Review Santa Fe, 2010

© Manjari Sharma, 2010

Center’s Review Santa Fe is a premier juried portfolio review event in the U.S. It is a weekend conference designed for photographers who have created a project or series and are seeking feedback, critical discourse and networking opportunities with professionals looking for new work. Up to 100 photographers are selected to meet with esteemed curators, editors, publishers, gallerists. Photographers receive 9 twenty-minute portfolio reviews, a night of Portfolio Viewing open to the public and inclusion in the online Photographers Listing.

I was humbled to be juried in with a group of fantastic shooters. Names that I've read that have reappeared on all the same haunts all of us photo junkies admire and respect. Andy Adams of Flak Photo and Aline Smithson of Lenscratch both of who have so kindly featured my work are currently spotlighting a selection of their favorite photographers from the mix. Many of who I greatly respect (and have perhaps even come to love!)

So let me begin with thanking to Sam Portera. Sam is a fantastic friend, great shooter and also sits on the board of PhotoNola, Many of pictures below are Sam's, fantastic coverage of the event! Between him and I, this post is complete! David Bram of Fraction magazine also made this experience unforgettable. A thousand thank yous!

So I'll always remember walking away from the Hilton which was a concrete block that held all of us artists in one place. It was my first understanding of the gorgeous landscape that surrounded us. Santa Fe was everything people said it would be, magical.



© Manjari Sharma, 2010

The kick of for this event was held at Zane Bennet Contemporary Art Gallery This welcome event was a perfect relaxer for everyone. Everyone got to know each other and it was great way to honor some of winners for another competition that the centre holds called the Project Awards. My home girl Justine Reyes, Dana Popa, Jonathan Blaustein and Sam Comen are some of the immediate names that come to mind. Brilliant to see their work on the walls. Here are a few images form the welcome event.

© Sam Portera, 2010

© Sam Portera, 2010

In the picture above from the left is myself, Ellen Rennard, Melanie Mcwhorter and Isa Leshko. All terrific ladies with passionate work to boot.

We walked over to a restaurant as group of 25 and pretty much took over the place. The restaurant was right next to the New mexico Rail runner train station. I love trains and above ground train stations, the location was perfect.

© Manjari Sharma, 2010

This is one of the last images of me shot at night. So the story goes, if there is a record of a picture of me making a moustache with my hair, the night must have been super swell :). The image below my manly mustache is one of the last batches of color in the sky for the night.

© Sam Portera, 2010
© Manjari Sharma, 2010

The next day everyone pretty much hit the ground running. The portfolio reviews happened in this grandioso room where you entered in with your portfolio and spent an intense 20 minutes with selected reviewers. The week prior to the event everyone had to send in their selections. This is what Review Santa fe is known for, an incredible list of reviewers.

© Sam Portera, 2010

Same day in the evening the room transformed into a space for an open public viewing which consisted of you displaying your wares and getting hit up by locals and pleasant surprises! Reviewers who you were hoping would swing by to look at your work, especially if you did not score them in your preferred list. The room was buzzing with energy, people walking around trying to inhale as much work as they can in the two hour time slot! Here are a few glimpses of the room and my table.

© Sam Portera, 2010

© Dana Sabastian

I can't believe that there was a time I was thinking about not going?! What I have no pictures of is "The Chapel" a room dedicated for photographers. It was where all of us went to have our own show and tell session, feeding off of each other's energies. I cannot think of a better way to get to learn about the community, myself and my work. Review Santa Fe is sure to burn a hole in my memory forever. Michael Sabastian's wife Dana took the above image and Michael was probably one of the kindest men floating around in the conference. Talented, sweet and above all a friend in need :)
The last day wrapped up with a goodbye reception that was held at the museum! Here is final image. So the running joke for me was that I felt like all the homes with this particular style of architectural qualities resembled sopapillas! What say? ;)



In the days to come I will be spot lighting a few of my favorite poeple's works; Carl Wooley, & Sarah Szwajkos both have a special place in my heart, so stay tuned for more Review Santa Fe recall!

Grohe, Behind the Scenes

The images below are behind the scene moments from an advertising shoot I was recently commisioned for. The client was Grohe. In the image below I am on location at Laxya Production's office in Delhi. The pre production days were intense since the client chimed in with wanting to shoot immediately and we had to get into gear over night.





Pictured above is us selecting bathroom and floor tiling for re creating what would look like a sleek bathroom. Grohe, manufactures high end shower heads and faucets, the client was particularly interested in me re creating the aesthetics from The Shower Series, a body of work that has recently picked up some press and attention for me.

The bathroom for this Grohe shoot came together nicely, images below are people who constructed it from wood and then tiled over it and then of course a water supply had to be rigged! The most challenging part of the shoot was getting the water flow to be perfect! Below are a few images of various different crew members in action, the Grohe technicians, trustee assistant Erika Hokanson, The people who delivered tea constantly, the stand ins, the digital tech's and the HMI light technicians. All wonderful, enthusiastic crew members.






Pictured above is the man of the match Syed Usman, Art Director for this shoot. I pinched myself a couple times when he came over to me and said follow your heart and do what you do best, its about the product but it's really about you and how you make it look.



Prabhat, pictured above, was my number 1 lighting guy; The man with HMI's! Prabhat worked two shifts straight getting everything rigged and in place as per our lighting plan. Not to mention he had a charming smile and also wore the most bad ass shirt a lighting guy could wear. It was very easy to find Prabhat you see, a fluorescent Green shirt has a way of standing out. I'm sure he is slammed with work where ever he is. If you have a shoot in Delhi, he's your man.



To see some of the selected images from the series click here. Finally at the end of this chaotic week, i flew back to Mumbai worked on the post and flew back with some large prints to the client and pictured below is Kapila Sethi, head of this project in India. The result is already on bill boards in a few cities in India. Below is an example of the layout. Doesn't a smiling client say it all? Here's to collaboration.



A special thanks to Shruti Singh for taking such incredible behind the scenes images on my set. Shruti is an emerging photographer based in Delhi but originally from Jaipur and was a delight to get to hang with in India. I look forward to featuring some of her work in the near future.

Behind the scenes with Levy Gallery

This spring I got an email from Richard Levy, of the famed Levy gallery, so kindly complimenting me on my work. I was still India at the time photographing an assignment. That email correspondence blossomed into a relationship and I am now officially represented by Richard Levy gallery. Richard's gallery is not only gorgeous but his entire team has a big heart. Richard took my work to the San Francisco Fine art Fair a few weeks ago. Pictured below are a couple of images from our booth.




Last month I made a trip to New Mexico for Review Santa Fe. Perfect reason to stop over in Albuquerque! I made my maiden voyage to the Levy Gallery and finally got to put faces to the names that have come to become extremely important for me in the last few months. Alexandra Strobel pictured below is standing next to Richard and both were a delight to get to know. We looked at my prints in order to make some decisions for "Paani" my upcoming solo show. Also was great to see some of my work already hanging in the gallery space when I arrived.





Pictured above is the stylish miss Viviette Hunt who is the gallery director of Richard's ship. Viviette and Richard have worked together for ten years! Viviette took me on a memorable hike through the Sandias. Below is an image of the heavenly New Mexico sky from our hike. This is to commemorate the first of many good times, thank you for a lovely time miss Viviette.



Also as Richard showed me around in his hometown I was shocked to see some of the craziest new age architecture I've seen in a while
Yes, these are homes that people live in, yes the people who live in these home are famous architects that defy the idea of a four walled home. I will update this post with names soon but I felt for a moment that I was on a different planet.




I returned only to get entrenched, full fledged, into the solo show. Here are some production moments! The show is officially shipped and delivered and the opening reception is July 17th! The show will hang from July 9th to August 29th. Swing by if you happen to be there.

New York Photo Salon

Thank you so much for a great turnout! It was fun as always to present in the space and in good kindred company. Thank you to Brian Oglesbee for the photo! It was a fun night.