Laurent Salisse At Advocate Ashish Shelars Ganpati Pandal 2015

Laurent Salisse My French Friend Was Shocked He Said Is This Swach Bharat

And I did not show him the main  garbage dump ,  near the chicken shops ,,this is the one when you enter Bandra Bazar Road from Lal Mitti Bandra Reclamation end ,,

As the people throwing garbage are lazy and wont walk up to the garbage bin they take mistimed aim.. hitting the ground instead of the bin.

Bandra is a beautiful place this is the only eyesore ,,  this overspilling garbage and three bins all three in bad shape are not enough to cater to the slums buildings and shops in this stretch ,,but shooting garbage almost 60 videos has not woken  up the BMC or the people concerned from their deep slumber.

Yogi Biradar Belgaum visits Advocate Ashish Shelars Ganpati Bandra Reclamation

The Malang From Mumbai Shot By Laurent Salisse

He did not shoot my picture
he shot my inner restless quest
from my withering flesh my soul
he did wrest a moment within
a moment under house arrest
he heard the sound of ya hussain
ya hussain hearbeats of my chest
he saw my bleeding head my dagger
my bleeding face that he would
capture all this i did not expect
ya ali maulah ya ali maulah
connecting east and west
regressive as we move ahead
divided fragmented strife driven'
Allah and million other sects ,,
dismembered bodies decapitated
heads crucified by misplaced
religiosity and misinterpreted
holy text ,, what next..

Old school photography emulsion
digitally we detest..we forcibly
put to rest ..sepia toned sorrow
that uttered the last words
photographer ashes to ashes
'dust to dust stay blessed
poetry etched on my soul
that you have rightly guessed


inspired by benn bell

Laurent Salisse A Master At Work

This lot was shot by a person watching us both .. i just told him to go on clicking our pictures he had never used a DSLR before


He shot me on the Mamiya 6/7 but the first time due to some technical hitch there was a problem and than it began to rain heavily so he waited for the rain to end ,, and he re shot all over again , the backdrop he placed again.. and he does street portraiture using this backdrop in natural light at Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela ,, Koovagam Eunuch festival ,,
For me having used film when I began photography and I used to shoot medium format on my twinreflex Mamiya 330 ,, it was nostalgia ,,pure and pristine.
Hardly do yoi see such passion now days ,, Laurent does not use digital at all he is from the old school and does his own processing..
He leaves for France tomorrow and we will now meet next year shoot the Malangs together ,, at Makanpur ,,

The Path Of Ali The Path Of This Malang

ya ali
ya ali
ya ali

the magical
chant of old
who magically
become young
qawalis in the
name of ali that
at every urus
are mystically
sung
ali ali
ali ali
a message of love
of peace brotherhood
the true message of
the holy prophet far flung
when he said

man kunto maulaa
fa haaza Aliun maulaa


To whom I am the master
Ali is the master.

a joy on the soul
of humanity
he sprung ,,
shaah-e-mardaaN
sher-e-yazdaaN
quvvat-e-parvardigaar
laa fatah illaa Ali
laa saif illaa zulfiqaar

words bursting out
as sweet melody
 from every
 poets lungs


Ali imaam-e-manasto manam Ghulaam-e-Ali
hazaar jaan-e-giraamii fidaa-e-naam-e-Ali

Ali is my master, I am the slave of Ali
thousands of lives can be sacrificed
for the sacredness of name of Ali.

saying this the evil from the heart
of man he plunged out and flung..

ya ali madad .. to him they mercifully clung