The growing middle class is the face of the Indian upswing.  Excellently trained, ready to perform and happy to consume, the young social climbers liberate themselves from the burden of the past. But what do they believe in? What do they dream about? What keeps them going?

These are the opening lines for the feature about the growing middle class in India, written by Sebastian Matthes and published by the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche. I was just informed that the feature is nominated for a CNN award, which made me very happy naturally, only that unfortunately I have not been able to read it as I do not speak German!

Never the less, I find the Indian middle class a very interesting subject to document, and I enjoyed traveling and shooting. As in many cases, the magazine does not always choose to publish the same images as the photographer would consider as his first choice, so I am attaching some of my options here. I think it gives a nice perspective on the process of work on such editorial assignments. The pictures where taken in the span of three days in five cities in India, Chennai, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi, and Noida.

Ramya Chandrasekaran, 30, PR Manager at a local bar in Chennai. "My present life would have been unthinkable in India two decades ago". Ramya Chandrasekaran lives alone, has affairs, gone through a failed Marriage and makes a career. She regularly commutes between Malaysia, Bangalore and Chennai, and has friends who live all over the world. She is very proud of her being independent: "We are children of a new, exciting time."

Saurabh Adeep (30) is a software engineer with a degree from a good college, and several years of professional experience. People like him are in great demand in India. In six years his salary grew almost tenfold. First, he covered himself with brand clothes, and bought watches and expensive accessories for his motorcycle. Today, all that is not important for him anymore. He wants to get ahead professionally, do an MBA and acquire international experience. (next to the Motorola building at a Bangalore industrial park)

Bonita Vaz, 27, designer at her home in Delhi. Raised in a working class family managed to they leap into the modern Indian Elite upper education. Since her studies at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad Bonita Vaz is one of the most sought after creative directors across the country. She works for magazines and agencies and lives with her friend Jofree Shimray in Delhi.

Sarath Babu, 29, Entrepreneur, next to a mask against evil eye in the Chennai slum where he lives with his mother. In earlier times people like him would live their life in the shadow of a heavy stigma. He comes from a slum in the eastern Indian city of Chennai, and worse, he was born to a low caste family. But he has worked obsessively, passed the entrance test to India's most prestigious Indian Institute of Management. After graduation he has received many high-paying job offers but decided to go back to the slum and open his own catering business in university campuses across the country. He now employs more than two hundred people.

Text by Sebastian Matthes, Photography by Sephi Bergerson, published by the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche

A few weeks ago I showed some pictures from a shoot I did in Mumbai about Panipuri, Mumbai’s famous street snack. This month the story, written by Sally Howard, is published in Morning Calm, Korean Air’s online magazine. Read if if you fly with Korean Air, or see the preview here.

I am often asked what ‘kind’ of a photographer I am. A photojournalist? a commercial photographer? a food photographer? am I a wedding photographer? travel? lifestyle? what is it exactly that you do? This might not be a smart marketing strategy, but i have always refused to get into any of these boxes. I am a photographer. this is what I do.

My late mother used to say in Yiddish; “A sach meluches, a kleine bruches”, which would roughly translate to “you cant get any blessings in your work if you are not focused”. In other words, if you sell sardines than don’t be selling tissue paper. let your clients know what you sell and come for that. Be an expert. You must be asking yourself why am I saying this here?  well, because I am not one of those photographers who do one thing, and I often think of what my mother had said. It would be very simple if I decided to be a food photographer, or a travel, or wedding photographer, but I can’t. I love photography and I love doing different things all the time. Like I wrote in my previous post, this is what I learned, on the negative way, from Ansel Adams.

How focused are you as a photographer?

So, I ran across Clayton Cubbit‘s website yesterday. A very interesting and inspiring fashion photographer. I don’t do a lot of fashion photography, but used to do more in my earlier years as a commercial photographer in Tel Aviv. Looking at Clayton’s work brought back some good memories, and reminded me of this fashion project I shot last year for Lecoanet Hemant in India, and have never actually put on my website. The reason was because I didn’t want to spread the website to thin,and maybe try to focus it a bit more. But then, it is who I am, and I also do this kind of work. A blessing or a curse?

I recently had the pleasure of meeting and photographing two of Delhi’s most famous artists, Jatin Das and Anjolie Ela Menon, on an assignment for The Wall Street Journal.

Artist Jatin Das holding one of his fans at his studio in New Delhi. His collection of fans (Pankah) from all over the world counts more than 6,500 samples and has been exhibited worldwide.

Jatin Das, born in 1941 in the Mayurbhanj district of Orissa,  is acclaimed for his dynamic human figures. He also has a unique collection of over 5000 hand fans. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

Artist Anjolie Ela Menon and one of her works at her home in New Delhi

Anjolie Ela Menon, (born 1940) is one of India’s leading contemporary female artists. Her paintings are in several major collections. Most recently (2006), a major work “Yatra” was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California. Her preferred medium is oil on masonite, though she has also worked in other media, including glass (pictures of glass sculptures) and water colour. She is a well known muralist. She was awarded the Padma Shree in 2000. She lives and works in New Delhi. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

The west may be over weathering economic misery, but young Indians are partying like it’s 2009. Sally Howard clinks a Moet to the subcontinent’s future in this spring 2009 edition of UK’s Soho House magazine, with some images form my series ‘India’s Shopping Mall Generation‘.

“This generation wants to do everything now. They work hard, play hard, study for MBA’s, do the gym, perhaps learn a musical instrument. There’s a sense that it’s all out there to be had, and they want a slice of every pie”.

The magazine can be read online: http://www.sohohouse.com/housemagazine.php. The feature is on pages 58-60

Jule Japhet is a French artist working on a project she defines as a musical fiction documentary. She is currently in India finishing the shoot we started last year in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum. Shooting the project in time-lapse (Interval timer shooting) on my Nikon D700 and HD video (the amazing George Kurian on the HD keyboards ;) we have just finished the ending in the burning ghat in Varanasi, and the widow’s ashram & Holi festival in Vrindavan.

The film aims at appearing at first as a traditional documentary depicting the few remaining individuals of a tribe of Walkers. Jule Japhet is one of those walkers who is taking a slow meditation walk that evolves into three interwoven parts, each connected with a level of perception, Childhood/ Body, Youth/Mind, and Elderness/Heart or Soul, each connected with a particular sound/image treatment and a rhythm.

The walker is wearing a white sari that carries a strong symbolical reference. Not like the ‘white wedding dress’ in the western world, in India a white sari is usually worn by widows.
To know more about the project, please send Jule Japhet a message HERE

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Following the shoot in Kolkata last month with freelance journalist Jacqueline Lang, who conceptualized and orchestrated the two stories for the Australian magazines (Good going Jacqui ;-), here is the publication from Grazia magazine (PDF Courtesy Grazia magazine AU).

click the image for a larger view.

]]> http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata-2/feed/ 0 http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata/ http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:38:01 +0000 sephi http://www.sephi.com/?p=348

i’ve just come back from Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta) form a shoot for a couple of Australian magazines. Not my usual thing actually, a kind of a celebrity shoot in India for women’s magazines. it is funny how these things happen. Anyway, we spent some time doing our thing but both magazines wanted some ‘genuine’ images of India and the celebrity in the ‘real life’ scenario, so we headed out to the streets.
I always love to go out into the mess of India and manage to get these ‘clean shots’ that still have so much character of the place. this is what i am trying to introduce in India for the engagement shoots. Stop this horrendous thing of posing for the photographers on your wedding day will you! :-) lets go out and have some fun on the streets!

So here are Isabel Lucas, a young Australian actress now based in LA who is definitely star material, and Camilla Franks who is a star fashion designer and a seriously fun person to hang out with :-)