June ‘22 Wrap-Up
June 30, 2022. Mumbai.
I thought I’d check in and share a few images that I omitted from my Facebook and Twitter feeds. I’m currently sharing individual images on Instagram (because that’s the only way to do it) but I’ve decided that I want to make better use of my own space, here on my website. I’ve preached enough about this but I no longer find it terribly helpful to me to share every single image that I post on all platforms. I’d rather have my audience come here and visit me to see what I’ve been up to. Plus, my growing weariness of social media has had the effect of wanting to reduce my footprints on all platforms.
I’m sharing the last 10 images that I’ve shared out to Instagram but nowhere else. I’ll include the captions too, if relevant.
Oh, and if you’re looking for something to read, I’ve included two books (at the bottom of the post) that I picked up this month.
June 23, 2022.
I went searching for rain today and couldn't find a drop in the sky. I'm sure it will start pouring down anytime after I post this just to rub it in. At the start of the monsoon season, it can be quite unpredictable. What's predictable though is the number of people in the streets during daylight hours...millions of them! And so I had a nice smile from someone just five minutes into my auto ride. I'll fully disclose this wasn't due to my passing presence. Makes for a good scene, nevertheless.
June 24, 2022.
Originally photographed from a moving auto-rickshaw. It's hard to know when such scenes photographed at 1/4 of a second will amount to anything. It's only after getting back home to the computer and with some coffee that I can delve into the post-processing and roll the dice.
June 24, 2022.
A little abstract street art. I can't deny the colors of India.
June 24, 2022.
I'm unsure whether I'd be doing any form of photography at all if I couldn't have people as subjects. It's a complex and time-consuming topic, but to put it succinctly, it's why I rely on street photography as the primary method for photographing people. Now, that I've taken a more artistic approach, I don't see this changing.
Someone had told me after I switched over to making art via motion and ICM that I should still take "street photos." It's funny to me that it was expressed this way but I understood the meaning: you should still do traditional street photography.
And what is street photography at its core? Taking pictures of people (or things) in public spaces. No. I don't suppose I will ever stop doing this, it's just a matter of splitting semantic hairs at the end of the day. On the outside, the process is still the same: I'm taking pictures of people; it's only my new presentation of the process that I feel is more important now.
Regardless of how one interprets street photography, this is still very much a street image in essence.
June 27, 2022.
I painfully remember missing a Chagall exhibition in Paris around 2000 or so when I was there for work. For this piece and several more to come, I'll be incorporating a good splash of blue into my images to pay homage to the artist that I admire equally along with Schiele.
A few have asked me who my photographic influences were. For the record, I've never had any because by the time I picked up the camera for my own endeavors I was completely ignorant of many of the big names I now admire but still don't emulate or take inspiration from. My influences have always come from painters, poets, and musicians, and not necessarily in that order. C'est la vie. Ma vie.
June 27, 2022.
I painfully remember missing a Chagall exhibition in Paris around 2000 or so when I was there for work. For this piece and several more to come, I'll be incorporating a good splash of blue into my images to pay homage to the artist that I admire equally along with Schiele.
A few have asked me who my photographic influences were. For the record, I've never had any because by the time I picked up the camera for my own endeavors I was completely ignorant of many of the big names I now admire but still don't emulate or take inspiration from. My influences have always come from painters, poets, and musicians, and not necessarily in that order. C'est la vie. Ma vie.
June 27, 2022.
Vendor selling corn at the Bandstand Promenade, in Mumbai.
June 28, 2022.
Bikers don't need umbrellas.
June 30, 2022.
I made the mistake of thinking I could do a short walk in what was to become a downpour with just an umbrella and no ziplock bag over my camera. Big mistake. Rain has a way of evading umbrella protection. The camera is safe but the new book I brought along in the camera bag has seen better days. Fortunately, it's Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and if the book is a stoic, then it probably rationalized its abuse today.
June 30, 2022.
It's early in the monsoon season, but this is probably my favorite so far.
What’s in My Book Bag for June?
The two new additions to my reading list are:
The Immortality Key, by Brian C. Muraresku
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
Both are linked indirectly by at least one common thread: the Eleusinian Mysteries.
