Makepeace S of The Alternative visited Thalam for an exhibition launch and we had a half a minute chat on Korkai. Just post that meeting, Selvaprakash L and I met with the team, Aarti Mohan & Rathish Balakrishnan at The Alternative and we were on board for the collaboration project to celebrate the World Water Day. Everything else fell in place, say Catch Every Drop photo contest, followed by an Exhibition at Max Mueller Bhavan, Photo Workshops and Walks across 8 lakes in the city.

Then came the idea of making a community film which can be used to create awareness among the general public as a medium of communication. The same film can be used to showcase the success stories of Lake Champions, and Government Officials involved in the process. We shot this for 3 days and sat in the editing table for 4 days… and this is what we made at the end of it.

Watch the film on Youtube: Bangalore Lake Diaries
Like. Share. Share your Comments as well.

About Korkai(www.korkai.in): Korkai is a community initiative of photographers to promote Photojournalism and Social documentary photography, co-founded by photographers Selvaprakash L and Perumal Venkatesan(peevee).

About The Alternative (www.thealternative.in):
The Alternative an online platform focused on sustainable living and social impact. It highlights issues, solutions and tangible choices that make social good an essential part of everyday life.

Inviting all for the Lake Diaries – Photo Exhibition and Film Screening.

Exhibition Launch: 26th April 2013
Exhibition Close: 10th May 2013
Time: 6:00 pm onwards
Film Screening: 6:45 pm
Venue: Thalam, Level 2, #80, Krishna Reddy Colony, Domlur Layout, Bangalore – 560071.
Gallery Timing: 11am to 7pm.
RSVP: peevee @ 99455one6333.

See you all on 26th April at Thalam.

Thx
peevee.

I was happy to be a part of Varthur Lake walk and documented the scenes on 23rd March 2013. I must say Varthur Lake is very close to what a lake has to be. It has a true village feel to it with agriculture happening on the banks. Men, Women and children still lead a simple life there and were so welcoming. Some of the images from the walk below.

Like these images? Thank the model. If you don’t, pls comment.

I promised him to shoot and deliver few images from his wedding, as his wedding gift. I felt complex, when I understood the time of Muhurtham (5:45am) the next day morning after the reception. And, then came the next complex issue, the location. The Kalyana Mantapam is some where in West of Chord Road, Rajaji Nagar, which i have no direction sense.

I got up at 330am and googlegods (i mean google maps) saved me, and i should admit, google maps are lovely, and very very dynamic and sharp. I could not believe that i was at the venue sharp at 5am and meeting with vinod. DOT. The couple was busy getting ready in different rooms, and i had no time to plan and shoot chaitra, when she was getting ready, so shot both of them only on the stage. It was a very quick, short wedding. And Images here.

Thanks to Timeout Bengaluru, for facilitating this opportunity. Yup, in continuation to their 4th Anniversary Celebrations at Bangalore, TOB organised a Live show at Counter Culture in Sep 2012, where the Band “The Bicycle days” played Tele-drug Zombies song as Timeout Bengaluru Anthem.

I was lucky enough to pull in Manas Saran and Shreelesh Kumar to shoot the song with me at the venue. In fact, for them it was an opportunity to try their hands with film making. Thanks buddies, for readily accepting my invite. It was fun shooting and with a superb support from Jaideep Sen and Jaideep VG, here is the Anthem for you to watch and live.

Special thanks to Karthikeyan C for putting it together. Karthick you deserve a treat for this. I see a lot of opportunities to improve my film making skills after making this film.

May 2011:
01.05.2011: Cool walk at Avenue Road, Bangalore.
06.05.2011: Awesome shoot with Navin-Neetha, Cuboon Park, Bangalore.
07.05.2011: Vaideeshwaran Koil, Chidambaram and Pitchavaram, Cuddalore district, TamilNadu.
15.05.2011: Hoysala Village Resort and Shettihalli, Hassan, Karnataka.
22.05.2011: Devi at the Roman Catholic Cemetery, Bangalore.
28.05.2011: Aanu’s Wedding reception at Chennai.

I’m feeling bad for not being so social for the last 3 months, if not more than that duration. Though my work demanded lot of time. i managed to travel across, but could not spend sometime uploading images online or write a blog post. Having said that, i take this opportunity to kinda update myself with things happened over the quarter Q1 2011.
January 2011: January was hectic… Started the first day of the year with some 700 kms of travel. Some happy reasons to smile and some sad reasons to cry this month.
1st Jan 2011: Somanathapura/ Kanchipuram.
3rd Jan 2011: Navin-Neetha Wedding at the St. Marks Church, Bangalore.
8th Jan 2011: Bombay Circus at the Palace Grounds, Bangalore
14th Jan 2011: Royal Biking home for Pongal via Krishnagiri, Thiruvannamalai.
26th Jan 2011: Kite Festival at the Palace Grounds, Bangalore.
30th Jan 2011: Shreelesh-Deepa Wedding. Chitra Santhe, Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore.
31st Jan 2011: Cyclist Shoot at Turahalli for TeamShift.

February 2011:
Maharaja Cricket at Thanjavur

5th Feb 2011: Bangalore Fashion Week, Hotel Mathan, Bangalore.
6th Feb 2011: Walking around Leela Palace, with Manjula Sridhar.
9th Feb 2011: Taj Darshan, Visit to Delhi-Agra. Anand’s Wedding.
20th Feb 2011: A quick trip to Tanjore and Thirubhuvanam. Narayanan-Ananthu wedding.

March 2011:
Indian Coffee House Gone…

5th Mar 2011: BWS shoot at the Russel Market. Clicked hardly 4 portraits.
13th Mar 2011: A swift trip to Anekal.. 3 hrs in the village.
16th Mar 2011: Picture Your Passion TVC at the Freedom Park, Bangalore. A mini visit to ICH, MG Road.
18th Mar 2011: Met Sabeer Bhatia. Yay. Proud peevee.
22nd Mar 2011: Fly to Mumbai. Oberai mall at Goregaon was just awesome.
26th Mar 2011: Food Parichay with INTACH in South Bangalore – Thanks to Krupa and Mohan.
27th Mar 2011: A day with Prem Muthu. Interesting. Useful.
So… It was an eventful quarter and looking forward to more better days to come.

Little more about Rags Sharqi:
Belly dance or Bellydance is a Western-coined name for a traditional Middle Eastern dance, especially raqs sharqi. Raqs sharqi (Arabic: رقص شرقي‎; literally “oriental dance”) is the style more familiar to Westerners, performed around the world. It is more commonly performed by female dancers but is also sometimes danced by men. It is a solo improvisational dance, although students often perform choreographed dances in a group.

Experience the energy on the stage, if you get an opportunity.