Photo Blog by Rajan Parrikar

I was born and raised in Goa. My photographic interests lie in landscape, people, portraiture, culture, architecture and photojournalism. Areas of focus are Goa, Iceland, and the Death Valley region of California.

I have photographed extensively in Goa, recording its land, culture and people, elements that express its sui generis ethos. I have documented the destruction of Goa's environment and its slide from an idyll into the chaotic dreck that matches today's India.

Over the past decade, I have traveled all over Iceland, to most of its remote areas, in an ongoing in-depth exploration.

I am also a musician with a lifelong immersion in the musical traditions of India. I live in California but spend significant time in Goa and Iceland.

Declaration:
I strive to create images that comport with my sensibilities and idea of beauty. My photograph is an interpretation, not a faithful documentation of “reality." Think of it as "reality" filtered through my personal aesthetic prism.

As a general principle, I do not insert objects that were not already present in the frame when I took the shot. However, I allow myself the license to erase objects that violate my sense of compositional balance. My artistic impulse is expressed well in the words of the great mathematician Hermann Weyl:

"My work always tried to unite the true with the beautiful; but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful."

[Photo taken in Rauðasandur, Iceland by Veena Parrikar]