Shruti Goradia's Posts
The Devil's in the Details
Often we take pictures of buildings, objects, scenes, etc., as a whole. A beautiful building like Taj Mahal or the Palace of Versailles or a medieval church are well - beautiful. But what makes them beautiful are the details. There is no contesting the saying, 'A sum is greater than its parts'; in the case of architecture it is the parts that make the sum. While viewing albums of friends' and relatives' travels we often see mesmerizing pictures of famous and infamous landmarks. How often do we see details of the landmark/area that our friend/relative noticed? Zooming in on architectural details gives someone the intimate experience of 'almost' having been there. It's also a great way to revisit the memories of your experience.
Next time you're out taking pictures, step in closer, appreciate the details and take advantage of the high zoom options in your camera to capture the little details.
Arc De Triomphe, Paris - detail of the ceiling and close-ups of parts of the Arc.
The Casino on Catalina Island, CA. I'd seen the building image many times, but saw the imposing mural above the entrance only in person.
Palace of Versailles and pictures showing details of the opulence within.
One of my favorite images from Oxford, reminds me of the 'seven dwarfs' - a totally unexpected surprise amongst the largely geometric/trellis-y architecture in Oxford, England.
Opera House, Paris. Reception area, painted mural in the theater.
Paris - A different view
Deeply appreciative of his 30th birthday celebrations, my husband took me to Paris for mine. It was an amazing trip, we did most of the touristy things and have hundreds of pictures along the Seine, by the Eiffel Tower, outside the Louvre, etc. But the one's I find myself going back to most often are the 'finds'.
On our first evening in Paris, as we leisurely walked down a quiet street in Montmartre, I jumped back and shrieked - out of the corner of my eye I'd seen a 'burglar' running through the wall. A second later I realized it was a sculpture! A brilliant one - art, in the most unexpected place - in the wall of a quiet, residential by-lane.
The next day, walking towards the Eiffel Rower, we 'found' this scooter being charged from an apartment above. I'd never seen anything like this and cannot stop talking about it (everyone's talking 'Green' anyways).
Walking away from the Eiffel Tower still looking towards the skyline to catch glimpses of the tower between apartment buildings, our eyes fell upon - well it took us a couple of seconds to realize - wall papered ceilings! They looked so cool - about 3 floors of them. (I feel a spring home makeover coming up).
During our visit to the Pompidou Center, I was very attracted to the unique external escalator. Much to my husband's amusement, I kept running out between viewing galleries of wonderful modern art to ride up and down the escalator. The rides made for some really interesting pictures.
On our last day at a bus stop, I noticed this wonderful poster on a bus that had just pulled up. Beautiful, fun typography used as imagery to promote a Thai festival in France!
As I go through these pictures, I wonder how many things are waiting to be 'found' all over the world. Do you have any you'd like to share?
Birthday No. 1!
To make my husband's 30th birthday his most memorable yet - I enlisted a few friends and brainstormed on a theme for a fun party. After rejecting a bunch of ideas based on what he loves - like sports, computers, poker, we settled on his favorite actor - Govinda.
Govinda is a very popular Indian actor, known for his great comic timing, awesome (sometimes ridiculous) dance steps and garish costumes - with great ease he dons yellow pants and a purple shirt, loud prints and lots of shimmer. (Why my husband likes him is beyond me). All these idiosyncrasies made for a great theme and a potentially fun birthday party.
To establish the theme, I downloaded some of Govinda's movie posters, superimposed Vishal's photographs on them in Photoshop and hung them all over our living room along with multi-colored party paraphernalia. All the invitees obliged and dressed as the actor (the girls chose outfits from his leading ladies). A friend from NY sent me a DVD with his music videos that we grooved to.
All the planning and execution for the party was done in a week's time with the help of our friends who rolled up their sleeves and worked with me late into the night.
We spent most of our time on the piece-de-resistance - a collage capturing Vishal's 30 years. Govinda starred in a bunch of movies with a 'No. 1' in their title - 'Hero No.1', 'Coolie No.1', 'Aunty No. 1', etc. Deriving inspiration from the movie titles, I used pictures of Vishal from his childhood to now - with the captions reading 'Baby No. 1', 'Sportsman No.1', 'Friend No. 1' 'Husband No. 1'. etc.
Not wanting to destroy any of the original pictures:
- I scanned all the pictures
- Re-printed them
- Cut them, laid them out and then stuck them to form the collage.
- To ensure the longevity of the collage, I used archival quality paper for printing and the mounting and framed the whole piece. Well actually, I split the collage into 2 frames - one of his childhood and one of more recent years (30 years worth of pictures is a lot of pictures).
The party was a huge success. The movie posters, the collage, the music videos, everyone's outfits and enthusiasm were just the perfect recipe for Vishal's best birthday ever (until he turns 40!).
What have you done for a special occasion?
