by Brij | Jan 22, 2013 | Altered Book, Artist's Residency, Artists' Books, Light Work / Autograph ABP, portrait
In 2011 I was at an artist in residence on a beautiful and secluded island of Halsnoy in Norway. The island and its people were the inspiration of multiple experimental projects that I made during the residency. One of these was a series of portraits that I have now...
by Brij | Jan 18, 2013 | Artist's Residency, Artists' Books, Lecture and Presentations
by Brij | Jan 14, 2013 | Artist's Residency, Artists' Books, Book Binding Structure, Light Work / Autograph ABP, My archive
In 1996 I visited Venice. I had with me a medium format camera and rolls of black and white film. For the majority of my stay, I shot random images that I felt made Venice look beautiful. Nothing special or original. Half way through my trip I came across a...
by Brij | Jan 8, 2013 | Artist's Residency, Artists' Books, Book Binding Structure, Light Work / Autograph ABP
As an artists in residence at Light Work / Autograph ABP in Upstate New York, I have the privilege of doing nothing else but to think about and make artist’s books for the full month of January. This is an amazing start to my 2013… I have set myself a...
by Brij | Nov 5, 2012 | Artists' Books, Book Binding Structure, In London, London Center for Book Arts
Since the opening of the London Center for Book Arts I have taken part in two short classes at the center. The first one showed me how to make concertina structures and the second one, the drumleaf binding I believe is going to have a big impact on my artist’s...
by Brij | Oct 21, 2012 | Artist's Residency, Artists' Books, Collecting Photography, Contemporary photography, Halsnoy Residency, Halsnoy Tales, In London
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by Brij | Sep 22, 2012 | Artist's Residency
18th of October, 2012 will be the preview night of “Halsnoy Tales” project. Created as part of an artist’s residency in Norway in September 2011, the exhibition will showcase the four tales of the project plus artist’s books. Each...
by Brij | Aug 2, 2012 | 1948 London Olympics, My archive, Shooting Projects
“When I entered the Olympics, I had already participated in the South American tour. I was the top British sculler winning the Regattas. The White Hill in Henley was the training spot. The majority of the British team was similarly placed as they all had given...
by Brij | Aug 1, 2012 | 1948 London Olympics, My archive, portrait
Three Olympians who did it for their country, way back in 1948. Portraits by Brijesh Patel & Sonali Puri: “The training that we went through was very inadequate compared to what takes place these days. £700,000 to stage the entire games! We had a lot of...
by Brij | Jul 30, 2012 | 1948 London Olympics, My archive, portrait
Between 2005 and 2007, we set out to create portraits of the British Olympic medal winners from the 1948 London Olmpics. These were the first post-war games and also the first games that were televised in the UK. London was still suffering from the ravages of World...
by Brij | Jul 28, 2012 | New works, portrait, The Photographers Gallery
In 2010 I was invited to take part in a commission from The Photographers Gallery in London to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics. The idea of the project was to create a portrait of a person born outside of the UK who had made London their home. 204 nations are...
by Brij | Jul 10, 2012 | New works, Photo Festival, Rencontres d'Arles
Just got back from Arles, having spent a week at the 2012 Rencontres d’Arles Photographie. When I came back from the 2011 festival, my head was buzzing with ideas and questions. The challenging and inspiring works on show at the 2011 festival got me thinking...
by Brij | May 14, 2012 | flash photography, My archive, portrait, rural india
This morning I was looking at my archive of India images and I realised that every time I go on a shoot to India, be it a personal project or a magazine commission, I end up with a lot of images of kids. This is especially true when I am working in rural areas. One...
by Brij | Mar 30, 2012 | Historical perspectives
“The first light-picture ever taken. 1839” Robert Cornelius wrote this short but evocative inscription on the back of his own self-portrait. This self-portrait is the first photographic image of human ever produced. The quarter plate daguerreotype was taken at the...
by Brij | Mar 29, 2012 | Artists' Books, Salt
As a fine art photographer making work on India, artists’ books add an additional dimension to my work and are as critical to me as fine art prints, but with the added advantage that they are tactile objects that the viewer can interact with directly. I started making...
by Brij | Mar 28, 2012 | Lecture notes, My archive, Salt
Professor Gupta explored and expanded on some of the themes that he has been writing about concerning India as a modern state post 1990’s liberalization. Some startling facts that came out were regarding rural India and the agricultural society that still...
by Brij | Feb 25, 2012 | Contemporary photography, Exhibition - past, In London, India by others
Set over a space of three rooms, two being print displays and a third being a digital slideshow, the deep, rich black & white images take us into the world of Indian Inland Revenue archives and bring us face to face with the archives and their keepers who see...
by Brij | Feb 25, 2012 | Artists' Books, Salt, Shooting Projects
The artist’s books for the project have been made with some very unique hand spun organic cotton. All the cloth in the book is khadi (hand-spun cotton), commissioned by me from the great grandchildren of Ramgidada and his wife Gangben who in 1918 taught Gandhi to...
by Brij | Feb 25, 2012 | Salt, Shooting Projects
Over a period of two years I made numerous trips along the Salt March route. I wanted to experience the landscape at different times of the year as each season would have its own special light and the human activity would also be very distinctive in these rural parts...
by Brij | Sep 20, 2011 | Artist's Residency, Halsnoy Residency
Jostein took me out on a hunt yesterday evening. When I got to his house, he immediately fished out of his extensive hunting wardrobe appropriate clothes to keep me warm and dry. I kind of protested at being told to wear waterproofs that were three sizes too big. ...
by Brij | Sep 18, 2011 | Artist's Residency, Halsnoy Residency
The man’s wife took us to one side and started chatting to us in Norwegian. Within five seconds we realised that she did not understand English. This however did not stop her flow of softly spoken chitchat. It also became obvious that the man had no interest in...
by Brij | Sep 14, 2011 | Artist's Residency, Halsnoy Residency
Yesterday I was invited to photograph theater rehearsals at the Sunnhordland folkehøgskule. Since the beginning of the residency I have gravitated towards photographing landscapes and inanimate objects and observations. But for the past few days, my trigger finger...
by Brij | Sep 11, 2011 | Artist's Residency, Halsnoy Residency
On the 11th day: Yes, it has taken me a while to get to this first entry. At the moment I am in Norway, taking part in an artist’s residency for a period of three weeks. I am on a small island of Halsnoy (59.8041°N 5.651°E), staying in a house build in 1840’s...
by Brij | Aug 1, 2011 | News, Photo festivals
Non Conforme / Uncertified Probably the most important photography festival in Europe once again leaves an impression. 47 shows arranged in broad thematic segments cover a range of photographic practices, and strongly raises the question of what photography is and...
by Brij | Jun 11, 2011 | Magazine Culture, Popular Culture
“Motherland” is a monthly publication from W +K Publishing. It’s a magazine that I did not know I had been waiting for. The first issue is the August/September 2010 Volume 01 (ok, so I just got my hands on it!). I came across the magazine by chance, but now it will...
by Brij | Jun 7, 2011 | Adivasis, News
A lot of media attention is given to Arundhati Roy’s involvement as a campaigner and supporter of the adivasis communities that are under incredible amount of threat and in danger of being wiped out from the hills and forests of eastern and central India. This threat...
by Brij | Jun 4, 2011 | News
A SOAS project starting on 1st of September this year will revisit a seminal research project about rural life in India, which took place in the 1950’s. Headed by Dr. Edward Simpson, a senior lecturer in anthropology at the university and his co-investigator Professor...
by Brij | Jun 1, 2011 | Artists' Books, Collecting Photography, Contemporary photography, Exhibition - past, Films
A short video of the making of and the opening party of the show at the Galerie Duboys in the Marais district: This is not That – 10 Indian Photographers – Opening Night 19th May 2011
by Brij | May 25, 2011 | Films
Usually when it comes to Bengali art house movies, Satyajit Ray is pretty much the master for me. But tonight I came across something quite brilliant and unique. The work of director Ritwik Ghatak whose short output is overshadowed by the globally known master works...
by Brij | May 23, 2011 | Collecting Photography, Exhibition - past
Some images and artist’s book of the “Salt” project are shown in Paris at the Galerie Duboys. The exhibition is on until June 19th. For those who couldn’t make it, here are some pictures of the opening:...
by Brij | May 19, 2011 | Artists' Books
One of the “Salt” hand made artist book will be unveiled tonight in Paris at the Gallery Duboys (http://www.galerieduboys.com/). You can discover some pictures of the making of at:...
by Brij | Jan 6, 2011 | Facebook
keep in touch at :...
by Brij | Jan 6, 2011 | Artists' Books, New works
This is my first attempt to make and bind my own book. Bound using traditional Chinese bookbinding technique, this experiment has freed me from the pressures and preconceptions of what a photography book should and should not be. For me it is the next natural stage in...
by Brij | Dec 23, 2010 | In London
Mixed feelings about being back. Looking forward to getting the 4×5 processed and seeing how the Salt and People of India is developing. Lots of new ideas flowing in my head about work opportunities, artist book, and India.
by Brij | Nov 30, 2010 | Collecting Photography
Couple of weeks ago, driving around the rural areas outside of Vadodara, I came across street vendors selling old antique and vintage furniture. Tucked away at the back of one of these sheds were some frames, and old photographic images. After much negotiation, I...
by Brij | Nov 8, 2010 | New works
A 5d Mark 2 comes in handy even when working with large format! The farmer was intrigued with what I was doing on his field, and started chatting to me. Looking at the ground glass, he smiled and agreed also to be...
by Brij | Nov 6, 2010 | New works
I have been using this Wista 45vx for a year now…and I love it. That does not mean I am totally at ease with it, however I find the experience of making images with it a very much in line with how I see photography…a slow long drawn out and inspiring...
by Brij | Nov 6, 2010 | New works
I wanted to begin this project in a part of India that I am not very familiar with, the mountainous region of Himachal Pradesh in the North. When I work in India, I usually do day trips with a car and a local driver, and make work along the way. However, inspired...
by Brij | Nov 6, 2010 | New works
“The People of India” was a body of work that the colonial rulers of India had instigated as a form of record keeping that would allow the British to catalog the cast, religion and other ethnographic traits of their subjects, and hence enable them to...
by Brij | Sep 14, 2010 | Photography Books
I came across this book while traveling around the South of France this summer. Published in 1908 in London, it is a book about the life and teachings of Buddha, told in verse form to Sir Edwin Arnold by an unknown Indian Buddhist. Besides the beautiful writing, I...
by Brij | Sep 4, 2010 | India by others
A project supported by The Alicia Patterson Foundation
by Brij | Sep 4, 2010 | Collecting Photography
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by Brij | Sep 4, 2010 | Collecting Photography
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by Brij | Sep 1, 2010 | Collecting Photography
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by Brij | Aug 31, 2010 | Collecting Photography, Uncategorized
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by Brij | Aug 29, 2010 | News
From my new project SALT the landscape series has been nominated for the Prix Pictet 3. The shortlist announcement will take place at Paris Photo in November. Watch this...
by Brij | Aug 28, 2010 | Collecting Photography, Historical perspectives
Albumen prints from late 19th Century. (Printing process attributed to Louis-Desire Blanquart-Evrard, was the first commercially viable process of creating photographic print on paper from a negative) Between 1868 and 1875, the India Office published in eight volumes...
by Brij | Aug 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
My commercial work has been updated at www.brijesh-patel.com
by Brij | Jul 8, 2010 | Contemporary photography, Photo festivals
Interesting gathering of young talented photographers in this group show. The work of Gilles Coulon, who is based in India, showed images created in the French Embassy in Delhi, giving a bird’s eye view of the interior of the every day activity which if it had...
by Brij | Jul 8, 2010 | Contemporary photography, Photo festivals
Munem Wasif was one of the short listed nominees for this award with his beautiful and thought provoking images from the Salt Water Tears project…discover more at http://www.munemwasif.com. I would love to see a book from this work...
by Brij | Jul 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
Finally I have had the time to launch a new website that will dedicated purely to my photography from India…
by Brij | May 5, 2010 | Exhibition - past, In London
Where Three Dreams Cross: A treat of all sorts, its good to see that the a popular and demanding space like Whitechapel gallery bravely put on a show that sprawled across several floors, displaying works from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Though for my money, a...
by Brij | Apr 29, 2010 | Exhibition - past, In London, Indian art gallery - London
A little late, however I wanted to write a short note about the work of Raghu Rai that was on show at Aicon in London earlier this year http://www.aicongallery.com/exhibitions/2010-01-22_raghu-rai-a-retrospective/ A retrospective set of images selected by Raghu Rai,...
by Brij | Apr 28, 2010 | Collecting Photography, Contemporary photography
Last year I began to collect photography. So far it is a very small and simple collection, however I am very excited at the prospect of not knowing where it will take me eventually… This is the first of several images I will be posting on the blog. I have some...
by Brij | Apr 26, 2010 | In London, Indian art auction
Phillips de Pury & Company were auctioning a collection of contemporary art from and about India this weekend at the Saatchi gallery. Besides some dream like images of Raghu Rai and beautiful but obvious offerings from Steve McCurry what caught my eye was...
by Brij | Jan 31, 2010 | Uncategorized
http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/24300 and http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/24299
by Brij | Jan 10, 2010 | In London
Last week I went to see Maharaja: the Splendor of India’s Royal Courts exhibition at the V&A in London. Its a beautifully curated and displayed exhibition, detailing the lives and loves (human and material) of various famous and infamous Indian Maharajs. ...
