LIFE ON WATER
2011
UJWALA PRABHU
I first heard about SoFoBoMo from Anil Advani back in 2008. He was working on his first book, 1 month, 6 artists and a book where I was one of the artists. Seeing that I was keen on learning more about it he involved me with the selection, processing and design while working on this book. It was interesting, exciting and a great learning experience. I couldn’t wait to have a go independently. By then I had already started taking photographs with the aim of building up a collection of references for my paintings. Digital media and incessant clicking helped me get a few good photographs. Well at least they looked good to me and the next year I jumped in with a book of mine, East or West, Bengal is the best!. Having missed participating last year I was very keen on being back this year. And while this is not the idea I had in mind when I signed up nor the photographs as exciting and dramatic as I'd like them to be, I'm back with a book! Ever the optimist I believe that there's always next year to bring in all those other missing elements! These photographs were taken during a recent holiday to Bangkok, Siem Reap and Hong Kong. At our first stop we visited the Floating Market a little outside Bangkok. That planted the seed of a theme relating to water. Discovered that at our next stop I would have access to a Floating Village about an hours drive from Siem Reap. Then there was no stopping me and a supportive husband ensured that I visited Sai Kung in Hong Kong for more water related pics. I hope you enjoy the photographs as much as I did while taking, selecting and processing them. Ujwala August 2011
This selection leans more towards photographs taken in the Floating Market due to the brighter colors that appeal to me. We were also lucky to have visited the Floating Village at a time when some parts of it were not "floating". The path where the water normally flows was being used as a regular road and we even got to see one of the house on stilts under construction! There were children lurking in the water with catapults to catch rats. And in the village we even got to see a pig sty on stilts! Much to my dismay, I've had to leave out the temple, rickshaw pullers, fish, street photographs, snake charmers, wooden sculptures, portrait format pics as they just wouldn’t fit in with my theme!! I hope to re visit this book to add some titles for the photographs and to rearrange them a bit.
2011
UJWALA PRABHU