Reflections--Radhika Iyengar

Instrument: Polaroid i534, 5.0 mp (6.1-18.3 mm)
Aperture : f/3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/4
ISO: 100
Lighting Conditions: Low light, indoors

I had taken about 20 odd photographs of the most random things which had reflections to offer, however, this one struck me to be the most arbit one in nature, which I believe, is something different from what I usually produce.
Earlier, I had taken a tube light (from the other side) to be my subject, however, since that didn't work out, I decided to switch sides. I took some 2-3 pictures of the fan's reflection on the black granite alone, which came out to be extremely dull and distorted. So I spilt some water on the granite, and took another 2-3 shots. There was a knife lying on the table, so I picked it up and made a few 'cuts' here and there in the water, and voila. I like it, because to me, it's different.

Reflections - Tapti Ghosh (second)

ISO 200
Aperture- f\ 5.6
Evening time
Day Light mode
This photograph has both shadow and reflection of the objects. In the case of first boat, a shadow has formend due to to the position of the sun and the object. Rest of the boats are a bit ahead than the first one. So, when the sun rays fell on the boats, reflections were formed on the river.

Reflections- Tapti Ghosh

ISO - 200

Aperture- f\5.6

Lighting Conditions- dull (evening time)

Day Light mode

To begin with, it took me some time to understand the assignment. I went ahead and clicked some photographs. I was not happy at all as somehow the words 'reflection contemplate' kept playing in my mind again and agian. It was important to remember, that it is reflection and not shadow. Secondly, the object and the reflection should be in the same frame. I did not want to use a glass mirrowfor reflection. It stuck me to use river Ganges for the assignment. by the time I reached the 'ghat', the sun rays looked beautiful and gave a warm effect. I felt it was ideal and photographed the moment. In the background is the New Howrah Bridge, Kolkata.

Sorry Ajay, I could not find the shutter speed adjustment in the camera. Rest I have used in the Manual mode.

Reflections - Yakuta Poonawalla

Canon Rebel 300 D
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 500
ISO: 800
Lighting Conditions: Bright, daylight, outdoors

You have the insiders and the outsiders. The insiders imitate the outsiders. And the outsiders wished they had a relaxed life like the insiders. Just cook and serve and not discuss meetings but new recipes.

This is what happened. These men tired from work and the corporate life, longed to be like the chefs. And the chefs dreamed all day long of waking up, getting into a suit, polished shoes, laptop bags, blackberry phones and all that jazz. Only a mirror separates them.

Reflections - Yakuta Poonawalla

Canon Rebel 300 D
Aperture: f/ 5.3
Shutter Speed: 250
ISO: 1600
Lighting Conditions: Tungsten light

She doesn't know if she wants to be on this side or that side. On one hand she loves it on this side - it's bright and pretty and she's happy. On the other, it's dark and scary and unknown. But She's there. She can see herself going with her. She is her.

Reflections - Yakuta Poonawalla

Canon Rebel 300 D
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 1600
Lighting Conditions: Dark room, artificial tungsten light.

Books always make you think. They reflect your story. They echo your dreams. They reveal the truth.

These are all books I've read. Some I liked, some I disliked and some changed my life. Many times while reading I would stop and say, "Wait a minute. This is what happened to me! Or this is what I'm experiencing. Or this is the story of my friend Bhavana's life!" It felt great to know that whoever wrote the book experienced the same and that's what motivated him to write. Books are mere reflections - of a person, a thing, an experience, an emotion, a situation or just life in general.


Canon Rebel 300 D
Aperture: f/ 5.3
Shutter Speed: 250
ISO: 1600
Lighting Conditions: Tungsten light

She doesn't know if she wants to be on this side or that side. On one hand she loves it on this side - it's bright and pretty and she's happy. On the other, it's dark and scary and unknown. But She's there. She can see herself going with her. She is her.



Canon Rebel 300 D
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 500
ISO: 800
Lighting Conditions: Bright, daylight, outdoors

You have the insiders and the outsiders. The insiders imitate the outsiders. And the outsiders wished they had a relaxed life like the insiders. Just cook and serve and not discuss meetings but new recipes.

This is what happened. These men tired from work and the corporate life, longed to be like the chefs. And the chefs dreamed all day long of waking up, getting into a suit, polished shoes, laptop bags, blackberry phones and all that jazz. Only a mirror separates them.

Reflections- Mallika Kulkarni

this is taken in my house. what i really liked is that fact that every mask is from a different country, showing that throught the centuries, human beings ,wherever they are, love the art of masquerading.

this was taken in the night (obviously) during Diwali. although i love the way the colours of the irecrackers, i'm terrified of themso i wouldnt go anywhere near them. thus i had to settle for taking the pic from a distance. this pic was taken in the fireworks mode on my camera

ISO: 125

APerture: f/14

shutter spped: 2 seconds

auto white balance

this photo was pbviously taken in the classroom. in this pic i have been 'inspired' by William Eggleston's technique of capturing everyday mundane things which seem commonplace but are indicative of a human presence. these desks and chairs are of great value during class hours, but after classes, they seem to have no real function.

Aperture: f/2.8

Shutter spped: 1/50

ISO : 125

auto white balance

The photograph above was taken after a long hard evening of work in college. ive realized that the saying' no 2 sunsets are alike' is completely true. every evening while working away in college, I see the sky tinged with pinks, oranges and even blues. just the wide array of colours is simply breath-taking. also by this time (around 7 pm) most of us are in crabby moods, but when we see this sunset we all seem to calm down and relax atleast for a minute. what i also loved about this picture were the hundreds of birds just flying around, they seemed to symbolize the meaning of the word 'Freedom.'

technical specifications

Aperture: f/3.2

Shutter spped: 1/60

ISO: 125

white balance for cloudy conditions

Deepa Nair

Focal Length: 53 mm
Exposure: 1/80 sec
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 800
Flash: Flash Not Fired

From being restive during exams, we've finally managed to be festive with the festival of lights. Also, personally diyas form an extension of my name Deepa... I intended to capture the lovely illumination that a small diya brings about.They reprsent the small gleam of light in darkness and a symbol of enlightenment and the elemination of evil. It's one of the loveliest sights during this festival.
So, As the Hindustan Times Logo goes, " Let there be light"

"reflections" deadline

Ok, after having figured out your schedule, the deadline for this exercise is 10pm Thurs 30th Oct'08. After this, there is one more exercise I want you to do while you are on your field trip. Something that will link up and hopefully help shape your final film. Cheers! Enjoy your much-needed break and have a great Diwali! - Ajay

Ex 6: Reflections

While you are contemplating your final film ideas, exams, diwali break and the field trip, I want you to next explore "reflections". This time you are on your own...reflective, contemplative... 

I want you to be a lot more careful in your framing, exposure and focus. Besides writing at least a paragraph about each photograph you post, I'd like you to also note technical details of camera used, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, distance and lens used and post alongside wherever possible. Write about why you took THIS photograph, your thought process, how happy/unhappy you are with the result. 

There is no limit on the number of photographs you can post. Remember, sometimes our mistakes can be our best takes! For a change, I'll post some too n you can tell me what you thought of them.

Start posting as soon as you think you have something worthwhile to share with the rest. Enjoy! - Ajay

PS: Remember, your name in the title and 'reflections' as label.

Mallika and Tapti

Smitha and Kinjal

introducing our guest reviewer

Chetana Deorah
is a Graphic Designer with over 9 years’ experience in Print and Web User Interface Design. She graduated from the Sophia Polytechnic with a BFA in Commercial Art.
Her award-winning portfolio and thesis project on the visual interpretation of Poetry earned her an MFA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. She has won numerous web awards for clients such as Stanford University and Puretech Internet! Chetana is based in the San Francisco bay area working as a Senior Visual Designer at Yahoo! Inc.

apologies!

hey guys,

Just to say a big sorry that I have not uploaded the comments, observations and grading that my graphic designer friend has made. Also, those of you who have emailed the exercise, try and upload them again onto the blog. Am out till this weekend and will post the comments on Sunday 5th Sept. Thanks! - Ajay

something i'd like you to read

The Uses and Misuses of Photographs
By Sadanand Menon


Monday, September 22 was an extraordinary day in the annals the Indian media. I would like to call it a day of shame. For, on that day, our media collectively displayed its herd-like mentality and its entirely uncritical attitude to the use – and misuse – of the photographs it publishes.

At least eight mainstream English language newspapers (including The Times of India, The Indian and The New Indian Express, The Hindu, the Hindustan Times, The Deccan Chronicle) and many more in the language press from North to South and East to West, uncritically published almost identical photographs on their front pages. The photographs were not generated by any single agency. They were neither taken by ‘citizen’ photographers nor were they official handouts. They were shots by individual staff photographers as well as professional syndicated photographers. What is amazing is what newsrooms across the country chose to do with the image.

The photographs were of three suspects involved in the Delhi blasts, who were arrested from their residence in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. Reports also claimed they were students of the Jamia Milia Islamia. What was fishy about the photographs was that they showed three totally unidentifiable people, their head and face completely swathed in generous length of cloth, flanked by gun-toting policemen in mufti and other hangers-on. Yet it seemed obvious that this was a photo-op provided to the media – not to protect anyone’s identity – but to precisely create a definite sense of identity.

For all the three suspects, to mask their identity, were tricked up by the local police in identical ‘Palestinian Rumaals’ or kaffiyehs or abayas or cassavas as this piece of head-dress is variously known. Though none of their faces were visible, to any casual reader of the newspapers it would be abundantly clear that they were of ‘Arab’, ‘West Asian’ or ‘Islamic’ origin. A clear case of racial profiling!

Some sceptical comments about this on the net, primarily generated by documentary film maker Yousuf Sayeed who lives in the same area, led to a small critical piece in The Hindustan Times two days later, raising critical questions. The sceptics wondered how it came about that the three arrested suspects came to be in possession of identical, brand new rumaals, which they could readily pull out of their pockets to cover their faces. As if, upon realising they might be arrested soon, they went shopping and bought identical scarves, so that everyone will recognise them as ‘Islamic terrorists’. Critics pointed out that usually suspects arrested on various charges mask their faces with their own handkerchiefs or borrow towels or black cloth to hood their faces; never before had it seemed like such a costume drama as the Delhi police had managed to stage.

Then came the stunning revelation by the Delhi police commissioner. He confessed that it was his department which had dressed up the suspects in such a suggestive manner and, even more alarmingly, that the Delhi police had purchased these pieces of cloth “in bulk” for use by those arrested. Obviously, every arrested person could now be given a suggestive ‘Islamic terrorist’ look, thereby setting up dangerous subliminal propaganda within the media.

Repulsive as it is, most people will agree that the Police and its dirty-tricks department are not beyond using such obnoxious methods. What is beyond explanation is how the media collectively fell into this trap and carried these images without a single question mark or doubt about what they so readily display on their front pages.

For those not used to thinking about these things, the question can be framed a little differently. It has to do with conceptual issues related to the use (or misuse) of the image in the media. On any given day, hundreds of thousands of photographs are clicked. Of these, by common consensus, and governed by a largely abstract logic dealing with the received wisdom of ‘news-value’ or ‘news-worthiness’, about five hundred to a thousand pictures might be considered for use within the media. After that, it is quite chancy or dependent on strong editorial choices why a photograph makes it to the papers, in particular the front page.

The front page photo, in the world of the print media, is usually associated with an iconic status. It is supposed be a quick encapsulation of what a paper or a region or a nation or a civilisation imagines as its primary concern. It frames the news of the day with a kind of visual evidence or back-up which then illustrates how it wants to set up the communication and how it wants the readers to enter the narrative.

Very seldom, across 365 days in a year, do we find identical images on the front page. That is supposed to be the greatness and the strength of democratic media practice that editorial position and interpretation of events can vary. It is also part of the notion of healthy competition in the media that variety, diversity and contrariness are seen as virtues – that a news item or image which is used sycophantically by one section of the press, can as easily be used critically by another section of the same press.

That is why, when you come across a substantial section of the national press use just one common image on their front page, and that too without an critical remarks or interrogative comments, one begins to smell the operation of ‘ideology’, which is nothing but a blind acceptance of certain ‘ruling’ ideas of a class or of a moment – ideas that indicate the power structures within which ‘information’ and ‘meaning’ are manufactured.

To me it is shattering, that on the evening of September 21, across the newsrooms of the best of Indian newspapers, not one editorial discussion chose to evaluate the photograph of the three arrested youngsters draped in checked cloth and use their judgement to ‘read’ the picture in a dispassionate manner worthy of a free press. Instead the Indian media collectively behaved as they had not even during the period of the Emergency and its draconian censorship. They all fell prey to their own sense of prejudice and communal mindset. The Nazi propaganda machine could not have expected to produce better results.

Obviously, Indian media needs to re-investigate the ‘frame’ within which it is presenting, colouring and analysing news. Such evidence of a collective cop-out is a serious failing, which it needs to critically examine and carry out correctives. In fact, this is a fit case for being taken before the Press Council.

Shame, a little shame is all that the media needs. For shame as Marx said, is a revolutionary sentiment.

ANURADHA AND KIRTI

Tapti Ghosh [contrast (extra)]

Hi. This is the photograph I had discussed in the class. The photograph has been taken at a petrol pump. It is on the yellow line that the cars are parked but for a change, we see cheer girls.......

Rashmi and Mugdha

Atmaja & Chandreyee - ( Redone) Contrast Excercise

LABELS!

Guys, many of you my find this highly annoying... It's almost the end of the first term, and we've completed a billion assignments for this blog (well, ok.. maybe not a billion, but quite a few). I hope we've reached a stage where we all can LABEL our posts correctly? The label for this assignment is 'contrast', something that Ajay mentioned earlier. JUST 'contrast'...

Anyhoo! :)

Cheers to our good photographs.. There is hope! :)

Sruti