most intangible development is my deepening appreciation and
understanding of eastern philosophies, specifically Daoism and the
contradictory ideas of Buddhism and Hinduism. A great part of that
increasing appreciation came from the disciplines I have derived
from practicing and photographing yoga.
Maturity & awareness
I picked up photography as an artistic outlet in Washington D.C. while
obtaining my degree in international politics. Like most young artists
I began my journey with expectations that exceeded my talent. I
was driven by the idea of popularity and trends on social media.
I attached myself to this ideal of non-specialisation, fearing that
committing myself too stridently to one discipline of photography
would somehow stunt my growth as an artist. I dabbled in street
photography, landscapes and nearly everything in between.
I looked to the greats to inform my own style. I tried to replicate
what others had created because I wasn’t able to conceptualise
my own visions. I was so enamoured with the concept of creating
beautiful images that I failed to recognise the years of practice –
trial and error - that many of my favourite artists had placed into
their craft. As I became more familiar with the basic concepts of
photography, I began to recognise that my abilities were plateauing.
Just as I was developing a more discerning eye for true visual
impact, I felt myself becoming increasingly disappointed with what I
was producing.Exploring my art
I knew this disconnect between development and output was caused
by my inability to truly believe in myself. I resolved to end this cycle
of distracted and unimaginative reproduction and focus more on
the fundamentals of imagery, the basics of aesthetics, and the
philosophies of cognition and creation.
In addition to being a photographer and avid weightlifter, I’m
a voracious reader and tend to go through three or four books
a month. I decided to give the fictions a rest and began inhaling
every book I could from my most admired artists, visual experts,
and philosophers. Once I began down the road of understanding
the underlying reasonings for creation, I began to liberate my own
artistic visions in a way that I was previously too hesitant to explore.
Huge leaps in my artistic liberation occurred in conjunction to
my deepening appreciation of Hindi, specifically yogic, concepts.
Through familiarising myself with the concepts of the Atman andFM