As part of 'In the Spotlight' series, today we bring a special project which I have been following for the last few years. These are some of the best photographs of Taj Mahal I have ever seen. When I saw these for the first time, I tried to find out who clicked them and it was none other than Dinesh Khanna, working on a project for Incredible India. You might have seen some of these photographs in Tourism promotional campaigns. Check out these photographs and imagine how this whole project would have happened. There is an interesting quiz in the end.
"Dinesh worked variously as a Calculator Salesman, Garments Quality Checker and a Busboy in an Upper Eastside Bar in New York in his early years. This rather confused career path was due to his teenage belief that if he followed in his Photographer Father's footsteps he would be yet another victim of the Indian caste system. This rebellion further led him to a 12 year long career as a Client Servicing Executive in Advertising where he finally achieved 'burn-out' at the ripe old age of 33 years and which left him with a burning desire to become a Professional Photographer.
So in 1990 he finally succumbed to what can probably be blamed on genetic coding - the desire to make images - both as a means of making a living and as a form of creative expression. The last 25 years have seen him involved in creating images for Advertising, Editorial and Corporate clients, specifically in the area of Food, Still-life, People and Interiors.
He is actively involved in Photography education and conducts workshops and mentorship sessions regularly under his personal brand, "Photoyatri."
Dinesh’s personal work has been shown in both Solo and Group." Check out more at - http://www.dineshkhanna.com/-/about
Have you ever seen/imagined such compositions of Taj photographs? This is indeed a very special project and it inspires me a lot.
I recommend to look at each image for some time and look into the details taken care of while shooting. Instead of reading the text, just focus on the visuals and I am sure you would find your own share of inspiration from this work.
Few days back I was at a blogger meet by a camera company and many people were talking about cameras, lenses, and a lot of other equipments. But how much role of equipment do you see in these photographs? That's an extremely important question to ask ourselves. Camera is certainly an important component of whole process but not the most important. Such projects and visuals are best ways to re-think about our desire for more and better equipment. It's a great reality check.
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” — Diane Arbus
This one is probably most popular photograph of the project. These images can be seen in tourism promotion campaigns.
These are some of the photographs from Incredible India project. You may want to check out Dinesh's website for more such incredible pictures and lot more than this project.
Any idea how many days it took to shoot all these photographs? How big was the team? What all has gone behind creating each of these photographs? I am sure, lot of questions/ideas must be hitting you at this time. So don't hold all that with you. Just comment below and let us know what you think about these photographs and what was most inspiring thing for you in these photographs.