Those without dreams

Found this Japanese saying while watching a short film Carter about a man who chose the art of making knives for a living:

"Those without dreams are without ideals.

Those without ideals are without beliefs.

Those without beliefs are without plans.

Those without plans are without actions.

Those without actions are without results.

Those without results are without happiness."

One of the secrets of happiness wrapped up nicely!

Here is the short film, Carter:

http://vimeo.com/79844244

In this short film he narrates his story of how he chanced upon the shop of knives and how he decided making knives would be what he will do. What struck me is how he hung on to that passion in a strange new place, learnt the language, and then spent many years just scratching the surface of this art. Hardly something we would think would go into the making of what looks like an everyday object.

The point where a craft is taken to beyond technology and engineering with skill honed over years and precision fine tuned over probably countless unsuccessful trials is probably where it starts turning into a fine art, isn't it?

A.R. Rahman's magic recreated

In 1993, Maniratnam and AR Rahman teamed up for the movie Thiruda Thiruda. AR Rahman of course had some very fresh sounding tracks and here is one of those, sung again, with a lot of that magic recreated. I don’t understand one bit of the lyrics but it is the melody that I find mesmerizing:

It is all in the voices.

Unexpectedly

We had setup equipment and all the works (actually nothing really glorious like what probably some of the big shots would use :P) and shot that way for a while. Then during a make-up readjustment we realized everything fell in place in terms of the look. To hell with the lights. We could not lose time and flow moving things, adjusting them etc. I wondered for a while if these pics would be almost a dud because of the incandescent light which was the only source apart from a window with faint daylight from an overcast sky. But we were lucky and the Pentax K5 II saved us.

Anyway, we were thankful we kept our eyes open for the impromptu moment for this image. Probably not worthy of a magazine cover but we will get there one day! I swear!

Behind the rising walls

The people who construct the buildings you and I live in are hardly the people we ever get to see let alone meet and get to know. These are the ones who work hard on every inch of a living or commercial place and move on exactly when it is ready and livable. One of my friends who works in the construction business wanted me to take some of their portraits. It was an opportunity I just could not resist. :)

This girl got so shy that I was photographing her while the little baby reacted with fear! :)

The interiors were still in near total darkness and the workers set up lights to be able to see what they are doing.

She was on the terrace along with a couple of other ladies who were cooking the meal for that evening. 

The carpenter.

He was cutting tiles, every muscle in his arm flexing.