Via Prashant Mullick

“Knives that will draw blood hours later string into picture.

In bunches at the end of chains, they will be used to lash backs and remind Muslims of the massacre of the prophet Muhammed's grandson, Imam Hussain.

Other dagger-like knives will be held in the hand to cut vertically into the forehead.

Here, they're put on display, for sale. Imamwada Road, deep in the heart of Bombay's traditional Muslim stronghold, is lined with thousands of knives, and buyers, every year.”

I know I am in good company when I see quotes from Pablo Neruda, Matsuo Basho and Wynton Marsalis sprinkled across a photographer's web site. Pinaki Chakravarthy has been at it for a long time. His images from the flower market are my favorite as he has let the ambient light dictate the colors in the frame.

But the one above arrested my attention for the most obvious reason of all – curiosity. What were they and how were they to be used? In my opinion, an image devoid of people in its frame can still make it a portrait. This one speaks of a community. This image of knives slung across a wire in pregnant anticipation of skins, blood and passion is terrific. I would love to see more of these kinds of images in this young photographer's portfolio.

Via Ram Rahman

There is a big retrospective exhibition of the late Raghubir Singh opening September 30th at Sepia Gallery at 148 W 24th St New York, NY 10011. Check the web site or call (212) 645- 9444 for more details.

Singh as you may know revitalized the use of color in Indian photography. Given he spent so much time in India, one may mistakenly think that would be an easy task. Quite the contrary, because the country is so colorful, Singh had to be a superb craftsman at delineating color from subject yet make some statement about both at the same time in the same frame. Therein lies his genius. If you have seen his book on the ubiquitous Ambassador car you'll know what I am talking about.

Think street photography and I think of Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier Bresson, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand and Robb Hill.

Yeah, Robb Hill.

Robb, a friend from my days at Indiana University, is a terrific photographer. I just received a note from him saying his portfolio of street photography is on display at the Catherine Edelman Gallery‘s website and that the prints are for sale. All images are 11 x 14″ or 16 x 20″ gelatin silver prints for $700 and $1200 respectively. Black & white prints – yummy!

I have had quite a bit of Polaroid Type55 film in the closet. Don't ask me why I hoard these things. I just do. Though their expiration dates had whizzed past me, I was convinced that I would one day use them all up. Couple of weeks ago, I got my chance. I decided to experiment with an old WISTA, 4×5 field camera. Larger the negative, sharper the image when enlarged. That's if you have a negative at all. I didn't. Read on.

I set out to do some portraits of my family at a birthday party. I brought in studio lights and my brother, Ananth, meticulously pulled the negatives off of this special Polaroid film that creates both an instant positive and a very brittle black & white negative. It's a messy process, replete with toxic gooey paste dripping off the film. I must admit I hadn't this before. I had shot with a 4×5 camera, but the film I had used was transferred quickly onto paper; a process entirely different from what I embarked on this time.

The sodium sulphite solution that the exposed negatives were supposed to be dunked in must have been terribly concentrated and I sure didn't clean the negatives right away as prescribed. That aside, we were all very happy with the results. Instant image = instant gratification.

The negatives were all toast, though. I left them in a box full of water and that's exactly what I am NOT supposed to do. I picked one negative up from the water bath and the emulsion slipped right off of it. The emulsion was gone. Poof! I think I will be a whole lot better prepared next time around. If anyone of you has worked with this Polaroid Type55 film, please email me. I would love to tickle your brain with questions.

I must be on a nature kick. Minnesota photographer Jim Brandenburg's images are breathtaking.