October 2014

VOLUME II

OCTOBER 2014

ISSUE 7

Ignire CRYSTAL CONCEPT

PRESENTS

the online photography magazine

TRAVEL facebook.com/CrystalConcept issuu.com/ignire

SHOWCASE | INTERACT | TRAVELOGUE | MINDSPEAK | VIEWFINDER

Credits MOHAMMED ZOHAEB CEO & Founder SARANYA MANIVANNAN Editor

Magazine design by :

CRYSTAL CONCEPT

DEEPIKA SINGHANIA Content Head & Writer PRASHANTH SHARMA Photojournalist HARINI RAJGOPAL Travel Photojournalist MONISH SP Director

To Advertise with us or to give feedback, you can mail us at: emag.ignire@gmail.com NOTE: Views and opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the publisher or magazine.

NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION IS TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION.

Crystal Concept, IGNIRE is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs 3.0 Unported License.

To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/3.0 or you can send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California 94041, USA.

IGNIRE is a property of CRYSTAL CONCEPT. Powered by - WEMADE, HUE STATION and CHAISHOP

CONTENTS

SHOWCASE Come and travel the world with us!

VIEWFINDER Its time to visit Monticello with Harini Rajgopal.

CONTENTS

Photographer of the month: A quick talk with Prateek R. Srinivas

MINDSPEAK

MINDSPEAK Thoughts, perceptions and more on the deeper side of life The images in this issue are protected under the international copyright law and belong to their respective owners. No photo can be re-used for commercial purposes without obtaining prior permission. These images are under a one-time publishing right only, for IGNIRE – the photography magazine, October 2014.�

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS: A. Keshav Bharadwaj Aabid Hassan Abhay Kulkarni Aditi Nayar Aditya Kanathala Adrian Anne Schneidersmann Anupam Khan Anurag Katyal Asim Ir Avnit Bambah Ayan Sen Bharath Subrahmanya CA Puneet Dhingra Cassandra Rodrigues Chloe White Clince Rodrigues Elis Fiona McRae Georg Hoermann Iain MacFadzean Jan Lang Jayanta Basu Jolly Patel Kalin Kalpachev Kaushik Chatterjee Krishna Myneni Kunal Sheth Lisa Torres Manjik Photography Marko Smiljanic Masud N Pathan Matt Shannon Mayankesh Ranjan Mila Shirobokova Mohammad Tahir Napon Manjandrarat Nithin Narayan P. K. Bhattacharyya Parinitha Konanur

Peter Cseke Prabhu Shankar Praveen Pai Raghavendra Joshi Ramandeep Singh Rauni Renu Satish Rohan H. Atre Saif Faizullah Sameena Arif Saravanan Shraddha Bagrodia Sreedevi Srikanth S Subhobrata Das Sundeep Chauhan Taniya Kundu Tarqe Alzharani Vinoth Kumar Vishal Nalavade Vishnudeep Dixit Xiang Gui Yasunori Tomori

Front Cover Image: Adrian

Background Image: Kunal Sheth

WRITERS:

Arshat Mohammed Asmitha Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra Mandeep Alang Rekha Nag Zulekha Shakoor Rajani

A.Keshav Bharadwaj

Abhay Kulkarni

Aabid Hassan

Abhay Kulkarni

Aditi Nayar

Aditya Kanathala

Adrian

Adrian

Ajay Ghatage

Ajay Ghatage

Ajay Parkash

Ajay Parkash

Anand R.

Andreas L.

Andy Yeung

Avnit B.

Anne S.

Anne S.

Anupam Khan

Asim Ir

Asim Ir.

Ayan Sen

Ayan Sen

CA Puneet D.

Bharath S.

Cassandra R.

Cassandra R.

Chloe White

Chloe White

Clince R.

Clince R.

Elis

Elis

Fiona M.

Fiona M.

Georg H.

Jolly Patel

Iain M.

Iain M.

Jan Lang

Jan Lang

Jayanta Basu

Jayanta Basu

Kalin K.

Kaushik Chatterjee

Krishna M.

Krishna M.

Kunal Sheth

Kunal Sheth

Lisa Torres

Lisa Torres

Manjik Photography

Marco S.

Masud N. Pathan

Matt Shannon

Mayankesh R.

Nithin N.

Mila S.

Mohammad Tahir

Napon M.

P.K. Bhattacharyya

Parinitha K.

Parinitha K.

Ramandeep Singh R.

Peter C.

Prabhu S.

Praveen P.

Praveen P.

Raghavendra Joshi

Ramandeep Singh R.

Renu Satish

Rohan H.

Saif Faizullah

Sameena Arif

Saravanan

Shraddha Bagrodia

Sreedevi

Srikanth S.

Sundeep C.

Subhobrata Das

Taniya K.

Tarqe A.

Vinoth Kumar

Vishal N.

Vishnudeep Dixit

Vishnudeep Dixit

Xiang G.

Yasunori Tomori

MINDSPEAK

THE RAILS… The sun rays slip on the polished steel, symbolizing the beginning of a new day, On a day like this as if predetermined by fate, we met; We smiled; we cried and shared our feelings by the night…

Now as by premonition, I knew you would leave me, ‘What did I lack?’ I asked myself, I could feel the air around me going black; I cried, yes I cried for the first time; my head ready to burst…

Our love was so pure, why did it have to end?

I knew I was dying inside from your thirst, Watching the tracks I reflect, why can't we go like the tracks?

Hand in hand parallel till eternity?

Memories of ‘us’ flashed by me, reminded me of the time we spent together in glee; And listening to incoming trains with our ears on the track…

Here I am, dejected, devastated and disillusioned, Night’s fallen and I still walk over the rails (balancing myself) lest I should fall; WAITING FOR MY ULTIMATE MOMENT… A warm light falls over my body, just like your enchanting aura, I smile for I know not much time is left; I hear the whistle, tearing through the darkness, Echoing your cries...the time has come; I get a painful and deadly hug as the train collides with me…

I can clearly see your face now; it’s carved into my memory, I lay between two tracks, and I can feel the soul escaping from my body; I NOW LIE IN THE NO MAN’S LAND…

-Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra (https://www.facebook.com/hakawatithestoryteller?ref_type=bookmark)

MINDSPEAK

You’re now like your name O’ Gaza strip, You have been stripped.

You were once a booming bride, And today they stole you, your pride.

Women being stripped of their dignity Children being stripped of their innocence Men being stripped of their honour You being ripped of your existence.

Your blood flows like water Your yield is now bloodied Dead bodies are a mere waste which lie on you without the bury-haze.

Your scars have immersed deep in the soil Umpteenth deaths makes our blood boil We sense your fear, we read your heart, Our hearts cry though far apart.

We cry when your sky showers a rain of bombs We feel when the children die of brave Moms The media has learnt to conceal your pain but, Lord will not let your lives go in vain.

For those heartless creatures have lost all their sane They spread death and terror in every lane They will be asked of what they use to do My Lord, Surely we all have to return unto You. Till then O’ you stripped Mother, stand like a rock.

Your sacrifices the world shall forget not.

- Zulekha Shakoor Rajani

MINDSPEAK

The Red LipShade Pandora's box I unbolted The damsel princess of the brothel stood amazed Kohl,mascara and a Red lip shade.

Her fascination in those sparkling oculars I pulled it all away to her did I chide The fates mete me this epoch today, ‘Morrow she doesn't have to abide.

If only she could despise the fates Ah! I feared the Red lipshade I applied.

Stars of movies and figures of rills.

I could picture in those miniature bills.

Make-up and glamour,that wonder and thrill I pulled it out and jerked myself The Red lipshade I put on filled me with disgust But someone would wipe it off.

That someone I had never before come across That someone I might never see again Someone would wipe that Red lipshade off.

I would hold the unkempt bedsheet tight I would have no say and be numb with all my might.

A concealer , not to hide a mark But hundreds visible on the face A million they can't see A million I can't show.

That kohl to blacken my hungry eyes.

His hungry eyes see the bright I blacken it to darken my dark night.

Those brows I raise with the mascara And blinden myself to the soul that doesn't rise.

Powder for the face to bring the lambence, Thicken the flesh that no longer his touch I sense.

MINDSPEAK

Men of repute walking into the house of ill fame Madam sends me to Royal Avenue, room 207.

The groomed and lessoned girls rushing into the game Before my friend gets him luckily or unluckily I find him to be his goddess of tonight's heaven.

A smile to him, pleasure he draws Tuning to the dollars in his hand my wise lips wide The money he holds tight in his paws I pull it with my teeth I am no larcen, I earn my bread.

Doing must to survive, his words into my ears yet.

He did not watch me this way then I do not want the stars to look now Dragging this feet once meant be to be stood upon MINDSPEAK I shall put the morsel into the mouth.

Dancing the painted fingers over his bottle of wine While the edge of the bed he moved to Holding my hand, kissing the neck Lost in the smell of the brown locks When I shall submit my treasures to him A wasteland to me, for him treasure it was.

He would believe I rendered those treasures no more mine If not him, then his bottle of wine.

Ah the sunrays are moving out Of the sky for a promenade.

It has been long and longer still Yet, I fear the Red lipshade.

-Mandeep Alang

MINDSPEAK

MY LORD From blest cradle of demiurge we all started our venture.

Your supreme power, is an armor to your believer.

On my knees, an entreaty from divine disguise I feel forlorn in your absence within me, my Lord.

The quest for you never is a rummage for me though, like between the walls of temples or in man-made customs and rituals.

I believe, eternal is your presence, in shimmer of reliance.

You always succoured my soul to revive, when it was trapped in mud of lily-livered.

In amidst of nature, watching testimonies of your virtuosity, makes me discern the musing happening inside of me, Waft makes me feel your quiddity, ascertaining my conscious about your capability, soul jilts the ego, just inhales a grin and murmurs insane.

Kid, we are just flurry in front of his power!

- Asmitha

MINDSPEAK

Never to Love Never to love - that's the dream!

Every time you fall in and out every time you're broken sometimes you mend yourself sometimes time does it for you.

You get back up, you get out there and find a new one.

You find a new way to get yourself beaten up again.

But there comes a point when you will be shattered for real you will lose all love that you had for life there is knife inside you and it's waiting it's waiting for that time to start piercing out from within slowly carving tiny words to scar for life slowly stabbing like it's just its routine pray you don't find yourself there.

It's agonizing.

If you can decide now, if you have the heart, the will... decide now; decide that you will never love and that heart of yours? let it not go through that pain pray now, think now and decide now because when you find yourself there you would dream to have never loved.

Never to love - that is the dream!

Dream it now, and maybe, it will come true for you.

- Arshat Mohammed (http://wordsandhumming.blogspot.in/)

Flavors of Rajasthan I had always longed to visit Rajasthan; and when it happened, it was like a dream come true!! The land of gypsies, deserts, camels, forts, folk music and the list goes on. I went to Delhi to visit my sister-in-law with my husband during the Durga Puja festival and from there we set forth for Jaisalmer. We had booked our hotel inside the Jaisalmer fort or the ‘Sonar kella’ as most of us know it as in Bengal and elsewhere because the renowned director Satyajit Ray’s movie of the same name. We started our 18 hour train journey from Old Delhi to reach Jaisalmer. As soon as I landed on the platform, I was taken aback by the beautiful railway station, it was small but with exquisite architecture! We were dropped to the location by an auto rickshaw, and then I finally found myself standing in front of the beautiful fort.

Since we had arrived there at midnight, we went straight to our room and crashed. And when morning came, the exploring began. The lanes

that we had passed through last night, were now buzzing with activity with tourists from all over the world. The shops were selling all sorts of artifacts, colorful clothes, umbrellas and the turbans made in Rajasthan, along with the native dishes and flavours. The fort had its own medieval charm and grandeur. The palaces of the king, queen and the prince were

just so majestic. The architecture will leave you breathless! Inside the fort there was huge collection of artifacts that portrayed the rich heritage of the past. The most interest-

mud houses. As we were nearing ing the desert, the landscape started to thing I change and I could see the camels and their carts. We decided to take a camel ride and that was an experience in itself. After a short ride, the beautiful sand dunes finally came into sight. It left me amazed and absolutely thrilled! It was just far more beautiful than I had imagined it to found was the hand imprints of the be.

'Satis' on the walls on both sides of The next day we visited Patwon Ki one of the entrances to the fort. It Haveli and the Gadisar Lake. The was a reminder of the harsh side of our history.

In the afternoon, after having lunch, we went to visit the Sam desert. On our way, we visited a 'Bheel' village.

We met a few families, who welcomed us warmly into their lovely

Haveli was enchanting with its intricate designs, beautiful arches and the ‘jharokas’ that attracted me the most. The Gadisar lake also didn’t disappoint us. A lovely and peaceful place, it was once the only source of water in Jaisalmer. It was built by the first ruler of Jaisalmer, Raja Rawal Jaisal. That evening, we paid a visit to Vyas Chhatri, a place dedicated to sage Vyasa, the writer of the Indian epic Mahabharatha. The beauty of the architecture was splendid. It’s located on a hill from where there is a beautiful view of the Jaisalmer town and the fort.

Since we had enough time on our hands, we decided to explore the Mehranghar Fort. The thing that attracted me most was the intricately sculptured rocks that make the fort.

The whole fort has been carved out of rocks and inside there are beautiful spacious courtyards that are not visible from the outside. The courtyards are packed with tourists from all over the world watching folk dances and music performed by artists of rural Rajasthan. You can see exquisite artifacts like palanquins of the queens, paintings, armoury, music instruments and much more in Before leaving Jaisalmer, we decid- the gallery inside the fort. The thick ed to have the famous, authentic Ra- walls tell the story of its undefeated jasthani food, dal bati churma again. and glorious past.

It was so deliciously rich and exotic. But as sun was going down, we had I can still taste all those yummy fla- to get on to our train and wave Ravours! In the afternoon, we rented jasthan, a goodbye. And with that, a car and headed towards Jodhpur, our journey to that beautiful ended. from where we had to get our train.

On our last day, we went camping.

After a sumptuous authentic Bengali lunch in the heart of Jaisalmer, we started for our destination, Khuri.

The camp was beautiful with provisions like charging points for our laptops and mobiles and a 24 hour water supply, all of it, right in the middle of a desert! In the evening we were entertained with folk music and dances by the ‘Kalbelias’ from the village nearby. It was a marvelous experience. At night, I was excited to sleep out in the open, but we came inside soon enough thanks to the chilly Rajasthan night.

-Rekha Nag

Photographer of the Month for the auto mode and would point and shoot at a particular object. During this period, my interest for photography grew greatly and I decided that to take up photography seriously.

Your first camera?

Prateek R. Srinivas Introduce yourself to our readers.

I'm Prateek, an Economics student at Bangalore's Christ University. I'm also a photographer and founder at Arteek Captures and co-founder at MzQ Entertainment.

When did the photography bit start?

I cannot pinpoint a definite start date for my interest towards photography, it was born within me and always excited me to get behind a camera and click pictures.

I remember my first camera when I was a mere six, a Fujifilm make, and I faintly remember hijacking it from my dad just to randomly point and shoot without even thinking about who or what was I shooting.

When the age of the digital camera finally arrived, my dad bought one from Japan, a Sony Cyber shot, and on excursions, I used to observe places and the scenery only through the camera. This annoyed my parents to a great extent since I was reprimanded by my mother who told me to observe things with my eye rather than through a camera. I used this particular model for a very long time usually settled

At times, I saw some amazing sights that were begging to be photographed but the only problem was, I never had my camera on me. God said let earth advance and Steve Jobs was born! The solution presented itself to me in the form of an iPhone 4S. The iPhone was a rage in the market during 2011 and was particularly known for its astounding camera with its advanced optics and automatic mode adjustment. With the iPhone, I was easily able to photograph some stunning cloud formations and other scenic marvels. I participated in many photography competitions and even won a few; I was able to convince my parents to buy me a Nikon DSLR. With adrenaline rushing in and not having supermodels within my vicinity, I started off by clicking pictures of flowers and vegetables growing in my garden and also the beautiful sights that nature had to offer.

Your field of interest while clicking?

I was particularly interested in landscape photography, but I realized I needed to refine my skills. I learnt about the basics of a camera and photography from a website but I knew I needed a more detailed and thorough understanding on how to use my camera. I signed up for a professional course offered

by ToeHold Photography and trained under the tutelage of Mr. Jayanth Sharma, a renowned photographer with expertise in wildlife and landscape. After an intense two-day workshop, I came out feeling enlightened and with my newly gained knowledge; I started clicking better pictures and expanded my field of interest.

Tell us about MzQ Entertainment.

I happened to come in contact with acclaimed singer-songwriter, Adithya Srinivasan who is extremely popular across the globe and was recognized as India’s Youngest Ghazal Singer. On presenting my work to him, he hired me as his official photographer and had given me the responsibility of designing the

album arts for his upcoming projects. For a single of his Gham-e–Duniya, he and I worked on the artwork for a month where we had to go to different locations, one of which involved almost getting run over by a train, and 700 shots later, I finally arrived at the perfect picture which would be the face of his album.

I was even fortunate to get an opportunity to interact with Maestro Hariharan during the launch of this album. Together we founded MzQ! Entertainment, an Indian Digital Commerce Boutique.

How has the journey been so far?

During my work with Adithya, I was introduced to a lot of celebrities: Legends of play back singing, Grammy award winners and other famous personalities and it was an honor for me to photograph them. On one single day, I was fortunate to meet the legend of playback singing S.P. Balasubramanyam, The Flute maestro Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia and Grammy award winning Mohanveena prodigy Pt.Vishwamohan Bhatt. On this day, I had the opportunity to interact with and photograph each one of them, which I can say was one of the luckiest days of my life.

Grammy Awards; how did that happen?

Adithya soon came up with another project for which he again hired me to design his album art that was done in two weeks and thankfully didn’t involve any near death situations. Little did I know that small work was going to boost my professional life to new heights. I received a call from Adithya who informed me that our project was accepted for the 57th GRAMMY awards. It was one of the happiest days of my life! That evening, I sat back and thought about the evolution of my life from a kid who would just mess with a camera to that of a professional whose work is now a part of a Grammy project. To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…

I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Theme for November: SILHOUETTES You can mail us your entries by attaching a maximum of two images along with your name, the EXIF data and the link to your photography page/ profile if you have one.

We welcome writers to mail their entries on any topic for our section MINDSPEAK. Word Limit: Not more than 700 words in case of an article Last Date: 5th November, 2014. e-mail: emag.ignire@gmail.com Like us on Facebook: fb.com/crystalconcept

Follow us on Twitter: @emagignire

To advertise in the magazine, contact us on +91 7760570759