Originally Published on Nov. 2009 – try it

While interviewing Will McFarlane I was reminded how critically important it is to avoid getting caught up in the nuance of our creative fields.  “Music can be math without feel or tone” is one of my take away quotes in part II.  Extending that, any field can be dry when devoid of feel or tone”.

It’s way more about what we do with what we know, than what we know.  How extraordinarily remedial is that?  Yet, how much time do we all spend in the pursuit of technique at the sacrifice of feel and tone?  Some players get more feeling out of 3 major chords than others do with a full knowledge of music theory.  Some photographers have an intangible spirit to their work that leads others to a fruitless study of lighting technique.

Technique is great.  Lack of it is limiting.  Then again, tone and feel is worth a constant reminder of its importance to great work.

Biography:

It’s hard to imagine how many 12 year old young men watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963 and were inspired to pick up the guitar saying, “I want to do that”. Many, I’m sure. Voice lessons at six years old and piano a year later, young Will was clearly better primed than most.

Motown’s R&B captured Will’s imagination in High School while

growing up on Long Island, which helped him develop as a fine rhythm guitarist.

Bonnie Raitt enlisted the 23 year old college escapee McFarlane as a member of her band one night when she heard him play at a Cambridge, MA night club. He toured with her band from 1974 – 1980 before leaving the road to move into the studio.

While with The Bonnie Raitt band, Will shared stages with living blues and folk legends. That’ll do wonders for your playing but more importantly, Will learned to listen for what guitar licks to leave out to best play up the band.

In 1980 Will McFarlane joined the famed “Swampers”; He moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to play and learn from Jimmy Johnson and the boys. Bobby Blue Bland, Little Milton, Etta James and Johnnie Taylor are a few that get off hand mention as clients of Muscle Shoals Sound.

Since 2001, Will McFarlane, his Wife Janet, their three children, and five grand kids all live in North Carolina’s Triangle Region. The Will McFarlane Band plays regionally but Will continues his studio work in Nashville and Muscle Shoals as well as live gigs both nationally and abroad.

Frank Stasio, WUNC Radio interview of Will McFarlane

Previously Titled: A Hunt for Empathic Exchanges through Curiosity and Imagination

There are elements of a great picture beyond composition, simplicity, light, color, texture and all that designy-crafty stuff. With some tormented thought, I’ve narrowed it down to three elements that seamlessly overlap but are also separate enough that they seem to own a category.

[Warning] This is a less concrete way of thinking about quality imagery of the 2D variety; no “how to” list found here. I prefer to stay on the softer more inquisitive side because I believe if your art stimulates curiosity, excites imagination, and induce empathy, it matters little how it’s presented; success on these are paramount, nothing else really matters.

The elements I’m presenting belong to both the artist and the spectator; presented by the artist and collected by the viewer. The extent to which the art is successful belongs to the viewer with blame placed firmly on the artist.

Curiosity:

It’s the power of the unanswered question. Nothing happens in your art without first stimulating viewer curiosity. It’s what I’d initially call the “give-a-shit” portion of our viewing experience that promptly transforms into something else.

This is where surprise lives. We can be surprised by how similar yet different the artist depicted familiar territory, or perhaps how foreign the subject is altogether while remaining relevant.

Curiosity ought to linger unsatisfied to some degree lest the spectator loses interest and leaves unaffected. If there is no need to review the artwork it’s unmemorable, and who wants that? The intensity and shape of disclosure further feeds or disposes of the viewer’s curiosity.

Imagination:

By imagination I think most of us consider the “how” of it: a works staging, basic concept, or overall presentation. Most of us intend “be imaginative” when we say “be creative”.

What I suggest by imagination in this case is as though there were such a thing as an active noun. A two dimensional image is perpetually abstract so it requires some degree of fantasizing for the artist to portray, while involving an active imagination for the viewer to perceive.

Bring me there in my mind, make me fantasize; cause the imagination to jump the chasm that is linking artist and spectator. This is how we see a moment’s capture or still picture as an event. There is a tolerance of ambiguity by the artist and viewer but we surround the still visual with a mind experience that lasts more than the split second it takes to perceive the picture.

The still picture plays as a story in our head and it changes with every new experience. Imagination is what triggers empathy in the viewer.  We project a personal narration as part of a fantasy involvement with the image.

Empathy:

It’s where passion and compassion lives. Art is an empathic exchange. What we are “Seeing-In” [from Richard Wollheim on The Art of Painting] a picture are projected personal narratives. We see art similarly as we see a cut finger on a friend; it makes us feel beyond what is offered to our senses. Call it your pictographic syntax if you will.

As a picture maker I induce empathy; I’m projecting my passion and sensibilities in a search for empathy. I want my art to make you feel what is in you to feel, but I can’t do that without using empathic abilities.

“We see something in the picture, and then become aware of an affinity with some emotion, only then to reperceive the subject which is then couloured by the emotion.” – Malcolm Budd

If artistic imagination and curiosity is used adeptly then there is room for the spectator to maneuver their empathy in the openings we’ve allowed. The door to empathy is closed by being too literal and by answering all questions in the presentation. Think of it as enigmatic empathy; it’s a response intended or unintended, appropriate or inappropriate that the art work pulls from its spectator.

I think a void of artistic empathy is the artwork epitome summarized in this definition of Artistic Narcissism found in Wikipedia:

Artistic Narcissism is the personality trait of egotistic artist denoting vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.

The name “narcissism” is derived from Greek mythology. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who had never seen his reflection, but because of a prediction by an Oracle, looked in a pool of water and saw his reflection for the first time.

Even an artistic narcissist will find viewer empathy but without seeing a reflection in the art produced, it’s impossible the artistic narcissist to connect with their viewer.  Ultimately, isn’t that what we want as creators?

My art is my attempt to elicit empathy from you while simultaneously attempting to empathize with you.  When I make the right empathic trade I create a tribe  through my works of art – a.k.a. admirers – my tribe are those with whom I successfully induce empathy through my curiosity and imagination that I present as artwork.

Permission to Suck Manifesto Rules applied:

6.    Your creativity is about your heart, not their surface. Creativity is your world view filtered through your talent. It’s your passion, experience, expertise, inspiration and your rules that drive you to create wonderful things that you’re destined to hate because they’re not good enough, and others are open to admire because they couldn’t do it.

14.    Don’t let anyone talk you out of your passion. If you have passion for an idea, don’t lose it by asking others if they think it’s good.  They probably won’t.

16.    Imagination is hot, execution is cold. The flame is illusive; if you must obsess about something, make it a flame search. “I think part of the process of this whole thing is to get as close to the flame as you can get without being burned” – Graham Nash

17.   Imagination accelerates in the abstract and slows with tangibility.  Daydream,  maintain vulnerability, innocence and a sense of wonder so that your creativity stays vigorous.

I firmly believe, as this presentation video suggests, that empathy is the invisible hand. To truly understand art’s role in civilization, our society, and our relationships, we need to understand the profound degree to which empathy has shaped our culture.  RSA 21^st Century Enlightenment and Jeremy Rifkin, author and political adviser, helps us examine empathy in this animated video.

I had a chance to talk with Creative Director and Copywriter Mike Allen about his career in Advertising and get some of his thoughts on branding and creativity.  Here are 10 minutes from that discussion.

As this embedded spot for American Airlines demonstrates, Mike gives voice to a brand’s essence.  This spot and two others in the campaign ran shortly after the 9/11 tragedy.  Worried that the country didn’t need a reminder of plane flight or the of who’s company mark was stenciled to the side of the terrorist weapon, American Airlines was on the verge of canceling all Advertising for 6 months.

The alternative was to show the emotion of what plane flight means to those who chose to travel; don’t show planes, show what planes can do besides fly into buildings. It’s easy to see how the “We know why you fly” campaign was born from these early spots written by Mike.

Additional 30 sec. spots in the Campaign from American Airlines 2001:
“Friends”
“Family”

Summery of Mike Allen’s Advertising History:

His 24-year advertising career includes creating brand-building work for American Airlines, Bank of America, Nortel Networks, Subaru of America, the U.S. Air Force, Bell Helicopter, Terminix and Bennigan’s while at Temerlin McClain in Dallas, TX.

From 2003-2009, He was ACD, then VP/Managing Creative Director at Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow (RBW) in Raleigh, NC, overseeing work and writing for BB&T, Biscuitville, Wavecom, Queens University of Charlotte, CORT Furniture and Old Dominion Freight Line across all media channels.

If there is one certain thing in the life of a professional creative it’s the need to push change; change in your work, change in approach, change in results, change in thinking, you name it. Some change is voluntary, some is not but both types command your complete attention.

There is a good deal of validity in tuning your creative radar for discomfort; if you’re not uncomfortable you’re not breaking new ground. The inverse, pushing discomfort to get creativity, could have merit as well. One thing for sure, routine won’t get you there. Anything not demanding your complete attention is not going to cultivate imagination in favor of innovation or new works of art.

My corporate days at Hallmark Cards defaulted with comfort. I was a middle manager with a job description inspired to (not specifically stated but strictly enforced) keep employees comfortable; asking them to achieve in the nicest possible way, and passing them on to other departments – if possible – when under performance could no longer be tolerated. In fact, I pushed change too much so they asked me to leave; I made everyone uncomfortable; routine was discouraged.

Yet there is a balance to be found. When creativity is needed most spending more energy is not often the answer.

“I’m not getting it, I need to innovate harder; I need more discomfort.”

Much more frequently one hears creative breakthroughs arriving during rest; those routine times post intensity. Push, rest, push, rest; that’s the ticket. But how do we measure rest?

How do we know we aren’t just being lazy? How do we know we aren’t behaving like comfort loving factory workers? I doubt there is a material answer, but the subtlety of creative exhaustion knows no bounds. Take a look at this experiment explained by Dan Heath at Fastcompany.com. It may begin to explain how we may better use our creative energy. At the very least it will encourage you to eat more cookies.

More about Switch can be found at the Heath Brother’s Blog.

Dan is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Made to Stick has been translated into 29 languages, the last of which was Slovakian, and it was retired from the BusinessWeek bestseller list after a 24-month run. Dan is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has taught and consulted on the topic of “making ideas stick” with organizations such as Microsoft, Nestle, USAID, the American Heart Association, and Macy’s.

more…

I’ve been influenced by Usher Fellig (aka Weegee the Famous).  I had no idea. But I’m in good company from Diane Arbus to Cindy Sherman, and the rest of us.  It’s hard to peel away the nostalgia from his photos from mid 20^th century NYC, but as I try the feeling of intensity remains; as though one held a candle under humanity fluid and let it reduce.

Photographic creativity is unique in many ways but one in particular in which Weegee’s body of work describes well is it’s demand on speed.  How many photos does one have to take before all the choices we make when pointing a camera happen faster than the subject is moving?

“I think about my camera all the time … There are photographic fanatics, just as there are religious fanatics.  They buy a so-called candid camera … there are no such thing; it’s the photographer who has to be candid, not the camera.” – Weegee

The trigger finds emotion.  I know from years of feeling subjects through a lens that the emotional moment is telepathic. Loud emotions are easy; it’s the quiet ones that lay demands on skills.  It’s the empathy of the photographer that presses the button at exactly the right moment after finding the perfect composition dictated by circumstance.

“People are so wonderful that a photographer has only to wait for that breathless moment to capture what he wants on film.” – Weegee

“When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.” – Weegee

Also easily captured are surface emotions, or non-emotions.  Saying cheese is the best way to make sure a camera fails to reveal anything you own. We learn to say “cheese” early and often.

“Press agents, seeing my camera, pointed out notables to me, but I refused to

Weegee

waste film or bulbs, as I don’t photograph society unless they have a fight and get arrested or they stand on their heads.” – Weegee

Finally, there is nothing like a life devoted to their art. A part time musician is just that – “part time”. A fine artist making it her day job or a commercial artist carving out a career is at a different level – they just are because they must. There art is front of mind all the time.

“I’m no part time dilettante photographer, unlike the bartenders, shoe salesmen, floorwalkers plumbers, barbers, grocery clerks and chiropractors whose great hobby is their camera. All their friends rave about what wonderful pictures they take. If they’re so good, why don’t they take pictures full—time, for a living, and make floor walking, chiropractics, etc., their hobby? But everyone wants to play it safe. They’re afraid to give up their pay checks and their security they might miss a meal.” – Weegee

Weegee’s World

Permission To Suck Manifesto Law #3.    There’s NO plan “B”. Quit moonlighting.  Put in the hours; work without a net.  If you have a plan “B” it’s too easy to bail, and you’ll want to.  Part timers can’t keep up with the guy who’s bustin’ it like a sex crazed school boy.

[via: Wikipedia]

Weegee was the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968), an Austrian-born American photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography.

Weegee worked in the Lower East Side of New York City as a press photographer during the 30′s and 40′s, and he developed his signature style by following the city’s emergency services and documenting their activity. Much of his work depicted unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death. Weegee published photographic books and also worked in cinema, initially making his own short films and later collaborating with film directors such as Jack Donohue and Stanley Kubrick.

Things begin to go awry when I have no point of view; no opinion, no specific observation, nothing to reveal. I spend most of my time trying to uncover the problem, though once established, the rest is hard work that is relatively relaxing. I’ve discovered that most of my restlessness lies in finding the story not telling it.

I’m used to seeing life happen through a viewfinder; it’s my job, and probably why I leave my camera at home when on vacation or spending time with friends. I want to feel it without the camera framing it for me. The camera can keep me from seeing if I’m not careful; as soon as I raise it to my eye, I’m a professional and my craft dominates.

This whole “telling the story” thing has stalked me.  Photography, greeting cards, marketing, branding and advertising all tell stories. In my off hours, music, socializing, reading, listening – all involve stories. FaceBook is one big story made of short anecdotes from a select cast of characters.

I have a stream of self talk as I interact with anything. Looking at a photo or artwork creates a story in my head clarifying the memories it evokes, the emotions it churns or the actions I will take as a result of including this image in my life. Creating art is speaking the narrative.

A good photographer understands the craft of storytelling.  I think making a successful photograph usually incorporates at least some of these:

Slow Disclosure:
Like in films, each element of the story, revealed all at once, will cause the viewer to move on faster than it took you to take the photo in the first place. Framing, composition, angle of view, selective focus all contribute to the pace with which the viewer understands the story your telling with the image; too fast and their gone, too slow, and they’re bored.

Power of unanswered questions:
Learn to love the questions – there is power in the unresolved chord. Sometimes the story is in the details of the moment but the question it leaves behind can be equally as compelling. The best movie you saw left you talking about it long after you left the theater. Same goes for a photographic image.

Empathic Engagement:
The image isn’t about what you’re feeling, it’s about what your viewer is feeling. Cognitive and emotional integration of surprise, satisfaction, beauty, horror – or whatever the story’s point – needs to be empathic to be engaging.

It’s the discipline of storytelling that helps us build more meaningful experiences for the viewer.  Storytelling is deeply embedded in the way we understand things. Our world view helps us build expectations of our story’s plot, and the effectiveness of the spectacle can actually change the world view of others through a surprise resolution.

It all starts with a point of view.  Scott Simon tells us how it’s done.

Visual metaphor is not only the staple of advertising but the backbone of all art.  James Geary points out in his TED presentation (embedded) that metaphor is when we perceive X = Y.  Analogy is a close cousin but its equation has no equal sign only an implied one.  Though, in our struggle to understand visual abstractions, I believe we search for metaphor rather than analogy.  We adore closure.

“That is, with visual metaphors, the image-maker proposes food for thought without stating any determinate proposition.  It is the task of the viewer to use the image for insight.”
(Noël Carroll, “Visual Metaphor,” in Beyond Aesthetics. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001 via About.com)

All art is abstract albeit some more than others. Once we accept this (and all sane people do) a metaphor is attached; it’s how sense is made of conceptual form.  This shape is your sister but that is a house; your sister is not a house – that would be analogy.  It then becomes obvious that visual metaphors also link to feeling.

A well executed visual metaphor leads the viewer without providing a conclusion.  Providing a conclusion turns art to pure craft.  Elegance turns trite when all visual clues are familiar and no interpretation is possible beyond that provided by the artist.

James Geary.com

James Geary’s Blog

[Biography via Wikipedia]

James Geary is an American-born, London-based writer and the former Europe editor of Time.^[1][2]

His most recent book is Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists which he claims to be the largest collection of aphorisms in the English language, and follows on from his previous volume on aphorists and aphorisms, The World in a Phrase (published in the UK – but now out of print – as We Are What We Think). The World in a Phrase has also been published in Brazilian Portuguese – as O Mundo em una Frase – as well as Korean.

Previous literary efforts include a popular science book called The Body Electric, a survey of cybernetic projects attempting to replace or enhance human biological senses (also published in Spain as El Cuerpo Electrónico^[3], and two much earlier books of poetry written while he was a student in San Francisco, 17 Reasons Why and Words for Refrigerator Doors.

Geary publishes a blog about aphorisms, “All Aphorisms, All The Time”, via his website.He is also a regular speaker at literary festivals^[4] where he gives a largely unscripted lecture on aphorisms which includes his juggling routine.

Among his journalistic credits, apart from his work at Time, Geary is Editor at Large for Ode magazine^[5] and writes online for The Huffington Post, Salon.com and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc’s Newsletter.

I live for the thrill – a captivating moment in the creative process when engagement turns exciting.  Nothing else matters but refining how it sounds, looks, reads, feels.  My concentration is off the immersion chart.  Volume is past 11 on the engagement control.

The route to vibrant creativeness may be tough to find and even harder to finish; putting pencil to paper and drawing the first line or writing that first sentence, it’s classically agonizing.  Similarly, slogging through an ultimate final edit for the 10^th time is plainly mundanely dutiful.  Yet, those moments in the darkroom chasing a fine b+w print for the first time, photographing an expressively electric target rich scene or expressing a new idea with elegant phrasing makes the process compelling beyond any accomplished artifact.

It feels as though we – the artist – are in a frantic improvisation inside ourselves when “yes …. And” can’t come fast enough, yet it does.  It’s a feeling of comparatively little effort and high output.  He’s on fire; she’s in the zone; I’m in profound flow.

On stage improv is fundamentally an additive process that rides flow like a snowboarder.  The Grateful Dead meandered aimlessly in sloppy hunt for improvisational synergy that – once found – inspired a loyal horde.  It’s nothing like drilling for oil – more like sharing demonstrative dreams at 20 – 20,000 MHz.

This is what can happen in well orchestrated collaboration: open source projects, teamwork in progressive companies or creative agencies, and productions with unusually talented performers. The outcome is inevitable – the project concludes – but creative performers push it to surprising places.

As Maria Schneider says in this clip, “When it works at the end of a performance, the performance belongs to all of us. … There is a meeting place that makes something rich if it’s done right.”  To paraphrase further: In the end, the music is where you and I meet rather than waiting for a perfection that never conforms to my vision.

Maria Schneider’s Biography [Via Wikipedia]:

Schneider was born in Windom, Minnesota. She moved to New York City in 1985 after attending college at the University of Minnesota, the University of Miami and the Eastman School of Music. She studied under Bob Brookmeyer and Gil Evans, working on various projects with Evans, including the film The Color of Money and Absolute Beginners. Her works share many characteristics with other jazz composers influenced by Gil Evans, including Lou Marini, and Grammy Award winning composer Bob Belden.

Schneider formed The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra in 1993, appearing weekly at Visiones in Greenwich Village for five years. Her orchestra performed at many jazz festivals and toured Europe.

Schneider was one of the first artists to use ArtistShare to produce an album. Her 2004 album, Concert in the Garden, became the first Grammy Award-winning recording sold exclusively via the Internet. It was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, which also named Schneider Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year and named her group Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year.

Schneider’s ensemble is now titled “The Maria Schneider Orchestra”. Their new album, Sky Blue, was released in July 2007, also via ArtistShare. Schneider’s composition “Cerulean Skies,” from Sky Blue, won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition in 2008. Schneider is an avid birdwatcher and enlisted band members to contribute bird calls on “Cerulean Skies.”

Digital is edging out analog because it democratizes craft. We’ve greased artistic expression and access to talent with the speed of friction-free physics. Evidently neither technology nor egalitarianism does anything to stir the soul. Common sense leads us to expect an artistic tornado of stunning art. It’s a numbers thing.

The Moog Synthesizer had switched on Bach yet Moog Music isn’t an enduring listen. Rauschenberg erases beauty thus inspires – or provokes – the heart of an artistic movement. The contrast lies in communication – one way or two way; a cry for attention or a deep conversation, hobby or conviction.

Art is poetry when “poetry” is an emotionally rewarded aesthetic banter with our senses. Reduce craft to a one button push, the poetry now includes a lackluster effort to engage – similar to a street passing of two indifferent relations. There is no strength in laziness. A case for the enduring slog: Willem de Kooning to Rauschenberg, “I want to give you something very hard to erase.”

Genius lies in understanding that art involves the consumer’s world view, the context in which it is consumed, the collaborative nature of the work and the commitment of the artist. With his erased de Kooning, Rauschenberg proves that great art works don’t necessarily involve the tools of great skill. Our democratized digital renaissance proves similar; great tools don’t necessarily produce works of great art.

Photography at its root is honest.  Its analog legacy is documentary, authenticity, and accuracy.  Digitally transformed, the honesty of image capture is questionable.  Regarding truth, however, photography’s quality has remained unchanged.  Each capture is a story and the storyteller is the purveyor of truth.

Consider the photograph as a frame. It’s a rectangle into which the artist decides what is included.  Ideally, each element in the frame contributes; nothing is irrelevant.  What’s more, it’s the purposeful judgment at the decisive moment of capture that edits the story.  Conceivably, two inches to the left or 5 seconds later and the story has a different moral.

Artists can make pictures, but to take them with the purpose of supplying unfiltered truth is intuitive as though thought is bypassed and feelings drive the moment.  Realistically, however, a story remains the responsibility of the teller and not the medium, the context, or even the events themselves.  We decide where to point the camera.

Photographs can feel more truthful than documentary films because they have lesser opportunities for editing.   Yet in contrast, Robert Capa’s famous “Falling Soldier”, under scrutiny for fabrication, may be just as truthful regardless of a less than honest foundation.  Many great photographers fabricate images prior to capture or post capture so. in the end. truth rests with the photographer not the photograph.

Excusing context or assigning responsibility colors photographs as well.  Those with greater experiences gain a perspective that makes it harder for those without to relate; a soldier returning from war or the photographer covering events outside our routine experiences risk becoming isolated.  Consequently, a storyteller must create an honest yet accessible relationship with the viewer.  They must pry open the receptors of the viewer through emotional connections; make them relate to the un-relatable.

Content is king, yet what’s in front of the camera, how it’s framed, and the decisive moment of capture is what tells a story.  Editing can add power to the delivery while simultaneously altering content hence reducing the truth of a story in unskilled hands.  The compassion of a story teller and the way he seeks excellence rather than pursuing excellent results, is the ultimate truth and power of the photographic medium.  - Bruce DeBoer

[all photography copyright Ryan Lobo]

In his TED presentation, photographer Ryan Lobo shares this remarkable insight and relates a few stories.

via Ryan Lobo’s Portfolio Website:

Ryan Lobo has achieved worldwide visibility through his photography, films, exhibitions and editorial magazine work.  For the last 10 years, Ryan has traveled extensively all over the world to make pictures and films that reflect a high degree of humanism, empathy and sensitivity. He is recognized as one of India’s most respected and well-known photographers.

In 2001, Ryan co-founded Mad Monitor Productions, a film and photo production company based in Bangalore and Washington DC. His films have aired on the National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel International, Animal Planet, The Oprah Winfrey Show and PBS among many other networks and Mad Monitor productions” currently manages and produces film and photo expeditions internationally.

His images/writing have been featured in magazines like Outlook traveler, Marie Claire, Elle, Tehelka, Better photography, The Wall Street Journal, GEO magazine, Time Out, National Geographic Magazine, the Boston review, Chimurenga, Onzeweruld, the Wall Street Journal and Glamour magazine amongst others. His art prints have been exhibited all over India and in Europe and he is a photographer with “Tasveeer.”