honorable mention
Dylan Tom P M india
Photo © Dylan Tom P M
title
Kandanar Kelan Theyyam - In the universe of Fire
when I reinvented me to photography the whole scenario was changed, there was no film it was all digital , and I think this change was good for photography. I considered myself as a Travel Photographer. My first digital SLR was Canon 550 d, with canon 18-35 mm and sigma 150-500mm. Now I am Using Canon R5, Canon Rf 15-35 L, Canon Rf 100-500 L, canon Rf100mm L macro . Canon RF 50mm f1.2 L. My great fascination is to capture the essence of life , culture, Landscapes , and Natural history moments while travelling .
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entry description
'Theyyam festival' is the main cultural event of Northern Malabar coast of Kerala, India. 'Theyyam' means God in local language is a ritual art form of the region. There are more than 400 types of 'Theyyams'. The series is about one of the most fabulous 'theyyam' called 'Kandanar Kelan Theyyam'. Kelan died of forest fire while conducting agriculture and later he was raised and revered as a local god and protector of agriculture of that region. Only some selected communities have the right to perform this theyyam . The theyyam practitioners depict the story of 'Kelan' in 'Kavu'(temples) . Kandanar Kelan is performed deep in the night and the sole source of light is the fire in which artist jumps. the shear speed , dynamic range and the atmosphere makes capturing Kandanar Kelan a challenge to photographers. it is performed only in very less temples so it took almost two years following this particular theyyam for me to get decent pictures of Kandanar Kelan with depicts the vigour and dynamism of this cultural event.about the photographer
It was right from my childhood that I got inspired by this awesome instrument which captures every moment of beauty onto a piece of paper, but I was only able to handle it when I was a teenager. In fact the camera was an auto focus one. later I was able to be the proud owner of an SLR camera which was none other than the Minolta SRT 303, with a 50mm lens. My learning process in the art got technical fillip through observing great photographers works, and also thorough various Photographic magazines(Internet was not common at that time). Then I owned a Nikon F80 and Nikorr 35-80mm and Tamron 70 - 300 mm Lens and continued my photographic endeavour all in film media.Then suddenly due to personal reasons there was a hiatus in my photographic life,when I reinvented me to photography the whole scenario was changed, there was no film it was all digital , and I think this change was good for photography. I considered myself as a Travel Photographer. My first digital SLR was Canon 550 d, with canon 18-35 mm and sigma 150-500mm. Now I am Using Canon R5, Canon Rf 15-35 L, Canon Rf 100-500 L, canon Rf100mm L macro . Canon RF 50mm f1.2 L. My great fascination is to capture the essence of life , culture, Landscapes , and Natural history moments while travelling .
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