Undesired is a powerful multimedia documentary by Walter Astrada. It is brought to you by MediaStorm.

This is a guest post by Divya Manian, a standards-based web designer who now lives in Seattle. She publishes her own blog, Nimbupani.

What pictures come to mind when you think of India?

Wait, I do not need to ask you, all I need to do is to look at Flickr search results and it is obvious what India means to photographers. What about Africa?

India, is much more than vermilion, yellow, vibrant colors and dark women. It is now a land of high-rises, malls, and industrial pollution. Unfortunately, this is not a popular stereotype and rarely highlighted in photography. It perpetuates a myth of poverty and rustic living that is now not true for most of India. Similar is the case with African countries. The greatest catastrophe is the grouping of so many different countries into one ideal “country” called Africa. Africa’s landmass can contain China, US, and more in terms of land area. There are people of several cultures within a single country in Africa and African towns and cities have a lot more technology than popular photographs indicate.

A photograph is a slice of time which exaggerates the importance of the captured moment, just like a painting. Photographs have been used to perpetuate myths as well as facts. They alter public opinion with force that is unseen in the written text. As in the movie Spiderman, Uncle Ben says, “With great power, comes great responsibility” and here I would like photographers to use this power wisely.

It is easier to shoot photographs that match a popular stereotype than to go against it. Many times, a popular stereotype reinforces the familiarity of a shot and makes a photograph appealing. Unfamiliarity with the subject being photographed can cause this too. Sometimes, it invokes a sense of nostalgia for a time that could have been or sometimes, a sense of relief for not being in that position, or there can be simply nothing else to do (e.g. Taj Mahal, or birthday parties). Still, stereotypes pander to an opinion that already exists and brings nothing new to life, and I consider that an opportunity lost. A popular cliche these days is a religious priest with a “hi-tech” gadget.

This is a call to all photographers to look beyond the stereotypes, or to use stereotypes wisely. For example, Mr. Oochappan takes great photographs of a part of Tamil Nadu that is rarely seen by the city dwellers. His photographs revels in the stereotypes so much that the pictures bring out unseen facets of Tamil culture. See this image in particular of a man dressed like the Hindu deity Shiva.

Akshay Mahajan usually take photographs that go beyond the stereotypical shots:

I don’t mean to hold these two as extreme examples and not all of their photographs fit into the boundaries I have drawn around them. It may not be possible to escape the cliche, but as photographers we must try.

How do you know if you are subscribing to a cliché? Simple, if a shot looks “perfect”, ask yourself why you think so. Is it because it fits into a known stereotype of a “perfect” shot for that place/occasion/people? Or is it because that shot tells an unusual story? Whatever it is, before you take or share a photo you have taken with the world, spend some moments thinking about the story the photograph tells and let it not be “perfect”.

What do you think? Ink your thoughts below in the comments section.

I have been asked to present my documentary wedding photography at Global Adjustments in Chennai, India.

If you are in Chennai on February 5 and would like to attend, please RSVP the organizers. Let Bindu Menon know you heard about the lecture-demonstration through Tiffinbox!

Meanwhile if you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask in the comments section below!

Zubin Pastakia is a documentary photographer and urban researcher living and working in Mumbai.

In 2006 he began working on a series looking at single-screen cinema halls in Mumbai. The project was initially supported by a fellowship from SARAI-CSDS and was awarded the TOTO Funds the Arts Award for Photography in 2008. The intention is to exhibit and compile the work into a photobook in the near future.

His other photographic project looks at the built environment of Mumbai. Focusing on slum rehabilitation projects, housing colonies of different social classes, peripheries of new business centers, suburban townships, sites of environmental degradation and open spaces that are pending development, the project takes a critical look at the forces that are shaping the city’s constant metamorphosis. Still in progress, the series has been supported by a grant from the India Habitat Centre. Some of the work from this project has been exhibited in group shows by Tasveer Gallery.

Zubin freelances for various publications and also photographs for architects and interior designers.

And, yes, the prints are for sale. Contact Zubin for more information.

If you have questions for Zubin, post them in the comments section below. I am sure he looks forward to hearing from you.

It was a magazine clipping that my mother handed me on my way back to the US that first introduced me to Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist. In a field that is clearly overrun by men, I was easily charmed by her tenacity and resolve to also bear witness to India’s first waking moments as an independent nation.

Check out this film – it’s rather long at 70 minutes – to get acquainted with a legend in the field of photojournalism.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Post your thoughts below in the comments section. I look forward to hearing from you.

What do you make of this advertisement? Like anything I know there are two sides to this story. What have you heard? I want to know. Yes, the natural environment must be protected. Yes, the nation’s progress depends on manufacturing, jobs, infrastructure etc. But who has done a cost-benefit analysis here? Is there an environmental report somehwer that is free of jargon and easy to understand by the lay person? Do we give a shit one way or another?

Here is your chance to speak up. Tell me. Tell us. Keep the language clean and the discussion civil. And, when you do comment, please use your REAL name, a real email address and if you have a website, a real URL. If you are going to want to remain anonymous, I am afraid your comment will be deleted. Sorry!

Now, speak!

Om writes with great regret about how he is missing out on the Nasreen Mohamedi show at the Talwar Gallery in NYC. I have to confess I had never heard of Mohamedi before Om mentioned it in his blog. Given that I live so close to the city (well, relatively) I should really try and check it out before it closes on October 25.

Anyone else visited the gallery and seen the show? Want to send me a short 100-word report? I’ll promise to post it here and credit you for it (of course!)

Talwar is showing her photographs from the 1960′s and 70′s, which she never exhibited. {From NYTimes}

KODAK sells most cameras in India
Business Standard, India

“For the US-based imaging major Kodak, India has become the largest market
for cameras, bigger than China and the US.”