Purple Karma

Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:23:00 +0000

Faces.
They tell you a story. A story that has never been told. A story that longs to be heard.

These faces and these stories have an existence. But this very existence becomes questionable when the trap is an ancient disease.

The disease was called 'Consumption' and rightly so has consumed humans like none other. It doesn't seem to cease even after taking billons of lives.

The look of despair, the hunger, the poverty fill the world of those affected. The very existence of these souls is now being questioned by their own beliefs.

Tuberculosis kills.
It is now turning into a man-made epidemic with newer strains which are difficult but not impossible to cure.

How far can we go from here is for us to decide? Are we fighting the stigma well enough? Are we giving enough attention and care to these souls?

Author's note: These photographs were taken in the slums of Jaipur, India. Misery that the patients and their relatives are going through is evident in their eyes.

Face of TB

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:07:00 +0000

Yet another post on these patients and their families fighting the disease which is also referred to as an ancient disease which still exists and still kills.

These are some of the patients who are fighting the situation and the stigma that comes with tuberculosis. For them, every day is a survival. These are sad faces and happy faces and sad faces within happy faces.

my love for Diane continues…

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:40:00 +0000

and fascination for her work too…

The colors of slums - I

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:23:00 +0000

Its amazing to see and take notice of the colors that are present around you when you are walking into a not-very-well-to-do-locality, which are otherwise also called slums. And its almost as fascinating to see how these colors in the newly painted walls and brightly painted doors create a different world altogether.

You will perhaps never get to see such a thing in a well-to-do neighborhood but is a trite in slums and old parts of Delhi (and other older parts of the country too). Either the walls are newly painted with bright yellows, greens and blues (and even pinks!), or the walls have not been painted for years or carry marks of local graffiti that makes them totally amusing.

I recently got to visit such a locality (as a matter of fact, I get many more chances, but hardly have my camera around to put it all up here…), and as it turned out, amongst the colors on the walls, the doors and the rust on the gates, there was so much pain and hardship in the lives of these people, that no one really gets to notice the colorful and beautiful (ironical, eh!) world around them.

TB: The Biggest Killer - a photo reportage

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:13:00 +0000

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of poverty, affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years. More than one third of the world’s total population is infected with TB bacilli, the microbes that cause TB. More than half the TB deaths occur in Asia.

Cambodia is among top 22 high burden countries in the world.

Hav Kong lives with 14 other family members in a small house. His wife suffers as he struggles with multiple diseases.

Abandoned by wife, without job, Din Khain, 43, and his two children are fed by their neighbours.

Long Chamreun, 31, after losing his job, reflects on how to continue supporting his family of five.

No school, no money; Motherly love is the only constant in Thorn Rothana's life.

He is six years old.

Malnourished, Siem Men was diagnosed with New Sputum Positive in June 2011 and has been in hospital since then. She is 74 years old.

Head bowed in prayer, faith is all that is left in Sien Men and her daughter's life.

So Mon's husband died of TB. And, now she is a victim of the same disease.

Away from family -fighting despair and loneliness -Neang Savoeun is suffering from Extra-Pulmonary TB.

Kama, 65, is a retired Policeman. He is determined to win his fight against TB.

Do Mama, 5, lost her mother when she was 3 months old. She now stays with her father, a rag-picker, who sometimes even fails to feed her.

Seen the worst at this early age, Do Mama still manages to have some mischief around.

Suffering from multiple diseases, supported by her family, Sok Mi, 68, wonders how long she will survive. Her husband has already been treated for TB.

Chan Sokhan, a widow and a rag picker, has been taking her medication regularly and is already on a road to recovery. She never lost hope.

Such dilapidated conditions result in rag-pickers (who earn less than a dollar a day) getting affected by TB.

During my interaction with those who are affected, I was moved to see the toll this disease has taken on the lives of these people.

It is disheartening to see the condition of the people who are affected with this killer disease. In this reportage, I have tried to capture many emotions of these patients; most important of them is the visible HOPE (ASHA) in the eyes of these unfortunate souls.

Good morning Vietnam!

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:19:00 +0000

From a recent trip to the country.

In the valley of love…

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:40:00 +0000

During my recent trip to Vietnam, I happened to visit the valley of love in Da Lat. Though it was drizzling and was a bit difficult to shoot, but I did get some good macro and close-up shots there.

Choeung Ek: The Killing Fields

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:23:00 +0000

At last, I got a chance to see a glimpse of the horrific past of Cambodia. Pol Pot, the man behind it all, is also called ‘Hitler of Cambodia’. Almost 1/4th of then population of Cambodia was wiped out during his rule. At least two million people were killed.

Whole families were wiped out including kids so that they could never stand up to take revenge against them for their parents’s deaths. There is a tree at Choeung Ek which was used to kill these kids. The kids were killed by having their heads bashed against its trunks. There is another tree called the ‘Magic tree’ on which a loudspeaker was hung and and made sounds louder than the moans and cries of people who were executed.

It’s an experience to be at this place.

More than 8000 corpses have been excavated from more than 80 graves.

Still there are more than 30 mass graves left un-excavated.

These skulls and other bones are kept at different levels in the Stupa.

The chief of S-21 (headquarters of Khmer Rouge), Duch, one of the persons behind this torture is still alive! So much for the Justice!

"one of the worst human tragedies of the last century." - the Yale University Cambodian Genocide Program

Stupa, Choeung Ek, The Killing Fields

The Killing tree

The day that was; Phnom Penh

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Sat, 07 May 2011 20:47:00 +0000

Davy sells books at riverside. Whatever she earns is only enough for her to fill her stomach. There are days when she doesn't earn a single penny.

at riverside.

Who doesn’t want that!

Phnom Penh: a city of extremes

view of the river.

riverside.

another view of the river.

riverside.

ASLI INDIA

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:24:00 +0000

One of my personal favourite shot has been published in TOI Delhi, Ahmadabad, Bangalore and Kolkata edition. Here is the link. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDMvMTAjQXIwMDQwNg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Taare zameen par…

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Used a miniature ricksha, laser light and bokeh kit (star).

Her eyes smile at you!

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:21:00 +0000

This was taken during Shivika’s board game night.

Shaqeel, an artisian

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 19:57:00 +0000

a part of a portrait series.

Sunburn 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Sunburn 2010 was awesome as ever. This was Sunburn’s fourth season which is now amongst the world’s 4 largest Dance/ Music festivals. The DJ line-up was great with biggies like Axwell, Ferry and PVD (with Vishal Shetty (V-Shall) doing some amazing job with the records).The three day event was sure a once in a lifetime experience.

Surrender… to the immaculate

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Hssh… Listen to your heart and surrender.

Corny? eh! :P

Mystic Surrender

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 07:34:00 +0000

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. ~Kahlil Gibran

Face of India

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0000

You find them everywhere; in every nook and corner... some trying to hide their faces while some trying to rise above the suffering.

No matter where you go, poverty is around you. No matter how rich you are, it is still around you!

Elixir of life

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 17:10:00 +0000

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.”
- Lao Tzu

H.O.P.E.

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:30:00 +0000

I saw this canvas…
It spoke to me…
Told me how life had been…
Not different from a lonely tree…
Living for the day when
some estranged traveller might
find solace around her too…
that she too would have more than just hope to look forward to………
The misery, the sorrow, the agony in her eyes
Spoke about how she had lost her smile…
The longing for love…
That never came…
The misled trust…
That never stayed………..
She wanted to cry… but tears never came…
Her heart told her to hope…
And to hope she never failed………..
Hope! Is indeed very strange..
Like a facade… it shields away the pain
Like a mirage… it loves to play
But also gives strength when all else fails!!!
So… never lose Hope!
Cause… as they say…
Only Hope that one day you will find the shore to roam…
Can make one sail even through the worst storm!

What a feeling!

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:20:00 +0000

You might shoot for days and days together but it might so happen that you end up taking only a few good shots. And only these shots give you a feeling of contentedness.
Here, I share some of those shots.

f/3.2, 1/400 sec, ISO – 200

f/3.2, 1/160 sec, ISO – 200

f/3.2, 1/320 sec, ISO – 200

f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO – 200

f/10, 1/320 sec, ISO – 200

f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO – 400

All of the above photographs are taken with a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

f/4.5, 2 sec, ISO – 200 (with 18-55 mm lens)

Beerise!

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:29:00 +0000

This one was taken during Feb 2009 in Goa, India. That was the time when i never owned a camera. It is quite a nice concept though. I could have done a lot better with an SLR for sure. ... I call this Beerise!

Bengal… to its roots

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:03:00 +0000

It was in October 2009 that I got a chance to explore West Bengal a bit. I had joined KWS (Kolkata Weekend Shoots; also called Kolkata Weekend Foodies :-)). That was probably my first and the last exhaustive road trip with the club. But I enjoyed every moment of it though language was a bit of problem!

I got some amazing shots that day and got back home really happy and content. I’m sharing some of the shots here. Can find the masters on My Flickr.

.Live . Laugh . Love.

Blogger Labels: Bengal,roots,October,West,Kolkata,Weekend,Foodies,road,moment,language,Flickr,Live,Laugh,Love

Color-o-rama

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:36:00 +0000

This post is a collection of some of the most colorful shots that i have clicked in recent times.

First shot is of a Kid who was playing near the ARTS faculty of Shantiniketan University in Bengal.

Next is of a toy flower. This shot was taken while I was in a village near Guptipara, Bengal. Been some 4-5 months now. That was infact my first shoot with KWS; Kolkata Weekend Shoots. And I don’t deny it; was quite an amazing trip.

This one is also from the same trip. Saw a couple of them there.

The following photograph is personally one of my favorites; Simple in composition with some vibrant blue is soothing in its own sense.

More will follow.

.Love . Live . Laugh.

Journey behind a lens…

noreply@blogger.com (Prateek Ahuja) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:23:00 +0000

Following is a link to my original post on DPS.
http://digital-photography-school.com/journey-behind-a-lens%e2%80%a6
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyphenen/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hyphenen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ahuja.prateek