My Blog

My exhibition on nature photography, ‘my little finger’ has been posted on you tube and also on facebook. Check out and enjoy!

I cordially invite you all to the hardcopy version of my 12th solo show, ‘my little finger’ on nature photography at the Art Gallery, Panjab Kala Bhavan, Rose Gardens, Sector 16, Chandigarh, India. The exhibition will be on display on www.kumbkarni.com after the 23rd October.

It was during the mid-80’s and through the mid-90’s that I found myself on assignment, shooting a number of annual reports for both FORTUNE 500 companies and the not so fortunate 500 companies. Much of my work back then focused on what I affectionately called, Hard Hats with Soft Hearts or what was commonly known as the Blue Collar Industries e.g. oil, gas, coal, hydro, ship repair, construction, steel plants, foundries, lumber mills, and silver and gold mining.

Ever come across a situation when the action is happening fast, light is low, place is tight, tripod won’t fit in, time is less, you’ve got the wrong lens on and photography is imperative? WHAT DO YOU DO?
Remember, its good to get something than not get anything at all.
JACK UP YOUR ISO VALUE!!! TO THE HILT IF NEED BE.
And then, maybe in the end, you won’t mind the grain even.

“So now I stand—with my dear camera, bought from hard-earned and funnelled money and ponder—will the visual that I expect engage me for a while…away from my personal humdrum?”

Is photographic instinct inherited from genes or can it be acquired? What is visualisation and how is the resultant visual? How does it please the viewer? What are the throes of chemistry that invoke visual delight?

Have these questions crossed paths with you lately?
Well, I could use a lot more question-marks, but let me simmer down.

Hi friends! NEW PICTURES! in nature, landscape and life galleries.
Also, I am quitting my position with the Geological Survey of India and taking voluntary retirement and pursue my hobbies, photography being one of them. Will keep you posted with new pictures and happenings!

At the onset of winters, once again i am off to the himalayan wilderness for four months of image-gathering and nature-living. To do nature photography, you don’t have to be just close to nature, you have to be close to yourself and in deep conversation with your heart. Only then there will be godliness in your pictures…you never know from where god will spring forth…from behind a drying leaf on the forest floor…around a stalk of wildgrass, floating among twigs in a forest pool…I love it. I am off. Will, post new pictures as and when i can get to this thing called internet connection!

Life is a blur, a jerky montage of emotions plastered over a canvas that has no boundaries…that is what Varanasi is all about…
(go to pages of life portfolio…)