Salsa Congress, August 2008, Bangalore.
For a long time i pushed these images to the abyss of my hard disk simply because, i kept having this nagging feeling that i was missing something in this story. May be i would find it if i went back to the story. May be i just need a little more patience. May be i need to put in a little more effort. Or may be, i should learn salsa!
In any case, ive put my story together now. The story of what i think is the most fashionable art form in the city. Told as i saw it, with the hope that i will return to it this year.
A bollywood dance class
To me, the workshops associated with the Salsa Congress seemed to be the most exciting part of the event. The area cordoned off for the workshops were thronging with people... be it a workshop on salsa, bollywood or hip hop!
The staff of Hotel Ashoka preparing for the evening event
Performers seen rehearsing for the the evening's opening show.
Whatever people say about sexism, prejudices against women, violence, equal rights etc etc I might count as someone who has always been glad to have been born a woman. How else would you remember the occasion when you casually walked into a restroom to find it turned into a green room by the dancers and all you had to do to get permission to shoot was to ask whether they'd mind if you took pictures of them while they were dressing! Getting access to shoot, (I'm sure most of you would agree) is one of the most important part of your work as a photojournalist. But to walk into such unprecedented scenarios and to earn the trust of your subjects because you share a common understanding of the unwritten rules of the feminine world is much more than a happy coincidence. I knew how far i could go with my privileged access and they knew that i need not be told. We all respected each other for that. It's a pity i don't have any of their contact information. But its a small world. I'm hoping one of them would read this blog and see their pictures some day. My friends from the green room...
The Evening Show begins!
For a long time i pushed these images to the abyss of my hard disk simply because, i kept having this nagging feeling that i was missing something in this story. May be i would find it if i went back to the story. May be i just need a little more patience. May be i need to put in a little more effort. Or may be, i should learn salsa!
In any case, ive put my story together now. The story of what i think is the most fashionable art form in the city. Told as i saw it, with the hope that i will return to it this year.
A bollywood dance class
To me, the workshops associated with the Salsa Congress seemed to be the most exciting part of the event. The area cordoned off for the workshops were thronging with people... be it a workshop on salsa, bollywood or hip hop!
The staff of Hotel Ashoka preparing for the evening event
Performers seen rehearsing for the the evening's opening show.
Posts
Rehearsal session is quite good.... But I guess if u can make the "event" images black and white it can bring back the essence to the same, which is rite now taken away by the yellow ( color Balance). It's just a suggestion. great work!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you:) but i prefer leaving it as colour images and wouldnt even want to colour correct them cos i was quite disapointed the way the lights were used during the show. they had a choice for variations but they simply switched on ALL the lights together at one go and thereby killed all possibilities of creating dramatic light!! But yes, i guess the images might look better in B &W. There is always a next time i guess ;)
ReplyDeleteI guess, U are true.... Sometime lights do play spoil sports... Not in our hands. As u said there is always a next time.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of pictures!! Number 5 from the top is our favourite (guy with the hat). Our humble suggestion is that it would look great in B&W (yes, we saw the comment above...) and cropped closer.
ReplyDelete