Baba

I got flakked

Thanks to Andy Adams who selected an image from my new series Anastasia and it can be found on Flak Photo today. Andy Adams's name has been mentioned on my blog a few times now.
Refer to my 100 Portraits post in order see a recent post.



I would also like to share an outtake from this shoot that didn't make it into my final edit.

End of the year Newsletter December 2010

Hey folks.... here is my finale newsletter and the launch of a new body of work that can be seen here

 

 

Solo show in Los Angeles, Kopeikin Gallery

I am extremely thrilled to announce that 'Water' which is a culmination of two of my bodies of work will be on display January 8th through the 12th at Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles. Steve Fitch another talented photographer will also have work up at Kopeikin at the same time. Here are the details and the official press release can be found at this link sharmapressrelease

Most importantly, I will be flying into LA from Mumbai to attend the closing reception on Feb 12th 2011,
I'd love to see you there.

I will be flying in directly from Mumbai to Los Angeles to attend this closing. And alongside smiles and good artwork, In order to celebrate the show, owner of the gallery the fabulous Mr. Paul Kopeikin is arranging for an Indian food truck to be present! It would be a treat to see you on Saturday night, return from my country and spend a few moments with you amongst my artwork!

Please be there if you can.

MANJARI SHARMA - WATER
Dates: January 8 – February 12, 2011
Kopeikin Gallery



Kopeikin Gallery
2766 La Cienega Blvd (just north of Washington)
Los Angeles, California 90034
Our hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 – 5:00.
310-559-0800.
www.kopeikingallery.com
info@kopeikingallery.com

Espacio Nudage - Spain

I am currently in Mumbai, India. This time I am here sooner than I expected to be and the weather is more than perfect! Mumbai for those of you who don't know is the city I was born and raised in ... all my updates from here on will be from India. I am scheduled to return to the states on Feb 12th in order to attend the closing of my solo show in Los Angeles. You can read more about it on this link. If you live in LA and read this blog, please stop in and say hello at Kopeikin Gallery.



So about a month ago I got an email from Mike Kent who was in charge of coordinating the photo entries for Espacio Nudage. I had never heard of this event before but I was invited to submit my work for the contemporary photography section. This is the first time this event is being held in the city of Santader, Spain. A gorgeous city with views of the mountains and bays and a incredible spanish history in addition! The event was being sponsored by the council of culture and tourism and I submitted my work and waited patiently while I browsed images of Santander Spain, it's a gorgeous place, here are some images below to give you a sense of the landscape and some old Spanish architecture there.





I just heard back and was selected as one of ten photographers from several entries and was informed that I will be flown in and put up so I could attend the exhibition and see my work in a brand new country. I am humbled beyond words and am so glad to have gotten the opportunity. A shout out to Mike kent for being so easy to work with and I can hardly wait until I set foot on a totally different piece of the planet. I don't speak spanish but hope to pick up a little bit while I am there. I will keep you posted about the show and other details!

Off Shore

I wandered into one of the oldest Mumbai fishing village's with my friend Himanshu Joshi who usually knows a lot of off the beaten bath places in and around India. This is because he runs a terrific program called the Wild Holidays. Those of you who love India, I hope you get the chance to to travel with this gem of a man sometime. With years of experience on guiding adventurous expeditions, Himanshu truly knows how the country should be experienced.

So here are some images from a small fishing village that we went to. The fishermen and their families have a great respect for these boats that are built, painted and set ashore for several day long fishing trips. When we arrived there on a crisp Sunday morning, it was a special occasion because a few boats had been freshly completed and the families of the fisherman were holding prayers ceremonies on every completed boat. The scale of these massive boats parked off shore and on the village's land was a quite a sight to remember. Here are some images to accompany the story.

Favorite test shoot, 2010

I shot this test a couple months ago and instantly knew it would be a dedicated post of its own. I used an old european bed sheet for the background of this one. The styling inspiration came from my models mother... which was Ukranian fashion in the 80's. To that
we mixed in a very 2000 prop from or everyday New York life...your average bike helmet. I particularly find the bike helmet turning into to the pelvic structure rather entertaining. I think this somehow makes me feel it could be a british pop album cover.

A love affair with the Hassy

I was really fortunate to have had this novel experience in this summer of 2010. Hasselblad gave me this fantastic opportunity. All props to Jim Rooney, the north eastern rep for Hasselblad USA for selecting me for it! I know Jim from meeting him randomly at my very first photo expo in nyc 3 years ago .. also I met him agian while working at Steve Mccurry's studio when steve was buying some hassy equipment. In short, Jim kept an eye on my work and offered me this brilliant chance to play with some seriously pro tools!

I was given over 60,000 worth of equipment for a couple months to shoot, test and explore. This toys I got included the fantastic 40 mega pixel H4D40 and three top of the line lenses to go with it. The camera was like a tank and horse put together and the image quality was sex on toast. I shot pretty much every single day if i could help it! I posted on hasselblad's own website called Hassynyc as I explored with the camera. Below is a grab of the hassynyc site to give you an idea of what it looked like.

On my mind

Since my blog Ishaara's inception, I've had this repeat section on here called "on my mind". In this section I showcase a smattering of artist works. Here is a list of artist's whose works have been on my mind for the last couple months. I encourage you to to click on the names of artists, they are all hot linked to their websites.. Enjoy.

Adam Batchelor



Daniel Shea




Shen Wei



Jody Rogac




Luis Sanchis




Andrew B Myers



Jane Alden Stevens



Lucie & Simon



Kevincyr




Thomas Rousset



Tony Fouhse

Sneak Peek

I have been photographing a new series all through the summer. Here is a sneak peek into it before it makes it on to my website.

100 Portraits 100 phtoographers; Fotoweek DC

Andy Adams, publisher of FlakPhoto recently teamed up with curator and Indie Photobook Library creator Larissa Leclair to create an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC as part of FotoWeek DC 2010. They selected 100 portraits by 100 photographers who have been featured on Flak Photo, and the entire exhibition is available on his website. I was chosen to be in this line up and incredibly humbled by it. These images were projected on the Corcoran's Museum building during Fotoweek DC. Below is an image of what the projection looked like. I have nothing but the kindest of words to say about Andy Adams. Please continue to support flakphoto, a regularly visited blog by me, by following it on twitter and facebook. Many thanks to Larissa Leclair as well, I hope I get to meet you both in person some day!

The 100 portraits exhibit got a lot of shouts from many places but in particular I would like to thank Julie Grahame of acurator the online magazine. Julie has so kindly blogged about me in the recent past as is great supporter of my work. Thanks Julie for your shout to my image out within the 100 Portraits exhibition selection!

[caption id="attachment_3089" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="Projected image from the shower series during fotoweek DC "][/caption]

Critical Mass top 50

Many apologies for being a bit behind on my blogging....I have good reasons!

I am very pleased to share that I was selected for Critical Mass Top 50 with handful of driven colleagues in the industry that I sincerely admire! Photolucida's Critical Mass program selects 50 people internationally every year and I'm honored to be a part of it in 2010. The competition is fierce and you can take a look at this years other winners by clicking here.

Brian Oglesbee, Julie Taymor, The Tempest

First of all friends! Watch the HD trailer for this gorgeously shot movie here! Brian, this is a celebration post for the crew!

A while ago I worked with Brian Oglesbee, Julie Taymor and Lynn Hendee closely on a trial shoot for the latest New York Film Festival centre piece "The Tempest". For those of you that don't know about this story.... you should refer to this post of mine for the back story on how I know Brian and got to meet Julie.

This post was made when the movie was still in production actually! I Just saw the film at NYFF. It was also invited to be a part of the Venice Film Festival closing! Julie Taymor is a driven and inspiring person and Brian is an incredible photographer. To see the two talents come together on big screen was positively an unforgettable experience! Here are some images from the night out and heartiest congrats to Brian and Julie to see their hard work come to such beautiful fruition!

[caption id="attachment_3060" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="Brian Oglesbee and Julie Taymor, Lincoln centre, NYC"][/caption]

Also pictured below is Kate Boulter, on the left standing with yours truly in the centre and the boss man Brian Oglesbee on the right outside the Lincoln Centre at the Tempest's premiere night. Kate to inform you all has repetitively been photographed by Brian all through his book Aquatique which I proudly own and highly recommend so contact the man himself at b@oglesbee.com. That night when Julie saw us she exclaimed in delight when she saw kate, "There's our Ariel!!"  Ariel, as many of you know is one of the main characters from the The Tempest played by the all too charming Ben Whishaw in the movie. Kate however did all the stand in shots for Ariel when we tested for this shoot in Brian's studio upstate and it was clear that Julie T like us was a great admirer of miss Kate's performance. I found out first handedly how easy it is to love Kate, my post to follow will be about Kathryn Boulter's powerful presence in my Shower Series.

SAWCC

I've donated a piece in support of the South Asian Women's Creative Collective. They have a nice cocktail party/ reception to celebrate the opening for this on October 5th, Tuesday. The art is a mix of different mediums take a look at the thumbnails below.
You should come to the benefit if you can folks. it will be a great cause and I will most certainly be there. If you are interested at all in supporting this, there are only 15 tickets left at this point. It sells out every year! Click here for details!

If you can't go pass the word on to someone else who would like do their good deed for the year! Help a non profit keep their dream and flame of supporting emerging South Asian Women Artists alive and burning. Please re blog and post on some social networks if you can!

PHOTOLUST: Group show in Seattle

I met Ann Pallesen, the Gallery Director of Photographic Centre North West at Review Santa Fe 2010 and Rafael Soldi when he co curated Select Gender, a show at Farmani Gallery earlier this year. It gives me great pleasure to get to associate with both of these kindred photo spirits together. Thanks Rafael for the lovely post on PCNW's blog and thankyou Ann for inviting me to participate with such a strong line up of names in this show. Both Ann and Rafael are incredible photographers themselves so please check out their works as well.

The opening for this show will be on October 2nd, Saturday in Seattle, Washington. Those of you who can manage to swing by and show support please do! Here is a list of people participating artists in this show to get you excited about being there.