Liwa, November 2010

Camel Handler in the Liwa Desert, UAE.

Ras al Khaimah, November 2011

Airborne in the desert

I was hired by Sony recently to shoot a series of images with their recently launched A 77 camera.

I spent a couple of mornings in the desert with some dancers for a fun shoot! Always nice to get paid to have fun! Just an animated gif for now.. will post more images in the coming days!

Weekend

5 awesome photographs from Mumbai

Here are 5 awesome images I saw recently from and of Mumbai. I love this city, even though I hate it.
(All images copyright © by respective photographers)

Lallubhai Park by Akshay Mahajan

fishing village-bandra by Kainaz Amaria from the series Dream Mumbai

Allen Dsouza, an employee of shopper's stop, bandra takes a break from being Santa Claus by Ritesh Uttamchandani

XXX: Mumbai's Suburban Train Grafitti by Chirodeep Chaudhuri

Tiled Gods by Amit Madheshiya

Much respect and thanks to these great photographers living and working in Mumbai!

Seen in Dubai today

www.sidsiva.comwww.sidsiva.com

Seen in Dubai today

Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, originally uploaded by sidsiva.

Jumeirah Beach, July 9, 2011.

Headshots?

 I dont know if I like the term, 'headshot'.. but here are Dharam and Eric's portraits.

Smita - July 1, 2011

For Lulu

Keep rocking at your great gig in the sky..

Dubai Portrait Project - Evgenia

I started a project a while ago.. actually quite a while ago. I am currently calling the Dubai Portrait Project, until I think of a proper title for it.

To be quite honest, its been very slow going and I really need to jump back on it and start producing more work for it.

Its a very simple project that involves photographing random people that respond to my classified postings on Dubai websites. The point is to photograph them in 'their' spaces.

If you ask me why... I am just curious.. and I am curious about how and why people live in Dubai.

I met Evgenia... say hello :)

Shoot at the Sheikh Zayed Book Awards

Dr. Mohammad Miftah

Last month I was commissioned yet again by the Sheikh Zayed Book Awards and friend, neighbour and inspirator, Mahmoud Kaabour  to shoot portraits of the winners of the awards.

Afaf Tabbalah

I have always loved photographing portraits of the winning authors and publishers. The brief has always been to produce simple, expressive portraits of the winners using simple lighting on a seamless background. The consistency of lighting and setting really pushes me to capture the individuality of each of these wonderful people and to create a rapport, as brief as it might be, with the subject. 

I was also able to try out a new lighting technique too! It seems to have worked well without taking away from the simplicity of the portraits.

I feel so thankful to the subjects for leaving a little piece of themselves in these images. 

Prof. Xhong Jikun

Dr. Abdel Raouf Sinno with his wife

www.sidsiva.com

Wonderful Machine

I am again a full fledged member of Wonderful Machine - a Philadelphia, US based company dedicated to marketing high quality photographers around the world. WM was started by the uber talented Bill Cramer,  who I was first introduced to when I was a photo editor at Forbes Arabia. I emailed him when I was going back to freelance photography and he introduced me to the still-in-planning WM.  They have a great team and I am excited to be working with them!

I have been featured on Wonderful Machine's tearsheets page

Happy Holi!

Happy Holi!, originally uploaded by sidsiva.

Happy Holi!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi

Dr. Anant Pai

anant-pai, originally uploaded by sidsiva.

As my brother puts it

"Here is one man who did more for this country and its cultural heritage than many who claim to be its custodians. RIP Uncle Pai"

I met him almost ten years ago on assignment for Society magazine. He did so much and was struggling to keep Tinkle, the children's illustrated magazine that he started, afloat. I think, he did manage to figure it out and stuck it out till the very end.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/amar-chitra-katha-creator-anant-pai-dies-at-81/144281-40-103.html

Smita, Bombay, Feb 2011

Smita, Bombay, Feb 2011, originally uploaded by sidsiva.

Have been lazy about posting..but here is a portrait of my lovely wife at a cafe in Bombay.

Even though Bombay, for me, has lost much of its charm and has become a difficult place to live in, I still grew up there, made great friends, met the woman that I would marry one day and generally had a good life there!

More soon..

Musical joy for the day..

Playing for Change's -Song around the world..

Songs around the world are wonderful international collaborations by uber talented musicians from around the world..

Adrianna MeBarr for M

I photographed the wonderful Adriana MeBarr, life coach and yoga instructor at her home office in Dubai. Very simple shoot where I tried to capitalise on her friendly demeanor and the fact that we were able to establish a good rapport fairly quickly. Just a little bit of moving furniture around and one light freed me up to focus on her personality and general 'happiness'! Here are some other shots from the shoot

© Siddharth Siva

© Siddharth Siva

© Siddharth Siva

© Siddharth Siva