Intimate India

Southern India where humanity surges on the streets of the city of Hyderabad as the crispness of a November morning creeps like a cat along the roads. A whole myriad of Indian life passes by. Women lay here and there on the pavement sound asleep, and a man is stretched out on the median strip, oblivious to the danger. The noise of the city produces a frenzied work of booming blasts, disconnected honks, shrill beeps, musical notes and weird duck calls. It seems as if Hyderabad drives blind and everyone is driving by sound only -- except, it seems, many are deaf.

I would like to offer my book of photographs, entitled “Intimate India,” with accompanying text. I have a very close connection with many middle-class Indian families, and am fascinated with the Indian culture. My book illustrates through a collection of digital images a view of middle-class life in India which most people in the United States do not have the opportunity to see.

I like to think of each of my photographs as something more than a snapshot. My pictures are un-stylized and un-posed, which evoke fascination, and a unique view. All of my work is candid or taken on the go, and I try to create compelling, unforgettable, moving images that reveal the universality of human emotion. I look for beauty, also, but in essence, that is really a huge thing and far too large to fit into any one book. So I look for beauty through the people I photograph – young, old, man, woman, or child. It takes hundreds of shots to capture even a part of it, but that beauty is there in my photographs to be appreciated.

As you turn the pages of “Intimate India,” you will accompany me as I make friends with the Indian people; you will hear my stories of adventure and artistry, and, best of all, you will see through my observant eye, the grandeur of the simplest of people and things. I feel that my book is going to be one that will elicit many viewings because a person will probably have a different impression each time he or she views my images.

I have photographed in Germany, England, Hungary, Portugal, and Iran, as well as throughout the United States. I was also an artist for Hallmark greeting cards for 18 years. My photographs have been in numerous publications and newspapers and I have won several photographic prizes. I had a photograph in the Day in the Life series “Texas 24/7” edited by Rick Smolan (DK Publishing ISBN 0-7566-0084-7). My articles and essays have been in many newspapers and magazines. And my non-fiction book, Once Upon a Bavarian Winter (Publish America - ISBN: 1591296412) has received excellent reviews and has sold well.

For a sampling of my photographs and writings you can view my web page at:

http://ronpics.com/