Professional Photography Articles and Blog

The story behind my Embedded Eyes

Indian migrant Guddu Gupta at his shared accommodation in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Guddu hails from Ghorakpur town of India and works as a salesman in Cambodia. 2008. Photo: Nishant Ratnakar

My article on ‘Embedded journalism in documentary photography,’ that appeared in Un(T)ravel, the April-July 2011 edition of Offbeat, The Alternative’s quarterly ezine celebrating alternative living.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now

I take a moment and look back into my last years at engineering college. During those days, Campus placements/recruitment was the hot topic among my friends. We were to soon graduate from one of the finest colleges in the country (R.V.C.E), and it was inevitable that most of us had a job in our hand… Continue reading Where do you see yourself 5 years from now

Nostalgia: Internet, photography, Writing & Geocities

From left: My friends, Santosh, Karthik, Vipul, and I, during the trek along railway tracks near Sakleshpur, Karnataka. 2003.

Sharing the joy of rediscovering my lost pages on internet – thanks to strangers at Geocities.ws. Geocities.ws undertook the task of saving and archiving people’s homepages that once had a space on original Geocities.com website. But Yahoo shut the Geocities free web-hosting service in the year 2009 and deleted all the webpages in its servers.

Fistful of Dreams E-book

Screenshot of a page from Fistful Of Dreams E-book as seen through Apple iBooks on an iPod.

The e-book version of Fistful of Dreams is now available for iPad, iPhone and iPod platforms

Flash Mob – Slutwalk Bangalore

I had last covered a Flash mob three years ago, when dancing ban at public places in Bangalore was making fresh headlines. It had got some of the city’s dancing enthusiasts to assemble at a public square with music quietly streaming from their portable players. The confused security guards at the square were struggling to… Continue reading Flash Mob – Slutwalk Bangalore

Going Independent as a Photographer

I have now become an independent visual story-teller. Plenty of ideas are taking shape in my mind as I plan the days ahead. I share here a rough road map, ideas and plans, that I believe that independent photographers like me should consider while doing business in today’s world.

Wedding photography by an embedded journalist

A bride reaching out to her mother, while the latter is slowly being pulled away from her by their relatives. A Bidaai Scene, Bangalore, 2010. © Nishant Ratnakar

There is one particular moment during Hindu weddings that can get emotionally charged. It is the time of Bidaai, or the ritualistic farewell given to the bride by her family. If most rituals of Indian marriages are about joy and celebration, then Bidaai is about shedding tears, and more tears. This is especially true in… Continue reading Wedding photography by an embedded journalist

Making of a Documentary Photography Project

A mobile phone photograph of a young couple during a pre-wedding portrait shoot done at Ateneo De Manila University campus, while we were defending our final projects in front of 3-member panel. May 2011, Manila, Philippines. © Nishant Ratnakar

An online discussion and Q&A session with photojournalism students from my Alma Mater, ACFJ at Ateneo de manila University, Philippines. Spoke to them on how I worked on my long-term documentary photography project, Fistful of Dreams.