You probably already know that I work with a Business Coach.

More recently, I have considered working with a Life Coach (also known as a Personal Coach) as well. Why? Well, to help me get my priorities straight. I have just had two invigorating sessions with Bernadette Bolton of Exceptional Life. She works with clients far and wide. I would be remiss if I didn't mention my friend Arvind Devalia out of London, England, who is also a Life Coach.

If you are a photographer, I would also urge you to consider working with a Photo Coach. Two names come to mind – Selina Maitreya and Mike Davis.

So feed my curiosity a little will ya?

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Having a Business Coach, Life Coach and or a Photo Coach could make or break your business. Do you work with a coach? If you do, tell me/us why? If you don't, why not? Do you know of Business, Life or Photo coaches who should be mentioned? List their names and their website links below in the comments section. Thank you!

This article was written by L. Romal M. Singh and reprinted, with permission, from Bangalore's Daily News & Analysis' You & I column. Mahesh Bhat, a photographer based in Bangalore made this republication possible. He is the co-author of Unsung, his first book. Read more about that book here.

“Two Names, One Soul”

It was this quote that inspired seasoned photographer Mahesh Bhat to look at Bangalore from the perspective of an outsider — an identity Mahesh Bhat gave up almost 20 years ago. “Bangalore is now home to me, but that wasn’t always the case. I grew up in Mangalore but moved here when I was quite young and now the city is home,” enthuses Mahesh, as we sit across a table at Koshy’s.

Koshy’s, so much a part of ‘identity’ Bangalore, does feature in the book that it brought about this meeting, and like many other Bangalore mainstays, the book inspires, records and chronicles a face of Bangalore that’s ever changing, but wonderfully constant.

“I was quite clear about what I wanted from this book — it took me four years to get down to finally putting it together and so I had enough time to ideate. I knew I wanted this book to be about transition — not about famous people and landmarks. Bangalore has always been about multiple identities, it really never has been the same city for any two people,” Mahesh tells us.

Bangalore has indeed been a city of many changes and the city has meant many things to different people, across the 900 years or so of the existence of this city. The powers have changed with almost each century, but the heart and soul of the city largely have remained intact. Bengaluru/Bangalore — in first person singular opens to a wonderful image of the Basavanagudi Bull Temple — an image that quite wonderfully captures the timelessness of this Bangalore.

“I began the journey for this book at Kalasipalya and then meandered through what remains of the pété, before the book halts temporarily at the Cantonment and all that it stands for — the Raj legacy included, before I finally make my way back to the layouts and newer areas that are now as intrinsically Bangalorean as Brigade Road,” shares Mahesh. As said, the book does journey through Bangalore in all its elements, giving you a fair picture of what the city was, is and is probably moving towards — all in one linear movement that personifies an energy now quintessentially known as Bangalore. One of the first images in the book is that of the Infosys pyramid, juxtaposed with slum-dwellings in Electronics City. The picture hits hard and quite succinctly portrays the economic divide in modern Bangalore.

“Bangalore changed after we became an IT city. We lost focus and wanted to be the next Singapore or Beijing. Change is important and inevitable, and don’t get me wrong, I am waiting for the metro as much as any other enthusiastic Bangalorean — but I am worried about the attitude behind this change. A city should be creative class friendly. It shouldn’t be about building infrastructure and then waiting for development — this should be a hand-in-hand process,” says Mahesh, quoting Richard Florida’s theory.

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Bangalore has indeed evolved in more ways than one and it often is the easiest option to just sit back and complain about how these changes are turning Bangalore for the worse. Mahesh however prefers to be more far-sighted in his opinion.

Quoting Narender Pani from his essay, Imaginations of Bengaluru, Mahesh says, “the dominant economic class has always decided what Bangalore will mean to the world and for some reason they have always done away with every trace of the city’s previous leaders. For example, the IT industry is now converting the city into India’s Silicon Valley, removing with it every trace of the city’s colonial past,while just before that the British did the same, by replacing every presence of the pété; with a larger-than-life Cantonment. It’s just how Bangalore functions and it may or may not be a great idea.”

Theme, ideas and motivation in place, we finally move on to parts of the making of this book that Mahesh fondly remembers. “It’s hard for me to decide. Each picture speaks so much to me and is equally precious, but if I had to choose, since you force me to, I would choose the picture of the Karaga festival. The festival is older than Bangalore in many ways and brilliantly captures the spirit of the people who call this city home. Imagine — a Hindu festival with a Telugu lineage, being celebrated by Tamils in a Kannadiga locality where the idols are placed in a dargah as a part of a great custom, proving that communities and religions can co-exist, live in peace and love one another.
I think that if there’s a definitive picture in the collection, it’s definitely this one,” Mahesh concludes.

Impressed and highly entertained, I take leave and rush back to my office where I take my time in absorbing each of these images — some strike a chord, some inform and some just bring the most genuine smile to my face. Bangalore is as much my city, as it is yours and if Bangalore was a song and the lyrics were the ages the city has seen— this book, quite incomparably, is the tune the city has been searching for all these years. P.S. And just in case, you are still looking for an answer to that question asked at the very beginning — read this book and wait for your eureka moment.

Mahesh Bhat says: People in North America can buy the book using Paypal and we'll ship it via DHL. The cover price is $30 and we just add another $5 for shipping.

As a photographer in Avon, Connecticut I have been reaching out to parents through my portraits website and to brides in Connecticut through my wedding photography website. I have volunteered my time, offered numerous portrait sessions for silent auctions and even photographed the Cub Scouts troop in town. All this to say, I am not going any where and I want to put roots down right where I live.

On March 23, I am going to join a group of other professionals in my town present to a select group of Avon High School students. Our presentations are meant to spark an interest in them for what we do, so that they may some day down the road do what we do now. And yes, the half-day program is called SPARK.

“Students will be exposed to a variety of topics beyond the usual classroom fare. The goal of the workshops is to introduce students to a wide variety of interesting topics; a day of exploring something new they may have an interest in learning more about or perhaps even finding a career or hobby.”

For the presentation, I plan on going back and giving the students a quick look at how I started in this business. I'll even go into my WHY. Slideshows are an obvious choice to get them engaged in what I will be talking about.

But I am here to ask for your help:

What should I impart to the students? What do you consider the most important thing that students, who are 14 through 18 years of age, going to need to know from a working professional about photography?

I need your help. In the comments section below, please take a moment and pen two suggestions. If you see someone else suggest something you had in mind, that's fine. Still, tell me. I figure if more people feel the same about a topic that must be addressed at this point and time, then I better hop to it.

So, can I count on you? I want to hear from photographers of all genres, if possible. I would love to understand your perspective on these questions.

Look, I value your time. In return for your suggestions below, you'll be entered (one entry per person only) into a drawing for one of two books by Jerod Foster called, Storytellers: A Photographer's Guide To Developing Themes and Creating Stories With Images.

The two best commenters (and their suggestions) win the two books that Jerod so generously offered to my audience. I'll decide on the winners by Thursday, March 22 at 3 p.m. EST.

Are you in? I am really looking forward to your input. With your help on March 23rd, it will be less MY presentation and more OUR presentation. Thank you!

Are you considering photography as a profession? Are you thinking of going pro? If you photograph only on the weekends and want to transition to a full time photography career, you should watch this video by Eric Foley, a wedding and portrait photographer based in Connecticut:

Eric Foley was awarded 2011 Wedding Photographer of The Year by the CTPPA. He is also active in the Connecticut Professional Photographer's Association (CTPPA).

If you are in Connecticut from March 8 through 12, you can meet Eric at the CTPPA annual convention. He will also be presenting at Inspire Photo Seminars this year. His talk is called, “Making The Jump – Going Fulltime V2.0.”

As a friend, photographer and a fellow foodie, I recommend you visit his website and follow him on Twitter. He is a great guy to know!