Issue 3 draft 2

issue 3 project_Issue 3 11/6/2012 11:37 PM Page 2



A word from the Editor...The third issue of our magazine “The Eye” very coincidently

sounds like Shiva’s third eye. This time we thought of covering

Music PhotographyAkhila Shankar and Mohita

NamjoshiCountry’s Premiere Film

Festival MAMI com-mences.Tanvi Hegde

Revitalized ArtVaidehi Tendulkar

Bag It!Ojasvi Mishra



FROM FROM CAMERA CAMERA

OWNER TO OWNER TO MUSIC MUSIC

PHOTOGRAPHERPHOTOGRAPHER

Being a photographer is an amazing thing.Being a photographer is an amazing thing.Side lining the complexities of ISOs, F numSide lining the complexities of ISOs, F num--bers, DOF, APO and many other combinabers, DOF, APO and many other combina--tions of alphabets which are supposed to betions of alphabets which are supposed to bevital for a photographer to know, it is by farvital for a photographer to know, it is by farthe simplest art from there is. As importantthe simplest art from there is. As importantas the print is, a photograph is usuallyas the print is, a photograph is usuallylooked at - seldom looked into. By look intolooked at - seldom looked into. By look intowe don’t just talk about the intricacies ofwe don’t just talk about the intricacies ofwhat is in front of your camera but also thewhat is in front of your camera but also thecomplexities around you that can affect it.complexities around you that can affect it.And with the increasing genres of photograAnd with the increasing genres of photogra--phy the variables that affect your image arephy the variables that affect your image areas inconsistent as the British weather. as inconsistent as the British weather. A very interesting niche sub-genre of phoA very interesting niche sub-genre of pho--tography is Music Photography. The interesttography is Music Photography. The interestin particular kind of image creation has beenin particular kind of image creation has beena parallel outcome of the growing musica parallel outcome of the growing musicscene in India. We spoke to Shiv Ahuja whoscene in India. We spoke to Shiv Ahuja whois one the country’s first music photograis one the country’s first music photogra--phers. Ahuja has shot every major artist inphers. Ahuja has shot every major artist inIndia from the likes of Indian Ocean,India from the likes of Indian Ocean,Parikrama, Faridkot, Raghu Dixit Project toParikrama, Faridkot, Raghu Dixit Project toShaair ‘n Func. We had a quick chat with himShaair ‘n Func. We had a quick chat with himto get a low down on music photography into get a low down on music photography inIndia.India.

How did you start off you career as a musicphotographer? How did you go about net-working to where you are today?

I was working with a youth organizationcalled The YP Foundation (www.theypfoun-dation.org). They have a division called Sil-houette, which basically deals withperforming arts, but they have been focusingon music for the past couple of years. TYPF,in partnership with Prospect, had a concertseries called ‘At Home’ which a monthly con-cert space for bands was playing originalmusic. I started out by shooting Men-whopause and after seeing the pictures theyasked me to come to another show, andslowly I started taking my camera to all thegigs I went for and putting up the photo-graphs on the web. It was working out quitewell actually. I was listening to bands that Iloved and getting entry for free! And now I'mhooked. At the risk of sounding over ambi-tious, I’m looking for a truly definitive shot. Asingle picture that kind of sums up the expe-rience of listening to that particular band. I'dlike to be able to take pictures that capturewhat the scene is like and how it’s growing.


What according to you was one of the moreimportant shoots (Career wise) you havedone?

The Eastwind Music Festival. For me, itmeant going from shooting one band a weekto shooting 60 bands in 3 days from 10 to 10,and sending in the pictures by 12 each night.

In your opinion how has live gig photographyevolved in India?

Well, until recently there were only a couple

of us launched liveshots.in. We get atleast 5emails a day from concert photographersacross the country!

Apart from the fact that a lot more people areshooting concerts now, there are also a lotmore outlets. Earlier, even if you were shoot-ing concerts, where would you send the pic-tures? Now there's RSJ, Blender, RollingStone, Rave and a bunch of online maga-zines such as indianrockmp3.com indieci-sion.com chordvine.com etc. that regularlycover the music scene and publish pictures.Plus newspapers are taking note. It’s a loop.Interest in the bands develops interest in the

Interest in the bands develops interest in thepictures develops interest in the bands de-velops.

Do you think it’s difficult for a band photog-rapher or gig photographer to make it big inIndia?

Making it big is subjective. If making it bigmeans getting to shoot the big acts, or the in-ternational acts that come down, then that’snot too hard, if you are associated with amagazine and have a portfolio to boot.(Oh,and if you’re living in Bangalore, and not De-

lhi). It just means making a lot of cold calls tothe organizers. By making it, if you meanbeing able to shoot concerts full time, thenmaybe not. We’re looking at a very small partof the music industry. Who is covering theBollywood shows? Who is shooting the folkconcerts? What about the classical recitals?There is no concept of having specialist con-cert photographers yet. So in that respect‘making it’ is hard.

Do you think this genre of photography couldbe a career in itself? Is there sort of qualifi-cation/s clients are looking for from Band and


live event photographer or do you think agood portfolio is enough?

It can be. But not anytime soon. Even musicmagazines don’t have full time concert pho-tographers and neither do venues. But itseems like its headed towards a positive di-rection. There are more albums beinglaunched, more tours and more festivals nowthan ever before and with the launch of TheSyndicate, the first booking agency in India,one can only expect more concerts to shoot!

With the new wave of people who aspire tobe Band Photographers and Gig photogra-phers, do you think it’s a trend here to stayor just a phase?

It’s here to stay. For sure!

Any piece of advice for aspirating musicphotographers in India?

I can only talk about what has helped me themost, and that’s shooting one band over andover. Plus. I think knowing the bands music iskey. If you know the music you can predictwhat’s coming. That way you’re just a lotmore tuned in. There’s a difference whenyou’re shooting Advaita and when you’reshooting Demonic Resurrection. Thinkingabout what image you want to portray of theband goes a long way in helping you see im-ages before they happen!


Cameras and beer don't mix. Mohita Namjoshi digs furtherinto Extreme Music Photography.

Besides a miliion other things, Alex York has specialized inarchitecture pgotography and extreme music photography.

How did you start off your career in photography?

I have been a writer/reviewer for UK-based extreme musicmagazine Zero Tolerance for many years and have knownLeon and Lisa Macey (the mag's creators) for even longer.I think it was at an Enslaved show that, for some reason, Idecided to bring a camera to. I now look back at those shotsand realize they were a bit rubbish but you have to startsomewhere.

Could you elaborate how you have networked to get whereyou are today?

As for networking, I'd have to say that Leon/Lisa/Calum andall the guys at Zero Tolerance, Paul from Arcane Promotionsand of course everyone that puts on these awesome shows.I would also like to mention Patricia Thomas – truly a won-derful woman and responsible for spreading my work allover the internet and the extreme music (particularly BlackMetal) community.

Which particular band shoot that you did took you to the nextlevel and in what way?

Undoubtedly it's Taake last year at the Underworld in Cam-den. In fact I just shot Taake again a couple of weeks ago,again at the Underworld, and just received some really nice feedback from Hoest himself.

Any band/s that you wish to cover as your photography sub-ject?

Darkthrone are at the top of my “to shoot” list, closely fol-lowed by Nokturnal Mortum and Kataxu. Of course if Weak-ling were to ever reform I would be at their first show in ashot. Not that it's ever going to happen. I would also like toshoot Wolves in the Throne room. Lucky for me they're play-ing here in a few weeks and I'm booked in to shoot it!

On a more technical basis, how do you think the usage ofthe camera differs for live shows of Rock/Metal bands ascompared to other forms of live events?

Clearly metal musicians move around a hell of a lot morethan, say, a wedding couple or people in some kind of play

or classical concert. That generally means you need to beable to track your subject(s) more quickly, which can betough, especially when there are heads and fists flyingaround in front of you. One solution to this is to use a lenswith a stabilizer, but that's often way out of the price rangeof us poor metal photographers and it's rare to find a fastprime lens with a stabilizer.

What according to you is the most difficult part of live pho-tography for Metal bands?

We tend to shoot with a wider aperture (typically f/1.4-2.0)and/or higher ISO. Also metal gigs will naturally be lit muchdarker than most other live events. Again, with wider aper-tures and higher ISOs than you might like. This is why I al-ways shoot RAW – I'd rather underexpose slightly, use awider aperture and a slightly lower ISO and boost the expo-sure in post production. Black metal shows should of coursebe extremely dark and atmospheric – that's key to the musicand therefore should be key to your photography. It is forthis reason that I never use flash. I try to capture what is ac-tually there, not what I'd like to be there. You can often tell (if you know the music) when the vocalistor guitarists are about to go nuts, so you can prep your set-tings for some fast action high shutter speed shooting justbefore and away you go. Then, when things calm down abit, you can switch back to slower speeds and try to capturesome more elegant flowing motion.

Any advice to upcoming photographers of this genre?

Firstly, get comprehensive camera and equipment insur-ance! Your gear WILL get damaged at some point! Camerasand beer don't mix... Secondly, get to gigs early to give youtime to get set up and to find a basic starting point for yourcamera settings based on the lighting in the room. Thirdly,and most importantly, have the balls to barge your way tothe front – don't hide at the back!. Lastly, respect the otherphotographers in the room/pit by allowing them in to the frontfor a bit. Also, don't listen to the purist types who insist thatpost production is a “sin” and that the raw photo should beleft pure and untouched. It's rubbish!Seriously the best way is to just get involved with your localscene as much as possible, meet bands, artists, label man-agers and ideally get involved with a good magazine evenif it's just a fanzine or other indie production, online or inprint. All you need is a camera, a good lens or three andsome kind of artistic flair.


Country’s Premier Film Festival MAMI Commences! - Tanvi

HegdeThe 14th Mumbai Film Festival hosted by theMumbai Academy of Moveing Images receiveda fairly protracted opening ceremony. Elaborateas is to be expected by the location of thisyear’s festival at the National Center of Perform-ing Arts. The previous two festivals were hostedrespectively at PVR Juhu (and the neighborigChandan) and at Infinity Mall, Versova. Com-mendably hosted at both venues on both occa-sions but the shift to Nariman Point and SouthBombay this year was especially welcome toseveral moviegoers and cinephiles and it led Mr.Shyam Benegal, film-maker and esteemedchairman of the festival, to declare MAMI 2012as India’s “best film festival”. The screening fol-lowed the opening ceremony which introducedthe organizers, presented the juries of differentprograms within the festival. Dimensions Mum-bai is a short film competition with a separatejury, as is India Gold and the Grand Jury whichlooks at the international competition. Thenthere was the lighting of the lamp and a presen-tation of a Lifetime Achievement Award toZhang Yimou. The festival will screen 200 filmsfrom 65 countries and pay homage to RajeshKhanna, Dara Singh and A. K. Hangal.

Day #2The second day saw a lot of press conferencesand workshops, the one that stood out was con-vened to showcase Shahid, a film based on theremarkable life, career trajectory and murder ofhuman rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmiby noted filmmaker Hansal Mehta. The after-noon segment titled “who is the producer of thefilm?” was an open forum interaction that wit-nessed a panel discussion that featured illustri-ous participants such as producerextraordinaire Shrishti Arya Bhel, GuneetMonga (GOw), and Vijay Singh, CEO at Fox Stat

Studios. Enthusiasts of cinema were presentedwith an opportunity to enjoy works of cinematicgenius with movies including On The Road bywalter Salles, Beasts of the Southern wild byBenh Zeitln, Satyajit Ray’s Charulata, Vittoto DeSica’s Umberto D. The Taste of Money by criti-cally acclaimed Korean director IM Sanf-Soo aswell as works by local filmmakes like NitinKakkar’s Filmistaan.

Day #3The cinematic reverie continued on day 3 ofMAMI. The highlight of the day was AshimAhluwalia, a recognized Indian director, screen-writer and film producer. His film Miss Lovely,after touring at the 2012 Cannes Film Festivaland Melbourne International Film Festival finallypremiered at the MAMI. Also premiering wasMarathi film Balak Palak, the maiden productionventure of actor Riteish Deshmukh. The eventfulday began with the second edition of “Ren-dezvous with French Cinema” a segment aimedat showcasing work of contemporary Frenchcinema, with screening of 2012 French-Belgianfilm Rust & Bone. Among these were the stellarJapanese drama film Like Someone in Love byIranian auteur Abbas Karostami, venteranFrench-German filmmaker Alain Resnais’ YouAin’t Seen Nothin’ Yet, Japanese yakuza filmOutrage Beyond, Kalpana by Indian directorUday Shankar, L & From Tuesdat to Tuesday byBabis Makridis and Gustavo Fernandez Trivinorespectively.

Day #4It was by far the most eventful day yet at theMAMI. It saw MasterChef Australia’s celebrityjudges making an appearance to the delegate’ssurprise. George Calombaris and Gary Mehigandidn’t speak to the media; they said they were


there only to enjoy films. When they stood upto wave at the delegates in the theater, the au-dience burst into a massive round of applause.At around 7pm, news of Yash Chopra’s demisebegan flashing across news channels. As a ges-ture of condolence on the death of veteran In-dian filmmaker Yash Chopra, the MAMI familyobserved and will observe a minute of silenceat every festival screen across the city to payrespect to his memory.

Day #5The beginning of the 5th day at 14th MumbaiFilm Festival was enveloped in gloom as the re-ality of the passing of Indian cinematic marveland trustee of MAMI, Mr. Yash Chopra sunk in.the afternoon segment saw the second editionof “Rendezvous with French Cinema” unveilingthe film Renoir by Gilles Bourdos. Later duringthe day was hosted a segment titled “KabulFresh: New Voices in Afghan Cinema” the firstof a kind initiative in India aimed at showcasingthe film movement in the warn-torn nationthrough a selection of short films by both es-tablished and budding filmmakers fromAfghanistan. Animated film The Life by 22 yearold Mohammad Reza Nawruzi premiered, so didA Day Of Postman Khan Agha by waheedullahRahmatullah Nazil. Kabul Cards by SamiullahNabizasa was highly appreciated. The eveningwitnessed a special selection “Restored Clas-sics” an endeavor to highlight the importanceof Preservation and Restoration of films, byscreening restored classic Shatranj Ke Khilariand Hollywood movie Gentlemen PreferBlondes.

Day #6Day 6 saw cinephiles and patrons arrive in largenumbers for their day’s dose of cinematic fare.An educative forum titled “Reaching AudiencesWorldwide - Do we really understand the over-seas film business and distribution” witnessedthe participation of successful Indian film pro-ducer Madhu Mantena ( Ghajini), Screen maga-zine's contributing editor of Asia Liz Shackleton

Vice President of the Indian Film Exporters As-sociation Hirachand Dand, Mahesh Ra-manathan, CEO at Reliance Big Entertainmentand Vikramjit Roy, Head of Production, NationalFilm Development Corporation of India (NFDC).In the Restored Classics section, Inferno (1911)by Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe De Liguaroand Adolf Padovan was shown. At this editionof the festival Film India Worldwide presentedthe first Film India Worldwide Jury Award toNepali-French film Soongra - Dance of the Or-chid. The award was conferred to the winner bymembers of the illustrious three-member juryTherese Mayes, Programmer of Indian & AsianFilms at Palm Springs, International Film Festi-val and distinguished Indian filmmaker DevBenegal and Prashant Nair.

Day #7Day 7 saw the open forum discussion on “Thestate of writing today” and the panel includedguests Vinay Shukla, Saurabh Shukla, AbbasTyrewala, Dev Benegal, Atual Tiwari and SagarBallary. Mithun Chakraborty’s film Nobel Chorwas premiered. In the “Celebration of ItalianCinema” segment Ermanno Olmi’s The Porfes-sion of Arms, LOOSE Cannons by FerzanOzpetek and Indo-Italian director Italo Spinelli’sGangor were shown. The award winning Frenchfilm Les Rebelles Du Foot (Football Rebels) di-rected by Gilles Perez and Gilles Rof was shownin the special segment called “The Real Reel”.

Must Watch Films At Mami Film FestivalRust and Bones – Jaques AudiardBeyond the Hills – Christian Mungiu

Blancanieves – Pablo BergerCherry – Stephen Elliott

Silver Linings Playbook - David O RussellBeasts of the Southern wild – Benh Zeitlin

After Lucia – Michel FrancoThrow of Dice – Franz OstenKalpana – Uday Shankar

Miss Lovely – Ashim Ahluwalia



Revitalized Revitalized ArtArtBy Vaidehi tendulkarBy Vaidehi tendulkar

The subcontinent of India is vast, now organ-ised into four nations, but comprising thou-sands of separate cultural entities. Indianhistory evolved through interplay of differentbeliefs and through a myriad of kingdomsand empires undergoing constant change.As new ruler gained ascendancy and estab-lished a court, they encouraged the produc-tion of symbols of his wealth, objects tobring out his affluence and to display hispower and which made visual art grow ac-cordingly. The style and manner in whichthese items were made depended upon localtraditions and influence of outside sources.Also the labourers or craftsmen involved inthis process, when going back home took theimpressions of the art they were working onwhich encouraged the folk art on tribal lev-els.Folk art was done as paintings, pottery,weaving etc. moreover on things we use inour daily lives like the pots, carpets, clothesetc. Folk art was done inside the home, onouter walls as paintings especially in respectof some occasions or celebrations. Folk arthad no specifications or art rules to be fol-lowed; it is a form of expression. Every region in India has its own style andpattern of art, which is known as folk art.Other than folk art, there is yet another formof traditional art practised by several tribesor rural population, which is classified astribal art. The folk and tribal arts of India arevery ethnic and simple, and yet colourful andvibrant enough to speak volumes about thecountry's rich heritage.Folk art has played animportant and tremendous role in develop-ment of art and culture.

WARLI PAINTING“Warli” painting takes its name from the“Warli” tribe of Maharashtra. Though spreadout in parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra, theWarlis are largely concentrated in Dahanuand Talaseri Taluka’s of Thane district of Ma-harashtra.The Warlis by tradition have been cultivatorsand gatherers growing a single crop, usuallypaddy. (a flooded parcel of arable land usedfor growing rice and other semi aquaticcrops.) Thus their lives are inextricably de-pendent on the vagaries of nature. The paint-ings are executed inside the hut walls. Thewalls are first smeared with cow dung andthen red mud is applied to provide the basetexture. Pointed bamboo twigs and thin ricepaste are used to draw patterns. Traditionallythe paintings are always done by “Suvasinis”(married women who are not widowed) and“Dhanaleris”( married priestess). The Warli


art in India have a very simple base andtheme. It does not believe in over doing stuff.The theme and content of the drawing varieswith the occasion and the deity being wor-shiped. The Warli paintings do not intend tohave mythological characters or images ofgods or goddess, but depict social life. Forthe tribal, life is an eternal circle. At all occa-sions – birth, marriage, and death they drawcircles, symbol of Mother Goddess. Death isnot the end for them; rather it is a new begin-ning. This is why circles best represent theart of tribal, which has neither an end nor abeginning. The Warli paintings have normally human fig-ures doing their daily chores; the forms aresimple and basic made out of circles and tri-

triangles. Though there is no theory or ruleswith regards to “Warli” painting, to enhancethe beauty mostly the only colour which usedis mud brown and white. Yet the Warli paint-ing looks intricate and beautiful. Images ofhuman beings and animals, along withscenes from daily life are created in loosepatterns which seem beautiful and rhythmi-cally framed. As most of the time “Warli”paintings are signified by characters andsymbols Painted in white colour on mudwalls, which are pretty close to pre-historiccave paintings in execution and usually de-pict scenes of human figures engaged in ac-tivities like hunting, dancing, sowing,harvesting, going out, drawing water fromwells, drying clothes or even dancing.


Although the Tribal lived very close to Mum-bai, India’s largest metropolis, they shun allinfluences of modern urbanization. Since in-dependence, the Indian government has as-siduously encouraged the production ofmarketable village crafts by traditional ways.An Indian folk art painting has traveledacross borders and is now the cherishedpossessions of many a collector and artlover. Even though many paint for commer-cial gain today, they have continued to ad-here to old themes and motifs that can onlybe appreciated by those who know and un-derstand Tribal culture.

“Warli” paintings on paper have become verypopular and are now sold all over India.Today, small paintings are done on cloth andpaper but they look best on the walls or in theform of huge murals that bring out the vastand magical world of the Warlis. For theWarlis, tradition is still adhered to but at thesame time new ideas have been allowed toseep in which helps them face new chal-lenges from the market.


"Life is this painting which you aremaking, the only difference is youcan’t erase it”says the young artistRaazgi from Bag this! The youth is getting trendy and so isthe art, pop art is something that everyyoungster would like in his or herwardrobe. With such a trend, it would-n’t be justified to not talk to an enter-prising youngster. Ms.Raazgi Haidri, amass media graduate from S.I.E.S Col-lege (Nerul) is a pop artist. She is cur-rently working for a radio station as anassistant programmer. Raazgi loved painting from the very be-ginning, she has always loved paintingand colours have always inspired herenough to take up the brush and dosomething with the colours. A creativeyoungster with creative ideas and cre-ative paintings has her own outletcalled ‘Bag this”which customizes t-shirts, shoes, bags for their cus-tomers. “Painting is always preferredover printing; it gives a personaltouch” says Raazgi. When asked aboutselling her designs, she has a quickreply which states that she makes herdesigns and sells it. She markets it onFacebook, it started with just 2 mem-bers she and her sister and within anyear it is around 600 which is anachievement. Raazgi agrees that thereis good scope for pop art since the tar-get audience is the youth and theyouth is always trendy! Hand madethings are cheaper, trendy, better adcustomized, it is new and innovative.

Bag this’started over an year ago, andthe idea came up when her sister’sfriend commented on their paintingand then it clicked that this could eas-ily be done. Trend for her is anythingthat you think people will notice in youand can follow! Raazgi has a clear vision about whatshe has to do and she also sees wherethe generation is going today, “I’mtoday’s generation, we are quick andsmart. We adapt very easily. We areready to experiment, the only problemwith today’s generation is , everybodywants to be perfect, in trying to goproper, o be perfect people are afraidto commit mistakes, when you don’tcommit mistakes, you don’t learn,when you don’t learn ,you don’t grow !I have committed a lot of mistakes andtoday I see myself and Bag This grow-ing!!



Documents

Issue 3 draft 2