One of my favourite poems of all time is Orange by Wendy Cope where she explores the simple joy of sharing an orange, it reads “And that orange, it made me so happy, As ordinary things often do just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It’s new.”
If the last two years have taught us anything it is that there is beauty in the mundane, brief moments of joy in our everyday lives that we don’t realise till they are taken away. Standing in a line at the theatre, a walk in the park, a good piece of toast, a crowded street.
Exploring the beauty in the ordinary, everyday life are these homegrown photographers, for whom every slice of life is a frame with a good story.
I. Abhay Khatri
Having seen Abhay who takes on the persona of Takeru Mag on the gram, work quite intimately, I can attest to the fact that a good frame is all about having an eye for beauty in the ordinary.
Of his creative process, he says, “Whenever I come across a frame that looks like a still from a movie, I capture it.” As an architect and a freelance photographer, his works are an exploration of cities and people who inhabit them, capturing everyday life and creating art from those fleeting moments.
II. Adnan Sharda
Chandigarh-based photographer Adnan Sharda’s instagram feed feels like a walk through the crowded but neglected parts of a city. The photographs centre on capturing people and moments in their natural settings and opens up your imagination to the possibility of intrigue and curiosity that everyday passing life can hold.
Offering none to limited information about the photographs in his captions, Sharda’s frames leave much to interpretation and contemplation.
III. Akshay Mahajan
Using urban landscape as a blank canvas, photographer Akshay Mahajan’s frames are an exploration of the commonplace and highlight the beauty of abandoned corners and streets. Vibrant and colorful, his pictures focus on the small everyday moments and bring forth the power of observation that is the very basis of creation.
His photographs often times focus on the often overlooked natural and man-made textures in our surroundings and are detailed explorations of mundane situations from a different perspective.
IV.Fatima Juned
Capturing the brief moments of reality that encapsulate much bigger stories is photographer Fatima Juned. Her bio on Instagram reads, “I write and take photographs” and her feed is a seamless blend of weaving narratives while capturing ordinary life.
Focusing on storytelling through photography, she elevates moments of unremarked beauty and transforms them into frames that are rooted in culture, connection, and intimacy of daily doings.
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