Artist friend Rokeya Sultana [she is a Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts as well] asked me to photograph the 7 day Printmaking Workshop proceedings at the Institute of Fine Arts Dhaka University  organized by The Bengal Foundation during 18th to 24th May 2008.  Visiting Professors Nirmalendu Das and Pinaki Barua of Vishwa Bharati headed the the Zinc-plate Etching and Lithography workshop.  Final prints from the artists who participated will be on display during a 2 day exhibition [«In Search Of Beautiful Impressions«] at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts on 3rd and 4th June 2008 - the inaugural ceremony will be held on 2nd June evening.  Photographing the artists at work was very interesting for me, and I sort of got a bit side-tracked and photographed more «faces» than I did of the actual processes! After going through the entire lot of photos, there were enough images to present a series of a dozen each for the Etching and Litho processes. Lucky! Some of these photos will also be on display at the exhibition as a sort of «introduction to printmaking» : 

I've never before displayed any photographs at an exhibition or to the public, so this is an exciting experience - though mixed with some apprehension as well! Previous related posts at my blog are here, here and here. A must-read is Ujwala's blog on her participation and experience.

For the past many weeks the WIP photo project for «The Jungle Book» production at AIS/D Elementary School had taken up all of my shooting time. Am not complaining! in case that is what it sounded like. It was a great experience, both photographically and to witness the progression of the learning process the kids went through... and to then finally watch the fantastic performance where each one of them shone like stars! The Work In Progress photo record/essay runs into 100's of [final] images and these are grouped in separate PDF files [full resolution JPG's] for each session. 5 sessions + 1 from the Dress Rehearsal + 1 lot of backstage photos + 1 lot of group photos of the cast + 1 lot from the final performance night. I probably shot around 2000 frames and culled these down to a manageable number. I might post some sample images from these sessions a bit later once the photo-CD is done and produced.  You can take a peek at The Jungle Book CD-Cover if you like. This image is a conversion from one of the photos.

I've not shot much in the last many days as the post-processing job took [a total] around 80 hours... and so those itchy fingers have been missing the familiar feel of the ridged focusing-ring and shutter-release button.

I've been observing the Starlings [Sturnus contra] and Crows starting to build their nests high in the Mahogany tress.... and this one particular crow is extremely alarmed every-time I take a peek out the window at the nest being built. The Starlings are building a nest much higher in the other tree but are very watchful and can notice me even if I am behind a window screen. Today I was able to get a few images before the Starlings flew off to watch me from another tree.
 

Updated [a few hours after posting the above]:

I decided to post a few assorted ones from the work-in-progress photos of The  Jungle Book rehearsals in no particular order.....

Images from the «Work-In-Progress» during rehearsals and also some images from the performance day of The  Jungle Book - by the AISD Elementary section. The main performances were on the 13th and 14th March 2008.

More to be added soon....