Month: November 2019

Calaveras Pintadas by Sampath Menon

‘Calaveras Pintadas’ and Natgeo

Posted on by SamTram

This is one of those little joys of life (the micro-happiness bits) that helps you keep going when nothing else is really working for you: my ‘Calaveras Pintadas‘ photograph (shown above) was selected to be a part of a Nat Geo bundle of images featuring the ‘Day of the dead’ celebrations!

Here’s the link to the gallery: Celebrating the Departed: Day of the Dead, in pictures – National Geographic

Notes:

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday where families honour their dead ones and welcome back their souls for a brief reunion that includes food, drink, and celebration.

As per tradition, the gates of heaven are opened on October 31 at midnight. The spirits of children can meet their families for a day. The spirits of adults can do the same on November 2.

What is Calaveras Pintadas

A calavera is a representation of a human skull. It could be edible or decorative made from either sugar or clay.

The photograph I made is that of decorative skulls (Calaveras Pintadas). ‘Day of the dead skulls’ are used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead.

Families decorate their loved ones’ ofrendas (offerings) with both large and small handmade sugar skulls. As per belief, the souls return home to enjoy the offering on the altar.

If you have watched the animated super hit movie, Coco, it will give you a good idea about these traditions.

A shop with a painted skull image – near Coyoacan, Mexico City.
Decorative dolls from San Angel
A painter at work in Coyoacan

Note: If you would like a framed copy Calaveras Pintadas photo, you can order one here: https://sampathmk.darkroom.tech/products/824108

Street photography

Posted on by SamTram

As I have probably mentioned in one of my earlier posts, it was around the time that my son was born – way back in 2003 – that I actually started pursuing photography as a serious hobby.

I used to take photographs prior to that too, mostly with one of those Pentax point-and-shoot cameras that were popular in the 90’s. I moved on to a totally manual Nikon F100 – a 35mm film-based single-lens reflex camera and started reading up on and experimenting with lighting, composition and the various technical aspects of photography. A lot of messed up shots and wasted films later, I started to get a hang of it.

Later, in 2006, before the start of e-com boom, my friend V and I ordered our first DSLRs (Nikon D80) from the online store JJ Mehta. We went around in Mangalore, at various times – at dawn, at dusk, and the times in between – to put our cameras to use. I don’t know if ‘fruit photography’ is a legit genre, but if it were, V would be an expert at that – having spent a lot of time taking close up shots of fruits with water droplets sprinkled on. He then moved on to portraits and landscapes.

Meanwhile, i had started combining my love for travel and photography – lugging my bulky D80 wherever I went. I started shooting daily scenes that I came across in my travels, the people I met and began chronicling them on this blog. In short, I had stumbled on the ‘street photography’ genre and started getting more and more into it.

I am a painfully shy person, and this is one quality that doesn’t work well for street photography. But my love for photography has helped me overcome this aspect to some extent over the years – I now find it easier to strike up conversations with strangers. Here are some photographs from my archives where I had to overcome my natural shyness to get what I wanted:

Connecting with the beach boys in Boracay
A child dressed up as Lord Krishna on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami – Kadri temple, Mangalore
A fruits stall in Bangalore
From one of the Government run schools in DK district
A sleeping child – near China town in Mexico City
A dolls seller, Coyoacan, Mexico city
Stumbled on a photo-shoot while strolling through downtown, Mexico City.

What about you – do you like street photography too?