Chris Rathore Interview: A photographer is Born!

Chris Rathore is a 19 years old Business student at Brunel University, London. He is a photographer for the University's Newspaper. Chris is a Nature, Portrait and Landscape photographer with a knack for creative photography. He uses his pictures to create stories of memorable and stunning pictures. 

Chris draws inspiration from English Photograher extraordinaire Kirsty Mitchell she does well orchestrated photo shoots and she's been working on one project for two years now. She builds these really bizarre setups which usually are in the forest and creates the most beautiful and enchanting photos. His other inspiration is Russian photographer Stanislav Puchkovsky.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris about his passion, creative process and inspiration. Keep on reading to get inside the mind of this creative genius...

Ambitious or Distracted | By Chris Rathore for Chintan|MrPixels .

"Ambitious or Distracted?
A question we must ask ourselves every now and then. The paper bird depicts high aspirations, ambitions and the confused look reflects the distractions in our lives."

 

What was the first thing that drew you to photography?

Surprisingly it all started from instagram! I had no clue whatsoever about cameras let alone DSLRs and its workings, until about 3 years back. I was fascinated by all the creative pictures on instagram and the editing process. When I first discovered photography, I posted around 10 pictures a day. I got so into it which led me to ask the popular photographers on instagram how their pictures came out so well. 

I got into landscape photography first and then gradually moved to portraits. Taking pictures with my iPhone and experimenting with the varieties of apps on hand helped me to hone my editing skills. After doing this for two years, I made the decision to buy my first proper camera, which led me to organize some themed photo shoots. I started with landscape but ended up finding my true passion for portrait photography.

Howth, Ireland | By Chris Rathore for Chintan|MrPixels .

[ Event Review ] 'Brush' Korean Family Play by the Haddangse ~ 하땅세 Crew

The Haddangse crew are here in the UK to participate in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ahead of their performance at Edinburgh, they put on a ‘one night only performance’ at the Korean cultural Centre in London. Since I can’t make it to the festival, plus it looked  interesting to me I decided to go check it out and it was a good opportunity to introduce my family to Korea.

Haddangse ~ 하땅세 is a 28 member Eco-friendly theatre company based in South Korea. Their plays are performed brilliantly in the most unconventional style I have ever seen. They tell their stories by painting it out live on stage in an animated manner, capturing the essence of a story and bringing it to live before your eyes.

Photo Credit: KCCUK

I met up with the Producer/director of the show, Lee Kil Jun, before the play to have a chat and get a better understanding of Brush and the Haddangse crew, and also to have an idea of what to expect. He spoke Korean and I English, but with Chris Ryn of Coreamuser, a touring agency for Korean performing artists, translating for us, I got to learn a lot.

S is for Survivor: Book reading and Tea Party

I invited my cousin who is also a sickle cell warrior to attend the event with me.  We arrived early for the event and was met at the door by Samira, she welcomed us and we headed in to find our seats. But as it normally is at Nigerian events, there was ‘African time’. 

Whilst waiting, one of the warriors, Zulaha, walked around the room giving the guests a placard to take a picture with. I decided to indulge and participate as well. On it was written #Cellfie and #WSCD here’s a picture of me…

#CellFie and #WSCD (World Sickle Cell Day)

 After waiting for a while, and by then the room was packed, Nura another warrior gave the opening remarks. He talked about the life of a Sickle cell soldier, how they go through the same things we do but not in the same way. Being too happy or too sad can result in a crisis. He mentioned how sometimes people do not understand his pain or think it is exaggerated. 

Then it was time for the reading… Samira chose excerpts from the book that was dubbed as the most crucial part or as I like to say the core of the book.

 

Samira reading S is For Survivor

Sitting in a room filled with “soldiers”, family and friends, care-givers and well-wishers, Samira tells her story in an assured voice. 

Motivational Monday: Of Maya Angelou and Mukhtar Mai.

Today's Motivational Monday is inspired by the words of one phenomenal woman and the actions of another phenomenal woman. 

Who knew that when Maya was writing these words she would be describing the courageous Pakistani woman Mukhtar Mai, whom albeit being powerless and an illiterate, brought hope to the fight against women violence in Pakistan. 

Within these sentences, 

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it"

 lies the story of Mai's journey to regain her honour in the face of great injustice, barbarous traditions and what is dubbed as 'A man's world'!!

She didn't come out of her ordeal the victim her rapists expected but a courageous and fearless warrior against the social injustice of her land...

Lost at Sea: Tragic Accident in South Korea.

Source: RT

I woke up this morning to the sad news that a South Korean Ferry capsized 20km off the coast of Jeju Island. The 146m-long vessel has a capacity of about 900 people but was carrying about 459 people when it capsized.  It was travelling from the port of Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju. It sank within two hours of sending a distress signal, reports said. It is not yet clear what caused the incident, but witnesses described hearing an impact, before the ship listed and quickly sank.

Webtoon: A New Trend in Korean Digital Comics with Yoon Tae-ho

Photo Credit: LBF.

The London Book fair is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually. This year the focus was on Korea. Our assignment for KPop Academy was to attend one of the events and write a review about it. I chose to attend the Toon Talk with Yoon Tae-ho hosted by the Korean Cultural Centre.

First off a Webtoon is an animated cartoon that is published online in episodes. The Korean term for it is Manhwa. This is fast becoming an important trend reaching a lot of adult audience. An estimated 10 million Koreans are downloading webtoons everyday. The comics are published on a website known as Portal.

Yoon Tae-ho is a renowned graphic artist who works both in the traditional media print and Webtoon. He is from Gwangju, South Korea. From an early age he had shown keen interest in drawing, which led him to apprentice under Jo Woon-Hak and Huh Young-man who are Known as some of greatest in the field. In 1993 he debuted his first work Emergency Landing. He later became popular for writing the Webtoons Moss and Misaeng leading literary critics to call him as one of the leading voices of the next generation of Korean cartoonists.

KPop Academy Week 5: Korean History and Korean War.

I arrived at the Korean Cultural Centre a good 15 minutes before the class started and was able to chat around with a few people. As expected, the subject of the B.A.P concert and ticket prices came up but like me nobody's got tickets yet. Not sure if I'll be going though. So much for all the excitement of finally attending my first ever KPop concert and having a glimpse of Daehyun.

At 2pm we proceeded to the hall and after a recap of last week and looking at our assignments (My G-Dragon assignment was shown and I said a few words about it), we were introduced to Brigadier Brian Parritt of the British Army. He was there to give us a talk about his experience in the Korean War between 1950-1953. I'll try and tell you guys as much as I remember from the talk.

Photo Credits: KCCUK

GO WONG FU PRODUCTIONS!!!!

For the last few years I have slowly become addicted interested in YouTube. I watch it religiously everyday. So one day I came across the video below.....

The Great Madiba - Omkhulu Madiba

O Madiba, the fervent Rolihlahla
you opened the doors
of freedom and equality
in uMzantsi Afrika.
Dearly referred to as Tata,
you are a father to us all

Aaah! Dalibhunga
Indeed you are convener of the dialogue
You brought us all together
and taught us a language,
of love and hope

O Madiba, the pride of Africa
your words shall be a guiding light for all of eternity
We shall sing your praises to the next generation
and the next, passing on your torch of inspiration
Khulu Mandela, Ndiyabulela.