JYOTISH DUTTA

Vivian Maier...street photographer extraordianaire, discovered posthumously, shot more than 150000 photographs which, surprisingly, she never published. It seems that many of her negatives never made it to print.   She kept all her work to herself. An artist, in contrast, today spends a lot of time and effort in promoting himself or herself and his or her art through various mediums of communication. In the present day scenario, with the internet bustling with photographer and photography pages, artists compete for space and an audience. Vivian Maier's story is thought provoking. What might have been her motivation to photograph random people or streets ? Why did she isolate herself? Will I photograph solely for myself, without any audience to derive feedback or inspiration from?    

Got a call from a friend asking me if I would like to join them on a trip to Dzukou valley, Nagaland, as they needed one more person to make the trip happen; I jumped to the opportunity. The itinerary was a simple three day program. We started early on  11th June(June), boarding the 4AM inter city train from Jorhat to Dimapur. We reached Dimapur at 7.30 AM, had our breakfast and booked a tourist taxi to Kohima,  which is about a 2.30 hrs drive. Once in Kohima , we met with Roko and her Eastern Green Tours, and made our way to Viswema village and began our climb. We were informed that the trek from Viswema is comparatively easy with respect to that from jakhama village , which, though shorter(2-3hrs), was more steep . One hour into our climb and I realized how ill prepared I was.  A bag full of clothes that got wet, and thus heavy due to  non stop rains, made body balance and climbing difficult. Moreover, I was carrying too much camera equipment. After three ...

A couple of weeks back, I came across a post by a noted photojournalist(new into the wedding photography market) about his   interaction with a prospective client that went wrong. In the uploaded screenshot was his conversation with his client, where the client states his preference for a particular kind of image effect, and where the photojournalist sarcastically refuses to let go of his ‘many years of learning’ and ‘in-camera expertise’. And no surprise, his fans and followers (except a few) began to belittle the particular prospective client for his lack of ‘taste’ for ‘real photography’. Within no time our photojournalist turned wedding photographer’s post had hundreds of likes and many shares. My take on this is that the ‘client’ is always right. After all he/she is the one who is going to show me the money. My kind of ‘Creativity’ or what I   call ‘Art’ may not necessarily sync with the expectations of my client. I would take great care in getting a clear idea of my...

Off late I have become increasing fond of 'Blurs'. I have been practicing a technique popularly known as 'Shutter Drag' to create impressions such as below. Now, there are so many things to consider viz ideal shutter speed, DOF, flash, pleasing background and also importantly the speed at which I pan the camera with respect to the subject. All these factors need to be in 'sync' for a pleasing impression. But the funny part is that I have absolutely no control as to how the final picture would look like. And this uncertainity or the lack of control, I guess, is what makes the process of creating these impressions so enjoyable.

"A picture is the expression of an impression. If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?" --- Ernst Haas

    If you have travelled to the mountains in Eastern India, the chances are you have made a pit stop in one of  the many stand alone food joints cum wine shop along the NH. The most popular and readily available item on the menu being 'Noodles' (sometimes it being the only item on the menu)     Didi serving noodles. Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh While coming back from Tawang , we took a detour to Mandala, a very popular birding destination in Arunachal. Though I like observing and taking pictures of birds and wild animals, I just didn't like the idea of capturing portraits of small endangered birds, drawn out by the loud and sometimes irritatingly long recorded bird calls. I caught up with some portraiture instead.   Sange's food joint cum general store Sange's kitchen.....she's busy preparing Noodles for us  

A couple of pictures of the himalayan bears in captivity in Lohit and Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh... A 1 year old 3months old cub that strayed into human civilization Hunting in Arunachal is more of a tradition and is still very prevalent despite serious efforts made by the government. Another link that has the story.... http://jyotishdutta.blogspot.com/#!/2011/07/trip-to-lohit-and-tirap-districts-of.html All pictures are copyright of Jyotish Dutta. The pictures are not to be used in any way without prior permission.

Teer, a local sport in Shillong, is now a very addictive legalized form of betting. “Teer” meaning “Arrow”, is an everyday event   where several groups of archers shoot at a specified target. Counters spread across Shillong ensure that market is adequately addressed. Best part is that anyone can bet. A cab from Police Bazaar took me to Polo. It wasn’t hard finding the location as the people I asked for directions were headed there. So I joined them. We entered a somewhat nondescript compound with high walls on one side and small betting counters surrounding it. A cylindrical target made of bamboo and straw had been placed in front of the wall. Archers in groups, with their bows and arrows made of bamboo, were ready under an arched shooting gallery. Suddenly, on a signal, arrows began to whiz through the air. It was 4.30PM in the afternoon, the light was low and it was drizzling… The Target The Archers The Archers Within minutes the shooting was over and the officials p...

Recently, on an assignment for WTI where we had to rescue 2 himalayan bears, I had an opportunity to travel with their team to Lohit and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Didnt get much of a chance to explore as we were on a tight schedule. The bears had to be rescued and brought back to the centre in Kaziranga without any delay. Almost all pictures taken from the vehicle. This is where we stayed after rescuing a 3-4 month old bear cub..... Forest IB in Namsai.  The very next day we were off to Khonsa, the headquarters of Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh, to rescue another himalayan bear..... I sure was surprised to see Tea Gardens on the way to Khonsa.... When we arrived in Khonsa, the view was truly majestic. How I wished  I could get down from the car for better pictures..... In Khonsa, a grown 1year old himalayan bear awaited to be rescued. We were in for a shock.....it was huge. Hunting is still very much a tradition in ma...

Hajo, a place just 32 kms from my house in Guwahati, and I knew so little about the place and the people. So off I rode to Hajo. It took me 2hrs to reach the main town. Not that the road condition was bad, but the view all along the way was just fantastic. The river Brahmaputra and the enveloping hills on both the sides ensured that I made many pit stops in admiration. With early morning rains bringing down the mercury level, it was a great day for biking. My 1 st climb was the Garurachal Hills to see the shrine people call Poa Mecca, a place of pilgrimage for the Muslim community. On top of the hill is a mosque and the tomb of Gyasuddin Aulia. It is said that Gyasuddin Aulia , an Iranian prince, made the first attempt to impregnate Islam in this part of the country(supposedly 12AD). Legend has it that the preacher had bought a lump of earth from Mecca and enshrined the same at the spot where the mosque was built at a later period.   The present preacher there was kind enough to...