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Editorial
Beth Barklage Watson
Prakhar Garg Editorial
Priyashi Negi
Ankit Tyagi In the words of Wyland, “The world’s finest wilderness lies
beneath the waves.” Beneath the shimmering surfaces of oceans,
Chief Visualiser
Sheetal Mann seas, lakes, and rivers lies an inspiring world. This world is vastly
different from our own, with fascinating creatures, bubbling
Design landscapes, and in some cases man-made treasures that haven’t
Bhavyaa Parashar been seen in centuries. Only a handful have got the pleasure of
Abhishek Gangwar witnessing these different dimensions with their own eyes. The
rest of us just have to settle for pictures.
Research & Operations
Prateek Kashyap
Some of the world’s most beautiful and captivating sceneries are
Writers beyond the views of the average person; these are the underwater
Rahul Batra ones. Underwater photography enables the average person to get
Vishakha Jha a small peek at this beautiful world. Some underwater photographs
Shimran Epari
might capture marine wildlife, like fish and plants, while other
Sana Singh
underwater photographs may focus on the landscape. Anup J Kat
Technology takes us into a vibrant world and shows us a glimpse of the flora
Sachin Arora and fauna under the water. The amazing cover by Ken Kiefer is a
Rishabh Jain testament to just how wonderful underwater photography can be.
Bharat Bhushan
Aditya Baghel
Jai Thakur explores Nepal and takes the audience along with him
Business Development to the mystical land in his series, ‘Through Doors and Windows’.
Rajesh Basu The fantastic take of Henley Spears on marine life is a treat to the
Amit Ghosh eyes and leave you wanting for more. Andrey Shpatak has some
Dimas Fajar amazing shots of the various species of Jellyfish that will leave you
spellbound. Emotion hunter, Andrea Izzotti’s work on marine life
Sales
is bound to take your breath away as he captures the life of sea
Krishna Srinivas
Amit Gupta creatures in a way that will leave you in amazement . You might
as well hold your breath while you’re at it because this issue also
Marketing features Randy Rocket’s extraordinary photographs on fashion as
Rahul Gandhi they compel you to think beyond what you can see. We also have
Disha Tomar the product of Muses Photography Workshop on Fine Art Figure
Study. The participants’ photographs are on display and are a visual
Public Relations
Barkha Chandra delight for anybody who lays eyes on them.
Akriti Bajpai
There’s nothing wrong with looking at the surface of the ocean and
Staff Photographers enjoying the view, except that when you finally see what goes
Saransh Pithauria underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the bigger
Susana Gomez
picture. Underwater photography is the essential evolution for
Tarundeep Singh
Urshita Saini the world so that it can discover another world beneath the
Abdul Momin shimmering sheet of blue. This art of underwater photography
opens up a path to incite emotions with a different vision window.
Finance It’s a challenging way to showcase the world in the substratum of
Neelu Singh the “Blue surface”. So dive in and explore the endless depths of a
whole new world!
Consultant
Apratim Saha
Mansa Inc. Happy Clicking!

CEO
Mukesh Kumar

Cover Photo
Regards,
Ken Kiefer Beth Barklage Watson
 Nemo’s Blue World
Olympus O-MD E-M1 mark II 60mm F/8 1/250 ISO200

For Andrey Savin, a day is successful only if he spends five hours underwater. He has a
special passion for underwater macro photography. He publishes his best works in his
Instagram account @uw.art. Andrey has had many long travels and collaborations during
dive trips with dive resorts, dive boats and dive brands. By education, a mathematician
and a programmer and currently, an award-winning photographer, SM-expert and a
successful businessman, Andrey teaches how to make Instagram and Facebook work for
the benefit of your business, tests new products for diving and underwater photography
along with organizing worldwide photo dive tours for advanced divers with a passion for
underwater photography.
8 TRIGGERS
 Steppe Eagle
Nikon D300 200mm F/7.1 1/200 ISO640

Snowy Owl White Stork

Nikon D3 600mm F/7.1 1/640 ISO1600 Nikon D3 460mm F/7.1 1/2000 ISO2000
Christian Riese was born in a small town in the
Teutoburger Wald, and is now living near Frankfurt
Main in Germany. He has been doing photography
since 1980 and has been using Nikon mostly. Even
though wildlife and nature photography are his
personal favorites, he also does portraits, wedding
shoots, night shots of skyline and more. He finds
it fascinating to hold the eye contact of a wolf or
a tiger and gets so engrossed in it that sometimes
he forgets to push the shutter. Looking into the
eyes of the subject and staying in tune with them
makes him feel as if he is looking into the soul of
the subject.

Eurasian Wildcat
Nikon D3 600mm F/8 1/160 ISO1600

Bengal Tiger
Nikon D300 600mm F/9 1/1000 ISO800
 Tundra Wolf
Nikon D3 600mm F/7.1 1/640 ISO2000

“Taking photos and sharing them is a balance to all the daily things
I see and go through. Spreading nature and life and
maybe some smiles.”
12 TRIGGERS
- Christian Riese
Through
Doors & Windows
Being a native of Bagdogra, fondly known as the replica
of secular India, I have lots of Nepali friends and have the
advantage of knowing their language. So, when my friends
asked me to plan a trip to Nepal, I knew that it would be
easier for me to communicate in a foreign land and
immediately got down to it.
We narrowed it down to three places – Kathmandu,
Pokhara and Bandipur, all thanks to Instagram. It was April
14, 2017 around 10:30 PM when we landed in Kathmandu.
After filling the demarcation form, we booked two taxis
and headed towards our hotel in Thamel. The moment we
reached Thamel, our driver told us that it was the Nepali
New Year (2074), because of which the area was crowded
and we had to walk beyond that point. It was indeed an
experience in itself- loud music, young crowd, tourists
from different countries and the decorated lanes. Amidst
of all these, we finally reached to our hotel around 11:00
PM. The next morning when we opened our windows,
much to our surprise, we saw a different Nepal from the
one we saw last night.
Surrounding buildings (mostly hotels) were festooned with
colorful banners hanging over the streets. The refined
morning light was a bliss, promising beautiful days ahead.
Though the hotel lane was narrow and congested, it still
looked beautiful in the morning light. After breakfast,
we went to explore the suburbs of Kathmandu specially
Bhaktapur. On our way, we stopped at Thamel market to
get a local cell phone connection. Bhaktapur is an ancient
city in the east corner of Kathmandu Valley. Strangely, we
14 FEATURE
Friend From Bandipur
Nikon D810 24mm F/4 1/200 ISO100
noticed that there were hardly any people in the market.
After talking to a few locals, we came to know they all
had gone to witness Sindoor Jatra in a small village
called Thimi which comes under the municipality of
Bhaktapur District.
If you have witnessed or heard of Sunburn parties or
Holi of Braj Bhoomi, I can assure you that the festival
of Sindoor Jatra is the mother of all those events. With
madness all around and the locals singing songs on the
beats of ancient musical instruments, dancing, enjoying
their respective bottles of beer and making merry, I spoke
to one of the shopkeepers to allow us to stand at the
roof of his shop from where we could see the Jatra and
click photographs. The moment this big procession
crossed us, I thanked my lucky stars for making me witness
this madness. I was shooting with both hands, with the
camera in my right hand and recording the entire event
using a cellphone from my left hand. The entire event
lasted for an hour and has us all reeling with the ambience
that it created.
Post this event, we decided to explore the inner parts of
that village. While clicking photographs of the event, the
ladies and the children popping out of their beautifully
designed windows touched me the most. I decided that
from then onwards I was going to shoot only windows
and doors and developed a story out of it. The beauty of
this 200-years-old village cannot be defined in words. The
people, their house and the doors and windows engraved
with their rich culture blew my mind.
 Jai Thakur, 30 and Business Research Analyst with one of
the top rated Wall Street firms, started photography out
of his passion for traveling and storytelling. Brought up
in Bengdubi cantonment of Darjeeling district, he is now
based in Delhi. His work has been selected and displayed
at various art exhibitions and film festivals and has been
published in various media platforms. He has won
Honourable/Jury awards at the repute of International
Photography Awards (Harmony) - 2018, Monochrome
Black and White International Photography Awards 2017
& 2016 and International Photography Awards 2017 &
2016 among many others. Other than photography, he
loves cooking and writing poems. You can find more of
his work here: jaithakur.in, Blog: Ghumantra,
Instagram: @jaithakurpix

Leisure Day On The Streets Of Kathmandu Valley

Nikon D810 120mm F/4 1/160 ISO125

Girl Welcoming Us In Bhaktapur

Nikon D810 120mm F/4 1/200 ISO200
Window Conversation At Thimi
Nikon D810 52mm F/4 1/400 ISO100

Colorful Shop Of Bhaktapur

Nikon D810 65mm F/4 1/125 ISO80
Andrea Izzotti is an Italian photographer born in 1968. Passionate about travelling and nature, he has visited some
of the most remote places of the planet and is always searching for “fragments of reality” to capture. His photo are,
therefore, often the result of sudden intuition, little preparation and instant realization. “The nature is the best and
the humblest artist, it’s up to us to try to pick up the endless differences of its proposals”, says Andrea Izzotti who is
 Deep Down in the
Heart of the Ocean
- Andrea Izzotti

an emotion hunter.
His photographic philosophy found him on the concept that to transmit an emotion it is necessary to get emotional
about what you are viewing. So if while taking a shot you get touched by an image, you can transmit the same emotion
to the spectator.
White Pearl Teeth
Nikon D810 24mm F/5.6 1/160 ISO400
 Enchanted Garden
Nikon D800E 60mm F/20 1/125 ISO200
Q. Which are your favorite places to travel for wildlife
and underwater photography?
A. My favorite place is the Indian Ocean. The best
underwater place I have ever dived in is Raja Ampat,
Papua, Indonesia. For macro photography, Cebu Island,
in Philippines is great. For sharks and mantas, I love
Maldives, and Cortez Sea in Mexico for sea lion
encounters underwater.
Q. Are there any specific techniques and equipments
that you use while doing underwater photography?
A. I use different techniques depending on the subject.
Basically all my underwater photography is done in manual
mode. I do love using a fisheye lens underwater and try
to get very close to the subject. I use the fastest shutter
speed possible (considering lights and depth) and use
two underwater flashlights. I manually control the amount
of light of flashes, starting from ¼ power arriving to full
power depending on the subject, light situation and
underwater visibility. I use flash light diffusers every time,
for underwater landscapes I use very long flash arms, to
avoid reflection on dome and water suspension reflection.
For macro I usually prefer a 60mm lens, sometimes with
the magnifier and very short flash arms. Sometimes I
do ambient macro with fisheye. In that case, I shoot very
close to the subject and use the inverse flash technique.
Basically this means that I aim the flashes not on the
subject but on the side of cameras. Subject, thanks to
diffusors, takes the light, but the landscape also has a
good light.
Q. What has been your perception when it comes to
marine life? Did you always love water so much?
A. I do live in a town by the sea, so since I was young sea
is part of my life, but I started diving in 2001 when I was
already 33 years old. After the first moment underwater I
realised that this world is really magic, and my eyes started
to see it in a completely different way.
Q. Which was the toughest shoot of your life and how
did you manage to work it out? What has been your
experience with sharks?
20 FEATURE
Dugong
Sony DSC T1 7mm F/3.5 1/50 ISO100
A. The toughest shoot of my life has yet to come! All jokes
apart, it has been a “downunder” shot in Indonesia. I was
trying to take a picture of a whale shark underwater and a
fisherman on the fishing platform above. It has been really
difficult because you have to focus the subject underwater
then raise the camera near the sea line (that became the
“horizon”) and shoot in the fastest time you can, as you
can imagine everything is moving: the shark, the fisher
man...and the photographer. I had swum with sharks
several times. After the movie “Jaws”, I was afraid of
sharks, and like all the others, I had the feeling that a
terrible monster coming from the deep blue would have
dragged me to the most terrible of deaths. Only when I
saw my first shark while diving, I overcame that fear. It was
in red sea twenty years ago. I remember my buddy making
the signal of a shark, the perpendicular right hand to the
forehead as a fin. As soon as I saw the shark, it swam away,
literally escaping from the group of divers. The knowledge
is respect and we have to respect who live in the seas
since thousand of years. The shark encounter is one of the
thing I could recommend to everyone, since we can stop
and observe the sinuosity of the majestic swim of a superb
animal. Humans are not prey for the shark and every year
only 2-3 deadly attacks are registered, while wasp, only in
Europe, provokes 60 deaths. I had the confirmation when
I dived with The Great White Shark near the Guadalupe
Island, in Pacific Ocean. A sea lion approached two white
sharks. I expected a bath of blood and an epic photo. The
first shark has literally escaped away “with it’s tail between
it’s legs”, while the seal swam to the other that ran away in
opposite direction. That is when I realized that the shark is
really not a scarecrow.
Q. What are the animals you are looking forward to
shoot in the upcoming years?
A. I miss all the Africa fauna, so my aim is to travel that
part of the world. I would also like to come back to the
polar region to see polar bears again. For underwater
photography, I would like to come back to the Kingdom
of Tonga, to swim again with Humpback whales and go to
Norway to swim with Orcas.
Priyashi Negi
priyashi@chiiz.com
Trekking in the top of the hills through tiny little paths and between pines
is nothing short of paradise for Priyashi. Books and poetry are her refuge.
She is a foodie at heart and seems to be blessed with a sweet tooth
(sweet-teeth rather) and a love for all things cheese (pun-intended).
The Offer The Ghost Turtle
Nikon D810 14mm F/8 1/320 ISO250 Nikon D810 26mm F/11 1/3 ISO100

Mr. Muscle
Nikon D800E 60mm F/18 1/200 SO200
 Cormorant Hunt
Nikon D810 16mm F/9 1/250 ISO200

Sardines Wall
Nikon D810 16mm F/13 1/250 ISO250
Barracudas In The Air
Canon 5D Mark IV 15mm F/13 1/100 ISO250
Living and working for the past 20 years as a professional diver in the Cayman Islands,
Jason Washington has become the go-to underwater photographer in the Caribbean.
His style represents the true nature of his surroundings, focusing on the unique tonality
provided by one of mother-nature’s most challenging environments. Jason’s work has
been featured on many platforms from National Geographic, to documentaries and
feature films. For more of Jason’s work follow him on Instagram, or check out his new
YouTube channel on underwater photography tips.

Hawksbill Close Up
Canon 5D Mark IV 15mm F/8 1/125 ISO160
Underwater Umbrella Bathing In Light
Canon 5D Mark III 15mm F/13 1/125 ISO2000 Canon 5D Mark IV 14mm F/13 1/100 ISO400

Surface Light Turtle Stingray Grey Gull

Canon 5D Mark IV 15mm F/13 1/100 ISO800 Canon 5D Mark IV 15mm F/4 1/100 ISO100
 Blue Eyes Triplefins
SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/11 1/250 ISO80

Simone Matucci is a PADI diving instructor from Italy,

born in Florence and has travelled the world accumulating
lots of dives in differents places like Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Australia, Honduras. He has a deep passion for
the ocean and has always been fascinated by the sea and
all of its marine inhabitants. He started underwater
photography a year and a half ago, and says that it is a
huge world where there is always something new to learn.
He actually works for a dive company (Dive!Tutukaka) in
New Zealand, particularly oriented on marine conservation
and banning plastics, so he has learnet a lot about
environmental awareness and he hopes that by capturing
the beauty of various marine life, he will be able to spread
awareness about the dangerous state that our oceans
are now in. The equipment he used for all his pictures
is the compact camera SONY RX100 Mark4 in aluminium
Housing Aquapazza with wide/macro wet lens, 2 strobes
Sea&sea YS-D2.

Show Me Your Smile

SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/4 1/125 ISO125
Scorpion Fish And His Big Mouth
SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/6.3 1/250 ISO150

Free Dive In A Tornado Of Blue MaoMao

SONY RX100M lV 8.80mm F/5.6 1/125 ISO200
Cuddle Time
SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/7.1 1/250 ISO100

Jellyfish At Middle Arch

SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/11 1/160 ISO80

Dancing With The Giants

SONY RX100 Mark lV 8.80mm F/7.1 1/400 ISO100
Picasso Triggerfish
Nikon D7200 24mm F/29 1/15 ISO100
Henley Spiers is an underwater photographer, writer and diving instructor with
an all-consuming passion for the sea. His images have been awarded in numerous
competitions, including the Sony World Photography Awards, Asia Pacific UW
Challenge and the Underwater Photographer of the Year contest. He is a regular
contributor to Diver magazine with numerous cover shots to his name. Conservation
plays an important part in his philosophy and he collaborates with the Marine
Conservation Society, Mission Blue and the Devon and Cornwall Wildlife Trusts.
He is half British half French and lives in Exeter with his fiancée (and favourite dive
buddy) Jade and their daughter Apolline. Henley runs personalized underwater
photography tours and workshops combining his love for diving, teaching and
underwater photography. You can find more of his work at: henleyspiers.com,
Facebook: @henleyspiersphotography, Instagram: @henleyspiersphoto

Cuttlefish Swirl
Nikon D7200 60mm F/5.6 1/125 ISO320
Lizardfish With Cleaner Shrimp
Nikon D7200 105mm F/16 1/320 ISO200

Three False Clown Anemonefish

Nikon D850 70mm F/22 1/8 ISO64
Yellowhead Jawfish Blenny
Nikon D7200 105mm F/13 1/320 ISO100 Nikon D7200 105mm F/22 1/320 ISO100

Brain Coral Planet Battle Of The Tompots

Nikon D7200 17mm F/16 1/250 ISO100 Nikon D7200 60mm F/4.5 1/125 ISO100
Movie Review
The Salt of the Earth
Duration: 110 minutes
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
Released: 2014
Starring: Sebastiao Salgado, Hugo Barbier
Directed: Julianao Riberio Salgado and
Wim Wenders
Genre: Biography/History Documentary

Bringing Life to a Film About Photographs — and Healing

a Father-Son Relationship.
The Salt of the Earth, a documentary portrait of Brazilian
photographer Sebastiao Ribeiro Salgado made by his son
Juliano and German director Wim Wenders. As the story
revolves around, the Brazilian-born Salgado originally
studied economics and worked for the World Bank in
France after being exiled from his home country in 1969,
before deciding to give it all up in order to pursue a career
in photography .

After his first major project, a photographic chronicle of

South America that allowed him to at least get near to
his homeland, he began a series of expansive projects in
which he used his keen eye and ability to create striking
images to create works that allowed viewers to bear
witness to glimmers of hope and humanity in the face of
almost unimaginable misery. “The Workers,” for example,
famously illustrated such locations as a massive Sierra
Pelada mine and the countless people employed to dig
out the gold in the hopes that their back-breaking labor
will one day pay off and the burning oil fields of Kuwait
in the wake of Desert Storm. “Sahel,” which he produced
in conjunction with Doctors Without Borders, looked at
the famine in Ethiopia and the attempt by many to journey
to what they hoped to be a better life in the Sudan. In a
similar vein, “Exodus” looked at the plight of refugees
from Rwanda and Yugoslavia during their respective
troubles in the Nineties.
Salgado’s work explored natural environments and
the humans who inhabit them. His black and white
photographs illuminated how the environment and
humans are exploited to maximize profit for the global
economic market. The lens revolves around Salgado as
he began his career as an economist with his wife, Lelia.
She bought a camera, and Salgado discovered his love
for photography.
Following the timeline of his life, the film uses his own
photos and videos to illustrate Salgado’s life and work
beginning with his exile from Brazil and his subsequent
transition from economist to artist and explorer Salgado
began working full time as a photographer in 1973, first
news photography then documentary style, with Lelia
supporting him.
As he moves towards South America and exploring the
neighboring countries and native places of Brazil, broke
the connection with modern world and got indulge
more into photographing native tribes. The film contains
recollections from childhood of a father who was absent
much of the time and the times he accompanied his
36 CLASSICS
father on trips to discover who Salgado was beyond his
childhood conception.
As he covers his path towards Sehel region of Africa,
showcased some of the depriving and heartbreaking
video and photographs. He documented the largest
ever refugee camps and the innumerable deaths that
occurred there, from hunger, cholera, and cold. His work
covering Africa brought worldwide attention to the region
and the underlying causes. The whole frame of the lens
covers the 40 years of Salgado’s work and captured his
journey from South America, to Africa, Europe and to
Arctic and back to his home Brazil. This journey with a
new subject is a refreshing material for the audience as the
film tells “how beauty of emotions can be captured” and
“how to followup your dreams”. This film with totally
different vision window depicts an artist in a particular
field to figure out a way to channel that person’s craft into
meaningful cinematic .
Conclusion:
This documentary is ultimately about the powerlessness of
photography with regard to both the misery and richness
of the world, so while ethics is never discussed or revealed
without vagueness , it is the indeed the driving force of
the film. “The Salt of the Earth”, one of the nominees for
Oscar as a Best Documentary. It is a visually stunning and
oftentimes affecting tribute to one artist to another . It is,
hence, a movie worth investing our time into, probably
not just a movie, but a guided journey of a photographer
along with misery and richness of the world.
Disha Tomar
disha@chiiz.com
Disha is a driven original who paves her way to be on cloud nine.
Disha is as equally invested in her personal relationships as she is in her
professional ones and knows how to balance both. An ambitious girl,
she knows exactly where she wants to be and how to reach there.
Andrey Shpatak was born in Russia in a village on the coast
of the Sea of Japan. He started underwater photography, in
1998, with a simple underwater camera a “Nikonos-5”,
complete with wide-angle and close-up lens. He became a
38 TRIGGERS
PADI MSDT in November 2011 andalso participated in the
Asian championship of underwater photography on Cebu
City (Philippines).He got third place in the “Wide” and two
of his photos reached the final in the other two sections.
Jellyfish Cyanea Capillata Russia, Japan Sea
Nikon D800 15mm F/13 1/60 ISO400
 Jellyfish Chrysaora Pacifica, Japan Sea
Nikon D80 17mm F/25 1/125 ISO100

Jellyfish Philippines, Cebu

Nikon D700 15mm F/16 1/125 ISO200
 Jellyfish Polyorchis Karafuto Ensis, Japan Sea
Nikon D800 60mm F/16 1/125 ISO200

Jellyfish Mastigias Papua, Palau Jellyfish Size 20 mm, Japan Sea

Nikon D70 17mm F/10 1/125 ISO200 Nikon D800 60mm F/20 1/125 ISO320
 Jellyfish Aurelia Limbata, Japan Sea Jellyfish Aurelia Aurita, Japan Sea
Nikon D800 15mm F/11 1/60 ISO640 Nikon D800 15mm F/13 1/320 ISO320

Jellyfish Aurelia Limbata, Japan Sea

Nikon D800 15mm F/14 1/60 ISO400
 Two master predators of the
Arthropod World
Jumping Spiders: These are right up there, as one
of the top predators among arthropods. If at all a
comparison of sorts is needed, I think it would be
safe to say that they are the ‘Tigers’ in the world of
arthropods. They don’t build webs to capture their
prey. Majority of the jumping spiders don’t lie in
wait for the unsuspecting prey to come by. Instead,
they actively go looking for one. They are masters at
stalking. Slowly and stealthily they close in on their
potential prey and at that opportune moment, with
one quick dash, grasp and bite, bring it down, very
much like a big cat, a Tiger more so, as these are
solitary hunters too!
Jumping spiders have all the qualities that are
needed to be a successful hunters. Powerful sight,
stealth and speed enable them to bring down prey,
often bigger in size than themselves. They have
four pair of eyes, just like most of the other spiders.
However, the arrangement and their size relative to
the jumper’s overall body size, is what makes them
different. Two pair of eyes in the front and two pair
on top of their head ( cephalothorax ).
These eyes together, create a field of vision that
is almost 360 degrees. With them, they are able to
detect the slightest of movements around them and
act accordingly. If you try to move back and forth or
sideways while looking at a jumper, you will see that
they too respond by tracking your movement. In
addition to help detecting movement, their eyes
help in assessing distance between them and their
target. Very powerful vision indeed.
A jumping spider may be anywhere between 1 and
22 mm in body length. Mind you, ‘millimeter’, but
Goggled Guy Jumping Spider
Nikon D800 105mm F/16 1/320 ISO1000
with loads of attitude all the same. Among jumping
spiders, size definitely doesn’t matter !! An internal,
hydraulic kind of system, enables them to make
those quick jumps and they can be really fast when
required, thus giving them the much needed speed
to dash towards their prey. Jumpers are the true
inspiration for Spiderman.
Just like all spiders, they do have silk producing
glands at the rear end of their abdomens. They use
silk to create drop lines, to hold on to in case of a
fall during hunt or for generally moving around, as
bridges between disconnected places in their paths.
So does the spider man, just that they made him
spurt out silk from his wrists, as it would have been
quite inappropriate for him to do so from the rear.
Jumping spiders also use the silk to make small
webs, commonly underneath the leaves wherein they
take shelter and also lay their eggs. As mentioned
before, they are very skilled at stalking their prey.
Their strong vision and distance assessment abilities
aid a lot in this. And the drop lines of silk help in
situations like this. After catching a big prey, if the
jumper is unable to control it, it might drop but will
safely be hanging down by the thin strand of silk,
while still holding onto it kill.
Jumpers are notorious hunters and hunt other
jumping spiders too. Jumping spiders are very
aggressive, agile and efficient hunters. Their
powerful vision and attitude give them a great ability
to interact with their environment in a very effective
way. They can, without a question be considered as
the master predators in the world of arthropods.
Jumper And A Leaf
Nikon D800 105mm F/14 1/250 ISO180
 Jumping Spider On Yellow Peacock Flower Bulb Jumping Spider Jumping Spider
Nikon D800 105mm F/13 1/250 ISO2000 Nikon D90 105mm F/9 1/200 ISO640 Nikon D90 105mm F/16 1/125 ISO500

Spider Hangs Onto Its Kill By A Thin Thread Jumper Kills Ant-Mimic Spider
Nikon D90 105mm F/8 1/125 ISO800 Nikon D800 105mm F/13 1/160 ISO400

Jumping Spider With Orb Spider Kill Jumper Kills Jumper

Nikon D800 105mm F/11 1/200 ISO100 Nikon D800 105mm F/13 1/160 ISO500

“A jumping spider may be

anywhere between 1 and 22 mm
Santhosh Krishnamoorthy
in body length. He is a passionate naturalist and an award winning nature photographer.

Mind you, ‘millimeter’, He likes to observe and document the interesting aspects of nature
and its inhabitants using photography as a medium. He runs Birdwing

but with loads of attitude Travel & Photography where he mentors budding and amateur nature
photographers. Visit birdwing.in to know more about the various

all the same.” photography tours and workshops that he runs. He also posts as
@ksanthosh.photography on Instagram and blogs @framesofnature.com
 Mantis The Poser
Nikon D800 105mm F/13 1/250 ISO360

Praying Mantis Showsoff Its Kill Bark Mantis Camouflage

Nikon D800 105mm F/10 1/160 ISO1000 Nikon D90 105mm F/8 1/50 ISO2000

Mantis Kills Another Mantis Mantis Hatchlings

46 TRIGGERS Nikon D800 105mm F/16 1/160 ISO200 Nikon D800 105mm F/8 1/200 ISO1250
Praying Mantis: Here’s another family of
arthropods that are as much, if not more notorious
hunters, as the jumpers. They are the Mantises.
Mantis, more popularly known as the Praying
Mantis (owing to the way it’s front pair of legs
are held, raised up as if in a position of prayer)
also depends on powerful vision and stealth for
hunting and has the necessary equipment for
getting the job done. It’s huge, widely spaced
and laterally positioned eyes provide a spread out
field of vision. A flexible joint at the intersection of
its head and the thorax region enables the mantis to
swivel its head a full 180 degrees! This helps it to be
very aware of its surroundings and spot any potential
prey very effectively. The powerful, slightly elongated
pair of forelegs are divided into a couple of folding
sections and are adorned with sharp, saw-toothed,
spikes. These help in capturing and securely
holding on to its prey.
With one quick swipe of its spiked forelegs, a mantis
is capable of snapping the head out of its prey, all
too easily. If I were an insect on the food menu of
a mantis, I would be very, very prudent and keep
my distance. In addition to the above, some of the
species of mantises have the ability to camouflage
very well. This, along with their ability to stay
completely motionless, makes them quite literally,
invisible in their environment. As they depend on
sight for hunting, they are mostly diurnal (active
during the day) hunters. Also, most of them do not
chase around their prey. Instead, they prefer using
their camouflage and stillness to lie in wait for an
unsuspecting prey to wander within reach. And,
Praying Mantis Egg Case
Nikon D800 105mm F/10 1/250 ISO1250
when one does fall in their zone, they snap it up in
a flash and start feeding on it, almost instantly.
They use the powerful mandibles in their mouthparts,
to chew out the prey while securely gripping on to it
with one of their spiked forelegs. The other foreleg
could be used to dismember the prey. Very, very raw
but very effective. They are not prejudiced about
their menu per se. They do sometimes eat their own
kind, when such an opportunity comes by. Size does
seem to matter in this case. The smaller mantis here
had no chance against a much bigger opponent.
A female mantis deposits her eggs usually on
a stalk of a plant or a stem. Sometimes, they seem
to use strange places, like here, it has used the grills
of a mosquito net in my house. After laying the
eggs, the female covers them with some kind of a
Styrofoam-like material it secretes, which hardens
into a protective shell. This egg case or the
‘ootheca’, provides very effective protection against
external elements.After time, tiny mantises slowly
begin emerging from the egg case. One or two
heads start popping out.
Soon, there is a bunch of them, teeming all over the
place. The newly emerged mantis nymphs look very
similar to a bunch of ants. They use this similarity
as protection against predation and also as a way
to be among ants and use them as a source of their
food. These tiny mantis nymphs are instinctively
aggressive, right from the start and could eat their
siblings if food is scarce. Once out, slowly they start
dispersing and are on their way to run, on their cycle
of life.
Mantis Hatchlings Hanging Onto The Egg Case
Nikon D90 105mm F/11 1/200 ISO400
Old is Gold
Louis Marie-Auguste Boutan
A pioneer in the field of underwater photography
Most photos are worth a thousand words. Underwater
ones are worth at least a million. There’s a lot of what
we see above the land but there’s a deeper existence
below the sea. Underwater photography brings all
those existences to us in pictures. On records, the first
underwater photograph was taken by William Thompsom
& Mr Kenyon in 1856 but officially the work began in the
year 1893.
The year 1893, marked an accomplishing milestone in the
timeline of photography and more precisely, in the genre
of underwater photography. Frenchman Louis Boutan
came up with a brilliantly developed equipment with his
engineer brother, Auguste. Him being a marine biologist
brought him opportunities to dive and explore the world
beneath the waves.
It is well said that if you are enthusiastic enough to
follow what you are doing, you will surely come across a
beautiful aspect of the same and that very thing will be
your belonging. So attracted and inspired was Boutan with
the life underwater that he wanted this to be portrayed to
the world above the surface. This is when he got an idea
of making a blue print of underwater equipment with his
brother that allowed some adjustments to the diaphragm,
plates and shutter. The hard work paid off the same year
and Boutan started working on his experiments. Like every
other experiment, this one also had to face many failures.
The problem was in the element of lighting as backend
flash photography required oxygen. In this needful time
M. Chouffer came into the picture and helped Boutan
to create an alternative way to whatever was missing
by trying to make a bulb just to find out if this method
was hazardous.
With failed experiments of clearing the need of an
alternative with a bulb, the idea of flashbulb came up from
Boutan’s assistant Joseph David which had more reliability
but the only disadvantageous fact was that it had to
be attached to a wooden barrel thus adding a factor
of inconvenience. One established usage of elements
systematically led to Boutan’s passion to come up with
more compact and more portable flashes, smaller camera
boxes and improved lenses.
Boutan’s passion didn’t stop only with photography. He
48 CLASSICS
has also written a book “La Photographie sous-marine
et les progrès de la photographie” which talks about his
journey to what the world knows today with some of the
pictures that he had clicked throughout and also included
several of his illustrations. This book is one of the most
reliable books for all the underwater photographers.
When photographer clicks a picture, he doesn’t objectifies
it but gives it some subjective factors which creates a
story so connected that pleases the eyes of the viewer.
Throughout his journey, from being a biologist to a
photographer, Boutan did justice to whatever he did.
Despite the fact that his journey in photography was
gaining momentum he also did amazingly well as
a biologist. He had done emmense research in rice
cultivation and pearl oysters which made him one of
the most sought after people to investigate this subject.
He had been named Director of Station Biologique
d’Arcachon after the many researches that he had
conducted. Boutan is seen to be a passionate energetic
man who was in eager watch of opportunities to exploit
his own talents and skills.
Besides writing a book, he had an article published
“The Century Illustrated” Magazine in which he
showcased his skills behind the cameras, some illustration
describing his devices and some of his underwater clicks.
He always believed in spreading awareness of what
one has acknowledged and acted on it very generously.
He has mentioned in his book that those undersea
landscapes had made him wonder how will he ever carry
what he sees deep below the seawater & will it ever be
justifiable to what he really visualizes. It is always what
a good diver always falls in the thoughts of. Once in a
while the photographs around leave us amazed and with
the growing technology and the features in the compact
phones that we hold in our hands, even with very less
knowledge of photography one can end up clicking a
good picture. But underwater photography is one such
genre of photography that needs a lot more focus on
the subtle details and next time when you go diving to
capture some underwater pictures, remember Boutan
to put all this in a railing track of events to make the
magic happen.
Shimran Epari
simran@chiiz.com
Shimran is an exceptional thinker and an excessively expressive person.
She is passionate towards literature and enjoys writing as a medium of
expressing thoughts. Shimran is also a good orator with an excellent grip
over language and is skillful while handling an audience
50 FEATURE
Diversified Blues
- Anup J Kat

Anup J Kat is the main man and chief optimist at

First December Films. His encounter with photography,
in true poetic passion-story-style, was pure chance.
For Anup, more than shooting great photos, it’s about
being able to capture a special memory in a completely
unique way. When he isn’t busy shooting weddings,
you’re likely to find him diving into some deep ocean,
photographing magically elusive marine life.

Wanderers
Canon 5D Mark IV 16mm F/14 1/200 ISO500
Q. What has been your experience with underwater
photography?
A. From my first breath underwater to finding new and
interesting marine life it’s been a beautiful experience.
When it comes to photographing underwater, it’s not
very different from shooting on land. One of the most
important skills one should have to shoot underwater
is to be comfortable and to be a good diver. I have so
much more to experience and photograph. My journey
has just started.

Q. How do you train yourself for this kind of

photography, especially with gears?
A. The most important part of shooting underwater is to
be a good diver. One must learn how to dive well. Find a
good dive school/instructor. Practice your buoyancy well
and perfect it. When it comes to gears, you will need an
underwater housing for the camera you already own. Without You!
Most cameras have an underwater housing which can be Canon 5D Mark II 17mm F/22 1/125 ISO160

bought from the same manufacturer or from a 3rd party

manufacturer. Knowing your camera gear well is very
Q. Which one is do you prefer, wedding or underwater
important. Safety! Learning how to dive and knowing
photography and why?
your limits is very very important.
A. I love weddings. Weddings are fun, beautiful and you
get to meet a lot of new and interesting people. Oh
and especially the wedding food I love! Underwater
photography for me is not only to capture the marine life
or just for good images. I feel the need to show people
around me what they don’t see everyday. Telling them
stories through the images I have shot. Being underwater
is also a time of peace.

Q. What is the concept behind First

December Films and what is your USP?
A. First december films is an inspirational date. It was the
date when one of the 1st commercial movies was shown
to the world in the year 1903 on the 1st of December.
The movie is called “The Great Train Robbery!” We love
cinema and this just made sense. FDF is an amazing place
to work at. The producer Ganesh Pareek, director Atul
Kattukaran and I have done films we relate to and films
where the subject is well known to us. Even though it’s
a fun place to work at, when a project is in the team is
very focused.

Q. Are there any new projects that you are working on

and would like to share with our readers?
A. Haha! We are working on a bunch of things but I can’t
talk about it. But I can tell you we have a bunch of very
interesting work coming up soon.

Saransh Pithauria
saransh@chiiz.com

Saransh who found his passion in photography, tells a story in each and
every picture that he takes. He understands the science behind his art
and also the meaning behind it. His creativity brings out the true meaning
behind his images. One can clearly see the vivid imagination and thought
put into his pictures.

“From my first breath underwater to finding

new and interesting marine life it’s been
a beautiful experience.”
Chasing Coral
Canon 5D Mark III 35mm F/10 1/100 ISO1600 - Anup J Kat
 Gang Up!
Canon 5D Mark II 17mm F/7.1 1/320 ISO500

Wet White Land

Canon 5D Mark III 19mm F/10 1/160 ISO1000
Wonder Forever
Canon 5D Mark IV 35mm F/22 1/160 ISO100

Voodoo Dive
Canon 5D Mark IV 16mm F/11 1/200 ISO500
 Estefi / Other Dimensions
Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/4 1/200 ISO200

Aaron / Into The Blue

56 TRIGGERS Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/9 1/200 ISO100
 Michael DK is the man behind ‘Suahuatica’ -
underwater freediving/art photography. His mission
is to share the beauty of the underwater world and
the almost meditative experience of free diving in the
sea and clear lakes. ”It’s another world and another
dimension that can be easily explored by the people
on this planet with a bit of training. It’s a mysterious,
dark blue place. Sometimes it’s cold, sometimes it’s
wild. It can be unforgiving, dangerous but it is almost
always very rewarding - physically, spiritually and
visually” says Micheal. According to him underwater
photography comes with it’s own set of technical and
mental challenges - nothing ever goes quite as planned.
He particularly loves to photograph in caves for their
surreal lighting and clearer waters; although they are
more dangerous than open waters. The images shown
were created through a combination of experience, luck
(sic) and hard work. And, of course, only made possible
by the talented models who patiently held their breaths!
You can see more of his underwater frames on
Instagram @suahuatica.

Maryna / Lost Treasure

Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/3.5 1/500 ISO100

Miguel / Divine Blast

Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/8 1/250 ISO100
 “Sometimes it’s cold,
sometimes it’s wild.
It can be
unforgiving, dangerous
but it is almost
always very rewarding
physically, spiritually
and visually”
- Michael DK
Veronica / Goddess Of The Caves
Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/3.5 1/250 ISO200

Veronica Flying Angels

Sony Alpha 6000 16mm F/3.5 1/200 ISO200
Fabrice Guerin is a 50-years-old wildlife photographer living in Paris, but spends a lot of time in Marseille. He was
always passionate about wildlife documentaries since a young age. “This world is fascinating because nature is
prioritized over all. An animal doesn’t lie, it’s authentic.” That’s what he likes.
He began photography in a forest near his house in France with a reflex and a telephoto lens. There he began to explore
new places and tried new genres like macro photography. A few years later, he got the opportunity to try scuba diving
and discovered a new dimension, a new world.

60 TRIGGERS
By doing wildlife photography, he learnt to be patient, to watch animals and to understand their behaviour. For him, the
key is the ability to come across animals, because it’s the animal who decides, not you. He usually does his research to
knows the ideal places to find a certain species. But sometimes, they see nothing for days and days: “Nature’s like that,
wild and unpredictable” he says. He photographs by instinct and trusts his luck trying to be in the right place at the right
time. The photo should tell a story, arouse feelings and questions: that’s what he’s looking for.

Vertical Happiness
Canon 5D Mark III 16mm F/8 1/400 ISO800
Gentle Giant
Canon 5D mark III 15mm F/8 1/500 ISO800

Sardine Run
Canon 5D mark III 16mm F/8 1/250 ISO250

In The Heart Of Jurassic

Canon 5D mark III 16mm F/8 1/125 ISO640
 The Twins
Canon 5D mark III 24mm F/8 1/640 ISO800

The Hunter Devil’s Smile

Canon 5D mark III 24mm F/4.5 1/640 ISO800 Canon 5D mark III 24mm F/7.1 1/320 ISO800

Follow Me
Canon 5D mark III 24mm F/6.3 1/250 ISO400
 The Intimidator
64 TRIGGERS Canon 5D Mark III 100mm F/29 1/160 ISO200
 Yellow Tail
Canon 5D Mark III 15mm F/11 1/80 ISO320

Photography and scuba diving are Beth’s passions. She adores the ocean and everything it has to offer and Strivies
to capture images that are unique, creative and thought-provoking by illustrating the beauty and wonders of the sea.
Ultimately, she hopes to raise awareness and inspire others to conserve and preserve our ocean environment. Beth
is fascinated by it all. She enjoys the challenges of photographing wide-angle reefs and wrecks but also has the
deepest adoration for the tiniest animals in the sea. Being a bit of a perfectionist, she is continually learning and
experimenting with lighting, techniques and equipment. Her motivation comes from those around her, who support
and their encouragement is a source of inspiration. Beth is an international multi-award winning photographer, a judge
for international photo competitions, and invited guest speaker at dive exhibitions. Her images have been published
in books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, websites and have been selected for juried art exhibitions.

Safe House
Canon 5D Mark III 15mm F/13 1/125 ISO320
Aqua Fire Surreal Seahorse
Canon 5D Mark III 100mm F/29 1/125 ISO160 Canon 5D Mark III 100mm F/10 1/30 ISO160

Grumpy
Canon 5D Mark III 100mm F/18 1/160 ISO160
Photography Club of India was created on 2nd July, 2015 as a Facebook Page to give
a platform to beginners, amateurs and professional photographers so that everyone
can showcase their work. Today, they have 41000+ members and are growing steadily.
They have so far conducted two international exhibitions with more than 130 entries
from different countries. Their last exhibition was in collaboration with Chiiz Magazine,
held at the Academy of Fine Arts where they had more than 2500 entries from
different countries from which only 130 entries were selected and 25 were awarded.
Apart from the exhibitions, they regularly conduct photo walks and workshops,
the last of which was on Street Photography held at Kolkata with the support from
Tamron. Photography Club of India have another international show coming up in
December at the Academy of Fine Arts in collaboration with Chiiz. Meanwhile, every
month they will conduct workshops on Street, Portrait, Model shoots and Nature.

WINNER
Asaf Ud Daula Journey
Dhaka, Bangladesh NIKON D7000 18.0mm F/11 1/30 ISO100
Street

1st Runner Up Head To Head 2nd Runner Up Destiny

Anupam Roy Chowdhury Sandeep Raj
Kolkata, India Canon 1000D 25mm F/7.1 1/50 ISO100 Hyderabad, India Nikon D800 55mm F/4 1/8000 ISO400

Portrait

1st Runner Up Gloomy Eyes

Subhajyoti Chatterjee
Kolkata, India Nikon D3300 35mm F/1.8 1/800 ISO100

2nd Runner Up
WINNER
GSon Biswas
The Tale of a Happy Man Anindita Roy Ornamented Woman
Dhaka, Bangladesh Canon 7D 10mm F/4 1/640 ISO200 Dhaka, Bangladesh Nikon D5500 18mm F/5.3 1/200 ISO250
Landscape

1st Runner Up Blessings

Raghav Gautam
Delhi, India Canon 5D Mark III 82mm F/5 1/640 ISO100

WINNER 2nd Runner Up

Ab Rashid Cross Sreejit Karimbil
The Wrecked
Dhaka, Bangladesh Canon 700D 8mm F/5 1/640 ISO200 Kerala, India Samsung S8 4.2mm F/1.7 1/310 ISO40

Artificial Light

1st Runner Up Footloose

Santu Adhikary
Kolkata, India Nikon D7000 18mm F/7.1 1/125 ISO100

WINNER 2nd Runner Up

Sanhita Bhattacharjee Devi Pankaj Chakraborty
Dream
Kalyanpur, India NIKON D7000 35mm F/2 1/2000 ISO640 Kolkata, India Canon 60D 18mm F/5.6 1/40 ISO500
 Social

1st Runner Up
Ashutosh Tripathi Chehlum Jaloos
Lucknow, India Canon 5D Mark III 185mm F/2.8 1/800 ISO320

2nd Runner Up
WINNER
Joy Mukhopadhyay Anat Shushan Mother’s Courage
Kolkata, India PRONAM Israel Canon 70D 18mm F/3.5 1/100 ISO3200

Wildlife

1st Runner Up Awesome Threesome

Rifat Zayoed
Dhaka, Bangladesh Canon 1200D 160mm F/5.6 1/500 ISO200

2nd Runner Up
WINNER
Partha Chakraborty
Please Save Me Abhiroop Gosh Dastidar Twin Brothers’ Serenity
Maynaguri, India Canon 60D 55mm F/8 1/320 ISO250 Bangalore, India Nikon D500 150mm F/5.6 1/800 ISO100
 In-Street is a collective of passionate street and documentary photographers, mainly based out of
India, sharing a common passion – “walking the streets, seeing the seemingly common life around us
in different, unusual and original ways and representing the same through our own visual language”.

It is committed to promote the works of the In-Street members and the overall street photography
in India and beyond. In-Street also encourages other photographers to participate in different street
photography programs, which will be showcased on In-Street website. Finally, it is a platform for
collective learning and growing together as photographers.

The In-Street Collective members are Manish Khattry (Varanasi), Saumalya Ghosh (Kolkata), Raj Sarkar
(Kolkata), Sankar Ghose (Kolkata), Swarat Ghosh (Hyderabad), Zahir Abbas (Gurgaon), Jayati Saha
(Kolkata) and Sreeranj Sreedhar (Dubai).

Contest Theme : FACELESS

Contest Month : May, 2018

Leica Q 28mm F/11 1/1250 ISO400

For the Winning Photograph

This image expresses perfect interpretation of the theme ‘faceless’. The WINNER
Yves Vernin
positioning of the fried egg replacing the head of the man gives an impression France
of someone from another planet. The perfect light has taken this image to a
different level.
In-street Collective
 Nikon D5200 18mm F/16 1/500

1st Runner Up
Sydul Islam Sayed
Bangladesh

FUJIFILM X-Pro1 18mm F/9 1/500

2nd Runner Up
Forrest Walker
Vietnam
App of the Month
Facetune
Rating: 4/5
Platform: iOS/Android
Cost: Free
Photography, at its best, is one of the most
powerful means of capturing the gawkiest
moments and all the heartfelt emotions. While,
photography is the effective way of framing the
world around us, the after effects have become
equally prevalent. Editors have the ability to
intensify and dilute the details and makes the
photographs spellbinding, by tweaking the
pictures a little.
Over the years the technology advancement has
improved and made the world more affordable
and reachable to us. While photographers,
commercials and magazines use some really
expensive tools for post processing. Facetune
provides us with a myriad of features that help
you to squeeze out the best possible edited
image. For every picture, we could use some
touch-up, improve lighting, add a little more
texture and test the image with some extreme
variations. They pack a lot of features and are
at par with lightweight desktop editors.
Facetune is an app that is used especially with
portraits and selfies. It provides us with all the pro
features that lets you bend and transform a very
basic click into a professional appearing shot. The
app has features of a full-blown image editor and
provides us with excellent built-in tutorials that
gives a chance to familiarize with the app and
introduces you to its manifold features. With a
simple and minimalistic super intuitive interface
it gives quick, easy and powerful editing on
devices. The reason Facetune is such a standout
is because of the sheer number of options you
have for customizing your photos. It lets you
brighten up and ameliorate your perfect intrinsic
smile through widening or further refinement. It
brings to you all the tools to achieve immaculate
skin along with perfect hair-do and vivid shades
of makeup with blush, volumes of lashes, tinch
of shades to the colour of your lips and teeth
whitening characteristic. Facetune helps you treat
red and white-eye effect, reshapes the nose and
enlarges or contracts the specified area of an
image. This app doesn’t let its users settle for just
74 TOOLS
the unsullied beautifying characteristics; rather, on
top of usual cropping and rotation, it also features
options that allows you to modify perspective,
depth of field, curves and brightness. To have an
everlasting effect on the viewer, it allows us to
defocus the background, improves the lighting,
adds custom filters and special effects along with
re-dimensioning of the image. Once you are done
with editing, you can save your creation to the
gallery, share it using social media or send it as an
email.
The upgraded version of Facetune is still limited
to iOS supporting JPEG and PNG file type. It
comes with enhanced portrait retouching tools
and localized brushing effect. It has strong
face recognition that supports the editing and
improved skin toning and blemishing effect.
Though it has limited support to social media and
falls on the pricey side to avail all the features,
the included elements provides a limitless bound
of options.
Chiiz Opinion
In the ever-advancing world full of extrinsic
expressions a photo editing application could
always come handy to make yourself look perfect
even on your imperfect days. Especially for the
inquisitive minds, it comes with an option to undo
any of the previously applied enhancements which
altogether makes it extremely engaging and a
capable app.
Vishakha Jha
vishakha@chiiz.com
Believer in magic of words and power of pronoia, that’s who Vishakha
is. On a crusade to discover the marvel of life, she is the ever glowing
shimmer of hope. Her idea of perfect living includes tea in cold December
morning with her choice of literature.
CHIIZ GALLERY
To get published, upload your photos on chiiz.com

WINNER
Street Contest
Ratagnik Bhattacharya
Kolkata, India
Layers Of The Mind
Fujifilm X-T1 18mm F/9 1/180 ISO500
1st Runner Up Bird Man
Debrani Das
Wisconsin, USA Nikon D7200 32mm F/9 1/320 ISO1000

Street
2nd Runner Up
Shweta Agarwal
Mumbai, India
Contest
The Lady In Red
Canon 6D 191mm F/2.8 1/1000 ISO100
* Previously published in chiiz magazine
 Black &
White
WINNER
Sarathi Thamodaran
Tamil Nadu, India
Powerful Eyes
SONY ILCE-6000 50mm F/1.8 1/500 ISO200
* Published as the cover of chiiz magazine
Contest

1st Runner Up The Indifest

Sanket Khuntale
Mumbai, India SONY ILCE-6000 50mm F/1.8 1/500 ISO200

2nd Runner Up Happy Gossip

Udday Bhattacharya
Kolkata, India NIKON D610 31mm F/5 1/640 ISO400
Pune
Photography
Contest

WINNER 1st Runner Up

Partha Chakroborty Sharad Patil Model….? Brick Factory Girl
Kolkata, India Maharashtra, India Canon Rebel T3i 157mm F/5 1/320 ISO800
Please Save Me (The Last Call)
Canon 60D 250mm F/8 1/320 ISO250
* Also a winner in the PCOI Contest

2nd Runner Up
Raghav Gautam The Perfect Countryside Home
Delhi, India Canon 5D Mark III 24mm F/4 1/640 ISO100

80 CHIIZ GALLERY
 Gilded Soul
Canon 550D 50mm F/9 1/200 ISO100

Tarun Gupta is a glamour and commercial photographer based in India, with over 10 years
of experience in art & design, CGI and photography industry. He graduated from Centennial
College, Toronto, in 2007 with majors in digital design and creative arts and that’s where he
got acquainted with photography and direction. He started his career as a creative director
and a CGI artist but shifted towards photography full time from 2015, after which he founded
NSPD Studios and Northeastern School of Photography & Design. He is now working as a
glamour and conceptual photographer and retoucher with a magnitude of models, designers
and even global organizations like Adidas.

Light Canvas
82 TRIGGERS Canon 80D 100mm F/5 1/200 ISO 100
Heart On Fire Akshee
Canon 80D 65mm F/7.1 1/200 ISO100 Canon 6D 84mm F/9 1/160 ISO100

Gleaming Light Shadow Cage

Canon 80D 50mm F/1.8 1/125 ISO400 Canon 80D 50mm F/1.8 1/125 ISO400
Stats
Bust 32.7”
Waist 24.8”
Hip 36.6”
Height 5’9”

Model of the Month

Katerina Bolinger is based in Moscow and is an international fashion model. She started her career in modelling in 2011
but took a sabbatical and resumed her career in 2018. Inspite of taking a break, she is very much in demand. She has
walked in the Mercedes Fashion Week in Moscow, was in the cover of one of the Russian magazines and has worked
with different brands of swimwear and lingerie in Russia and Spain. She dreams of becoming a Victoria’s Secret model,
cover girl of PlayBoy and Maxim magazines and of creating her own swimwear brand.

84 HALL OF FAME
 Clicked By: Fedor Simm

Clicked By: Margo Serebryakova, IG @margo4kas Clicked By: Katerina Morozova, IG @kataka_ka
Clicked By: Margo Serebryakova, IG @margo4kas Clicked By: Tatiana Goydenko, IG @tati_goydenko

Clicked By: Alex Talyuka, IG @talyuka_alex Clicked By: Margo Serebryakova, IG @margo4kas
Eye For An Eye
Canon 5D Mark III 85mm F/3.5 1/80 ISO400
Instillating
Thoughts
Randy Rocket, an
artist and a freelance
photographer shares
his work and views on
conceptual photography
Q. First of all, how do you
come up with all the creative
ideas for your photoshoots?
A. Inspiration is everywhere.
I try to do as much non-job
related activities as possible.
I believe that only a free mind
can be creative. Traveling and
meditation works as well.
Q. There is a very clear
audacity in your work, but
there is also the fact that the
society needs to see it. What
do you have to say about it?
A. For me there’s nothing
more boring than photography
without a meaning. Some
pictures are just beautiful,
but you forget them after a
few seconds. I like to tickle
the mind of the viewer, it’s
not relevant if you like the
picture or not. But it triggers
something in your mind, and
gives you something to think
about. So if you want or not, On Patrol
Canon 5D Mark III 34mm F/5.6 1/60 ISO800
you have to deal with it, think
about it and maybe it changes
your point of view. it’s unfamiliar in the beginning has something to say and
because mostly, shooting is projecting it through art is
Q. In your field of work, a
very stressful. But with good what the artist wants to do.
model should be as comfort-
planning and enough time for A. Think! That’s probably
able as the photographer.
every department involved, it my message. Don’t take
How do you achieve it during
can be very easy to handle. I everything just as it is without
the shoots?
keep enough time to spare for questioning it.
A. I’m very down to earth, and
some joking around, a coffee
that’s how I treat my models Q. A photographic advice
break, or to do some talking in
as well. Avoiding stress with that you would want to tell
between the sets.
a good set preparation helps. the newbies in the business?
I create a very relaxed Q. Is there a social message A. Just do it. Learn the rules
atmosphere where you can just you want to convey through but practice as much as you
be yourself. For most models, your art? Because every art

can. Only by doing it yourself, making mistakes
and learning from them, you can get better.
Treat your models and co-workers like you want
to be treated. Find what suits you best- people,
landscapes, etc. Don’t be afraid of failing, it will
happen, but you will grow from it. Don’t take
90 FEATURE
Circle Of Life
Canon 5D Mark III 28mm F/4.5 1/80 ISO400
things too seriously and never lose the element
of fun and curiosity.
Akriti Bajpai
akriti@chiiz.com
Being the youngest member of chiiz, Akriti is highly dedicated towards her
work. She loves to travel and can tap her feet to groovy tunes. A free bird,
Akriti loves to explore the depth of life in every way she can.
Blacklight Cross Gardening For Lovers
Canon 5D Mark III 50mm F/4.5 1/50 ISO1250 Canon 5D Mark III 85mm F/4 1/13 ISO6400

Showtime Passion In Red

Canon 5D Mark III 42mm F/5.6 1/160 ISO100 Canon 5D Mark III 50mm F/5 1/250 ISO640
Plastic Paradise
Canon 5D Mark III 34mm F/5.6 1/100 ISO100
 Jeet Mukerji
Kolkata, India

94 FEATURE
 WORKSHOP BY JEET MUKERJI
Since the birth of photography,
Nude photography is a genre
which most photographers
dabble in every now and then.
Fine Art Nude Photography is all
about capturing the beauty of the
human form by using light, shadows, and creative
expression. Anybody can click pictures these days;
however, only very few can project their art through
their lens. Telling the most intriguing stories and
eliciting emotions through
a picture is what makes a photograph a piece of
art. Clicking nude subjects is never easy, especially
with the taboo around the genre. There is a fine line
that distinguishes Fine Art Nude photography from
porn photography.
While nude photography is meant for portraying
the creative skills by filling the world around with
emotions, porn photography is meant for sexuality.
It is an opportunity to create art for the sake of art.
But how can one learn this art? How can one use
the lightings, backdrop, and props in a manner
that aids in creating a fine piece of art? Well, here
comes experience into play which Jeet Mukerji, a
globally renowned Low Key Fine Art Figure Study
photographer, shares in his professionally
acclaimed workshops.
Overwhelmed by the success of the earlier worshops,
Jeet Mukerji recently organised the next installment
in the series of Muses workshops - Muses En
Ludhiana - in collaboration with Chiiz photography
magazine. In an enigmatic experience to explore the
art, several enthusiastic photographers assembled to
participate in the jam-packed studio in Ludhiana.
“It is the eye that makes the images and not the
camera,” says Mukerji who teaches his students how
to focus specifically on the fine art nude photography
with an emphasis on light, shape, form, storytelling,
and mood. Mukerji helps the exotic photographers
to visualise the poses, and to set-up the studio
effectively by using different shades of lights.
From model hunt, stage setup to final editing, the
workshop covers all aspects of nude photography.
The second part of the workshop started with some
apprehension from the participants which gradually
vanished as the workshop progressed and left the
participants in awe and confidence that with the
interplay of lights and shadows, a normal shot can
be materialised into a sensual work of art.
Understanding the concept of light holds key bearing
in Nude Photography. To this end, a few exercises
were practiced to make the participants perceive the
source and the path of light as the projection of light
is something which needs to be felt and not set up.
This concept helps in creating drama and enigma
around the subject, hence creating an impression of
implied vision nudity among the viewers. On the
first day, participants were told about the lighting
adjustments followed by a live demo shoot with the
model by the master. Mukerji not only explained the
participants about how they can choose the right
model but also advised them about the conversation
a photographer can have with the model.
Based on what they have learnt in the workshop,
the participants then worked independently with
the model. Mukerji later had a one-on-one session
with the photographers which further helped the
participants in fine-tuning the shots and mastering
the art of creating flattering photographs. As
their photographs were processed next day, the
participants learned the nuances of post-processing.
Overall, the workshop was an enlightening
experience for all the participants and helped them
to reach the next level.
Rahul Batra
rahul@chiiz.com
Rahul is a culture based writer who left his engineering job to
pursue a career in writing. He is a flaneur
who thinks that the ideas brewing up in his skullsized
kingdom can transform this world into a better one. He wishes to
write a psychological thriller one day.
Sonnet
Nikon D850 70mm F/10 1/100 ISO560
 Kabir Malik Escape
Ludhiana, India Nikon D5300 55mm F/16 1/80 ISO400

Karamveer Sandhu Femme Fatale

Ludhiana, India Nikon D810 80mm F/11 1/160 ISO400

Abhishek Gupta
Ludhiana, India

Ragani Anand Vision In White Manoj Gupta Venus’ Allure

Ludhiana, India Nikon D5600 48mm F/8 1/125 ISO200 Ludhiana, India Sony 7RM3 39mm F/6.3 1/200 ISO200
Jeet Mukerji The
The
Bazooka
Bazooka
Burst
Burst
Kolkata, India Nikon
Nikon
D850
D85062mm
62mmF/16
F/16
1/60
1/60
ISO280
ISO280

Amit Ahuja Gaze

Ludhiana, India Sony ILCE 7RM3 158mm F/4 1/60 ISO50

Intoxication
Canon 60D 31mm F/18 1/200 ISO100

Lokesh Jain The Embrace Arun Kumar Artemis

Ludhiana, India Nikon D750 116mm F/7.1 1/200 ISO200 Ludhiana, India Nikon D810 200mm F/8 1/250 ISO200
Prabhjit S Kalsi Demure
Ludhiana, India Canon 5D MKIII 42mm F/8 1/200 ISO400