"Finding Beauty in Common Things" : Navin Vatsa

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"Finding Beauty in Common Things"

Navin Vatsa

A self-taught passionate photographer and an educator, Mr. Navin Vatsa is very much dedicated in capturing candid Street moments and the stories of Travel domain. He has his Master’s Degree in Computer Applications and taught computers to graduate and post graduate students for over 9 years. He also served Jagannath University, Jaipur as Joint Registrar for 7 years, and now from last 3 years he has devoted his full time to his in-born Art, Photography. So with the experience of teaching, administration and Art, he has the ability to visualize and implement the creative ideas in photography to complete his compositions with some unique stories. Photography is like a source of energy to him that he also tries to portray through his art work. 

He has the ability of finding beauty in most common things and from unnoticed surroundings. He put all his work with simplicity that can easily reach to the people’s heart. His Photographs has the power to communicate directly to the viewers so that they can read the story well. Photography is one of the unique medium for him to show his own personality and character to the world through his photographs.  

He has been awarded and recognized by various International/National organizations and publications of high repute such as National Geographic, UNESCO, Sony World, Sony India, Inspiro India, Asian Photography & Imaging magazine, Creative Image Magazine, Heritage youth Foundation Delhi, Camarena Academy (Best photographer of the year 2016 and awarded by Sir Raghu Rai for the same) etc. One of his photographs was published by Sony India in its “Annual Calendar 2016”. 

In April-May 2017 by “SONY World Photography Award” one of his photograph of Travel category got commended by the juries and placed within top best 50 out of 105,692 submission from 182 countries and exhibited at the prestigious Somerset House, London from 21st April to 7th May, 2017. Recently his 22 pages Artwork with complete story “Marbles of Faith” on Jama Masjid, Delhi was published in September 2017 issue of Indian Photo Arts (IPA) online Magazine (http://www.indianphotoarts.com/wp-content/themes/ipa/IPAMAGsep2017.pdf).

He is one of the Mentors and Admin of a largest Facebook Photography group in India, Camarena Academy. 

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

Photographing Nature at its Best : Debraj Chakraborty

-Photographing Nature at its Best-

Debraj Chakraborty 

Debraj Chakraborty is a Landscape and travel photographer based in Silchar (Assam-India). Initially he was a landscape painter and his preoccupation with business of IT equipments presented him with shortage of time to pursue his hobby as a painter. Later by coincidence the camera was the medium of his artistic expression most available to him, so he happened to be a photographer. In Landscape photography the fleeting light together with extreme and moody atmosphere attracts him the most.

The more he went deeper; it opened up a whole new world in front of him. Soon he started to realize that landscape photography can bring him back the joy of that artistic expression which he was missing for years.

According to him it doesn’t matter if we are shooting in your hometown or have gone somewhere abroad, we can photograph portraits, cityscapes, nature and storytelling images everywhere. Being a travel & Landscape photographer is a unique experience for him as this allows him to meet plenty of interesting people, see so many beautiful places, hear amazing stories, visit locales outside tourist maps tucked away from the madding crowd, and see wildlife in its glory. All these experiences according to him not just help one to evolve as a better photographer but also give the chance to enjoy the greatest gift we have got from almighty to be born as humans.

His initial inspirations were American landscape photographers; he was just awestruck seeing their images for first time in internet. Seeing those images he could imagine what is possible in landscape photography. To name them it was Mark Adamus, Ryan Dyar, David Thompson and also an Indian photographer whose unconventional work influenced him a lot is Dhritiman Mukherjee. Though he is more into wildlife photography but his approach towards portrayal of things influenced him a lot. Debraj states, “their work influenced me a lot but I don’t like to copy individual styles of any. I want to portray the beauty of earth in my own style.”   

Debraj does a deep research before going to a place. This helps him capture that place in true manner. He loves to portray each and every aspect of nature at its best form. This is the result of his dedication and his work style that his pictures are capable of fascinating the art lovers at first sight.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

Event: 11th IIPC World Photography Day Annual Photo Contest-2017

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11^th IIPC World Photography Day Annual Photo Contest-2017

The India International Photographic Council, New Delhi in collaboration of Photo Vision, Bareilly conducted 11^th IIPC World Photography Day Annual Photo Contest recently.  A number of photo-artists of around 08 states of India submitted their creative pictures in five sections, i.e. Black and White Pictorial, Colour Pictorial, Nature, Photo-Journalism and Photo-Travel. Around 90 photographs got acceptances, 07 photographs won awards and 16 photographs received Certificates of Merit. Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Mr. Bijan Das and Dr. Kamran Khan were jury members. Mrs. Prerna Verma and Mr. Vijay Kumar Verma (Patrons, Photo Vision, Bareilly), Mr. Gopal Sharma (President-Photo Vision, Bareilly), Mr. Deepak Ghosh and Mr. Bijan Das (Vice Presidents-Photo Vision, Bareilly),  Dr. Kamran Khan and Dr. Lovelesh Dutt (Joint Secretaries-Photo Vision, Bareilly),  Mr. Bipin Mehra (Treasurer-Photo Vision-Bareilly),  Dr. Anupam Sharma, Dr. Mridula Sharma, Dr. T. K. Verma, Mr. Ajit Chatterji, Mr. Sushil Saxena, Mr. Rakesh Kachchal, Mr. Satpal Singh, Mr. Sharad K Mishra, Dr. Sudhanshu Arya, Mr. Abhishek Dwivedi, Mr. Abhay Gangwar, Mr. Anand Shrivastava,  Mrs. Priyanka Sharma contributed their best for the success of this event. The help rendered by Mr. T. Srinivasa Reddy, FIIPC, ARPS, FICS, Hon. PSI – Vijayawada is also praiseworthy.

-Dr. Pankaj Sharma (Contest Chairman)

-Profile- A Eye to See the Life Differently Sarasij Dasgupta

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An Eye to See the Life differently

Sarasij Dasgupta

Born in a quintessential Bengali family in1968 in the suburbs of Kolkata, Sarasij Dasgupta was introduced to the developing, printing and all other skills of photography from his father, Late Ratan Dasgupta, who was a renowned photojournalist. Since his childhood days Sarasij had the knack for painting. He did his graduation (BFA) from Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata with profound interest. Having done his BFA in applied art, he started his career in advertising. Presently he is a senior creative director with a multinational advertising agency in Kolkata. He continues with his passion for photography on weekends and digs out photo stories in the alleys of Kolkata.  Street photography is his favorite among all other genre of photography. He is also associated with Camerena Academy, a renowned organization which aims at promoting the art of photography.

He does agree with Bruce Gilden that photography is a voyeuristic medium. He admits, “While it is important to stay discreet, I won’t mind taking my subjects by surprise. Much like Bruce Gilden, I would hold my camera in one hand and a flash in the other.”

His favorite pass time other than photography is doodling. Being an art graduate, he relates more to doodles and caricatures that he makes of the people he comes across every day. He wishes he could go out on a photo walk with masters like Henri Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, Garry Winogrand and Bruce Gilden on streets of New York, Tokyo and Kolkata. 
--Dr. Pankaj Sharma 

-Dashboard- “Paradise on Earth”

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“Paradise on Earth”

Few places leave a deep impact on our mind and soul due to their indomitable beauty and peaceful aura. Munsiyari (Uttarakhand-India) is one of them. I was at this place in 2011. It was a serene morning when I was strolling at the outskirts of this place. I all of a sudden watched the fascinating view of Panch Chuli Peak. The trees all around along with a hut doubled the beauty of sight. Nature seemed gifting an opportunity to me for a good picture. I got down my vehicle and starting photographing with patience. A few frames were clicked. This is one of them.

I used a Nikon D-90 Camera with 18-105 mm lens. 

Exposure was f-16, 1/200 sec. ISO was set at 200.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-Profile- "Photographing the Life as It Is" : Rafique Sayed

-Profile-

Photographing the Life as it is

Rafique Sayed

Rafique Sayed is a photo artist who is known for his distinctive style of photography. He prefers black and white medium which according to him is the finest medium to portray the human emotions. The dramatic play of light and shades makes his pictures distinctive.

When he was a child, he was more interested in cricket. Pictures never attracted him. “Photographers were a non-entity, and the models were never more beautiful than my English teacher”, says Rafique. 

 Change in Time

“I came into professional photography more by chance than by choice”, tells Rafique. To excel became a matter of pride for him, and he chose fashion as his field of specialisation, which brought with name, fame, arrogance and the fine vision to him.

He adds further, “Beauty came to be defined as a perfect physical entity, not more, not less. Photography was: turning people into beautiful, baby doll images, expressionless, but beautiful. Lines of character – which, according to Audrey Hepburn, are lines of knowledge – started vanishing; if not by makeup and lighting, then, by the simple stroke of a mouse.”

He thinks, “After Almost twenty years, it all seems like history. For I awoke one morning, and unlike the great Dali, who used to think what the great man would do that morning, I found that I had nothing to do. I had an almost empty canvas before me, with very few pictures of fashion and beauty in one corner... the rest was as naked as truth.”

He refers to the words of Kahlil Gibran, “How mean am I when life gives me gold and I give you silver, and yet I deem myself generous.” These words have left a deep impact on his soul. He tries to discard the tag of fashion photographer, and for a change, have started shooting portraits of real people, nature, still life, even cars and hotels. “The more I put on my plate, the hungrier I become. My canvas is still empty. I need people to help me fill it up with creative, meaningful and out of the ordinary work. I want to give gold for gold”, concludes Sayed. 

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma 

-Profile- Narrating the Tales of Life : Prabhat Singh

-Profile-

Narrating the Tales of Life

Prabhat Singh

Prabhat Singh is a realistic Lensman. After completing his studies, he began his career as a photo journalist a few decades back. Being a sensible human being he aimed at the roots of human life for all time. Very soon he established his identity in the world of photography art. Capturing the life’s essence has always been his passion. Besides, he captures folk-elements so well that the viewers for a while find themselves into a realm which is in fact very close to them.

When asked about his perception, he told, “I always aim at developing an image that is mysterious and full of fascinating phenomenon. So far the Camera is concerned, it is a magical tool which not only creates life but documents it also. To document the truth and life is more important to me rather than making my images aesthetically perfect.”

   

He has worked on many projects till date. Recently he has done a series of pictures which is titled as “Latent Faces”. Through this mission he has tried to narrate the tales of the people, who exist around us and always work to make a difference, but most of them often go unnoticed – be a labour or farmer, prostitute or pilgrim, cobbler or a butcher. Their faces tell the tales of their hardships.  

Satire or humor out of juxtaposed content is another favorite subject for him, and while working as news photographer he has trained his eyes to spot such situations in our daily routine.

Prabhat Singh has to his credit many solo exhibitions in different cities of India. His stories have taken place in reputed publications. Presently he works as Resident Editor with Amar Ujala Publications Ltd., Noida (India).  

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma