cloud hunter by subhrajit basu

the-cloud-hunter


The Cloud Hunter by Subhrajit Basu

Website: subhrajitbasu.weebly.com

187 Responses to “cloud hunter by subhrajit basu”


  • Yes, indeed, a cloud-dream hunter! I love the texture of the reddened net, like an enormous jelly fish, a bow of dreams, a breath from the sea of god…and what deleriously lovely light!

    as with all your work, very beautiful!

    cheers
    bob

  • excellent colour!! Veery nice picture.

  • beautiful detail in the sky, net, and surf. The light is great. Is it part of a collection?

  • PS. I’ve always wanted to photograph Holi! You have wonderful images on your site.

  • Congratulations Subhrajit; beautiful photograph. I would imagine DAH saying “Straight PJ but good straight PJ”. Immediately reminded me of the Steve McCury photograph from Sri Lanka of men fishing from stilts. As I’ve said before; I like you website.

    Best wishes,

    Mike.

  • I hope he catches a few fishes, besides clouds! :-)

    Light is oozing out of this picture, as if from behind the sky and under the sea. A mesmerizing addition to a well-caught scene and a perennial theme.

  • For me it is the “moment caught” that pulls me in. Yes, the color, exposure, sky, surf…all are superb. But it is the arms outstretched, the net flying through the air, that DECISIVE MOMENT of which HCB spoke and captured in his own work. It is the LIFE of this image that I will remember. Now I find myself wondering just how many frames it took to get this one perfect shot!

    Patricia

  • I was wondering who this image was bringing to mind? Now I know. The American painter Winslow Homer.

    Patricia

  • Excellent photo. Very NatGeo. I like it.

  • yes, the net does look like a giant jelly fish. and the waves look like they are dancing… nice image.

  • Love- just on first impression only, my gut reaction was “wow!”

  • wonderful image. the color is amazing. i think this a perfect image with dream catcher in mind!

  • Subhrajit,

    I very much like this photo and the work on your website, both color and black and white.You combine an interest in and intimacy with people together with a good eye for the environment and also for dynamic light and atmosphere. In looking at your website, especially the color gallery, I felt strongly that the white borders around all the photos are too wide and detract considerably from their impact. I don’t know how easy or hard it would be to change that… but I would much prefer to see each photo in your gallery a bit larger, and the white border only half as wide or less… maybe you could evern do away with borders completely? (I use narrow white borders a lot when mounting prints, but one has to be careful not to make them too wide). See how much better this photo looks on ‘Burn’ than it does on your website? That is a minor criticism only meant to improve the presentation of your work, which I really like.

    Cheers,

  • I do agree with Sidney. Since the pictures are in rather small format (500X?), the B&W pictures don’t project as well as the ones in color (the woman eyeing you with sari over half her face, would love to see that one in color).

    For me, If you like, keep the borders, but go for at least 640X on the wide side. I’d say that to anyone. I understand about net theft, but don’t be skimpy regarding the screen size of your shots.

  • dramatic photograph this is, as among the many i liked from your website.

    the technicalities of everyone’s work here in BURN i guess can be developed with experience and learned through time…

    … but such respect, you show for your subjects… in every single one…

    thanks

  • Holy cow. Amazing image – beautiful! Well done!!

  • great image..
    and yes,
    the waves are dancing…
    **

  • Subhrajit,

    Where was this shot? I have taken similar shots myself in Kerala but the sky and ocean were not so “alive” as here. Very nice.

  • beautiful photo love the energy.

  • May I call you Bodo? I’ve just looked at every photo on your website and feel as though I’ve traveled to a land and seen people I’ve wanted to see all my life. Since I read a book about a woman in India when I was a young girl, I have wanted to go there. And even though I gather India is not very wheelchair-friendly, I’m not giving up on my dream. I still hope to go there one day. But before I do, seeing India through your eyes satisfies something deep in me. You have captured the soul of the place and people. Thank you for sharing your in-sight with us.

    peace
    Patricia

  • Subhrajit,

    This is a beautiful photograph. Perfect really. Everything about it is, well, perfect. Sky perfect, water perfect, color perfect, timing perfect, sharpness perfect, composition perfect, horizon almost perfectly straight, even the net is perfect; not a rip or tear..i don’t think i ever had pantyhose that perfect, even the wetness of his beautifully colored aqua tee short is perfect..not all wet, just half wet. Perfect.

    That said, i would not buy this photograph, or the book or magazine that contains it. Perfection bores the pants off me. i can see your professionalism. i can see your technical expertise. You have every reason to be proud of your accomplishment. But for me? I’ll take Classic Beef below this photo. I’ll take chaos Panos style. Or my latest love affair, Sabine. This photo is so polished i can practically feel the glossy paper passing slickly through my fingers as i turn the page. For what it is, it’s well done but i feel absolutely nothing when i look at it. Not excitement, not thrills or chills or that prickly sensation up my arms and zinging through my brain that i have just witnessed a photographic moment that will never come again.

    No offense..it’s just me. Congratulations on a job well done.

    Best:
    kat~

  • WOW! THANKS BURN! YOU MADE MY DAY!!!

    BOB, MARCIN…
    Thanks for the inspiring words…

    MATT…
    I have been taking photos of sea-fishermen for quite some time now at different beaches in West Bengal and Orissa in India. I would like to put them in a collection in my website. But till now, I have not been able to do it.
    Regarding Holi, you can go to Mathura – Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh or to Rajasthan for Holi where you get the authentic version of it. You get great photo opportunities there. But, Holi is just past (11th Mar this year). Next year, it is on 28th Feb.

    MIKE (R), HERVE…
    Thanks a lot…

    PATRICIA…
    It actually took many frames, mainly because I could not get close enough and I had to avoid sea water getting into my camera…I was standing about 100 mts. inside the sea and the waves were quite strong there, so after every click of the camera, I had to take the camera high above the head.

    JIM, GINA, ASHER, MIKE (BERUBE)…
    Thanks for the encouraging words…

    … I need to run now. I shall reply to the rest when I return …

  • Indeed a very strong picture though I would probably have to agree with a lot of what kathleen said above. One really important note here. Why do we not get some sort of caption/context/info, even a few words to tell us at least where the photograph was taken? This is a classic travel destination photo that I think really needs that location information.

    Besides that a very good pic and congratuations to the photographer.

    nk

  • I agree that some text about the image would help to give us more background (of course). I agree that the photos on the website should be much larger and have less border, but that is not the image or issue at hand. I think that Kathleen brings a very interesting point to the table…one that I had not before considered. The image is pretty perfect…and I do not, in any regard, submit this comment as a degradation to the integrity of the photograph or the one who took it. I simply say that it is quite amazing…and something that must have required a lovely amount of patience…Cartier-Bresson was the master of the decisive moment…only he waited and watched and patiently sat and observed for long periods of time to attain and record this moment. This work echoes such an effort…Work like this makes me feel as if I’ve accomplished nothing…I feel as though that came off sounding (or reading) like I am something jealous and untalented…that is not what I meant…I simply meant that imagery like this makes me feel like I have work to do…and say it with my own voice…If I shot this same day with the same subject, my image would have a completely different feel because my image would reflect my own style, which is different from Subhrajit’s. Anyway, this is not about me
    (late nights + wine = rambling and stream-of-conscious writing on BuRN). In my own, apparantly very round-about way, I think that this image, as is the other work on Subhrajit’s site, is remarkable… and holds a quality of amazingness for which I will strive.

  • Technicalities – I LOVE this whole image – the composition, the richness of color, the depth of field, the crisp sharpness – can we talk about this sometime? I know how to color correct, and in a sunlit setting such as this, it’s easy to figure out in a raw editor what colors are right, but in mixed lighting, evening shots, with warm lights and cool atmosphere – what is right? where is white? is there a white? It’s something I often wonder…

  • yes.. yes..
    discuss and split the bones

  • JIM…
    I am a big fan of NatGeo and I really love their stuff. If there was one greatest motivational factor in my photography life, it is NatGeo photography and their photographs. And now, following the photographs in burn magazine is also helping me (silently) everyday.

    SIDNEY, HERVE…
    I quite understand your concerns and many thanks for pointing them out.

    As regards the white borders (SIDNEY), I think I can change them. That will not be much of a problem. Only thing that was bothering me was that without some sort borders, the photographs were looking very bland (in that size) against the black background. I any case, I shall do something in this regard shortly.

    As regards the size of the photos (HERVE), I am in a difficult situation. This one is a transitory website (it is free) that I have made to showcase some of my work till I am able to put up a permanent one. I have made this website actually inspired by those of various photographers here in burn. But, the problem is that the pages in this website do not permit bigger photos to be displayed in the slideshow. May be removing the borders altogether is an option because that will make the photos bigger in display. In any case, I shall keep your advice in mind.

    GRACIE, ELISABETH, WENDY…
    Thanks a lot…

    CATHY…
    It was taken at Digha beach near the West Bengal – Orissa border in India.

    ROBERT, VALERIE…
    Thanks for your encouraging words…

    PATRICIA…
    You can always call me Bodo! I think that presupposes that we have become friends…right?
    And thanks a lot amiga for all that you have said. I have no words to describe my feelings. You are most welcome to visit my country and please remember that whenever you decide to visit us, this friend of yours will be there to assist you in whatever way he is permitted.

    JEREMY…
    Thanks a lot…

    KATHLEEN…
    :-) Well, I quite appreciate what you say. Many thanks for bringing up this important topic of discussion. In fact, after reading your comment, I am almost ashamed of this so-called “perfection” of this photo :-) To tell you the truth, I never tried (and try) to achieve any perfect result. Honestly, all I wanted to achieve for this photo was it’s ‘timing’, in other words, I tried to click at what I thought to be ‘the right moment’. If I have been able to do that, then I am happy. Other ‘perfections’ that you mention are may be because I had my luck with me that day since I had no real control over those ‘perfections’. I quite realize that photographs of fishermen throwing their nets have been tried by millions of photographers many times over in their lives. Let us say, this is just my version of it.

    I have slightly different take on this topic. To me perfection is subjective and varies from one person to another. I really do like the photos that you mention as intensely as I would like any good so-called ‘perfect’ photo. However, personally, I shall not reject any photograph in my mind just because the poor photographer was unlucky enough and happened to get it ‘perfect’.

    And, many thanks Kathleen for your encouraging words.

  • NICK…
    I am really sorry that I forgot to put the location information. It was taken at Digha beach near the West Bengal – Orissa border in India. If you need any other information on this photo, please let me know.
    As regards my take on the very important point raised by Kathleen, please refer to my reply to her comment above.

    CARRIE …
    Thanks for the encouraging words…

    JASON…
    Thanks a lot. Waiting for more on the point you raise.

  • sSUBHRAJIT:

    “To me perfection is subjective and varies from one person to another…. However, personally, I shall not reject any photograph in my mind just because the poor photographer was unlucky enough and happened to get it ‘perfect’.”–

    more ‘perfect’ words couldn’t have been said! :)))))

    cheers
    bob

  • subhrajit, my reference to NatGeo was a compliment (I want to be sure you took it that way). You have a great eye and, obviously, the skill to pull off “perfect” photos. There are people who think it isn’t photography unless it’s shot on a dark street punctuated with street lights highlighting the shape of a single mangy dog and taken with a Leica and a Noctilux. Nonsense. This photo is quality stuff.

  • Hey Powers! You don’t have to like my photograph, but don’t call my dog Mangy!

    Laughing, Jim, Laughing; I don’t have a dog, although I am the servant to two cats.

    I agree, this photo is quality stuff.

    Mike.

  • yes its a really well taken picture. Almost nothing in it technically that could be called out. Strictly didactic in nature, everything here tells us what it is about. Doesnt appeal to me as anything more than an illustration for a story, but it does that well.
    John

  • really love the boiling sea and the details of the breaking waves.

    lovely photos.
    david

  • Subhrajit:

    Yes, perfection is subjective, and i was very clear that my reaction is purely my own. I looked at your website and there are many such perfect shots. You have dedicated yourself to your craft and expressing your vision. In fact, your photos are quite poetic. You create tremendous beauty. “So what more does she want” you ask? Well, the work i cherish is not just eye candy. Some of your photos border on interesting, the guy running over the backs of the cattle in the water is just great! But the rest are eye candy. Trophy photos. The kind i will never be able to take and will not dedicate myself to learning how to take. I look for ambiguous, complex meanings. i look for irony, pathos, context, drama, life that exists beyond the frame, yes, lots of that. (your photos contain some of these elements some of the time). i look for the stimulus to look tomorrow and the next day and the day after and ten years after. i have a shelf of Nat Geo magazines that go way back. i take them down to relax and coat my eyeballs with lush, well, perfection. Like watching TV. I don’t have to work to enjoy them and they do educate, inform and entertain. But the books i take to bed with me, the ones that make me want to pick up my own camera and walk my legs off searching for that elusive moment, well, they aren’t Nat Geo.

    Again, i congratulate you for the excellence you have attained and i wish you much success. Your work surely deserve to be on many, many coffee tables.

    Jim:

    “There are people who think it isn’t photography unless it’s shot on a dark street punctuated with street lights highlighting the shape of a single mangy dog and taken with a Leica and a Noctilux. Nonsense. This photo is quality stuff.”

    Yeah, like when the exposure settings for Ilford 3200 film is a Hail Mary? Like that kind of photo? Well, when you’re right, you’re right. Except that’s perfection of a different type. And if it doesn’t have something else then i’d relegate that to eye candy as well. Just a different flavor. It’s not that easy, Jim, and you know it. A meaningless photograph is a meaningless photograph regardless of the camera, the location or the mangy mammal.

    best:
    kat~

  • “your photos are quite poetic” mm…thought about this and i would say polished is the better word.

    kat~

  • Subhrajit, a really great picture, no two ways about it

  • kathleen–

    you nailed it.
    give me messy, disheveled, imperfect any day.
    this is the kind of photo, i think, that appeals to the masses.
    good luck with your work, Subhrajit.

    k.

  • Katia says: his is the kind of photo, i think, that appeals to the masses.

    As opposed to only other photographers? What’s wrong with appealing to the masses?

  • jim–

    where did i say there was anything wrong with that?

    k.

  • I find myself shaking my head in wonder at Kat’s comments about not only this photo but all the work on Subhrajit’s website. Eye candy? Just goes to show how subjective photography is, not only for the photographer but for the viewers as well. And I guess I wonder how/when NatGeo became a dirty word among serious photographers? Does no one remember that our very own DAH made his living for many years as a NatGeo photographer, in fact had 40 photo essays published in that magazine? Not that David is the be-all-end-all of photographers but I think most here would agree that he does pretty fine work.

    I understand Kat’s hunger for more edgy work. I too love photos that push the boundaries and move into uncharted territory. Bob Black annd Kyunghee Lee come immediately to mind. At the same time I do not turn my nose up at photos that show a perfection of balance and beauty, both artistically and technically. It may not be the direction I want to go with my own work but that doesn’t mean I can’t see its value and applaud the photographer who goes there.

    Regarding Subhrajit’s body of work as seen on his website, I find a depth of soul expressed there. Yes, the photos are beautifully captured and composed but, to my eye, there is so much more than that. I feel the life of the people and this ancient culture pulsing through each image. Such a different reaction from Kat’s. But I’d guess that our life experiences are different too and it is through the eyes of our own lives that each of us views art of any kind.

    Patricia

  • different strokes for different folks..

    certainly – their are a whole bunch of photographs circulating which are similar.. similar in intention and in authorship.. style and content..
    .. and i’m taking about the wider industry rather than the photo above, although sure – i have seen a bunch of photos of this profession.. maybe even this moment.
    does that spoil the enjoyment of another one?
    nah..
    not when it is executed as well as this..
    just love that boiling sea.. imagining the photographer jumping the wave or getting a soaking..
    doesn’t mean i love it more than other photos or that only this kind of phto strikes me..

    different strokes for different folks and all that.. i think this phtoo represents a kind of photography which has scarcely been featured on burn, so i’m glad to see it here.

    david

  • Subhrajit,

    I see you can handle yourself quite skillfully in responding to criticism!

    By now I’m sure you’ve discovered that no photograph will please everybody, especially here on ‘Burn’. There’s a wide range of aesthetic taste, to say the least. In fact, I’d say the ‘center of gravity’ of aesthetic taste here on ‘Burn’… as reflected in both DAH’s choices for posting, and in the comments… clusters significantly far away from my own much of the time. There are times when I think, why am I wasting my time reading all these comments by people I know I will never agree with, and trying to appreciate pictures that I don’t really appreciate all that much? But then up comes a photo or essay that I can in fact respond to positively, and there are always at least a few commentators who seem to be talking sense to me. So often I think there’s something to be learned here. I’m not about to give up my own aesthetic sense… but I don’t mind if it is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d a bit… and it’s good to know what others are thinking, even if we often don’t agree.

    The questions that occur to me in looking at this photo, and at the other pictures on your website, are not ‘criticisms’, since I see what you are apparently trying to do and I’m basically in sympathy with your aesthetic. I’m not thinking, “this is perfect… this is polished… this is eye candy… this is travel poster stuff…”, but rather, how could this be even better, within the spectrum of your own aesthetic? You’re not going to start taking different kinds of pictures… but are there things that would make this picture even better, and maybe win over a few more viewers? (Although you seem to have plenty of admirers already!) If I had taken this picture… and it’s the kind of picture I might well try to take (and I’m not saying I would be as successful as you have been)… and then looked at it on the wall for a while… I would still like it, and be happy to show it to others, but I would start asking myself, “could I somehow get (for example) more of the fisherman’s face and expression into the picture? And still have that gorgeous dynamic sea and sky color balance, that moment when the net is fully extended?” Rather than making the picture less ‘perfect’ or less ‘polished’, how about ramping up the intensity with even more perfection? I’m not saying that I myself could bring this off… but maybe it is something to try for?

    About the website… I understand the limitations you are working with… if possible, I would make the photos a little larger and shrink the white borders to about 5 or 6 pixels wide.

    So glad you are part of the ‘Burn’ community!

  • Nobody needs my opinion on this one….:)
    Or better , everyone knows what i’m going to say..
    I wish i was a little kid… and i wish it was my birthday….
    and i wish my mommy would buy me a book….
    with that “fishnet” photo on the cover….
    that would make my day…

    …. Stock photography…. Travel photography…. post card…
    ( yep , this photo is Jim Powers style…. this photo is a moneymaker…
    and what is wrong of making money Jim would ask? Nothing at all Jim….nothing at all!!!
    ohhh wait a minute … there could be something wrong with “moneymakers”….
    Its “selling” their souls to the corporate devil” …Thats the ONLY problem with this photo )

    It’s like a stripper ( friend of mine )… Beautiful, but NO SOUL…. SOLD…
    ( this photo will sell better than both Bob Black & K.Lee combined together…)
    laughing……

    morning y’all

  • KATHLEEN…
    As I said earlier, I did appreciate what you said in your first comment and I honestly have no issues with others’ points of view. In fact, the time I spend here in burn everyday would be a wastage in the long run if I don’t try to learn about other styles of photography and other views and I think that is why this place is such a good place to be for any aspiring photographer like me. But as an aspiring photographer, the only thing that worries me slightly is that people were going to throw away/reject my work or won’t buy them just because they think it to be ‘perfect’.

    You said “That said, i would not buy this photograph, or the book or magazine that contains it.” Here I was worried. I don’t want any magazine/newspaper to lose their business just because of one of my ‘perfect’ photographs. As I gather, magazine owners/editors do not have very friendly terms with guys who make them lose business.

  • … but, to play the advocate… this photo would do as an EXCELLENT FILLER in a NatGeo essay….
    and again, JIM, nothing wrong with NatGeo as long as it stays at my dentists office…..

  • I agree entirely wit Patricia. It’s been a mystery and a major frustration to me here at Burn (and elswhere) that a magazine dedicated to photography, read by photographers/editors/writers, is so often pigeon-holed in the discussions. As Patricia mentioned (thanks for the lovely plug Patricia), my work couldnt be mroe different than Subrahjit’s (or most of the stuff here at Burn) and yet, I respond to the photograph, as both a photographer and as a person that loves photography. I have LOTS of problems with NG, but I respect the magazine, grew up on it and, most importantly, respect the photographers and writers who have worked for and continue to work for the magazine. As photographers, surely we can not only enjoy but plant ourselves into work that is different from our own aesthetic or philosophic meanderings.

    I haven’t been touched by all the work at Burn, but by nearly all of it, in one way or another, all of it feeds me as a photographer (ideas, orientations, techniques), as an artist (new approach, new perspective) and as a person who loves to look at pictures. It is a technically accomplished picture AND it contains a world of narrative, more over, i cannot look at this picture without imagining the story or the rest of the narrative. Maybe that’s the problem, some look at the Pics of the Day as stand-alone pics, rather than parts of a great photographic narrative. It’s always been a problem for me: the creation of ‘singles’ and i tend to see all work within a framework of other narrative forces.

    I also am not interested in perfect at all, but i dont think this is a ‘perfect’ photograph: to the contrary i find it a photograph that is about the story of this man, his livelihood, his country, the burden of hauling up against those waves with only a net, etc….

    It is true that we all have our own clicks and clacks, and assessing the worth of a photograph is entirely an individual thing, but ghettozing ourselves to react to only a specific type of photography, seems a very unhealthy and ultimately not terribly valuable orientation.

    give me nat geo pics, give me Private pics, give me Vu and Magnum, and by all means give me Christian Boltanski

    it’s all the same story….

    running
    b

  • Subhrajit,
    come on now… is that all you care about? Selling it?
    What Kathleen said is that She or Katia and definitely me wouldnt buy it…
    But Jim POWERS that has the POWER of a newspaper , would!
    So there you have it… You can sell and you can sell good my friend…
    Dont panic…
    :))))))))))))

Leave a Reply

You must login to post a comment.