Video Work!

So I've been working with a lot of video in addition to the still photography work I normally do. Least to say it's been an amazing and exciting journey! Here are a images from my phone of a recent, fun  video shoot with a crew of amazing young kids.

Ladki | Exhibition Opening February 19 | 5.30pm

Exhibition opening February 19 in New Delhi with my work on girl child education! Look forward to see you there. Mansi

Fighting Breast Cancer in India/The New York Times

©Mansi Midha for the New York Times

Women of Pure Wonder

So excited to be a part of this incredible book project by the Vodafone Foundation/Roli Books featuring 60 Indian women of change. The 175-page book was also produced by an all woman team - from superwoman Ashima Narain as photo editor to publisher, designer and fellow photographers,Karen Dias, Anusha Yadav, Aparna Jayakumar and Kavita Dixit. I had the opportunity to photograph 20 of the amazing women featured in the book! The book was launched in Delhi on December 04 amidst much furor and bollywood fan frenzy. There was a panel discussion led by Vikram Chandra featuring some of the women from the book, film actress Kajol, Suhel Seth etc. The book launch in Mumbai took place right after at the Mumbai LitFest... Super inspired to have been in the company of all the wonderful ladies!

In the July edition of Marie Claire India

'Empowering Women Journalists in J&K'

In March, 2013, I had the opportunity of working with the incredible women of the GPI News Desk in Srinagar, Kashmir. 

April's fool.

so, I enter the busiest time of my professional career as a photographer

and guess what? I earn myself a slipped disc. great. 

Unfair. Cruel. Angered and in Disbelief!

It's been a tough few weeks, shooting and traveling in a lot of pain and refusing to get x-rayed, never imagining that it could be more then a bad backache... right upto dealing with complete bed rest and not being able to do anything because I managed to screw things up pretty bad.

Lesson Learnt : Listen to the doctor, when he prescribes a x-ray... don't wait for weeks until you finally succumb to one - I would have still been sitting in a lot of pain had it not been for friends who literally pushed me to get one. There I was confronted by a livid doctor who went ballistic over my 'carelessness' ... 

The idea of lying flat and not being able to do anything was horrifying to begin with considering my very short attention span and the inability to sit still for an hour let alone days. The fact that the medicines wouldn't drug me out as they should have wasn't very helpful so I didn't really sleep through it all. This new but short lived 'lifestyle' accompanied with restlessness and the inherent need of doing things (constantly!) needed to find ways to amuse;

1. Facebook! 

Because its so hard to lie still and because counting the number of times the ceiling fan makes a rotation in a minute gets old fast… well… I was entertained for a minute!

2. Think = Stress

SO much time to think because nothing really holds your attention long enough. Where am I going? What am I doing? Where do I want to be? 

3. The effects of restlessness ensure a quick bounce rate i.e sit up. feel the pain. lie down. sit up. feel the pain. lie down. sit up. feel the pain. lie down. sit up. feel the pain. lie down. 

4. Read a book 

think you'll read a book, coz there hasn't been a better time to go through the ones accumulating on the bookshelf and being saved for 'down time' but you open a book. close it. open a book. close it. 

5. Abuse and Cry...

but mostly, Feel the love!

because friends and family will just drop by and some even bring goodies. I've felt rotten spoilt with all the love pouring in, friends coming by to just hang out, talk shit, bitch work - If I survived the last few weeks its because of them! Even Milo (the pet resident) would sit next to my bed carefully sliding under my arm that was usually hanging off the bed, in the hope of getting a share of the love. Thank you to my pretty amazing family who were constantly around trying to make things a little less painful. 

6. Tell clients you're 'booked out'

you promised the doc to not take on more assignments. Did I ever say how angry the doctor was? 

7. Live up to your commitments, In pain or not - 

Arrive at an assignment with a bag on wheels - never done that and would never under 'normal' circumstances - but you gotta suck it up and 'see it through'.

8. Discover some really great music 

and also discover that for the nights you can't sleep... the radio plays music to die for… and without ad breaks! 

Highlight : 95 FM Saturday Night fever, lying flat on the roof under the stars in whats been some of the best April weather in Delhi. 

9. Archive. Backup. Clean

Because there hasn't been a better time to do this. Also managed to clean up my website - finishing anything for myself is admittedly slow but I'm going to be adding new work in the coming weeks as it gets published. 

10. Make Images

because you're a photographer and there isn't anything else in the world you would rather do. So… lots of snapshots of the fan, of the walls, of the people who visited me and of my view outside…

I'm up and about today at about 80%, strapped up with my back support and heading out for the day on a pretty exciting yet nerve wrecking assignment… feeling pretty human for the most part.

If you're a potential client reading this - yes, I will still be able to take those 15 hour long road trips and I can even carry a stash of gear on my back… ok maybe not yet… but soon.

From the archives

Found this image from my first ever 'assignment'. I was a student of Communication Design in 2006 when I accompanied a research team around Andhra Pradesh to document a rural schooling project.

© Mansi Midha

Destiny's Children

2012 is here with promises made to get back into photographing more and organizing less! Hopefully that will ensure that the blog stays up to date with more images and travel notes.

Here's a quick assignment I did for the January edition of the Motherland magazine along with writer, Annalisa Merelli.

The assignment was to photograph women serving prison time who lived with their children inside the Tihar Jail - wasn't very easy because of the access and the time of day that ensured that most women were at 'work' along with the fact that we were asked to leave not too long after we got there. Some of the stories were chilling, most of the women we spoke to were doing prison time for the murder of a husband or an in-law.

Cause when we've taken 'too many pictures' its time for fun!

In November 2011 I was a part of an incredible crew of photographers who worked with the children of Anjali House in association with the Angkor Photo Festival. This was my third year in Cambodia and second year as tutor of the kids photo workshop - and what a grand time! More then the kids learning from us - I think there is a lot that each of us had to learn from the kids.

On the last day of the workshop the kids had taken 'too many pictures' and wanted to have 'fun'...

© Mansi Midha

To Manali and back (not the moon this time)

I went to Manali to work on a project a couple of weeks back - well, the project is another story all together but this photograph is of my favorite Manali child, Sanjeet.

To the moon and back

Sometimes I feel that blogging can be pretty pointless.

Why? Because I don't feel like letting go of the experiences I'm going through, the moments I'm experiencing and the thoughts on my mind. I want to hold on to things forever and savor them bit by bit.

This summer took me through moments of pure joy, excitement, love, happiness, curiosity, carelessness, intensity... and the list goes on. It tested my limits, made me more aware of who I am and what I want, throwing challenges at me one after another that said, 'lets see how you deal with this'. From New York City to Argentina to Manali and all the things that went up and down in between - what a mindblasting summer!

I saw a lot and I was inspired a lot. Inspiration came through its various ways - through friends, through the bazillion images that I saw and mostly through the experiences I went through.

Summer of 2011 goes down in history and reiterates 'never give up'.... ever.

Yamuna Yatra

The Yamuna river travels over 1200 km through several states of the country. Nearly 60 million people are dependent on the river as a water source for day to day living - washing, bathing and praying. Most of the clean water is stopped at the Wazirabad Dam leaving sewage and chemical waste material to go over into the next sector. The water past the Wazirabad dam is filthy black in color and the stench is unmistakable. People living on the banks of the river often fall sick as a result of waterborne diseases and suffer from various skin problems. The thriving forests, once the play ground for varieties of deer, antelope and other wildlife is now dead and barren land - the water, undrinkable and the non-existent level of oxygen in the water making the possibility for survival of marine life next to impossible.

The Yamuna Yatra is a 45-day walk or procession from the source of the river Yamuna in Allahabad to New Delhi to protest, to ask and to demand a cleaner river. Millions of rupees were recently allocated towards the clean up of the river, houses and temples on the banks were broken in the name of a clean-up, plans were made to 'seriously' look into the matter and it's been months, if not years that the level of pollution in the river continues to rise. The Yatra arrives in Delhi on April 15th to protest against the government and if all fails they 'will break the Wazirabad dam'.

fa-shun.

I'm not a fashion photographer and will never be.

A quick attempt today for a friend's new summer collection.

© Mansi Midha

Chandelao/Rajasthan

Chandelao is a quaint village an hour away from the city of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. These are a few images from when I traveled there in January 2011 on assignment --

Mansi Midha/2011.

A new lens

I just treated myself to a new lens. The Canon 35mm 1.4 L.

It's amazing how good glass feels - so effortlessly sharp, so easy to focus and just all around great. I'm a 28mm fixed focal length photographer (unless on assignment) and felt increasingly irritable with the inability to get what I wanted from my image. I gave into temptation, overstretched my pocket, my wallet, everything really... and found myself in pure ecstasy.

TO-go-TO LIST!

These are a few of the places I've been drooling over in the recent past -

1. Zanzibar, Tanzania

2. Peru

3. Laos

4. Andamans

5. North-East India

6. Bhutan

7. West Gujarat

8. Eastern Europe

9. Cuba

10. Bolivia

My top 10... err 5

I travel a lot. I also tend to 'fall in love' with a lot of places, things or just moments... the moments that come out of being in a new place :)

This a list of some of my favorite places, in no particular order -

1. Kadikoy, Istanbul, Turkey

Kadikoy is the better part of Istanbul I'd like to think. Istanbul is divided into two parts, the European side and the Asian Side. Kadikoy is a large cosmopolitan district on the Asian Side. I was in Turkey for a workshop in the summer of 2010 and Kadikoy came to be our 'home'. Its less touristy, more 'real' interms of people, prices, food etc. Since most of the tourist attractions (blue mosque, hagia sophia) are on the European side lesser tourists venture over to Kadikoy... which to me is AWESOME! Little do they know what lies on the other side of the Bhosphorous (shhhh don't tell them!)

View from the ferry to Kadikoy

© Mansi Midha

2. King's Cliff, Ooty, India

A long-ish drive from Central Ooty (long if you are used to short distances and short if you come from Mumbai) will bring you to the charming King's Cliff. It's a stunning property set amidst tea estates and panoramic views. The restaurant, Earl's Secret is the finest in Ooty.

Small intimate dining areas and private living rooms complete with a fireplace make it a must visit if you are in the area. Oh, and they even encourage you to carry your own spirits.

Imagine a cool winter evening, watching the sun go down over the hills, sipping red wine, a bunch of awesome people, an old-home, old-world, creaking-wood-under your-feet type of feeling, a fireplace and the best-est tiramisu. Sold?

3. Mumbai, India

Oh MUMBAI - you crazy crazy thing!!! What can I say?! Nothing really, except that I'm not a Delhi-ite who would take part in the Delhi-Mumbai war because I'm unsure if my loyalty rests with my home ground!

4. McLeodgunj, India

McLeodgunj, the home of calm and home to the Dalai Lama.

I visited McLeodgung in 2009 and stayed at Pema Thang. I don't know what it is about McLeodgunj that attracted me to it, it was probably the people and the heavy buddhist presence that brought about a sense of calm the minute I set foot in. Not to forget a chance meeting with the Dalai Lama himself and the blessing of my camera.

5. Rabbit Island, Cambodia

Read this.

... to be continued.

Happy New Year!

© Mansi Midha

Wishes for a fantastic year ahead!

With the new year I hope to blog a bit more regularly. I seem to be missing out on narrating a lot of great experiences and moments! With 2011 I look forward to spending a considerable amount of time working in the South of India on a personal project and then in South America.

A lot of things brewing at the moment - looks like it's going to be a good one. Salud!

Anjali House

I'm almost on my way to Siem Reap for the 6th Angkor Photo Festival.

This year I will be joining an amazing crew of photographers to teach photography to the kids of Anjali House. I'm really excited to see the work the kids will produce this time. From the 2008-2009 photo workshops for the kids a book has been produced, launching this year at the festival. 

Running parallel to the photo festival and the workshop for the kids at anjali house will be the workshop for young emerging photographic talent from asia,  a workshop that I have attended in the past.

I love Cambodia and I love the spirit of it's people - this has been the trip I've waited for all year long!

© Sohrab Hura