The Bhandara festival is celebrated with much fervour and enthusiasm amongst devotees at the Khandoba Temple in Jejuri. Khandoba is worshipped with turmeric, marigold flowers and belfruit-leaves. For the devotees, turmeric signifies gold. Therefore, they throw turmeric on each other and all around, filling the air and the skies in beautiful hues of yellow. Immersed in turmeric, devotees perform various rituals and sing and dance invoking the deity in their prayers.
While capturing the celebrations in the temple complex, I saw a group of devotees performing rituals. They had offerings in a plate, in front of them, and were being used in the ritual. It was very crowded and hence difficult to get a clear shot of the whole group together. So I decided to move in and capture details of the offerings and rituals that they were performing. By gradually abstracting the composition, I was able to eliminate everything that was not adding to the story in any way. Finally I reduced the composition to just a part of the devotee and the plate with the offering.
I chose a top point of view, so as to get complete details of the offerings used in the ritual. And at the same time by cutting off the top part of the human element, I was able to reduce the visual weightage caused by the human element. Even though only a part of the human element is visible, it still has a lot of visual weightage and eye first goes to the hands. But the hands are forming a triangle which is pointing towards the plate with the offering, helping in moving the eye towards the Primary Subject. I also placed the elbows at the corners, adding strength to the diagonal line formed by the limbs. The eye moves towards the plate with the offering and it finally comes to a rest and is held there by the enclosing effect of the circular shape of the plate.
The warm yellow hue caused by the abundance of turmeric, the gentle posture of the crossed hands and the circular shape of the plate all help in creating a soothing and tranquil composition. Even though the whole human form is not visible, just the hands are able to convey the state of the mind of the devotee.
| Nikon D800e | f5.6 |1/250 | 100 | -1/3EV |52mm | IPX SN17 06970
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jejuri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmeric
Copyright ©Sanjay Nanda. All rights reserved worldwide. This image may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without a prior written permission from the copyright holder. This image is available as a Rights-Managed License or Printed Artwork.
While capturing the celebrations in the temple complex, I saw a group of devotees performing rituals. They had offerings in a plate, in front of them, and were being used in the ritual. It was very crowded and hence difficult to get a clear shot of the whole group together. So I decided to move in and capture details of the offerings and rituals that they were performing. By gradually abstracting the composition, I was able to eliminate everything that was not adding to the story in any way. Finally I reduced the composition to just a part of the devotee and the plate with the offering.
I chose a top point of view, so as to get complete details of the offerings used in the ritual. And at the same time by cutting off the top part of the human element, I was able to reduce the visual weightage caused by the human element. Even though only a part of the human element is visible, it still has a lot of visual weightage and eye first goes to the hands. But the hands are forming a triangle which is pointing towards the plate with the offering, helping in moving the eye towards the Primary Subject. I also placed the elbows at the corners, adding strength to the diagonal line formed by the limbs. The eye moves towards the plate with the offering and it finally comes to a rest and is held there by the enclosing effect of the circular shape of the plate.
The warm yellow hue caused by the abundance of turmeric, the gentle posture of the crossed hands and the circular shape of the plate all help in creating a soothing and tranquil composition. Even though the whole human form is not visible, just the hands are able to convey the state of the mind of the devotee.
| Nikon D800e | f5.6 |1/250 | 100 | -1/3EV |52mm | IPX SN17 06970
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jejuri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmeric
Copyright ©Sanjay Nanda. All rights reserved worldwide. This image may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without a prior written permission from the copyright holder. This image is available as a Rights-Managed License or Printed Artwork.