Ganshi, as a cut Mangal sutra or for that matter few other aspects which relate so deeply with the Indian culture can play a role in creating art in non nature categories, is it possible to create nature images to express our feelings which in a way relate to our cultural upbringing ? I think in any case there is an indirect connection. The emotions we feel or we convey visually are somehow connected to our own Indian culture and thought process. In a non nature category the job is easier, the costume, the color of the skin, the very sub continental appearance portrays plays a strong role to relate the image to Indian perspective. That way the mangal sutra is a great example actually. That is very very Indian. I was just wondering how can we do a similar separation with nature images. Difficult to explain, apart from making images of Indian species or some locations specific to our sub continent, can such nature images be made from thoughts or feelings which are very much Indian ?? Over the years we have learned a bit to make moody or emotional images, many such emotional images of the subjects are NOT made by photographers from other countries. Can we call that an Indian perspective ? What do photographers in all genres respond to ? Suppose Cartier....his images convey response to a human expression complimented with equally dominating geometric patterns in the image. Look at the image of the young girl running up the stairs in Greece. The geometry came first, this I felt is an European perspective which descends into the frame from their culture, their history. We probably would have thought of the girl first, the geometry would just have been an additional complimentary aspect. It very well might have been the same frame but arising from two directions. Even see the forking of the bridge, separation of two railings, below you can see separation of two railway lines and there stands two men. Existence of individuality and togetherness in our society....again I felt the time when such an image was made arises from the thoughts of parallel existence ( a very strong European outlook ). Now compare it with the book Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde....by R.L Stevenson. Same thoughts, one created an epic novel and the other an epic photograph. During the similar time our writers were fighting for freedom in their mind, our artists were fighting for freedom, our song writers, singers, everyone had the same mental agony. Even in an open field they could not free their mind, the mind was caged. We are full of such expressions in Indian literature and art history. Even though time is just an additional dimension, still I feel, the culture and history of a land plays a big role in creativity and of course the time of creation. Every image has a certain degree of everything in it, us as humans are similar from one POV, then the local aspects begin to create separation and finally it becomes very localized. I am speaking of this very localized aspect, not that I want art to be separated like how our countries have been by boundaries. This localized aspect is visible in art related to humans. Suppose a dead tree in the shape of how a bharatnatyam dancer stands, we know Indian dance mudras have been immensely influenced by nature. Freedom is often displayed by hand movement showing birds flying, the standing postures are influenced by tree shapes of various kinds, the message of life goes on is by showing a mudra of waves flowing etc. This too has a huge history, the sages or saints who integrated these movements into the mudras were mostly forest dwellers...as we call them tapasyi's....complete isolation from distractions and then create something from a world of self realization in loneliness. This is an Indian perspective Ganshi....more and more I felt that nature images are so influenced by the western world. We all started by making images of sharp flights, which everyone in the world made. We made creative images of rim lights which everyone in the world made. But have we made an image which would be like our own Bharat Natyam, Oddissi, or our Ragas ?? I am thinking of that Indian perspective Ganshi....probably in non nature images, some work has been done. Indian Cinema has done it, but what about still photography ? I know you may say that Indian dance has the sarangi and the tabla and the costume to compliment the Indian mood, but no other dance forms in the world related to the movement of hands to express the human mind by gestures from nature. The European dance form ballad has again so much geometry in it, the body trying to take shapes, multiple dancers forming shapes, African dance induces body movement related to the rhythm, Americans are confused about what to do and hence started gymnastics with music and called it dance or trance
lol. Could I explain ? Our nature images need to be like our Bharat Natyam one day Ganshi...it's not that I do not respect other creations, they are equally inspiring, but what about our own inspirations ??