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Showing posts from March, 2020

Photographs Without Self

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I have a repository of around 8000 photographs from last ten years when mobiles started with cameras and I could afford to buy them. A vacation anywhere must have good clicks and they must be posted on social media with the help of some filters where a gray rainy day looks like it was the most perfect (if not sunny) day where we did not look as bedraggled as we felt. This seemed like a huge task which is mostly done by kids who want to look fab on Instagram but too tiresome for me.  Recently I have been told that I am a 'perfectionist' by a psychometric test - I never really thought myself to be one but yes now that I reflect over it, I may be one as that may be the only way I look at a thing / a task or a reflection in the mirror or a photograph. Speaking of which I always cringe when I see any of my photographs - in my opinion my facial expressions are always zombie like, spaced out, frowning or just not interested to be photographed. I officially have only 4 go

Art Explorations - The Beginning

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My visits to France started in 2004 and then more frequently since 2013, my stays often included weekends where I would spend hours in museums and in Paris you cannot run out of  them, there are probably over a hundred museums on varied subjects. The good thing about museums is that its a temperature controlled space which protects you from heat / wind / cold / rain, has cafes within and access to toilets. Perfect weekend destination for a solo traveler if so inclined. The first museum I visited was Musee de Orsay, which is the temple of impressionism (the 4th floor), however I started from the first floor and by the time I reached the 4th floor, I was dog tired, my feet hurt and I was super thirsty. I had an audio guide which had a mine of stories and information about the paintings and the artists featured. I knew nothing about art, pointillism, impressionism, fauvism, cubism and so on and while I had heard about names such as Van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet, Manet etc, I had no ide