Month: January 2014

Fourteen beautiful 16mm motion pinhole cameras designed and constructed using recycled, repurposed and scrap materials!

It’s design and build day for the Sound We See Pinhole Workshop and we collectively decide to stay at NID’s Paldi campus to source materials and utilize the beautifully equipped woodshop. What a joy it is to start the day outdoors with a delicious cup of spicy chai and good conversation! What a joy it is to work in a bright, clean space with lots of windows opened up wide to let the warm winter sunshine in! What a joy it is to work with a group of students so willing and able to take on any challenge with enthusiasm, intelligence, determination, dedication and good design sense! What a joy it is to be able to take a break and check out all the other amazing activity going on in every nook and cranny on campus! What a joy it is to travel the world and make movies with the man I love! Sometimes I wonder if life can get any better… and then it does…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 of the workshop: we discover NID’s secret stash of 16mm stuff, share art and stories on the topic of “How I See The World,” watch some pinhole, run around campus shooting Super 8, 16mm and 35mm film and get our mitts on a copy of The India Report by Charles and Ray Eames (1958)… Awesome!!!

For the next two weeks we’re teaching The Sound We See:  A 16mm Pinhole Camera Workshop as part of the Open Electives program at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Established in 1961 with input from Pupul Jayaker and Charles and Ray Eames, the NID has been extremely influential in the development of Indian artists, filmmakers and designers over the decades. Although we’re staying at the original campus in a very Eames-ish guest house, we’re teaching at the new post graduate campus in the neighboring town of Gandhinagar, a concrete wonderland of light and shadow and fabulous darkrooms!  Thanks to Naomi and Isabel for sparking the connection, thanks to Robert Schaller for creating and sharing his magnificent 16mm pinhole camera technology, thanks to Dagie Brundert for the caffenol inspiration, and thanks to Nanu, Mustaqeem, Jason, Kunal, Vikas, Mélody, Shiho, Ashima, Kunal, Rishika, Shivatmika, Madhuri and Chandu for embarking on this exciting journey with us… Power to the pinhole!

It’s always good to review the rules on the eve of a new workshop…

We arrive in sunny Ahmedabad late in the afternoon after our flight from Delhi is delayed for hours due to fog. The last leg of the incredible India journey is about to begin… Hello, National Institute of Design!

A few images from our last day in the City of Rallies… (And yes there was a political rally going down in the Chandi Chowk but seriously folks, can we chip in and get this place a decent nickname?)

Miniature paintings and India’s cheapest chai at the National Museum, neon hotel signs, and wide, weirdly deserted avenues…

 

Seven days, five cities, four forts, six havelis, ten thousand temples, a camel safari and 2800 km on narrow/bumpy/crowded roads shared with buffalo, cows, sheep, goats, camels, carts, tuk tuks, bicycles, and the world’s prettiest trucks… Thanks to our amazing driver Dharmender for making it all happen without a hitch!

It seems appropriate that a Rajasthan tour that began with a trip to the Monkey Temple (aka Galtaji, 20 km from Jaipur) is coming to a close with  a trip to the Rat Temple (aka Karni Mata Temple, located 30 km from Bikaner). At the first, our sunset commune with the deities was challenged by the sound of flower-stealing gangs of our simian friends noisily trying to break into the shoe cabinet where our footwear was stored; at the second, I am too preoccupied with preventing streams of rodents (20,000 of the dear little creatures live here!)  from running up my skirt to look out for the rare, blessed white rat that is the reincarnation of Karni Mata herself… The spiritual quest for detachment continues!