Sharad Haksar

The work of Chennai based photographer Sharad Haksar has already been popularized in numerous blogs. His ingenious cultural commentary and effortless transition between fine art and commercial photography deserves another mention.

In 2005 Mr. Haksar won the Cannes Silver Lion. That same year he was threatened with a lawsuit by Coca Cola for a billboard he placed in Chennai as an “expression of creativity”, despite having apparently received prior permission from the company. “The billboard features the ubiquitous red Coca-Cola wall painting, commonly found across India. Directly preceding the Coca-Cola ad, and part of the billboard, is a dry water hand-pump, with empty vessels waiting to be filled up with water - a common scene in India, particularly in Chennai. Mr. Haksar’s billboard highlights the severe water shortages being experienced by communities that live around Coca-Cola’s bottling plants across India. A community close to Chennai, in Gangaikondan, has already held large protests - protesting against an upcoming Coca-Cola plant. In the neighboring state of Kerala, in the village of Plachimada, Coca-Cola has been unable to open its bottling facility for the last 16 months - because the community will not allow it to. Coca-Cola is in serious trouble in India. A massive rural movement has emerged to hold the company accountable for creating water shortages and polluting the remaining water and soil.”

Why Women Live Longer...

This is certainly advertisement or at least was used to promote company`s product using stron semiotics. In real work situation like this has happened many times and this could another reminder that woman`s beauty is killing. The woman in the picture did not even notice what happened and even the sound of crashing car did not manage to get her attention.
Each man in the photograph who is distracted by the woman has a profession: guard, barber and gardener. This may be a signifier of the contrast of a middle class woman against a patriarchal working class background. For example, in figure 1 we see a smartly dressed woman placed against a dark and dreary underground station backdrop, and in figure 2 we see a pretty girl in a short dress contrasted against an enclosed and claustrophobic looking barber shop. The signified concept here is undoubtedly that when wearing Wallis clothes, you stand out.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sar9502.html

1950s

I remember last year when Gary Winogrand`s work was shown to me as an example of harmony and obserwations. He could see what is gonna happen and in the right moment press the shutter button. But this picture is just stunning...It is unique and even if it was lucky shot then still makes an impression.
Garry Winogrand was born in 1928 in New York. There he studied painting at City College of New York, photography at Columbia University, and photojournalism with Alexey Brodovitch at The New School for Social Research. He photographed while in the Air Force, and did magazine work throughout the 1950s and 60s for publications like Life and Sports Illustrated. Winogrand has become known for a street-style of photography characterized by a wide-angle lens and 35mm camera, available light and unposed subjects, and countless exposures. Winogrand’s photographs have been widely exhibited, including a major retrospective organized in 1988 by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, which traveled to the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin; Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Mellon University Art Gallery, Pittsburgh; Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Winogrand died in 1984.

http://kopeikingallery.com/artists/view/garry-winogrand