Sajeesh Rajendran

Lucky enough to be there….

Framed in: “The Royal Branch”, is lucky enough to be there, right in front of a great palace. By the virtue of being in a palace garden, the branch also becomes royal! An absurdity! There has to be an end to this idiotic practice. This inequality has been happening all around the globe from the day history can be traced out. King’s son becoming the next king, how much ever incapable he is.. The only quality he might have had was that he was the son of the king! This happens in this era also… Politician’s son is a politician.. Actor’s son is an Actor…Democracy becomes a mockery.. If born to a middle class struggling family.. it becomes an Herculean task to climb up to your dreams. But if you are born in a well to do family with a lot of political and financial background, you don’t even have to dream.. Dreams will appear in front of you and you just have to choose! Which ‘ism’ can eradicate this inequality! Until then equality in this world will remain a dream!

Framed Out: This picture is very memorable to be. This can be the first click by me which had an artistic angle! That was during a family trip around Karnataka.. with all my relatives when I was in std IX! Exposed at the Mysore palace with my (then it was my dad’s!) Yashica FX3 with FX7 Lens.. the odd angle of this frame gives a strange balance to the picture. The branch peeping out from the right edge with the golden light of the setting sun falling on it… makes the composition more interesting. I still remember my father scolding me a lot for tilting the camera! But I still believe the Dutch angle and that branch adds a tinge of magic to the frame!
Grey Frames: The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” Aristotle
Beyond Frames: For my dad.. Who else… who guided me with his eyes to this wonderful world of photography! Thank you Acha!

When the Tree Loves the Sky…!




Framed in: Love stories happen around the world. The sharing of hearts, Warmth of the hugs, Dampness of the kisses.. they make us still believe that living in this earth is not that a boring affair! When a tree loves the sky.. anything can happen! The static stubborn tree with its branches spread out… The cool blue sky with the romantic clouds floating on them… they are ways apart and not meant to be together! The difference is obvious. Nobody considers them as a good match and naturally disagreement arises when talked about they getting united! But no force in this earth can seperate them except themselves.For two hearts in love.. they knows no boundaries nor anything else for that matter. The only thing that matters to them is their hearts. Two hearts in love… Nothing can separate them. That’s why the old cliché, “Love is blind!”. But when there is a difference of opinion between those two hearts in love..? There is nothing like a kiss as a remedy. A sweet warm kiss filled with those fragrances of affection. That can ebb out any differences between those two hearts. Let the tree kiss the sky and let them unite together leaving behind all those difference of opinions. Kissing the blues will definitely bring back the magic of affection between them! Let this inspire every one out there to kiss their loved ones to bring back those charm of romanticism which we lost due to the monotonous ways of living. Let us try to make this earth a beautiful paradise. Because only love can transform any hell into an heaven!  



Framed out: This photo is from my series titled “Nostalgic Mornings”. Mornings are the best part of any given day. Watching the darkness slowly dissolving away with the birds chirping at the background… Enjoying the cool breezy morning sipping a cup of hot tea with the news paper, sitting in the balcony… mornings are truly romantic! I wont sacrifice my mornings for anything else. Those coziness offered by the mornings are to be enjoyed to the fullest extend! And the opportunities that a morning offers to a photographer is immense! The slanting golden rays make each and everything in this earth so beautiful. I love to pack my kit and go on photographic expeditions on the early hours of dawn. This pic was a result of one such adventure. The silhouetted tree against a clean blue sky.. That was a treat to my lens. Clicked with my Yaschica FX3, those sprinkled clouds adds an unmatchable beauty to this frame. The odd diagonal angle of the tree renders a dynamism to the frame. One of my all time favourites in my collection.. this pic is too romantic! 



Grey Frames: “Kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can’t see anything wrong with each other.” Rene Yasenek


Beyond Frames: This dedication is special. This is for some one who made me dream the same dream many a times in a day! For the angel who made me believe a tree can love the sky and kisses are the magical remedy for any drifts between two hearts! Its for you.. on this special day.. to make it more special… kisses and love…

Rain Drops.. Kissing My Heart..

Framed in: Say the word ‘Rain’, an incomparable joy pours in. Every rain comes with a lot of commitments and attachments packed into it. The first rain drop make us believe that it is here to stay forever. But no rain has ever stayed till the end. At some point of time it has to stop leaving behind a lot of tears and perspiration. After the rains, the world take a sudden turn. The birds, romancing on the top of trees which still rains; walls, with a lot of strange designs left behind by the dampness of the rain; Paths, waiting with puddles of water for the children to kick; Earth, inviting us with a fresh fragrance! But the most exquisite of them all are the dripping drops of rain from the leaves, barbed wires, grass etc. Its their tears for losing the rain! They don’t understand the fact that every rain has to stop at one point of time. After the rains.. tears remain! But I am experiencing a drizzle now. A drizzle of love and warmth, drenching my soul. I wish this rain stays forever here, kissing my heart!

Framed out: This was clicked during the last days of my stay in Munnar. It was a Sunday and we had nothing to do. So, me and my colleague, Arun.K.Nair went to Rajamalai a world renowned wild life sanctuary famous for ‘Nilgiri Thar’. For visitors, entry is restricted up to a point. But since KDHP ( Kannan Devan Hill Plantation) had an estate beyond that point and the asst: Manager of that estate was our friend, we were allowed to cross that point. You can call it a heaven. I was fascinated by the picturesque landscapes. To top it, rain accompanied us! My camera couldn’t resist itself from clicking! I clicked almost two rolls! This dripping barbed wire was one of my favorites among them. Did a take a lot of effort to get the frame right. Arun always used to make fun of me on my eccentricities like these! But he was so supportive for all my crimes. Thanks comrade! This picture was clicked with my Yashica FX3.

Grey Frames: Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. An Argentinean Proverb.

The smell of innocence…


Framed in: Babies are God sent. They reflect the divinity of the nature. I remember once one of my teachers asked us what could be the reason for this divinity attached with the kids? We were in our class IX or something and we were blank. I have never thought of a reason behind that but knew that babies are just cute to be hugged and kissed! And then he told us, the reason for that divinity is just because of the innocence and the helplessness of the babies! That make them so special. Somewhere during the course of our growing up, we lose this innocence and get prepared to face the world. After all what is maturity? Nothing but losing your innocence and true self and learning to live according to other’s wish and act in front of the society. ! And I always believe that man is in his true self only in bathrooms when he is shut in the four walls and when nobody is watching him. The entire education system is designed to make us more matured, ie, lose innocence and become more and more sly! The more educated you are, the more foxy you are! I am presenting here for you, The ‘Expressions of innocence’, which we have lost somewhere. Trying to grab back a piece of that! Let us start a journey backwards.. Let the innocence prevail…


Framed out: An assignment for a magazine on a feature about the tribes of Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu took me to the dwellings of the tribes in that area. I have always loved feature photography and love clicking the human expressions. That’s were the satisfaction of photography lies in me, to make immortal a piece of expression. And I guess I am well appreciated for that too! The innocence of this sweet little kid attracted me. But when I approached to a take a portrait of her she refused. And I guess she was frightened and got in to the hip of her grand mother and started crying. That presented a more interesting frame for me and I clicked it with my Yashica FX3 with FX7 lens and loaded with Fuji 200. I still adore the innocence her eyes.


Grey Frames: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Pablo Picasso

Sparkling Romantic Red….

Framed in: In Love, what a red rose can do, nothing else can. There cannot be a substitute for Red roses and kisses in love. Dampness of some sweet kisses and dryness of a few red roses given by HER are still there in my fading memories! Romance is such an amazing feeling that springs up in any individual. That’s a basic necessity which makes this world more beautiful to live in. looking on to her eyes, one forgets the fact that the earth rotates, day and night appears, time tickles on, autumn and spring passes by… Once you fall in love, you find yourself upside down… the entire world will look more colourful and beautiful! Once I was in love.. but not any more. But whenever I see those passion flowers… I wish to be back to my romantic days. To walk with her in the rains… to be kissed by her in the darkness of the night… to be hugged by her in the shades of trees… to feel her smell which resembled baby creams… to write love letters.. to fight over those silly things… In Love, what a red rose can do, nothing else can!!!!

Framed Out: Those college days… they were romantic and fun. The day was auspicious and was during my second year of UG.. It was after some function. Think it was the inauguration of the literary club and I was elected as the Gen. Secretary or something. After the function I came down from the auditorium and was just kidding around. one of my juniors came to me with a bunch of red roses.(I swear noting fishy in that!). She just wanted to congratulate me on the occasion. That’s it! Her hands were looking cute and I had this idea. The camera was Nikon FM10 loaded with Kodak200 I guess. I asked her to hold them against the white walls of the class room which resulted in this picture. A small manipulation digitally presented a wonderful frame! Something like a post card… this picture, though a cliché, still evokes the feel of a romantic moment spent with some one special!

Grey Frames: If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I’d be picking roses for a lifetime.Swedish Proverb

Toddling Back in to life with colours….

Framed in: The colours were worn off the day she was born. The hopes and joys never shed its pearls on her. The darkness was visible at a distance. And there were no lights of hope anywhere around. But she decided to fight. She was determined to colour her life with the brightest colours despite of all the odds against her. The darkness around her were ebbed out with the colours of hopes and dreams from nature. With those limited colours known to her she has started to toddle back in to the life! A lesson to be learned by us indeed. Because we fail to recognize the colours around us since its abundant!

Framed out: This picture was taken at KEREMEHAS (Kendra for the Rehabilitation of Multiple Handicapped Adult Sisters) at Coimbatore undertaken by the Church of South India, Coimbatore Diocese. I was assigned to make a photo essay for them. The inmates of the Kendra where Mentally retarded and were adult sisters. The problems faced by them are quite different from those faced by the special children. But the determination of the inmates to defeat their fate was amazing. This Sister was one among them. She was an excellent artist and creates greeting cards on her own. With colours surrounded her, and the painting brushes in the fore ground, it presented an interesting frame. Clicked with Nikon FM10, this picture will stay in my mind always. It speaks volumes.

GreyFrames: “Keep your face to the sunshine and you will never see the shadow.” Helen Keller

Walks of Life…


Framed in: The picture looks so serene. Every one walk towards a final destination, a destination that is so mysterious but an inevitable one! The life is short and we must enjoy it. But people tend to forget this. In an attempt to live, we forget to live! We are just rotating the arms of clocks and see the time pass by! Seeing people hanging in trains, buses and rushing towards their work places early in the morning and back home late in the night, I feel so pathetic! When will we have time to live? Thinking seriously of going back to some serene landscapes and live a life where time waits for us, where we enjoy the morning rays of sun, where we feel content with the magenta coloured twilight of dusk, where stars and moon can be adored! ( I am having a weird thought of settling in some interior villages of kerala and set up a small tea shop and read a lot about cinema and watch at least 2 films a day and also I can exhibit films to the villagers there!:) ! How would that be?) Whenever I see this pic, there is an incomparable peace and relaxation running through my nerves! Life has to be enjoyed like this, walking so relaxed, not bothered about the time that tickles by and other chains that become a hindrance! Not during the last walks of life but every time. Some one has to teach the entire human race how to live the life in its fullest extend and utmost satisfaction! The walk has to be slow, a word hated by this fast paced world!!!

Framed out: Even though the pic looks so serene and peaceful, the story behind this pic is not that peaceful! This was taken at kaleghoot beach in Goa with Nikon FM10 camera loaded with Fuji 200 and Sigma 75-200 lens. There were lot of foreign ladies bathing in the beach and I was going around clicking pictures with my long lens. The guy in this pic noticed this and had a doubt on me! (I swear, my intentions were pure) But he thought it in the wrong way! He came running towards me furiously and started shouting. (I could only hear the letter “F”!) And he asked for the roll to be handed over to him! Oh! That was an experience. Some how I managed to escape from there, with God’s graze! I did think that I will be trashed by that fat lunatic British guy! Luckily, the people gathered there, mostly where foreigners, asked him to cool down and asked me to leave the place at once! I ran from there in a jiffy! Really an amazing experience!

Grey Frames: “To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice” Kahlil Gibran

Mysterious…


 

Framed in: We are in a maze! A maze controlled by time. More we try to come out from it more we are trapped in it, trapped in the spider web of time. We enjoy good times; we curse bad times and in this fast paced world controlled by internet and other communication gadgets we race against the entire time only to find out that we will never win against time! Imagine a life without time! The pace of the life will definitely come down! How calm it will be. I am dreaming of such a life where I am not depended of time and want to break all the clocks and watches around me! Just want to break away from the mysterious ways and speeds of time! Let’s go back to those times when there were no clocks or watches, where the speed of life could have been compared to the speed of a snail, so calm and meditative… So let’s try avoiding leaning on to time at least for a day and bring back the soul in to this life!


Framed out: oops! How can I forget the day! This pic was taken at kallar, near mettupalayam. That was our Degree batch’s first outing. A perfect start, I still remember. We had a drawing workshop with Arjun sir, an artist. The last day we went on an outing to draw the sceneries. I painted using my camera. The first expedition as a photographer I would say. The amount of effort taken to expose this frame was enormous. Literally lying on a fallen tree to get the texture of the tree I borrowed a watch from Vivin (we call him “Maapi”) and captured the time using the 1960 model Zenith camera! (Thanks for Anilettan, my guru for lending me his camera!)


Grey Frames: “Who forces time is pushed back by time; who yields to time finds time on his side.

~The Talmud

Dark & Curved… To Blurred Destination!


Framed in: Destiny is decided by the way we face life. For cowards, who feel safe to follow others and  travel through the roads traveled by others most often, only a monotonous, non-challenging, boring destination awaits! But for those who take the road less traveled, they find a new path and leave the trail for others to follow! They remain the leaders. The road to Destiny may be curved, dark with only a narrow ray of hope shining in distance, with a lot of obstacles in the way and perhaps long too! But those has to be overcome by the energy of optimism and dreams. Let the roads taken by you take you to enchanting landscapes!

Framed Out: This Snap cannot be forgotten. After a tiresome bike ride of more than 400 km over a day, I was on my way back to estate and was supposed to report for the job by 6.45AM. It was already 6.30 and there was half an hour ride more to estate. But how can I miss such an extravaganza. Decided to stop my “Mayavi” (my enfield) and make this frame immortal! Took out my Yashica FX3 and exposed the “Road to Destiny!”  Rightly exposed, the pic brings in a coolness and totality of the dawn!

Grey Frames: The end is decided when you decide the path. Fidel Castro

Following… without making a noise…

Framed in: Shadows tell us a great deal about ourselves. Your true self is reflected in your shadow. It cannot be manipulated. The only image of you which can never be manipulated. It’s your true self. Whenever we deviate from our path, it tries to bring back us on track reminding us of what we actually are! Shadows make a steady  stroll in to our inner soul and finds a path to our heart too! As Buddha says its the only companion which follows you wherever you go till you are dead; A follower who makes no noise!  In short, it’s the better half of you! And a shadow is a promise too.. A promise that confirms there is a large source of light around you and you are not in darkness any more! Truly a stalker who leads a silent revolution in us!

Framed Out:  A gloomy day can be changed by the click of a fantastic picture. It was a dull afternoon. Think it was one of those holidays which passes by without anything much to do! I was wandering in the compound of my mom’s house with nothing to click. Suddenly this thought of clicking my own shadow struck me. Just a curiosity. With my Yashica FX3 shot my own shadow and a dried leaf in the frame added more elegance to it. It made the composition more strong and visually captivating. The mysterious quality of the picture makes it really interesting!

Grey Frames: Shadow owes its birth to light.   John Gay