Photo of the Day

In the course of exhibiting the work from the "A Studio in Rajasthan" series, I have often found myself repeating the following lines, "The photographs are painted by a third generation Rajasthani hand-colourist named Rajesh Soni. Rajesh is the grandson of Prabhu Lal Soni, who was once court photographer to the Maharaja Bhopal Singh of Mewar".

I'm afraid the continual repetition of this information has caused it to lose some of its meaning. Rajesh is indeed a talented and extremely energetic young artist. His skills were passed on to him by his father, who is also an artist and photographer. Rajesh recounts that as a young boy his father told him to draw eyes. He was asked to draw eyes again and again. His father told him, "Draw the eyes until you are no longer looking at them, draw the eyes until they are looking at you."

Rajesh Soni's skill as a draughtsman is superb. Personally, I feel the way he subtly tints my photographs is exceptional. Other craftsmen have tried, but none have succeeded. Rajesh remains my premiere collaborator.

Here is Rajesh, posing as "The Artist". Oddly enough the painting on the easel is not his own, but borrowed from a local antique store.