Anoop Negi Photography
The best of Indian Photography – Kerala, Goa and more
A quick poll on photography in India – which genre has the worst photographers ?
Folks,
You are a part of the most well informed, cutting edge and fun survey. A quick hit and run and you have made your valuable opinion make an impact.
Making a reverse list of the “worst” in photography. Think of photographers based in India or shooting in India.
So here goes
Next is a list of the “worst” photographers 
Public Monuments with Bicycles and a Photographic still image from India
Monuments on Cycling
Of David Gerstein, Bengt-Göran Broström, Einar Utzon-Frank and others
Lalit Kala Akademy Still Photography
Bicycling is a part of growing up.
An ode or maybe a celebration of motor skills and locomotion that gives you freedom to roam and explore the world around you. The scratches and bruises a life long reminder to the process.
I captured some still images of a sculpture showcased by the Lalit Kala Akademy, the premier keeper of sculpture, art and culture in India. This image is of a bicycle rider sculpted by Narendar Singh in 2008 is titled “My Journey ” and is about 145×12.5×120 cms made of Iron and is painted in green strips of metal with scant flowers on the mud guards. That touch of flowers screamed a watered down “euphoria” of a David Gerstein creation. This metal sculpture by and Indian sculptor is a delight to look at and conveys the sense of freedom and motion that is the essence of what a bicycle represents. Job well done Mr Sculptor.
Artist – Narendar Singh
My Journey
Iron, 2008
145×12.5×120 cms
Lalit Kala Akademy 2009 Winners Photo by Anoop Negi
Three Fat Ladies of the Sea and Jenifar.
Fishing Trawlers in Kerala, India
Photography of boats and other sea vessels.
Three boats, fat ones and Jenifar
This is a single insertion of an image compared to the earlier entries which always had 6-10 photos, more like a photo essay format.
Change is the spice of life, so sail on.
This was shot from a moving boat, a difficult thing to accomplish on a day when the lighting was abjectly poor.
The earlier post on Boats, coracles and sea vessels is here –
Extreme Sports – Photography of Bull Races in Kerala, India
Photography of Bull Races in India
Craziest Extreme Sport
Kerala Photography by Anoop Negi
This post is not about Redbull Racing. No It is not that I do not like Vettel. I positively endorse his driving style and love his performances till date. If things be what they are, he may still win the 2012 F1 championship. If you think F1 racing is extreme or tough and exciting or for that matter snowboarding, skiing down the Himalayas or surfing mighty waves are all tough and exciting extreme sports, than you have not been to India to see the wet mud bull races which are held in Kerala. If you prefer a dry version, Pakistan has some over there.
The most famous bull race is held in Kerala in India and it is an extremely tough one. Bulls are reared specially for racing. They are fleet footed and tough and two of them are hitched together in a harness and a team of 3 men tries to run with the bulls till the finishing point which may be about 100 metres or so. A paddy field is filled with water days in advance and the field is generally in 6 or more inches of water. There is fine mud and rain and sometimes sunshine to accompany the event.
The bulls are always impatient and eager to run the gauntlet of 100 plus yards, mud or no mud. Two runners hold a guide rope to control the direction and speed of the bulls and they actually sprint in the mud alongside the bulls. There is a third rider who sits on a thin plank of wood between the two bulls. Here is a photograph to show case how it looks.
Racing with the bulls
This event is one of sheer courage and am sure an embodiment of manhood for the Malayali man. That year there were about 50-60 heads of bulls that you could count. The latest one held in August in 2012 is reported to have had only 12 pairs. There has been a steady decline in the numbers mostly because of ongoing litigation between organizations wanting a ban on any event that requires animals to perform. They are fighting cases in the Higher courts to stop the horse races because of the usage of a whip. Stuff like that. Anyway, it appears that these races may go on now till it suffers normal attrition as less and less brave or courageous souls venture in this mad bull rush.
For this event I drove down from Cochin to a small town called Adoor. Close to this, is a village called Ananadapalli where the race track was located.The whole exercise of the bull racing is called “Maramadi” or Maramady” and is held every year around Onam time. It is an agrarian pursuit and a thrill to watch for the pure joy of men splashing in the water and running as if for their lives. Beats the 100 m dash at the Olympics.
More exciting things happen during the race. Specially interesting and dangerous is when the bulls can not be stopped from running. They scramble and jump over the 4-6 feet embankment in the blink of an eye and the bystanders, mostly young men packed on the earthen bund have to save their lives. Similar fate awaits camera men who happen to be there. Fortunately all is in God’s hand and nothing untoward happens. A living proof that God exists and wants Indians alive and kicking..err running.;-)
This post is to showcase photos from the event A series of photos where the bulls go charging into the embankment stands will come up in a separate post.
Sweet As Sugar Can Be – Making Gur in India
Photgraphing India – The Rural One
The sweet journey of Gur
Photos from 2007
All stories must have a beginning.
As you come out of the Shivalik ranges that form the southern bastion of Dehradun and head for the dust fields of Delhi, you pass through quaint rugged settlements populated by a rustic breed of farmers, tillers, cattle keepers, cut throats and other remanants of the Huns that invaded the country many centuries ago.
Chhutmalpur is one such sleepy place where in the season they crush sugarcane and make “gur”. From my early childhood days I remember seeing open fire pits blazing away in the night and workers silhouetted in the flames. The sweet heady aroma of raw sugar cane juice being boiled in large cast iron pans and the leftover acrid tingle of molasses was a smell that one grew up in the valley of Dehradun. It still has the same overpowering presence that it had back then.
I was passing Chhutmalpur enroute to Dehradun after photographing the Pushkar Cattle Fair. It was a good time to stop. There were no other passengers with me and this was like Childhood Revisited.
I am reminded of a book ” Rerun at Rialto ” written with great finesse by Tom Alter, where he writes of this very place in one of his stories. A book worth reading for its simple easy narrative and some unexpected twists that make the stories so much more endearing. That was ages ago. I once read voraciously but rarely read fiction now. This book is a treat and along with books of Ruskin Bond, a beautiful easy read.
Here are 11 photos that make this sweet essay on the making of gur.
This is highway58 and you can see the traditional cow patties that have worked the Indian hearths for ages. Some of it still does apparently. It is the season for sugarcane and you can see a buffalo drawn cart carrying sugar cane
Forest Fires in Shimla, Solan, Dagshai
Photography of Forest Fires in the Himalayas
Photos by Anoop Negi – Live from the Jump Seat
The months of May and June are the peak of summer in India. The Himalayas provide a weekend or more of succour and relief from the heat and dust of the plains.
This summer even the Himalayas are burning hot. Red hot. Flash fires are sprouting everywhere. Specially the forests in the lower reaches where pine trees are in abundance.
This is a collection of photos taken in the last 7 days.
Forest Fire Shimla Hills Himalayas India by Anoop Negi Photography
Coracles, Catamarans, Snake Boats and Many Other Boats in India
Photography of Boats by Anoop Negi
Photos Of Boats from Kerala, Kashmir, Goa etc. in India.
Of Catamarans, Coracles, Sand boats, Kettuvallams, Snake Boats, Trawlers and Shikaras
For several years, one has lived in parts of India like Kerala and Goa which are on the sea and also have vast areas of backwaters and rivers. While the sea is dotted with large vessels carrying commercial cargo, there is a significant presence of smaller vessels that the common people use for their daily transportation of goods and for travel, fishing or for pleasure.
Not only the sea, but the rivers and the backwaters are teeming with these boats and vessels and here is a presentation of boats, small and large, round and conical, colored and sometimes drab and black. Some with boatmen and some without.Some with glamorous passengers and some without.
A Boatman Riding the Sky on A Sand Boat while another one follows close behind. These are the backwaters of Kerala. A dream destination. This photograph has seen much use on various social media sites like Tumblr, Reddit, Stumbleupon to international publications to showcase the backwaters of Kerala. This also appears as a book cover for “The Hungry Tide” perhaps the best book that Amitav Ghosh has written so far.
Flickr Photos
More PhotosFor more about me
Anoop Negi
Photographing the Fast Changing India
Photography of the common, mundane and often neglected ethnographic events and fairs of the Indian Society with special emphasis on Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Meghalya.
Winemaking in Goa - the holiday hub of India.
And some cheese making too.
