Toast, butter, banana and coffee with the weekend edition of Politiken, (Danish national newspaper) is morning ritual during weekends at my home. Politiken usually has photo-series in their Kultur (culture) section which i keep a keen eye on. And on todays newspaper  (23July2011), they did have a series on people hanging round my neighborhood beach – Amager Strandpark, even though it was not exactly a Bondi-beach weather. The photographer managed to capture odd entities in the series. But then, this picture turned up !

 This photograph woke a series of questions in me. A girl, gladly exposing her breasts to the photographer. Now, nudity is not a taboo on this side of the planet, but it happens on sunny days on beaches and parks, preplanned (photo-session) or in a state of drunkenness (music festivals or weekend parties). Since, neither was the situation on a random day at the beach, my next curiosity was to find who the photographer was.

Yes, my fears were true. It was a lady photographer (Miriam Dalsgaard). Can you imagine me, or any other man (well, unless your name is Terry Richardson and the girl is a wannabe Kate Moss) get a chance to shoot a picture like this?…. Seriously, ask yourself that question twice !

The next picture kind of made me sigh in misery in the behalf of all the photographers of my gender. A picture of a random girl on the beach, completely relaxed and uninhibited (That too, a girl from USA!)

This photographer has earned several photography prizes, and i just can’t overlook the factor that her gender has played a factor in it as well?

And yeah, i’m not complaining…. its just a thought !!

Its has begun to snow and i need to go out and capture it decorating the town before it melts away. Now, its not your usual photo-walk when it is freezing cold, wind and snow fall, it is “extreme photo-walk“. I loaded both my Canon and Nikon with different kind of lenses. I put a 50mm on the Canon and a 55-200 on the Nikon. I decided not to do the conventional 18-35 point and shoot range, because i’m PRO ! heh heh !. But not pro enough to realize that i needed to think like my lenses. I would compose a scene (in 18-35) and then aim the camera at it, and it will be so out of size or less. An then i would go around pissed about not bringing the other lenses. I began wondering why i keep doing the same mistake again and again. And than it struck me that i’m not looking at the object like my lens does. A snowball hit my head ….EUREKA !!!

I began tuning my eyes to 55-200 and these were the outcome:

A remarkable chapter has begun in my life. I do try to mark those moments on my body with tattoo ink.

Right about now, i’m dedicating immense amount of time and energy to excel in the art of FILMMAKING.  And so, i believe that it is about time it gets etched to my body as well. My fantastic girlfriend had noticed how much i was wanting a new one, and she gave me ‘the tattoo fee‘ as a gift for my birthday.

Now begins the design state. I’m an artist and am creative enough to make my own designs.  This was what i came up with as the first draft.

The two hands with the thumb and index finger in 90 degree angle, is a filmmakers pose for visual framing of a scene.

The three words You Better Believe are actually separate elements that works as a cross check to my film projects.

• YOU: The project must me yours, your own, and must come from you. Getting inspired is fine, but never copy !!
• BETTER: The project you are starting must be better that the pervious project. Have you learnt from your mistakes?
• BELIEVE: There comes a time when every artist gets into questioning mode, is it good enough? Well, if you taken care of the first two points, then it is good enough. so, believe in it.

This design was what i decided finally.

I got it done at BABY LOU TATTOO, and Chicho, a spanish tattoo artist worked on my arm.

I was quite intrigued by Phillip Maisal‘s work and decided to give it a try. Besides, i don’t need to move more than a meter to create this wonderful art. It was done by shooting the computer screen on long exposure and flipping through images.

This is the 3rd time i’m participating the the Copenhagen photo marathon (Fotomarathon.dk). I won the 2nd place in my first try (2008), i later got a bit lazy on the second one (2009). Now in 2010 competitions, i wanted to define my photography and its progress, more to myself and my supporting friends than the competition itself, which makes it a win-win situation.

The 24 hour photo marathon is not easy and the method is as follows. You get 4 topics the first time the marathon is flagged off. You then come back to the check point, make an attendance register and receive the next four topics after four hours. You have to return to the check posts 5 times spaced at an interval of  4 hours. You get 24 topics which leaves you with an average of 1 hour per theme. You can sort and delete pictures but the photographs must be shot in sequence to the theme. No external or internal editing of the photograph is permitted.

And since this is my third time, i pretty much have learnt the game the hard way. Focus and determination and decision making is the key. To keep focussed, keep supplies like water, chocolate, fruits ready in your backpack. Participating with a friend is more of a burden than fun. Let no one disturb your focus, you can always group up with your friends for coffee and chat. Determination, like running a marathon, the photo marathon is long journey that polishes your endurance. Decision making is very important to keep time under control. I spend at least half an hour going through the next four topics i’m going to shoot, write it down, and then go ahead. This way you know for sure where you are going. But if some other idea occurs to you on the way, you are two ideas richer.

Photo Marathon 2010

Topic #1: Contestant number

Even though you win no prize for this category, and they ask you not to get to artistic, as the purpose of the picture is to show the contestant number. Well, i’m a filmmaker. To me, this picture is my intro, my title, by grand entry, the picture that will tell them what style of photography they should expect. It is a quite simple shot, but does define my style for the rest of the 24 hours.

Topic #2: A secret

I had planned to keep my pictures about the city, the urban side of it. And hence the blue monotone. I wanted to find a girl with a hidden tattoo. All my friends with tattoo’s were not in town. So, i literally had to ask strangers for it. It is a rather strange thing to be asked and all i got was shy smiles. I then remembered that one of my friends had a pierced tongue. She was out with her friends on brunch, and i got this image of hers.

Topic #3: Cheated

Its always nice to have your friends on standby. My friend Greg had been out late the previous night. I asked him to act as if he had lost his wallet and no recollection of it. Greg was an excellent model because the light eye color of his eyes.

Topic #4: Fear

I had a very clear idea on what i needed to shoot for the topic “Fear“. I was actually wanting to take a picture of the traditional surveillance camera. But as i walked the walking street, i was amazed to see the amount of cameras that was discretely hung literally meter to meter from each other. It did have a look of a new age monster.

Topic #5: Wild

I received the next four topics and i noticed that how they were opposing to each other (Wild/Class,Capture/liberate). It is no brainer that it would be a plus to share an atmosphere to the opposing topics. I chose to use architecture to be the atmosphere of my next two shots.

Topic #6: Class

I cycled a few kilometers to get this shot of this building on Islands Brygge. I had to make a close crop of it, as the skies were full of clouds, and i didn’t want them to disturb my composition or “classiness” of that building.

Topic #7: Capture

I had done my homework well, i had researched the city for events and happenings for just in case. I was also registering every unusual thing even while i was busy with topics not regarding them. I had seen that the street games were on at the town hall and i was quite clear of what i wanted for this topic. And this time, i used the clouds to add in a bit of drama to the scene.

Topic #8: Liberate

It was by pure chance that i ran into this frame. It reminded me of the “Joker” from the Batman comics. The way he jumps free from capture into the city to continue his evildoings. I very much love this picture and that unleashed my comic book fantasy.

Topic #9: Friend

Yet another opposing topic series (Friend/Enemy), and ‘environment‘ would be the atmosphere to this round. I had been riding my girlfriends bicycle the whole day, as it had a basket in the front (and smoother to ride), and i could use the basket to carry my gear and be ready to point and shoot if needed. Well, it was good friend indeed. I had placed the bicycle in a few surroundings, but this is what i chose as i thought that the cityscape and the thick white cloud complimented the composition. A bit of tilted angle was intentional.

Topic #10: Enemy

A big Dodge SUV (parked) would be my enemy. I wanted to mask pretty much all the details that reveals the private side of the vehicle (number plate) So, i upped the ISO and pulled a focus-zoom technique to get this stationary car into a rage-full enemy.

Topic #11: City Life

it was saturday night and the city was in no shortage of life. Copenhagen was thumping with party that night. I wanted to hit this topic from a different angle. I decided to have a coffee from Baresso to keep me awake. The coffee bar was closing and people would rather have beer at that point. I noticed this person in a bit of “retired” state. I shot her keeping her on the half of the frame, while the other half of the frame shows the city lights. This is thought provoking picture, which tell you that life in city can sometimes be very lonely too. Trust me, i have been through this state too.

Topic #12: Ghosting/double image

This beauty shop for girls had an array of wigs. There ware at least 18 heads with wigs on display at that shop. But i decided to close in just two of them with bokeh of the reflecting city light show that i’m still in the city, shooting.

Topic #13: Distance

A call phone booth would provide the best cinematic picture to this topic. but i spent one solid hour, at this street side phone booth by Verterbro torv at midnight, shooting various angles and distances, while party people, drunkards, pushers, pimps, police passed me by, giving strange and curious looks. A brown man taking pictures of a phone booth at midnight – Yeah, i’m sure a lot of them didn’t sleep well that night !

Topic #14: Nearness

This was yet another risk taking shot. I wanted the picture of a whore-house/brothel/sex house. So i head to Istedgade where the sex and drugs business was at its high. Walking around with a camera will be the most stupidest thing to do at a place and time like that (not even a green ‘fotomarathon band would have saved me). So i decided to get my angle and was sure that i will only have one chance at it. I positioned myself at the doors of this brothel. Parked my bike and ‘click, click, click’. 3 shots of which i had to review it from the corner of the block. I didn’t want to spend more time on it or risk my life.

Topic #15: Mysterious

This wood carving was another chance-upon. Nothing much here.

Topic #16: On all fours

Fatigue was hitting me hard and it was time for a reboot. I decided to a take a nap, a long one. But i had worked out the plan for the next four shots before heading to bed.  i slept for 3 hours, and head for the next 4 topics. At this point i am 4 topics behind !!! This topic ‘on all fours’ is another one of them i wanted to hit from another angle, as i was pretty much sure that a lazy brain would want to shoot some random drunk youth on the streets of Copenhagen. I wanted one of my passions, ‘music‘, to be in my series of pictures as well. And this was when the guitar came handy.

Topic #17: Elevation

The initial idea to this topic was to shoot myself while in mid air. But as i had approached the check point to get my next set of topics, the sun was on its way up and an airplane had just cut through the sky - Elevation !

Topic #18: Decline

This is when knowing your surroundings helps.

Topic #19: Mirror image

And now i could show you a bit of me.

Topic #20: On the edge

How cosy is that. One good picture for one good topic. But i fucked up royally. I had forgotten to lock this picture on my camera (fortunately, i did back it up on my computer) and it got deleted. I tried contacting the FM officials through their contact mail, but didn’t get any response. My submission was evaluated without this picture. To make things worse, the next four pictures got their topic misplaced due to this missing picture. Yes, i fucked up big time !!!! what a shame !!!

Topic #21: A new world

This is new hotel with a new age dimension, being built at Ørstad. The windmill kind of compliments the new architecture assuring us that we are still environment friendly.

Topic #22: Perky

I had initial plans to shoot my girlfriends funky shoes. But while i was riding back home from Ørstad past DR Byen, i noticed this strange set of dummies watching television at the DR Byen children’s room. Quirky !

Topic #23: On the brighter side

This is shot from Islands Brygge metro station. This old man simply appeared out of nowhere into this frame, and that is the best thing that can happen to a photographer. This photograph reminds me of Michael Caine in Harry Brown

Topic #24: My biggest wish

A Brownie, Sleep or A Nimbus classic motorcycle, what would be my biggest wish? The Nimbus is definitely more photogenic.

You start off as an amateur photographer. Some of you run around taking 10+ pictures of the same thing you thought was a great shot, and show it to your friends expecting positive feedback. Some of you don’t show it at all fearing negative comments. When you have been on the shooting frenzy for a while, you hit the saturation point. Some of them will give up completely. The rest of you then begin to criticize your own pictures. You then become selective and begin to sort the pictures you want to show the world. You then begin to look for your soul and signature in them. A photograph that needs no watermark to tell us who took that picture. like the one below:

Henry Rollins by Anton Corbijn

Copenhagen Photo Marathon 2010 is when i decided that i needed to find my signature photograph. I wanted my soul, which consists of elements of urban life, underground art, alternative music and story telling, in my pictures. I had very much planned in advance that i would be shooting in black and white, a form of photography i never tried before. I somehow was not satisfied with the black and whites, so i decided to dig deeper. Thankfully, my Canon 550D is so advanced that i could tweak the colors to presets. I then tweaked the Blues (for Rock music) and Reds (for Urban life) to obtain a magenta shade, and i was in LOVE. The new preset complimented my photography to make it my watermark.

Ghosts by Vinod Bharathan

There is somehow this strange resemblance om my photographs to Anton Corbijn’s photographs. But i will honestly tell you that i’m in no way inspired my him, he just happened to do it before me …. and with names like Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and bands like U2 and Depeche Mode.

Me and my girlfriend had been out to Kalimnos, Greece, on holidays this summer. We like to photo-document our experience as we are more of the adventure tourist kind. But, every now and then, we would like to take pictures of each other. Being Mr Vain myself, i’m a bit camera shy. It often have to pull a safe-face or a joker face every time the camera is aimed at me. I now have created a joker-pose and i quite like it.

Lomography, for those who are not aware of it, is casual photography with characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, “happy accidents,” and alternative film processing. It belong to the hipsters of photography enthusiasts. This also requires special cameras, like LOMO LC-A or DIANA F. They are analogue film cameras with basic controls. The over-saturated  colors are obtained from treating the film in diverse thermal conditions.

But now in the digital age, these effects can me easily obtained using an application in iPhone or Android camera phones. But there is always a debate on the puristic value of the outcome. I personally think that it is the outcome that counts. It is the composition, the atmosphere, the content that matters to make it an attractive capture. It doesn’t matter you have shot that picture with a “real Lomo camera” or just you iPhone, if that picture doesn’t contain the above said ingredients, then that pic is fuck worth.

I had one of my “lomo purist” friend complain about how she found it hard to develop the films as the film processing studios are becoming extinct and rare. The remaining ones charge you an arm and a leg for processing a 36 roll film. This is one hobby that will eat your wallet thin. One would also begin to doubt the photo moment as they are too expensive to make mistakes on.

I have played with the “real Lomo” camera, and have found it bulky and expensive for a hobby, and so, now i’m happy with the application i have on my Android phone. And yes, it is the final outcome that counts.

• iPhone it’s the KING!!!! Bitch!!
• that statment makes no sense
• This is a test. Thus is a test. Iphone just lost.
• the droid has multi touch
• what is multitouch..?
• lol i was trying to multi touch my droid …
• ya i’m gay for robots but ya now i know it’s incappable of my multi fingers
• who gives a fuck about multi touch
• Look, dick-faced, cum guzzler. You can stop trying. Your every comeback attempt is a fail and makes you look that much stupider. You’ve already been owned… By me. Hahaha. Go back to your dads basement and continue to use your iPhone the way it was intended to… Sticking it up your ass. BWAHAHA. And remember to do what your dad said… Keep your ass oiled and loose for his small dick. LOL. You are one sick fuck, you barn animal fucker, horse cum drinker, daddy-fucking fucker. Ewww.
• I was eating noodles at this restaurant and there were 4 people at the table next to me arguing about which was better. Two had droids, and the other two had iphones. They both decided to test the phones by looking up the local bus schedule. One of the people’s iphones froze, so one person with a droid looked up how to fix the iphones problem while the other got the bus schedule. The other iphone guy was trying to find how to fix the iphone but his phone was too slow. Just from what I saw, I think the droid would be better for me, because without those droids there, the people with the iphones would have definitely been screwed.
• The Motorola Droid would be like FUCK YOU to the iPhone and kick its ass. It will pull a Chuck Norris!
• I wish to GOD all of you dumbfuk morons would stop typing “your” when you mean “You’re” (YOU ARE) and “There” then you mean “They are” (They’re) etc. How can you criticize anything when you can’t make a literate post? “The droid (Droid) is far superior THAN the iphone ??? WTF is that? You mean “to the iPhone”. You can’t be “superior than” something. Idiots.
• WHAT IS MY FINAL WORD? R U BLIND OR UNALFABET? CANT U READ? For all of you who think iphone is a good phone i say AGAIN. IPHONE IS A PEACE OF CRAP!!!! AND THE OWNERS ARE IDIOTS FOR BYING IT!!!  thats my point of view and i am sticking with it.
• Flamers should be banned from leaving any feedback of any sort on the internet. (And by “flamers”, I mean people who type in all caps and have no semblance of an open mind.)
• I make a lot of money so I have both. I could care less about which one is better than the other. Having BOTH…the iphone 3gs camera takes much better pics. The droid is marginally faster overall. So who cares. Cant wait for the iphone 4 and droid 2 cause im gonna upgrade both. LOL!!!
• Call my Droid! It’s better than iPhone any day! I’ll text war about it! Call me!
• I can’t wait until AT&T loses their contract with apple. Oh, what a great day it will be for me and my verizon network 

The above pic is taken from Roskilde festival in 1984, when stereo BoomBoxes were hot. It is funny to notice how time has changed the look and technology. We haven’t reached the space age yet, and thats because we are now enjoying the Apple age. Below is the pic of a girl at Roskilde Festival 2010 (26 years later) listening to her version of Boom Box – her Apple computer.