Monographs

Dreams

This book is in collaboration with Charmayne D’Souza who is a Dream Analyst. I was interested in dark, mysterious and/or erotic dreams, leaving bright, shiny, happy dreams for the eschewed advertising career I left behind. There are around 50 dreams by the actual subjects in the photographs.

Between the ‘dreamer’, Charmayne and myself we collaborated with coming up with how to illustrate the surreality that most dreams exhibit.

Beneath the Surface

To paraphrase Jacques Cousteau, We are the Ocean and the Ocean is us. The markers that we emerged from the oceans, is probably the isotonic saline nature of every cell in our body with the sea. These photos explore an amniotic universe, a paradise lost and regained. 220 pages, 208 photos

Women

These are mostly Indian women who volunteered to be photographed. Priti Sethi many years ago a ‘news reader’ on MTV, when M stood for Music, asked me to make her some ‘head shots’ for CV type of use. With clavicles like those, the CV got dammed.

Other regular women saw those photos and volunteered, that set the ball rolling. Women have fascinate me ever since. I have been blessed with their trust, generosity, beauty, grace, and above all, friendship over the years. The text is basically their emails to me either before, during or after the photo-session.

Goa Freaks

Goa has attracted the hippies of the 60s, the original ‘freaks’ that found the liberal, tropical nature of Goa perfect for their lifestyle. Each decade since has seen waves of different communities pass through. The talent one sees in Goa one would be hard pressed to find elsewhere in india, a kind of magnet.

This book portrays the beauty of the the current wave of freaks who are into yoga and auyerveda and ‘ecstatic’ dance.

Itinerants

While shooting commercially from my Mumbai studio in Churchgate, I’d often hear the familiar calls of the various Itinerants who’d pound the street that had half the population of Sydney Australia perambulate twice a day from the Churchgate station to the business districts of Nariman Point in South Mumbai.

I simply adopted the style of Irving Penn, Indian itinerants had always been shot in situ, my contribution is to respect who they are rather than what they do. The book is laid out with a Tantric colour scheme of Haldi (turmeric), KumKum (vermillion), black and white.

Travel

This square book involved sticking the middle finger to the Ipad. Each page is custom, hand cut to reveal/conceal the past or preceding pages. MY most ambitious graphic project yet. During the course of my commercial travels that took me across the globe, I made a few photos for myself. This is a collection of those memories.

DSDC

Daksha Sheth Dance Company. Daksha Sheth is a pioneering contemporary dancer with a classical Kathak base layered with Kalaripayattu, Mallakhamb and Chhau percussion and dance. This is my homage to her art form.

Jungle Dance

Danielle Alnuma is a migratory bird that returns to Goa since many seasons, she is an artist, contemporary dancer who brings full scale performances to a large wooden sprung stage in Arambol, Goa thats called Jungle Dance.

Taxi

Taxi-Dermy – Get stuffed: most mumbaikars are familiar with the ubiquitous ‘kaali peeli’ (black/yellow) padmini taxi. The taxi and its loquacious driver are engrained into the mumbai landscape. NOw there is Uber and Ola and other rentals, but for a very long time in socialist india the padmini or erstwhile Fiat was the prime and inexpensive way to stop-hail-go anywhere in the city. My love affair with these often stinky, hot, rusty and sagging vehicles is evident here. Taxi drivers personalise their vehicles with kitch that they consider art. Alas the padmini has been decommissioned now with Korean cars replacing them, that unique brand equity has gone.

Residue

What we leave behind. this monographs maps the detritus man leaves behind on his Residence.

Neelkamal

The Ubiquitous Neelkamal chair: this article of utility and no character of its own got me interested when it suddenly appears in locations where it has no business being present. On going project.

Xavier’s

140 years : St. Xaviers college in Mumbai has a reputation that few colleges can compete with. The college claims academic excellence but believes in holistic education. Many of its alumni have become major influencers on the cultural scene in India.

Mythology

Indian mythology is the only mythology that is a continuum that predates vedic times to the contemporary. Many rituals and invocations have stayed intact for centuries. Ive come to believe that mythology, subconsciously influences culture. Every flower, fruit, nut, animal, vegetable colour, season has semiology, every god in india has specific protocol. Being an anti-fashion, fashion photographer, this is my subjective reading and visual interpretation.