My name is Mahesh Bhat and I'm a Bangalore based photographer and India is my canvas. I've been photographing the life and times of my country and parts of the sub continent for 25 years. I'm an assignment photographer with Getty Images and represented by Global Photo Associates, NYC. I've worked with Polaris Images and Agence Vu.

In the last 25 years, the city of Bangalore went from where every place was 15 minutes away from each other to every place is at least an hour from each other. It became a megapolis. Over the years I have photographed the city. In last few years I've been commissioned to photograph for publications as varied as The New York Times to Newsweek of Japan – from over 20 countries. Assignments have included coffee addas of Kolkata to a profile of a female suicide bomber from the LTTE for Marie Claire.

I love to work on really long term projects. In 2004, I began UNSUNG, a project about people who have made extraordinary contributions to society against personal odds. I published the book in 2007. It helped raise over Rs.8.5 million for the causes of the heroes featured in the book. The second book will be published this year. The project is ongoing now for eight years. Do visit UNSUNG here.

Since 2007, I've worked on a book project on Bangalore. It's a collection of projections from my conscious and subconscious mind. Through my photographs, I explored how the city had changed in the last two and a half decades. It is also an impassioned plea to support the arts and creativity to drive the true growth of Bangalore.

I self publish my books and this new book – Bangalore/Bengaluru – In First Person Singular is in bookstores since February 2012. An application based on the book will launch soon.

Unlike some of my friends who were born and brought up here, I am not really connected to the city. In a way I am disconnected. The 17 images you see below, in a way represent that disconnection. I'm eager to hear your opinion, your critique.

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Think along the lines of how an image can convey content better. How can this work be refined? What does the photographer need to do to elevate her/his game?

Based on your responses, Tiffinbox will invite other photographers to submit their work to also be critiqued by you. So, it is vital that you get involved. Mahesh is, after all, willing to submit his work in this way. The least you can do is to support his work one way or another by commenting below.

This article was written by L. Romal M. Singh and reprinted, with permission, from Bangalore's Daily News & Analysis' You & I column. Mahesh Bhat, a photographer based in Bangalore made this republication possible. He is the co-author of Unsung, his first book. Read more about that book here.

“Two Names, One Soul”

It was this quote that inspired seasoned photographer Mahesh Bhat to look at Bangalore from the perspective of an outsider — an identity Mahesh Bhat gave up almost 20 years ago. “Bangalore is now home to me, but that wasn’t always the case. I grew up in Mangalore but moved here when I was quite young and now the city is home,” enthuses Mahesh, as we sit across a table at Koshy’s.

Koshy’s, so much a part of ‘identity’ Bangalore, does feature in the book that it brought about this meeting, and like many other Bangalore mainstays, the book inspires, records and chronicles a face of Bangalore that’s ever changing, but wonderfully constant.

“I was quite clear about what I wanted from this book — it took me four years to get down to finally putting it together and so I had enough time to ideate. I knew I wanted this book to be about transition — not about famous people and landmarks. Bangalore has always been about multiple identities, it really never has been the same city for any two people,” Mahesh tells us.

Bangalore has indeed been a city of many changes and the city has meant many things to different people, across the 900 years or so of the existence of this city. The powers have changed with almost each century, but the heart and soul of the city largely have remained intact. Bengaluru/Bangalore — in first person singular opens to a wonderful image of the Basavanagudi Bull Temple — an image that quite wonderfully captures the timelessness of this Bangalore.

“I began the journey for this book at Kalasipalya and then meandered through what remains of the pété, before the book halts temporarily at the Cantonment and all that it stands for — the Raj legacy included, before I finally make my way back to the layouts and newer areas that are now as intrinsically Bangalorean as Brigade Road,” shares Mahesh. As said, the book does journey through Bangalore in all its elements, giving you a fair picture of what the city was, is and is probably moving towards — all in one linear movement that personifies an energy now quintessentially known as Bangalore. One of the first images in the book is that of the Infosys pyramid, juxtaposed with slum-dwellings in Electronics City. The picture hits hard and quite succinctly portrays the economic divide in modern Bangalore.

“Bangalore changed after we became an IT city. We lost focus and wanted to be the next Singapore or Beijing. Change is important and inevitable, and don’t get me wrong, I am waiting for the metro as much as any other enthusiastic Bangalorean — but I am worried about the attitude behind this change. A city should be creative class friendly. It shouldn’t be about building infrastructure and then waiting for development — this should be a hand-in-hand process,” says Mahesh, quoting Richard Florida’s theory.

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Bangalore has indeed evolved in more ways than one and it often is the easiest option to just sit back and complain about how these changes are turning Bangalore for the worse. Mahesh however prefers to be more far-sighted in his opinion.

Quoting Narender Pani from his essay, Imaginations of Bengaluru, Mahesh says, “the dominant economic class has always decided what Bangalore will mean to the world and for some reason they have always done away with every trace of the city’s previous leaders. For example, the IT industry is now converting the city into India’s Silicon Valley, removing with it every trace of the city’s colonial past,while just before that the British did the same, by replacing every presence of the pété; with a larger-than-life Cantonment. It’s just how Bangalore functions and it may or may not be a great idea.”

Theme, ideas and motivation in place, we finally move on to parts of the making of this book that Mahesh fondly remembers. “It’s hard for me to decide. Each picture speaks so much to me and is equally precious, but if I had to choose, since you force me to, I would choose the picture of the Karaga festival. The festival is older than Bangalore in many ways and brilliantly captures the spirit of the people who call this city home. Imagine — a Hindu festival with a Telugu lineage, being celebrated by Tamils in a Kannadiga locality where the idols are placed in a dargah as a part of a great custom, proving that communities and religions can co-exist, live in peace and love one another.
I think that if there’s a definitive picture in the collection, it’s definitely this one,” Mahesh concludes.

Impressed and highly entertained, I take leave and rush back to my office where I take my time in absorbing each of these images — some strike a chord, some inform and some just bring the most genuine smile to my face. Bangalore is as much my city, as it is yours and if Bangalore was a song and the lyrics were the ages the city has seen— this book, quite incomparably, is the tune the city has been searching for all these years. P.S. And just in case, you are still looking for an answer to that question asked at the very beginning — read this book and wait for your eureka moment.

Mahesh Bhat says: People in North America can buy the book using Paypal and we'll ship it via DHL. The cover price is $30 and we just add another $5 for shipping.