OFF the Street - Event Photography.

So I set up this in-house, open-floor jam session for Dope the Brand... only online marketing and word of mouth and in my little dahlin' ol' city, it brought in a moving crowd of over 100 people with about 15 amazing musicians performing for the crowds. Not bad for my first ever official event :D I'm just glad the people who performed and watched them, loved it :) Woo~

Read more on the "Are you Dope enough "  Post on the same. And check out the Facebook Album for the photos that I took.

DISTORTION - Metal show

Photography done at Distortion for the band Enemies Within, with bad lighting and stage set up but good music nonetheless.
Facebook album Link

Rose Swirl

More Photoshop Fun

Abstractless

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Butterfly Vortex

So guess who discovered the pleasures of playing around with Photoshop :)

A Book for Freedom

        
               Love. Hope. Peace & Dreams
( Marker Pens, Special Pens, Magazine cut-outs, Old Diary )

Patterna

      Aquarelle Pencils on Sketch Paper.

I made a mad box ~

So, my mum tired of seeing my mess of colors and pencils and paints and paper and sheets and gunk in the what in her opinion should be an impeccable family study, gave me this box, that was given as a case for some bed linen set.

Well.. I took it, put all my stuff in.. the box was comfy inside but looked weird and fugly outside.

And...then.. I gave it a makeover . Haha! coupla ol' magazines - Record and Ananda Vikatan to be exact and a French newspaper and gum and glue and sequins and a days work later. It looked like this. What do you think. Its no normal box no more :D


P.S : People are ordering in for me to make them custom boxes like these. woohoo. Collages are fun !

For more photos -Top of the box - 
1. middle  . 2. far left . 3. far right   ;   4. Front,Side and back 

A Broken Melody.

As usual, first the art happened, then the words inspired from it...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the beginning, he played it hard and soft,
That cracked record she held deep in her heart,
And she would spin for him, spin and spin,
To all the words he chose for his favorite song.

Everyday it was the same.
*tick-tock, said the clock*
5 o'clock and he'd come rushing in,
He would play the music and she'd spin again,
Only the tune would change or the names.
Lesser, harder, more words for worse.

The record started cracking, cracking and breaking,
She sadly picked up the pieces, still spinning and spinning.
Maybe, she thought she could change the music then, for them,
If she spun harder, lesser, more words for worse.
He still played it furiously each day; for him, to her-
Till she was sorry, so sorry and the record was nearly gone.

But she still put together the pieces and spun some more
*more love, some hope*
The record still played- broken melodies; yet his words were worse.
*so hard,so cold*




- Verbal domestic abuse, is an evil, that needs to be recognized and stopped.... NO ONE should live in fear  of the person they love. If only one could see the damage that one's words can do  -

in.sanity

rough doodle. in.sane.it.looks.

Words.

...All around me.
Mine. Half - that I hadn't stood by.
Some muffled with tears and apologies.
And the rest held back down into the darkness.
(you know... that very same black hole, with black words and black paint?)

My father's bearing down -
Sadly. IMPERIOUSLY.
( NO..no...FROM NOW ON ITS LIVING BY MY RULES OR YOU CAN LEAVE)

My mother's, her loving salt to my sorry wounds.
Hurtful. Painful. Angering.
( how could you. HOW COULD YOOOUU !?!? all that we did for you)

My grandmother's tolerant idealism.
( it's ok..it's ok.. buck up child, or get married )
My grandfather's silent ones.
(...)
My sister's indifferent adolescence.
( So..! guess what happened in school today )
My friends' worried encouragements.
( it's ok love, you can do this. are you ok ? )

Now yours join theirs.
All of that and more from you.
Words all around me.
( taunting, weeping, loving, hurting )

Words.
that.
have.
the.
power of hope.
but.
show.
the.
pain of love.

- Hi, I quit law school to chase an uncertain dream -
- do YOU wanna say something too? -

Maybe this IS a little too personal , for a public blog. But it's sorta of the backdrop for all this creativity. So I'd rather have it here.

I. Could. Never. Please. You.

I want to write about this, but I haven't yet.
but this came about... definitely murky brain material. ho hum.


      * day and night .. all the world is a stage *

It was an experiment in perfecting the blue, which obviously the camera didn't quite well capture :(
Oh..well.. I love stick figures.

And the discovery of a workable medium.

So, I gave up on watercolors.
but soft pastels and fingers, work much better. A tad messy, but hey, I can handle it.
Made in 10 minutes that too !! I'm pleasantly surprised myself :D






DELUSION ANGEL 
daydream delusion

    limousine eyelash

oh baby with your pretty face

      drop a tear in my wineglass.

look at those big eyes on your face

     see what you mean to me

         sweat cakes and milk shakes

  I'm a delusion angel

      I'm a fantasy parade

  I want you to know what I think

          don't want you to guess anymore

you have no idea where I came from

we have no idea where we're going

  lodged in life like branches in a river

     flowing downstream

        caught in the current

     I'll carry you    you carry me

   that's how it could be

        don't you know me

don't  you   know  me  by  now.

- David Jewell for the movie "Before Sunrise"




David Jewell, awesome awesome person that he is, said he'd like it for a book cover. Yay ME. :)
He was the start of all the good things happening in my life.
Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. 
It might be hard. But eeess gooood :) 

Giving up on watercolor.

Indian Madonna, much ??
Have no clue where this weird thing came up from in my murky brain.
Something's not right about it , no ?
Contemporary art, interpretation of which is..just..so..very..personal.

love.vintage.death

I don't really know where this came from or how , so if anybody would like to interpret, it would be nice.
But yes, first the painting happened ( my 1st ever attempt at watercolor, so meh~) and then the writing.

Broken black records that still play
our favorite songs in twisted old melodies,
All my 70's clothes and all your blessed spirits,
Woo-ed by the smoke around us.

beep

The pink circles we spun-
round and round. within.without.

beep

Blue days on beaches,
Sunshine on old boats.

beep

The whispered whiff of your mother's coffee.

beep

The crack that sounded that first heartbreak.

beep
beep

Your favorite western on your father's old TV,
with my favorite popcorn. All jumbled together.
On that funny purple armchair,
that Grandma Rose left us.

beep ...... beep

From there we reigned,
The king of illiterature, and,
the queen of clowns.

beep

With kisses and laughter, and,
tears and hugs.
Some cuss words,
and those famous fights.
- oh how you laughed at me -

beep ...... beep....... beep

All of this beep
In my trembling heart beep
In your silent eyes beep
My fingers in your hair beep

All of this ..beeeeeeeeeeeP..
Our kaleidoscope dreams B EE P
Made on lazy afternoon car drives ..beeeeeeeeP..
The things I said, the things you did B EE P

All of this. * BeeeP *
I see. I saw. b e e eeeee e e p
As you walk away from me b e e eeeee e e p
I feel. I hold. * BeeeP *

*Be e ee e ee e ee e ee e ee e ee e ee e ee e P*

Within me.
...........

*B e e e e e 

...................
m'am you have to leave the room right now.....
...........

e e e e e P*

......................

Without you.
............

*B e e e e e 

............

someone get her out of here, we're losing him....

............

e e e e e e P*
..................

__________________________________________________________


( I'm sorry m'am, I'm afraid we've lost him )




- let go -

W.R.I.T.E.R.'S BLOCK

... is an excuse,
I made -
For the creativity;
That they tried
to kill.
That I allowed,
to be shackled.
Held back.
Suppressed.
Inside that black hole,
of black words
and the blackest paint.

Inside of  me.

Unnecessary emotion.
Necessary evil.


n.o.t  a.n.y.m.o.r.e
NO.


* Weeel...I is bach to teh writings...i mean, trying to write *

-A thousand Huzzahs to free expression and mad impulses and creativity gone wild -

The Take10! Campaign

Official figures report that in Jan-Oct 2007, 18,039 people in the city were tested for HIV at government testing centres. Of these, 12.27%tested positive. These figures exclude the thousands of people already living with HIV in Pune, along with those who are as yet unaware of their HIV+ status.

Launched in November 2006, Wake Up Pune is a coalition of NGOs corporate companies, local businesses and interested individuals. We also have a number of local supporters including Extentia, Cerillion , INOX, E-Square etc. The coalition works towards spreading awareness about HIV and AIDS in the city of Pune, India.

Why young people?

Traditionally HIV AIDS awareness has been centred on ‘high risk groups’ amongst the lower socio-economic groups e.g. truck drivers, commercial sex workers and the uneducated.

However, with over 33% of all new HIV infections occurring in the age-group 15-29, Wake Up Pune understands and acknowledges the need for youth-centred HIV awareness to address vulnerability among young people arising from lack of accurate information and low risk perception.

We have in the past conducted awareness workshops at several educational institutes such as St. Vincent’s School, BMCC college, ILS, Wadia’s. We also successfully ran HIV & AIDS Awareness events at several inter-college fests last year including one at Pune University MBA department and at Bhartiyam 2009 at Bhartiya Vidya Peeth, Katraj.

What is Take10!

The Take10! Campaign is a new youth initiative launched by Wake Up Pune Coalition this July with support from Staying Alive Foundation, MTV Global Networks. It is a completely youth-led campaign that gives young people 10 simple ways to join the fight against HIV in Pune city. The campaign provides a space to learn about HIV in Pune and other related issues particularly of the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV in the city. But the campaign doesn't stop there. It furthers the awareness and learning by turning it into opportunity for action through small projects on awareness through creative media such as Film, Theater, Creative Writing, Cricket, Photography etc.

The future is too important to be lost under the burden of unnecessary ignorance, denial and discrimination that don't help the situation at all. We must face this together and be the change we want to see!!
Learn about HIV!  .  Get Tested!   .  Break the silence!  .  Write !  . Get Artistic!  .  Click A Pic!  .  Shoot A Film!  .  Play Cricket!  .  Theatre!  .  Support Positive Living!  .  Fight Stigma and Discrimination!  .  




 - Being HIV POSITIVE means, being positive about awareness, education and support of people living with HIV - 

I worked with the brilliant team as Assistant Campaign Co-ordinator as well as running Awareness bootcamps, Sex and Sexuality discussions, Field and Outreach Visits, Kiosks, plus heading the Art and Photography projects as well as Online, Social Media and Creative components.

I learnt a lot and it was a great experience being part of such a movement. 

 Reality is very good earthing in today's world.

PHOTOS :  Training Session, Meet the Team!, The Launch @ Altersonic, Coffee night @German Bakery, The 1st Bootcamp, Postcards, SIMC Bootcamp, Film-Making Workshop, Workshop Snippets, 

Kiosk @ Inox

MUSIC VIDEO    

Facebook Page

The Gothic-Hippie.

what. WHAT ? er... wooot.

it's my self-fashioned weird ass stereotype to bust all stereotypes.
and this in my dark,black blog, is a hippie doodle that i drew.



for all the psychedelia and bohemia in our lives and its happy lovers 

Wire Phunk

Nikon S560 + Picasa Edit, from during the Colossal Night gig shoot.

The Colossal Night

The Colossal Night , was the first of it's kind Summer Concert, held by young musicians at Coimbatore. It was also the first time I photographed musicians, although I really, had no clue , with my borrowed Point n' shoot, and limiting myself to just shooting from in front of the stage and not much experience photographing, in the first place. Then I used Picasa... and well here are some of the photos.

I also made, using Picasa itself, an online Poster for them, lets go ahead and call it my first design work :)

Facebook Album Link

The Peace Sign on my Ceiling

Picasa Edit. Ha.

Someone said..

Physical, emotional and financial freedom mean the world to me... they give me the power to live by my convictions, be fearless in my vision, cross set boundaries, shout from the rooftops for the causes I support, be a voice for those who are afraid to speak, dance to gay abandon with people I love, travel to the extremities of the Earth, cry without being weak, and most importantly give without asking...

Freedom, is living without living a lie..!

*my new tattoo*

The Bassist.

This was a little more carefully drawn..ink resources were limited though..
drawn for an amazing person...
dedicated to all leftie guitarists, and, bassists in general :D 

bahaha !!

The Bassist

You’re the weirdest member of the machine
keeping that beat like no one’s ever seen.
The tinny teen idols sound like steel flies,
in the wake of your “ohm”- like lullabies.

I know it seems like no one knows you’re there
But if you weren’t, on this vow I swear:
The other band members wouldn’t belong
because you’re the one who holds up the song.

That back beat is never in the background.
Low-key but never ignoring the sound
of the pitch in perpetual pattern.
Woofers shed light on your four-string lantern

*got the poem off the net somewhere, not mine*

Girl-power !!!

Ah such experimental randomness :D

My Eyes Have Seen You.

          
                      Felt-Pen and Soft Pastel on Sketch Paper.

Faces.

* I bought a sketch book *


Let's tear away the faces we hide behind,
We're no longer in disguise.

Different faces everywhere.
You were changing.

Do you see those faces?
What do they tell you?

Different faces everywhere.
Changing right before my eyes.

And then, a million faces pass my way.

The Mulshi Massacre

My first attempts at music photography, with a simple point and shoot and post editing on picasa, and barging in on a friend's jam session :D  All credits to Aniket Patni and Vedant Shetty for letting me barge in and finding my photography love  :