Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Diamonds in the Rockpile - Class of 2009: Mumbai Daily Photo


Somewhere in the bristling, bustling, boisterous city of Mumbai you'll find Deepak Amembal, alias Magiceye. Magic first caught my attention late in 2008, and I became a faithful visitor in fairly short order. Not only is his photography wonderful, it is uniquely his. As if he'd signed each image without ever writing a single character. There is the trademark single bird in flight that identifies so many of his wonderful skyscapes for one, and the sometimes unconventional looks at ordinary subjects. Whether the subject is a skyline, a butterfly or an autorickshaw, it's difficult to mistake Deepak's work for anyone else's.

His recent essay of the Kanheri Caves drew a lot of well deserved attention, but most recently, his work on the Sewri mudflats and the birds that gather there has been positively mind blowing.

Masterful photography aside, he's also quite the ambassador for Mumbai and indeed for all of India. Because all are welcome at Mumbai Daily Photo, and Magic never has a hard word for anyone. Got a question about Indian culture, the people, the city, actually anything? Deepak's always willing to enlighten.

I've learned as much from our conversations that grew out of his posts as from the posts themselves. He brings a real world, unvarnished look at Mumbai and all of it's marvelous layers (and some that are not so marvelous as well). For an Indophile like me this is the mother lode. But anyone can appreciate Mumbai Daily Photo.

Not just a great blogger, this is a great human being. bahut achchaa insaan I think is how you'd say it. If our world leaders adopted his attitude I believe we could accomplish just about anything.


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7 comments:

magiceye said...

am humbled sir! thank you so much for your kind words.
and may i have the pleasure of telling everybody how much you are responsible in encouraging me and teaching me certain basics of photography!
THANK YOU SIR!

Mojo said...

I may have tossed a few technical tips your way my friend, but you can't teach talent. By the way, I LOVE your new avatar photo!

Sylvia K said...

A well deserved tribute, my friend! I've followed your blog for quite sometime now and have learned so much about your culture and your country! Cheers!!

Sylvia

SandyCarlson said...

Talent to spare at this blog.

Shrinky said...

Thanks for the heads up, a wonderous find!

Maude Lynn said...

I'll have to check back. I'm having some trouble getting the site to load.

Daryl said...

Deepak is an amazing photographer... and a lovely person