Dinesh Khanna and I passed each other at a Dayanita Singh lecture, in New Delhi. It was, as you might have expected it, quite a crowded space and I don't believe we traded more than a few courtesies. Sephi Bergerson, made the introductions because I nudged him to.
So, that's sort of the background on where and how we met. It was a hurried meeting but it left in me an indelible mark because of the sheer humility Dinesh projected. I was gasping to come up with something remarkable or flattering to say, but he slid right past all that and started to ask me about how I was using social media and what I thought would stick. I was just getting started on Twitter at that time. At that point he or I may have even talked about doing a workshop for Indian photographers about social media, but like all good plans that get shelved, this one too hit the deck.
Fast forward a few years ago when I noticed Dinesh on Facebook and connected with him there and we began “talking” again, engaging with photographs and thoughts we shared online. I finally had to ask him to come on Tiffincast (I really should start referring to it as TiffinboxTV, eh?) because I had so many questions about his background, his ideas of where things were going with photography and what photographing in India really meant. Plus, I heard he was deeply involved with Prashant Panjiar in creating the Delhi Photo Festival (yes, if you are in India and don't go, well, I have to wonder about you).
So here we are just chilling out and talking shop. It's a longish video chat, but one that will reveal quite a bit about Dinesh, his passion for teaching photography and of course his now famous chair project.
For a quick glimpse of Dinesh's work, check these lovely images out:
Do also take a moment to take a look at Nazar Foundation – also an organization that Dinesh and Prashant Panjiar have co-founded.
Dinesh has also published a few books, Bazaar and Living Faith among them, that take the viewer on an immersive journey of punchy colors and quaint Indian nooks, places you and I most likely will only dream of visiting in this lifetime.
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[…] It wasn’t until he was approached by Dinesh Khanna, a photographer based in Delhi (and Dinesh was interviewed on Tiffinbox too), about doing a second book that Mahesh started to seriously consider it. But of course, a […]