

 

And what do I see? What is it that prompts me to call them DSLR toting monkeys? How do you recognize one? Here’s how!

All that you wanted to know about monkeys but didn't know who to ask

Monkeys. They’re a couple of things you need to know about them

For starters, they’re compulsive “chimps”! And while in the biological sense not every monkey is a chimp[anzee], most DSLR monkeys are prone to chimping (the habit of checking every photo on the camera display immediately after capture).  What’s wrong with chimping? Well, if they’ve got themselves a fancy DSLR, the least they ought to do is either master exposure for themselves, or go learn it from someone. It shows a serious lack of  confidence and  their inability to be the master of their tools if they need to check if they got the shot right every time they trip the shutter.

Compulsive chimping – at its heart – stems from a lack of understanding of the tools at one’s disposal. It is this same lack of understanding that results in what I started this post off with. DSLR Chimps need to understand that the camera – at its heart – is a glorified lightbox meant to capture the world around them. If they have their face buried in the camera, just imagine how much they miss out in seeing the world around them. All this for me spells a DSLR Monkey!

Monkeys are obsessed with tools (aka gear), not as a means to an end but rather as the end itself. This manifests itself in a tendency to try and go out and possess every shiny toy that catches their fancy. Or rather, let me state that every shiny toy catches their fancy. Monkeys of the biological variety are known to resort to violence so as to be able to usurp tools that other monkeys may have.

 

The DSLR Monkey is frighteningly similar, minus the violence bit. It’s easy to spot one, he or she is often the one with the fanciest camera if they can afford it. At the very least, the DSLR Monkey is driven by a primal urge to desire “better” cameras and lenses. He or she is often found to be poking their nose into other people’s cameras and asking them penetrating questions about their gear.

I’m not sure if all monkeys are apes, but all monkeys excel at aping what they see other creatures doing around them. From this stems that saying “Monkey see, monkey do”.

The DSLR Monkey is no different, blindly aping methods and techniques they see others employ, that they may read about or otherwise hear of. All, without an iota of the fundamental governing principles that drive them. And while we all learn initially by mimicking, the DSLR Monkey usually never goes beyond aping. His or her compositions also tend to be nothing but mindless copies of the compositions of others. The DSLR Monkey is easy to spot, he or she is to be found where all the other monkeys are, all pointing their DSLRs at the same thing.

 

I think it should be clear by now where my angst stems from: a monkey – any monkey – can peer through the viewfinder and press the shutter and get lucky. Press the shutter a couple of hundred times, and the law of averages being what it is, any monkey will get a few decent shots. But to truly make good shots – that needs a mind a thinks, a heart that feels,  and eyes that see.  To do that means you have to fall off – or climb down – that tree and start walking on terra firma. To do that means you have to start thinking. To do that means you have to stop mimicking. To do that means to be human, to evolve. If you don’t, you are – and always will remain – a DSLR Monkey!

What is Photography really?

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[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #93454a;”] I [/dropcap] keep getting asked this – just how do I go making the photographs that I do, while so many others don’t? They might as well ask “Photography – what is it really?”

The answer is simple – it’s not about the gear. Never has been, never will be. What it is is about Vision. What it is about looking at the world around you through the eyes of a child, ever delighting in discoveries. What it is about is seeing the world through the eyes of a sage,  with the wisdom to realize that everything is connected. And it’s a lot more, but it’d help if we first stated what photography is not!

Photography – what is it really? It isn’t about tripping the shutter, because that just requires an index finger (or, a thumb, if it’s a cellphone camera you’re shooting on). If it were, monkeys could do that. And I’m not a monkey, and I presume you aren’t either.

What is Photography? Photography isn’t the camera either, despite what the camera manufacturers would want you to (and often succeed in making you) believe. A DSLR does not a photograph make. Nor do megapixels. Heck, I make better photographs with my humble MotoG cellphone camera than the majority of  DSLR owners, so it can’t be about the camera either.

Photography – what is it really? It isn’t about technique either, given that the net is awash with articles relating to technique, and schools claiming to teach photography are a dime-a-dozen.  And at best, they churn out people who may be able to make a technically correct photograph. A photograph that nevertheless lacks any real  feeling, meaning and originality.

What is Photography? Is it about Composition? Well, yes. But don’t get all excited yet, because the number of articles dealing with that subject on the net run into a couple of hundreds of thousands. And the number of schools that claim to teach that are in no small number too. But let’s face it, the unfortunate fact is that at best they teach you methods and techniques again. Stuff that enslaves you. Stuff that at best makes you mimic the compositions of others, not compose for yourself.

The problem lies with the fact that very, very few can encapsulate what Composition is all about in a single sentence. And if they can’t, you can’t really blame them for failing to clarify what the game is really all about to others, can you?

Photography – what is it really? Watch the video below, that may help.

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Plain and simple: Photography is nothing but The Art of Seeing

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photowalks in mumbai

Photowalks in Mumbai – The Year That Was 2014

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“What a chu*iya!” I heard a guy sneer at one of those Photowalks in Mumbai I’d decided to attend. His friends were quick to follow, bursting into not-so-discreet laughter. Not surprising, and rather well-deserved I’d think. I mean there were all these guys with their fancy DSLRs and shiny lenses. And in the midst of all that gear-crazy crowd, there I was – the proverbial misfit – shooting with a little point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix camera. How dare I! I should have had better sense, yessiree! It’s all a gear game, photography that is, right?

The Three Idiots: Me, Shilpa Sheth & Peter Theobald at one of my Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai. More images of  my Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai are to be found towards the end of this post.

To be quite frank, I wasn’t surprised. I should have guessed, especially when the day started off with one of the DSLR slinging photographers (he was armed with two!) walking up to me and demanding to know what gear I used. “A heart that feels, a mind that thinks, two eyes that see — that’s my gear” I replied, reiterating what I teach in my Art of Seeing Workshop. His eyebrows shot up, forehead got some wrinkles. And then the nostrils flared and lips curved into a sneer. I could almost hear him go “Dude! Are you serious? Gimme a break!”.

 

Oh well!

 

Now I’d been told by many of the fine folks who’d attended my photography workshops – and who’d also been on a few of these Photowalks in Mumbai that they weren’t really satisfied with their experiences. And while they’d been pressing me for a while on having some closed, members-only Photowalks in and around Mumbai, I really hadn’t paid much attention to their comments.

 

I should have, in retrospect.

So I ended up going for two Photowalks in Mumbai earlier this year (organized by some vendors and organizations), and quite frankly the experience was not too ummm… pleasant. To put it mildly, that is.

 

Now don’t get me wrong! Photowalks are a great activity for like-minded people to get to know each other, and of course see, discover and photograph the world around them, and hopefully learn from each other. Those, are the objectives of a photo walk.

 

But nowhere and nowhere do I see – fitting into those objectives – is any mention of gear, nor the attitude and act of looking down upon, laughing and sneering at, and labeling someone a “fu*kwit” just because he or she shows up and chooses to make images with a point-and-shoot camera. Heck, am I glad they didn’t see me shooting with my cell phone on one of those photo walks – they’d probably have laughed so hard they’d have busted a stitch or two. It’s another matter though, that I usually end up making better images with my “heart that feels, mind that thinks, and eyes that see” compared to a majority of the DSLR burdened crowd, but that’s a post for another day, and I’m digressing.. where, was I? Ah yes, those Photowalks in Mumbai.

 

 

The problem doesn’t lie with the organizers mostly. I feel they intend well at the end of the day, providing as they do a platform for people to get together. Except for the bit where they just have too many people participating. Photography – at its heart – is a solitary exercise; one does not make an image by committee.  And when you have all those large numbers turning up, it is but natural that photographers (or rather camera burdened people) will get in each others way, ruining the photo-making process for those who are seriously inclined.

 

The problem – in most part – lies with many of the people who land up. Or rather, their attitude.

 

I’ve already spoken about the DSLR bearing crowd that may – and usually does – tend to look down on the non-DSLR crowd. What they don’t realize is this: It’s not the bloody camera that makes the shot, the camera is just a glorified light-box! I own DSLRs myself – two of them. I own two film bodies, to boot too. Yet, I often choose to make images with just a simple camera and maybe a cellphone. Just to prove a point – that it’s vision that counts, and often because the DSLR gets too bulky to carry around all the time.

 

The numbers make it worse, I’ve already spoken some on the many, many who show up. Twenty (and more) is a large number by any stretch, given the congested streets that make up Mumbai. And to have a horde of camera-laden humans descend upon a target… it literally looks like a pack of hyenas devouring a carcass.

 

Did I say hyenas? Oh yes, I did. And let me dwell on that a bit. The problem with those who don’t know how to see is that at best they tend to just gravitate towards what another camera buff is pointing his or her gear at. So if one individual typically at these Photowalks in Mumbai points their lens at something, within seconds you end up having a large number of the group converging there. Everybody making images of the same things, nobody really seeing or composing for themselves, mimicking what everybody else is doing, and copying the compositions of others. Much jostling and elbowing for space, occasionally tripping over someone else’s feet… you get the picture, I’d think.

 

Oh, and let’s not forget tempers running high. If that horde descends on a human subject or a work establishment (which they invariably do), tempers do run high. Of the human subject they’re pointing their gear at. Or, the owner of the establishment if it’s a shop or roadside stall. Let’s face it, no one – and no one – likes their personal space intruded upon, even by a single individual. This can be mitigated in some measure by human interaction, but definitely not when it comes to large numbers of people pointing their lens at a subject. Which actually is degrading the subject in no small measure, because these large numbers – or many of them – shoot and scoot. Ne hello’s, thank you’s, or goodbyes. The subject stops being a subject (one which should be interacted with) and instead becomes an object (one which is manipulated).

 

And when I’d gone and attended these two Photowalks in Mumbai, I knew just why my workshop participants weren’t too happy with the ones they’d gone on. If they weren’t too happy, I was positively displeased. But then, not the fault of the organizers as I said. Except maybe the numbers.

 

That being said, the participants of my Art of Seeing Photography Workshop were clamoring for some walks for the group. Armed as they were with the knowledge that the gear really doesn’t matter, that vision does, and how and what to go about looking at and for in the world around them, they were eager to make it a group activity. See for themselves, and see through the eyes of their peers. And so it came to pass: My Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai.

 

Our group had four Photowalks in Mumbai this year, most of them in the past three months. The first was at Banganga Tank in the Walkeshwar area of South Mumbai. The second was held in the picturesque narrow lanes in Bandra, the third at the Versova fishing village, and the fourth at Dadar Market close to the railway station there.

 

Not all members of our group could attend, which made for a small group no more than ten at a time — which suits me just fine, what with my disdain for large numbers. The instructions were clear: don’t document, create! See for yourself. Go for quality, not quantity. Slow down, don’t be in a hurry. Don’t flock where everybody else is and don’t make the same shots. SEE. Don’t take snapshots, make GREAT SHOTS. For YOURSELF! And they really made some pretty good shots, that lot I must say. Shots that are to be found on their respective and group pages on social channels. And of course, we all enjoyed ourselves, engaged in friendly banter, grabbed a bite or two. Not something you can really do in a Photowalk with large numbers.

 

As for me, what did I do? Of course, as the coordinator and group leader, I was there for all our Photowalks in Mumbai. But I must admit that I made the least number of shots. Because I wasn’t there to make shots, I was there to help people see, point out things that caught my eye and which others missed, and make suggestions. At Banganga, the few shots I made were on my DSLR. At Bandra, Versova and Dadar, I chose to stick with my point and shoot — the reason is to reinforce that it is not the camera that makes the image.

And so dear reader, I give you proof – if any is called for – that it is not the camera that sees. All the images here were made on my point and shoot during our group’s Photowalks in Mumbai. The year ahead is going to be fun, with many more a photo walk in the pipeline, both in and outside Mumbai.

 

The Heart of the Matter – Photographing Vintage Cars

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It’s been almost a year (eleven months to be precise) since an exhibition of  vintage cars was held at the premises of the racecourse in Mumbai. Eleven months since I landed up there that late afternoon, my little Panasonic Lumix DMC-Tz25 that I sometimes –  in place of my Canon EOS 5D – lug around. Ended  up making images of what some people have described as “The most amazing photographs of Vintage Cars”. And you know what? I didn’t make a single image of a vintage car. Not one single one of a vintage car in its entirity.

Does that sound like a contradiction in terms? How does one go about making amazing photographs of vintage cars without photographing a car? Judge for yourself from the images below.

So what’s it about these photographs that’s so dramatically different from the countless other images of vintage cars to be found on the net? What makes them so visually appealing and so dramatic? The answer to those questions is that I  didn’t see them as cars at all, and while all those other people there engaged themselves taking photographs of cars, I saw things differently. I got to the heart of the matter: the collection of patterns, lines, swirls, circles etc. – the very things that make vintage cars so beautiful. And in getting to the heart of the matter – learning to see the very essence of a subject, and at times seeing it differently is how one reveals the very heart and essence of anything and everything in photography. This, is is one of many things I teach in my From snapshots to Great Shots – The Art of Seeing Workshop

along the river ghats, varanasi

The Soul of Photography

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I sit down to write this after reading what Pushkar Bagmar – one of the participants who attended today’s workshop on seeing – wrote in to say:

“Am yet to get over the hangover of the “Art of seeing” session, Neville. It feels like I learned the very soul of photography…”

Thanks are due to Pushkar for his kind words. They are a source of both encouragement as well as one of a sense of accomplishment. Accomplishment not from an egotistical point of view, but of satisfaction that I – as a teacher – have been able to accomplish what I set out to do: effectively communicate the essence of what I set out to teach, as well as having played a role in kindling a flame in the hearts and minds of those who may in turn choose to further feed the proverbial flame for themselves. In my opinion, there can be no greater satisfaction for a teacher than to see that happen. So, thanks once again Pushkar!

 

 

That being said, Pushkar’s words got me thinking. “The soul of photography”… just what is it? Many a photographer will instantly shoot back with an answer stating that it’s Light; that without light a photograph would not be possible, and that it’s light which really is what it’s all about.

 

Yes, light plays an extremely vital role in photography, but in my opinion it’s not the soul at the end of the day.

 

I think that Light is to a photograph what a beating heart is to life; without it, an image is dead – just a blank canvas. But if we take this analogy a bit further, while a beating heart is a sign that an organism is clinically alive, it is not a sign that the organism is consciously alive.

 

A thing is only truly alive when it’s soul is there – and I when I say soul, I don’t mean anything esoteric, I rather refer to that which makes that organism uniquely that – it’s very sense of being, it’s essence. Without that essence – without that sense of being – and oh, it is so apt in this context – “the lights may be on, but there’s nobody at home.”

 

That is spelled “Being clinically alive but brain-dead”

 

Isn’t this true of many a photograph too? Great lighting, same time of day, same conditions, same location, yet one photograph made has “a soul”, while another leaves you thinking “hmm… what’s this about”? Ergo, it’s not Light which is the soul of a photograph – it’s not it’s very essence.

 

What do I mean when I refer to the soul or essence of a photograph. It’s akin to the soul or essence of any sentient being you’re lucky to get a fleeting glimpse of. One look and you know what makes that person what he or she is. You know what they’re all about. You know what makes them tick. You know their longings, their fears, their hopes, their joys, their sorrows at the very moment their essence revealed itself.

 

It’s the very same thing with a photograph- one glimpse at it, and it (should) grabs you by the throat and in doing so reveals a lot (if not everything) about itself at that very moment, makes you pause to investigate it further, leaves you with no confusion about what it is about at the end of the day… then and only then can we say that the photograph has a soul, that is has an essence about it, an essence that has revealed itself to the viewer when he or she sees it. Without this essence, the lights are on, but there’s nobody at home.

 

A photograph is a very tiny window through which we as photographers must strive to communicate the essence of the larger body of the world that was in front of us at the time we tripped the shutter. If the essence of what lay in front of us is in the window that is the photograph, and if we are adept of communicating that, it is only then that the essence will come through via that photograph, it is only then that the photograph has a soul.

 

Capturing that essence, capturing that soul. That, is Seeing. That is what defines a photograph, and that is what defines the larger discipline that is photography and the visual arts at the end of the day. The heart of the matter. A window to the world – a small one – through which the sense of the entire scene that lay before the photographer is encapsulated via a smaller view.

 

It is literally – as William Blake put it – “seeing the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, holding infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour”.

 

That is what is the soul of a photograph, that is what is the soul – and purpose – of photography. William Blake, I think, would have made an outstanding photographer!

fine art india

Fine Art Print: Kashi – City Of Light, Colours & Mystery

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“For an image to speak to me, it must be an image of something; the role of color is to accentuate that thing and the emotion triggered in me. It is only then that I can communicate what I felt; to begin to truly understand color is to begin to understand the many hues and emotions of Life itself.” (an excerpt from my Artist Statement)

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The Making of “Kashi: City of Light, Colors & Mystery”

Sometimes it happens: You’re there with your camera and something astounding comes to pass. And you have but a split-second to capture it. People say I’m lucky to encounter such moments as regularly as I do. My reply is that Luck favors the prepared mind…

And there I was in a boat on the river Ganges in Varanasi when the events that went into the making of this photograph came to pass: this lady, who’d probably just finished taking a dip in the holy river, a shawl thrown over her as she changed out of her wet clothes, the better to protect her modesty.

 

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What caught my eyes were the colors. The emotions triggered – had I not known the setting and the circumstances in which this photograph was taken – would be one of a deep sense of Mystery: Who is that? Why is she covered like that? What is she doing? And where is she? And while I – in the paragraph preceding this one – have answered many of these questions, there is still such a deep sense of mystery to this image; one cannot help but want to know even more about that woman.

Such is Kashi – The City of Light, Colors, and Mystery!

In post-processing I strongly boosted the contrast to better give the feeling of depth and mystery, while boosting saturation. I also gave the image an impressionist feel, resulting in a fine art print that is more a painting than a photograph.

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fine art print, india, photography tours ladakh

And Buddha Showed The Way – Wall to Wall Print

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The Making of “And Buddha Showed The Way”

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” ~ The Buddha

The Photograph

I’m not much into Buddhism, I must admit. Even less so into buddhist quotes. But I have always believed in that old universal saying from the east that goes “The teacher shows you the way to the door of understanding. But the act of walking through the door the student must do themselves.”

It was an early morning in December 2004 when I made this image at the Shanti Stupa at Leh in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. Put it down to the biting cold (twenty Celsius below zero) and the fact that there are very few visitors to the region at that time of the year), and I had the place pretty much to myself and my workshop participant. That meant I could really spend time looking around without having people creep into the frame – ah, Luxury!

What really caught my eye was the sweep of the ascending staircase. I immediately looked around for elements that could add to what I saw at first glance and observed the frescoes. Put together, they immediately brought to mind that universal quote I talked about – the rising staircase is all about going somewhere, the diminishing perspective of the frescoes is about a guide walking with you part of the way, but leaving the pinnacle for you to summit for yourself.

Visually, the yellow and blue in the image makes for a great combination; they really complement each other. Great importance was paid to the precise composition to get all those lines in the frame just right, as was the choice of how much of blue sky and mountains to include for balance.
Post-processing was minimal and restricted to boosting the colors a bit, along with contrast.

I must admit I was extremely pleased with the way this image turned out when printed – it was one of the first of my Wall to Wall prints (my Magnum Opus series) and really looks great up large hanging on a wall.

The Fine Art Print

This fine art photograph is available in three product formats: (1) as a ready-to-hang Stretched Canvas Print,(2) a framed Canvas Print, and (3) a framed Fine Art Paper Print. All materials used in the printing and framing process are acid free, making the print especially resistant to aging. Prints are produced using the highest quality papers / canvases using the best inks possible.

To purchase this fine art photograph, please contact us.

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A priest - his early morning dip in the river Ganges over and done with - climbs the steps to a temple - Varanasi, India

Pattern, broken – Varanasi, India

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The Making of “Pattern, broken – Varanasi”

As I mention in my Artist Statement, one of the driving forces in my fine art photography is Contrast; and it was the contrast at play here – between lines horizontal & vertical – that made me raise camera to eye and trip the shutter.

The place was Varanasi, India. The event – one of  the photography workshops and tours. My guests and I were at the fag end of  our boat ride on the river Ganges when I saw this man walking up a flight of stairs on the ghats after taking a dip in the river Ganges.
Now there’s nothing extraordinary about a man walking up a flight of steps that would prompt one to raise camera to eye, let alone spending precious time in processing to end up with a brilliant fine art photograph. Nothing at all, if I hadn’t seen what played out in front of me differently…

This photograph is all about horizontal lines, you just can’t miss them. A pattern of sweeping row upon row of red and white bands make this panoramic fine art print ideal for wide walls. And then that pattern is broken, and that is what really makes this image work: The small yet so very significant visual impact of what is essentially a vertical shape across those horizontal lines.

In post-processing, I actually added a bit of black to the reds (deepening them) so as to ensure that that particular colour did not end up taking away from the man; red has that impact – it is an attention-grabber if ever there was one, and one must know when to do what with it. I also accentuated the lines that define the shapes of everything but the steps themselves, the better to make them stand out. The end result is a fine art photograph that looks like an impressionist painting with some of the shapes (such as that of the man) emphasized by the use of charcoal on their edges.

 

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Fine Art Photography India : A Day in the Life of India - NH 8

Fine Art Print: A Day in the Life of India – NH 8

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“A kind of golden hour one remembers for a life time… Everything was touched with magic.” ~ Margaret Bourke-White

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The Making of  “A Day In The Life Of India – NH 8”

National Highway 8 (NH 8) is a highway that connects the Indian financial capital Mumbai with India’s capital Delhi. According to estimates, it is the busiest highway in the subcontinent.

I’d started off very early that day from Mumbai; my final destination was the picturesque hill-station of Manali in the Himalayan region of India, with a night’s stopover each in the cities of Udaipur and Delhi. By late afternoon I’d passed the city of  Ahmadabad in the state of Gujarat, and it was then that those few moments that defined this one day in the Life of India on NH 8 came to pass. The huge – and I mean HUGE – herd of cows, with several cowherds in tow trundled onto the highway. Step on brakes – check! . Leap out – check! Grab camera from backseat – check! Stop drooling long enough to make this  fine art photograph of A Day in the Life of  India on NH 8. Check!

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The Photograph

Apart from the sheer spectacle that presented itself to me, what really caught my eye was the play of light that was perfect for photography – soft , golden angular light, the magic of which was accentuated by the dust kicked up by this bovine herd. The pattern of U-shaped horns of these magnificent creatures does a lot for this image. I needed something to break the pattern, something that would yet provide context – the two herdsmen. I made several shots of the spectacle as it  played out before me before settling on this one.  On the technical front, it was vital I get my exposure right, mastering your dslr and exposure helps.

In post-processing I adjusted contrast to do further justice to the play of light and shadow. I also gave this image an impressionist touch. To be quite frank the image as viewed here does no justice to the final fine art print; if there was ever a fine art photograph that portrays the essence of India, this is it!

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