Happy New Year!

Walking along, I came upon a nook in the wall celebrating “the end” with graffiti. An immaculately dressed gentleman sat there playing the violin. At ease with himself and his surroundings, he continued playing as we exchanged smiles. As the music played, I asked for his permission and photographed him at peace surrounded by the chaotic graffiti.

Violinist in Florence

I feel fortunate and blessed to observe my niece at close quarters in the everyday things she does.  I marvel at how she picks up new things and her curiosity, her ability to grasp new things.

Here are some of the moments she presented to me…

At the playground, she loves to play with the swing, the slide and to pick up and throw the little pieces of playground surface materials like wood chips and shredded bark mulch.  On being asked what she is doing as she throws the chips away, she always replies – ‘tafai!’

(i.e. she is doing ‘safai’ in Hindi or cleaning up the place).

On the steps up to the slide, it is time for a peek-a-boo. As she says, ‘peet-a-boo!’  Here, she is lost in thoughts after pausing for a peek-a-boo moment.

Peek-a-boo

At the beach, she totally loved the sand and the way the grains flew in the wind. Her mom showed her how to cup sand with hands and release it slowly. The little kid spent the next hour ‘showering her baby’ with sand.

Sand shower for her baby

In the afternoon light with the sun on her shoulders, she pauses her play to look at me through the tunnel in her tent.

Through a tunnel of love

When I showed her how to hold a small drum, she would remember the ‘dam-moo’ (for damroo) from time to time. Here she surprised me by bringing the drum to me and then, proceeding to drum up her own beat.  Her expression says it all.  The delights of drumming.  Maybe, we will join a drum circle one day.

Delight of drumming

The water baby that she is, she loves getting into water.  She is taking swimming lessons.  When you ask her what she did on the day of the class, she would say in a sweet, lilting voice – ‘teet-teet!’ For the uninitiated, it is ‘kick! kick!’ as instructed by her swim teacher.  On this particular day, she started the water in jacuzzi, stood on the edge and wanted to ‘teet-teet’.  Here, she shows us the fish as the water drains after this soak session.

My fish

Yes, she is all of a year and a half!

Long back I wrote -
“At any point in life, the child within, devoid of any sophistry, wants to roam free. But, the adult self, having learnt the artificiality and bound by the society, walks in the direction opposite. This is life, at the crossroads, where the child and the adult meet……”

And, I get to see her at the crossroads everyday.

I met Tony Riga on the banks of the Seine in Paris, France.

"My identity"

It was a beautiful evening in Paris and I was out walking along Seine with my camera when I saw a man with a fantastic painted mask posing for pictures with two friends. Introducing myself, I offered to take their picture. I spoke little french and they spoke little English.  After taking a couple of pictures, the friends of Tony left.

Language aside, we were able to communicate.  Here are a couple of portraits from the photo session with Tony who it later turned out is a multi-talented person with many interests.  Tony self-painted this beautiful Guyanese face mask as well.

"Holding my thoughts"

"Within reach"

I have many wonderful pictures from the session with Tony that I hope to share at a later time.

Thank you Tony for being there for my camera!

Happy New Year!

As I photographed this colorful beach scene, Sebastian approached me and smilingly asked who I was shooting for.  Always nice when somebody is interested in your work and your equipment.  It turns out he is an actor in Chile and on being asked if he would like a picture, agreed to pose for me.  I had him jump next to one of the numerous colorful umbrellas along the beach.

Walking along the beach, I met Latrisha with a dazzling smile.  Her bikini matched the clear green waters nearer to the beach and I wanted to take a portrait of her.

While photographing her, my cell phone rang and after answering my phone, I put it away in the side pocket of my long shorts.  Little did I realize as the waves came onto the shore that my phone was getting drenched in sea water as I sat along the beach to get a better angle.  My moto Q died a watery death that evening.

There are very colorful life-guard stations along the south beach.  Each life-guard station is painted different.  While photographing one of these stations, I saw Kiwi with a cute smile, big innocent eyes and dreadlocks with silvery beads.  As I approached her dad for a photo, she became shy and would not smile at all.  She had just come out of the water and water dripped out of the beads onto her face.  All I wanted was a smile from this cute lil’ kid.

Somehow, she took a liking to the flash on my camera with its’ big diffuser and looked at it with curiosity and dead serious eyes.  So, I showed her how one could trigger the flash by pressing the test button.  From then on, it was a child’s play for her and she took an immense delight in pressing the test button, time and again.  I like this portrait that shows her delight in having fired the flash by pressing the button yet again.

It was a good day for people-watching and meeting beautiful strangers on the Miami beach.  I vowed to return earlier in the day another time…

Splashing in the puddles
rain drops dance
off the red umbrella
It’s time to float
my paper boat
Notes of innocence
waft in the air
the spirits
play a rain-song
as two little kids
marvel at the skies

This year, she has been crowned San Francisco Carnaval’s teen queen with an electrifying performance in the junior king and queen contest as I mentioned in the previous post. After the event, she and her family graciously gave photographers like me some time for portraits. Showing a patience and grace beyond her years, Cassandra posed with a cheerful smile on her face.

The way she had danced like a trained ballerina, it was a surprise for me to learn from her that she does not have any formal ballet training. She is in eighth grade and I really wish one of the numerous dance companies in San Francisco Bay area would take her under their wing. There was this slogan on the mural in Everett Middle school lobby – “Follow your dreams”.

Follow your dreams Cassandra! I wish you all the luck.

April 25, 2008 An Update
(courtesy Colleen Tiffenson from Mas Makers, a leading Carnival group of SF bay area ):
Cassandra is a long time student of noted Bay Area Choreographer Linda Johnson and attends the Oakland School of Performing Arts. She is scheduled to be part of two dance camps this summer at UC Berkeley and Alvin Ailey in NY. As a member of Mas Makers performing cast, her talent is recognized and she is receiving guidance in the pursuit of her dreams.

The event had its moments – a perky six year old dressed in bright green takes the stage, starts and then freezes seeing the massive stage and lights. “Do you want to dance again?” Shake of the head indicates negative. Three requests to dance follow but no luck; kiddo wants to come back to the shelter of the side of stage.

After two more performances by others, the kid comes on encouraged by parent and under flashes of the camera, dances graceful movements to a perfect rhythm, looking to his parent for approval from time to time. The music finishes and happy and buoyed by the dance, he returns thrilled with his performance. Everyone on this stage is a winner for me.

I remember when I first went to recite poetry on a big stage with lights and hundreds of eyes watching me in the lighted up auditorium. There was no lectern to lean on and my legs were shaking uncontrollably but with hands clasped behind my back, I put up a brave front, recited my poem and somehow moved into a different zone. When my poem finished and the clapping sound brought me back to earth, it was a moment of relief that the recital went well without any lines being bungled. Yes, I could certainly understand what the six-year old was going through initially.

A good rhythm and dancing never fails to have my feet tapping. If I were not behind the camera, I think I would be dancing.

Though there were many stellar performances, I really loved Cassandra’s performance. She was the first participant on the roster for teen queen and she had a charismatic brilliance. Moving very gracefully, her steps flowed like a trained ballerina and those included an air split.

My Congratulations to all the youngsters and to their parents who provide the all necessary support and encouragement for them to follow their dreams. Much goes on behind the scenes to put up any such event; kudos to Roberto Hernandez and Karol An Meier for their loving dedication and the legacy they impart to these kids for years to come.

Some portraits follow…more photos of all the participants may be seen in my event galleries .

Last night, I was at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco to photograph the Carnaval King and Queen contest. It turned out that the format had been changed this year and we would only see the finalists of a preliminary competition held earlier. Wish I knew earlier.

Everett and Kellita of Hot Pink Feathers were crowned King and Queen of San Francisco Carnaval 2008 after a scintillating performance. Here are some portraits of Everett and Kellita from the event. More may be seen in my Carnaval galleries to be updated sometime this week.

Everett all smiles: “what a feeling to be the king”…

the bubbly, energetic queen Kellita with a big smile…

Posing for a portrait after the crowning…

Savoring the moment…

All hail the king and queen…

My congratulations to Everett and Kellita, the new royalty of Carnaval!