TASK ONE: ME
Hello everyone! This is me. For my first task i did a story-like sequence of photos containing visuals and symbols that represent my idealistic values in disagreement with the realities that are part and parcel of society.
In my first photo I am completely bare-bodied facing the sea. This represents my surrender to nature. Surrender in a spiritual sense that has become a physical exposure in the image. Yet I am facing the sea, which gives a sense of connection to nature and at the same time, distance to the viewer.

Here in the second image of task one, I am carrying a bag of plants. Literally, carrying nature on my back while in the midst of people moving to and fro, following signboards and directions. The plants on my back symbolically represent the belief of nature ideals i try to hold on to while being a part of society in its busyness (busyness represented by signboards and directions and people).

In the last shot of the first task, I leave the plants on the beach as I walk away into a distance. This represents my need to leave my own ideal values behind at times. Leaving nature where nature is and walking away from it into reality. This image is also captured in the ending afternoon where the sun also acts as a symbol of nature.

TASK TWO: MY OBJECT
In my second task, i wanted to choose an object that i frequently interact with. My piano is a personal object that i can easily interact with at a deeper emotional kind of level.
In the first shot of this task, i wanted to introduce the piano as the object. I took the inside of the piano because i wanted to show the softness and nakedness of the piano contained in its hard exterior. Here you can see that multiple piano keys have been played causing these few hammers to move forward. I hoped that the awareness of the moving mechanisms inside the piano would further enhance the value of intimacy when one plays on it. Being aware of how the sound travels in the piano connects you better with the instrument. It is like the passing of energy into the object. (Another similar example could be driving a manual car as compared to an auto car)

In the second image, I did not want to interact with the piano in a conventional way. I wanted to make the interaction almost surrealistic to show how interaction with the object brings me out of reality. The bright background brought out in the hope of creating a dreamlike space in which the image is set. I was trying to pose my hand in a way where it looks like a person is walking on the keys, hence the image did not capture my wrist to make it look less like a hand and more like a person, further adding to the surrealistic intention as its not usual.

Contrasting to the second image, my third image of the second task was shot capturing the movement of my arms. I wanted to show that while I may be gentle with my piano, I may also be more aggressive in expression. That my piano may take my more aggressive rants.

TASK THREE: MY WORLD
For the third task, Haji Lane was a personal place of mine. The things in this place that intrigue me may be its culture, or people, or its activities, or its lights. However, what brings me back again and again is the night here, which seems to drown me in its atmosphere.
The first shot, very much like the first two tasks, is the intro. The introduction to the night in Haji area. In the first picture you see the mosque which many people associate as a landmark of Haji area. The picture sets as an introduction to the night as the sun is no longer visible at dusk. The alley lies below the mosque in welcome of those who wish to go in.

In this image, I took a shot of an intricate looking lamp, followed by other lamps along the sides of the passageway, leading the crowd into the night of Haji. The light itself is intricate full of patterns that represent the culture influence there that intrigues me. The colour of the image, like the first shot, is quite saturated in blue. I wanted the colours to be more saturated as I wanted to express that drowning atmosphere there.

In the third shot, a man is simply placing a drink on the table of a customer. The image again is saturated with heavy lights giving the effect of a drowning atmosphere. The image captures a simple thing happening. But at this instance of time, I am at my table looking across and time seems to stand still like how this photograph stays still; in my mind at that instant the tray of drinks is suspended in the air; the people seem to come to a stand still as the atmosphere of the night there is weighted on me. It was a moment i wanted to capture on camera and I hope the shot has given some of that effect here.

Aside from the assignment, this place holds many great memories for me. The people are different here somehow. We could talk into the night and pass the night over drinks and smoke. Also, there is a culture here that I like which sadly, will end. Its one of those places you’d one day only remember and never again experience.