How a Homebound Photographer is Using his Imagination to Capture the World

The coronavirus pandemic has forced landscape&nbspand travel photographers to stay indoors and have derailed all plans for travel this year. However, we have not been debarred from taking a flight of imagination, right Since I cannot venture out of my house with my camera, I tried recreating outfoor pictures, and visuals from past travels, from my home. All I needed&nbspwas some regular household products. After playing around with different colours, shapes, textures, and light and&nbspshadow, I ended up with photographs that replicate the essence of real landscapes.

These concepts that I am creating are inspired and driven by my previous experiences in the outdoors, and those that I dream of. It is an experiment to uplift the morale of my fellow travel photographers/enthusiasts, and also artists, who are currently struggling with their travel plans and dreams. I feel this current lockdown scenario is an opportunity for us to stretch our creativity, and to try something new. 

Extra Sweet

The white desert in Rann of Kutch is stunning, with pristine white sand stretching as far as one can see. At home, I recreated the vast stretch with sugar scapes. The result An epic scene of figurine wandering among the sand dunes in the vast white desert.

Sunset Sparkle
Witnessing the sun set on the horizon always makes for surreal photos. To get the feel, I used aluminium foil for water, and a table lamp for the drowning sun for capturing a perfect sail. The most important aspect, other than craft skills and camera technicalities, is to see how realistic you can make it. 

Caving Through

There were times when I thought I would never make it to the great ice caves, but eventually this lockdown made it happen. In these  photos, I reimagined the other-worldly ice caves by using crumpled paper sheets / blue sheets for caves, and a glittery clutch bag and aluminium foil for the watery effect on the base. I illuminated the caves using lamps and a cellphone torch.

I've always wanted to explore India's rock cut caves and got to do so now. With the help of my tiny soldier figurine, I made it safely in and out of these mysterious caves. It was as easy to create these caves at home as it is difficult to actually find and explore them in the real world. I made these caves with crumpled paper and used a cellphone torch to light up the interiors. And my tiny soldier accompanied me all the way in my search.