Sculpting the Goddess

It had been a while since I had gone out primarily for photography. I realized I had lost the inertia and didn't have a lot of ideas when I left. Instead there was this sinking feeling I might not be able to capture my experiences. Usually I have a few ideas in my head to play around with, but this time I was blank. Then it occurred to me how important it is to leave preconceptions away while shooting scenes that thrive on dynamism. Like I was telling Adda the other day, photograhy is nothing but the product of our response to the environment.

S and I met a fellow photographer at Kumartuli where the idols for the festivals are being sculpted, dried and painted. These are narrow lanes in the heart of the old city lined with decrepit colonial architecture. Like Steve McCurry mentioned, in Calcutta much of life is lived on the streets and there is a lot to see, a lot of atmosphere to experience, much of which is overwhelming. The artisans and their families live in these lanes and use a wide open room in front of their house as their workshop/studio.

The moment I was there amid the din, I felt excited. Notwithstanding the quality and my lack of sharpness with those tiny crucial moments, these three (and a few more which I have no energy or time to process at the moment) would be some of my more serious photographs in a while.

Larger.