Best of Me : 2010

2010 is quite an eventful year for me in terms of photography. Few long drives, few far places, 2 exhibitions. It was over all an interesting journey this year so far. Here is a list of best of my frames [as per me] and a little “behind the frame” of these pics.


I took this shot during my last visit at Kolkata. It was around 6 pm; dusk was setting in. I sat near a Ghat and took this shot hand-held. I like this frame because of its color and lovely mellow mood.





2010 Sindur Khala at Baghbazar Puja. I was here for 7 hours to photograph this very event. With 35^ centigrade temperature, humidity above 80% and scorching sun; it was definitely not a pleasant outing. I was sweating like it was raining and my dressed soaked with sweat literally showed that. Despite all these I was a satisfied photographer at the end of the day … as the candid portraits I captured that day were beautiful and reflection of Bengali joy at its best. Here are few of my favorites.











I took this shot during my last visit at Kolkata. Just before the beginning of Durga Puja I visited the famous Kumartuli. In short Kumartuli is “Land of Color”.








This shot was taken at a place named Narayanpura, somewhat 60 km from Bangalore. Settlements of potters; which still do all the clay work in traditional way.





I had this idea of doing macro in black and white. I dedicated one day for this during independence day Lalbagh Flower show. Many of my friends did not like this idea because; as per them this diminishes the main beauty of flower; its color.








I took this shot at my current office on Women’s Day. Till date this image is the “most interesting” and “most viewed” image in my Flickr Photostream as per flickr terminologies. This image was also selected for an exhibition pEtE maatu





These pictures were taken at Kolkata. I had gone to Kolkata to attend famous Kolkata Book Fair… and ended up with these shots.








Puri sea beach: I took this shot during my visit to Puri earlier this year. I woke up early to spend some time with the fishermen who come back early morning from sea. This is one frame from that day.





Visit my Flickr Photostream for more.

Narayanpura : GOD in making … everyday

I badly wanted to do some pottery place shoot as Ganesh puja was nearby. The obvious choice was the age old pottery town [ which is now close to my home too ]. But eventually Narayanpura surfaced and we all agreed for it instantaneously. I had the picture of a shady old village when I first heard about this place. But this place does not resemble to any village at all. Rather it has become a small town with nice houses and clean road. The life is not as struggling as I thought it would be.

It is not as commercialized as it is in Bangalore Pottery Town. We still found some hand driven clay pot makers being used here.

I certainly fulfilled my wish of capturing artists making clay idols here. The process is quite long. They make the idols and dry them; and after that they paint those. Sadly I did not see anyone painting clay idols though …..

P.S. : All work used in this blog are my original work. For more do visit my photo stream @Flickr

Welcome back

I’ve decided to start blogging again ( yes !!!!!!!). Spend a chunk of the afternoon today to give my blog a facelift. And here is the final result …

As the saying goes I’m not a good finisher. In past 1 year ( the time when I did not blog even a single post ) I started three articles and two poems ………. And still they are in “starting” stage. So what happened to those ? Still saved as draft; and I’m not sure if I’m ever gonna finish those. But enough being said about the past; I’m planning to be more regular on blogger now onwards.

Had to change the name and caption of this blog as I felt like the earlier name [$ukanto’s Blog] and caption [ Me, Myself and the world around me ] was too selfish. Would certainly love to hear your opinion about the new caption and the new name of this blog.

This will be my platform for sharing my photographic ideas and experiences besides the general articles on events and incidents around me. That’s why the caption : “Reflections of my mind and my lenses”