-Profile- A Photographer with Multi-Profile: Archana Deshpande Joshi

 -Profile-
A Multifaceted Photographer
Archana Deshpande Joshi

Archana Deshpande Joshi was 38 when she got her DSLR camera. She says, she wanted one at the age of 18 but her father couldn't buy it then. All these years, while clicking her art work for various publication and NGOs, she used DSLR owned by husband. She also did self-study on rolling, clicking and developing negative photos. Earlier, when she was spreading her art work on FB, she came in touch with Mr Vinayak Puranik who had history of Digital Photography. He had an idea of publishing a book on photography since 1975. Looking at the pics of "Chhandmitra" book, Vinayak offered book writing on photography to Archana. She was interested but was not ready. She took course in Digital Photography, learned the art and then gave it shot on writing. Till date she has written 3 books on Photography. Names ARTOGRAPHY, PHOTOMANTRA & CLICKTRICK in Marathi. All books were her weekly columns in Lokmat Thane; they later got published as books by Diamond books, Pune. With APAC they train artists, assist them, give them platform, and conduct International level Photography and art contests.

Message to Readers: "Don't think anything as small. People told her early in her career that Art would not bring her identity and money. But she proved them wrong. All should encourage the artist within and outside and give them their due respect. You may not know, that artist and his form of art will touch sky one day."

She has to her credit a number of reputed of Awards, Recognitions, Mentions at national and international levels.  Her talent has been recognized by many prominent TV channels (Zee, Mimarathi, Sam Marathi etc.), News papers (Loksatta, Lokmat, Lokprabha, Gruhashobhika, Punyanagari and Saamna, to name a few) and by various renowned national brands. She has been invited to judge many  interschool contests of drawing, painting, art & craft in Mumbai.

She completed her basic academic education from Mumbai, later earned a Diploma in Commercial arts from the reputed Nirmala Niketan College of applied arts in 1994. She has served in the field of art & craft too. Her first activity book "Chhandmitra” was selected for Sarv Shikshan Abhiyan for Maharashtra municipal corporation school syllabus for year 2018-19.  More than 30,000 copies of this book were printed and distributed to local schools of Maharashtra.

(Photographs and Text Courtesy: Archana Deshpande Joshi)

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-Profile- Master of Vision : Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar, LIIPC

Profile : "Master of  Vision"

Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar, LIIPC

Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar is an outstanding photographer from Panaji, Goa (India). He has expertise in visualising the surroundings around him in his own artistic way. He portrays the ordinary subjects in such an exclusive way that a viewer’s eyes stop at his images spontaneously. The main characteristic of his works is his unique vision which is evident at first sight. The words of O. G. Rejlander seem true after going through the creative pictures of Chandan, “It is the mind of the artist, and not the nature of his materials, which makes his production a work of art." This is worth mentioning that Chandan has clicked his pictures with Asus Zenfone 3 and Poco X3 mobile phone cameras, and has edited them on Snapseed app. He is a source of inspiration for those who lack expensive equipment and have profound desire to do a lot in the field of creativity.

 --Dr. Pankaj Sharma

 -Great Masters-

In friendship with Photography

Umesh Gogna

 

Born in a family of jewellers, Umesh Gogna was inclined towards arts since his childhood.  After completing his post-graduation, he started helping his father in his family business while also working on his Ph. D thesis on ancient Indian jewellery. He needed good quality photographs of jewellery for his thesis. In order to get good images for his thesis, he decided to buy a camera and try photographing the jewellery himself. He bought a second-hand Pentax camera kit, thus started his journey as a photographer.

After some disappointments, and a lot of hard work, he was able to get good images for his thesis. After a phase of time, he discovered that he had fallen in love with photography and he started spending more and more time with this form of art. He upgraded his camera kit, brought studio lights and even set up a small studio in his house. Soon people started asking him to photograph their jewellery-products and he was happy to oblige them.  As he loved travelling, he started travelling to new destinations with his camera. During these trips he got fine images of different places.

When he realized that he was devoting more time to his photography than to his family business, he decided to turn professional and devote all his time to photography. It was a difficult decision as he was essentially leaving a secure business for the uncharted waters of professional photography. But now, after so many years, he is glad that he made that choice. Photography has always been the main passion of his life and he feels especially lucky and blessed to be able to devote all his time to it.

Most of his professional work is in the field of handicraft and jewellery, stone and the hospitality industry. Apart from his professional work he also does a lot of travel and nature photography. Over the years he has spent a lot of time in documenting the cultural architectural and natural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalayas. The wilderness and the open paces of the desert and the mountains attract and inspire him.

After spending many years as a professional photographer, he felt that he should give back something to the profession of photography. One area where he felt he could contribute was by educating aspiring photographers about the science and art of photography. He started helping young photographers by conducting workshops. He has accomplished more than 250 workshops of photography till date. For seven years (2008-2014) he conducted workshops for Canon India as a mentor. He is currently a brand ambassador and mentor of Sony Alpha. Now a days his Astro photography with photography expeditions, and his master classes are very popular.

He has spent a lot of time in documenting the cultural & architectural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalaya. His works have been published in several books on these subjects. Rajasthan’s royalty, fairs, festivals & colours are framed in the coffee table books of Pali, Jalore & Jhalawar by him. Some of his other books are lined up to be published. Today Umesh Gogna is a well-known figure in the field of photography. He is among the jury members of renowned photography contests. Many organizations have appointed him as their mentor. A number of his photographs have featured in reputed publications. He is committed to help the beginners forever.

Achievements/Awards:

·        Founder Member and Mentor / Jury at Camarena Academy (FB)

·        Honored with the Life Time Achievement Award by Jaipur Photographer's Club

·        Honored with the Life Time Achievement Award for contributing to education in photography by Jodhana Photo Journalist Society

·        Honored by Governor of Rajasthan (Margaret Alva) for contributing to education in photography

·        Part of Jury for a number of photographer's club, colleges and schools.

·        Conducted over 250 photography workshops PAN India

·        Guest Faculty in Allahabad University (2008 to 2019), Central University of Bihar, BITS Pilani Photography Club and more

 -Dr. Pankaj Sharma