sepiastoryteller.com - because in the end, we are all little stories.
Photo credit: john-mathew-14a2078(LinkedIn)
As a documentary filmmaker, and
photographer I am obsessed about interacting with people as a means for story telling. Stories that are steeped in originality and unique in colours. Stories that keep surprises between its lines. Stories that are worth passing on so that they are remembered. Stories that are poetic, poignant, inspiring or at least different. While the painter in me is particularly poised towards impressive imagery the screen writer and journalist in me picks up materials for a moving narrative that is distinct and memorable. It is worth staying hungry. A story teller surely has a beautiful life!
Over time, I believe that our consciousness becomes more like the top soil in a tropical rain forest - fragments of memories keep falling, layered upon layers in a continuum. When you ask people something specifically about their life it is this rich soil of consciousness that responds with stories and eagerness- little stories that are evocative and fragrant. As if it just rained!
We are truly surrounded by people with stories that are potentially transformative to humanity.
Maintain a willing heart to listen and see how every concern becomes such a powerful tool posing as a question!
My imagery has been appreciated more for the quotient of truth in it than any superfluous beauty. Intuitive editing makes my narratives engagingly immersive and therefore memorable.
Although trained as a Journalist, it was my Advertising, IT and Photography jobs that allowed me to explore life across various southern states in India, until I moved to USA in the Fall of 2009. Life is exciting (but for the credit card statements and slow internet). Last year I have moved to Madrid, Spain with family. But every three months Im in my hometown Cochin
Documentary film maker
Photographer of architecture, people, culture, fine art...
Worked in India, USA (2009-14) and currently splits my time between Madrid, Spain and Cochin, India
WhatsApp
+34 643586626 or call me in Cochin, India
+91 9496972066
sepiastoryteller@gmail.com
manoj.sepiastory.com ( to Facebook)
BIO
My name is Manoj Purushothaman. I was born and raised in and around the beautiful port city named Cochin, in the Indian peninsula. The booker prize winning novel 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy unfolds not far from my home! In the countryside I spent my childhood we had to cross more canals, creeks and endless stretch of paddy fields than we crossed the roads. Walking miles on your own and crossing rivers in ferry boats was normal for a child. Nobody was a stranger. That, I realise now, had exposed me to a contemplative approach in pace, and patience to just be.
When you have the luxury of time every conversation becomes an exchange of little stories. Tons of stories envelope you even when you don't want one. Adult conversations were overheard by children all the time. Imagination filled any lack of information and clarity, from early on. Information was best remembered and passed on in the form of stories. Every story teller added his or her own perspective and spice before passing it on. Events were remembered not by dates but in relation with other events. Everything and everybody was interconnected into a timeless fabric of stories. I remember the country women visiting my grandmother and exchanging little stories from the neighbourhood, only until it is time for lunch or evening tea. I grew up to learn that all that was gossip!
This contact sheet is from mid 2000s, with my advertising fraternity. The couple stuck to each other on the right side bottom eventually got married and started a family. Last year I came to know that the lover boy who happened to be 'underexposed' in all these shots had died a few years later. In hindsight that eventuality adds a certain sense of mystery to my exposure at that point. Scary!
Camille
a deeper shade
of Blue
- All of two years old, Camille mistook a detonator for a toy and it exploded in her hand, claiming half of it. The year was 1942 and second world war was at its peak in Normandy, Fr. 'Camille-a deeper shade of blue' is a documentary film as well as a biography about how she braved her physical disability with intense artistic pursuits. She is the founder of Azule.org.
- The architectural marvel of AZULE is an indigenously handcrafted experiment in sustainable and functional design practices carried out by Camille over four decades. Its roots are set in the memories from France and shaped by the Appalachian culture.
- To document 'The Journey Projects' of an Atlanta based 'Visual Mythologist' named Lynn Marshall Lindmere.
- Soon I would be capturing and editing the 'swan song' of 20 hospice patients in Atlanta.
Archival quality fine art prints
In 2006 I had the audacity to quit a comfortable IT job of ten years, to begin this ambitious career in photography. That is the most creative decision I have ever made!
I began by doing archival portraits for consenting and curious families, mostly that of children and the elderly. Soon I was offered to do architectural and interior design portfolios and it really got me a lot busier. Fine art photography was the next deviation and I was about to do three prestigious shows when I decided to move to the USA in 2009.
What makes my photography distinct is the quotient of truth in it. Its authenticity and originality connects with my audience, instinctively. I allow my subjects to behave and never pose or "smile" and almost always use available light only. All I am doing is to capture how people, events, spaces and thoughts interrupt light and so poetically emerge out of its own shadows.
Book projects
Screenplays
Although I was trained to become a Journalist, I chose to write for the advertising industry in early 90's. Later I became an art director and entrepreneure as well. By '99 I also moved over to be with the dot com boom and soon found myself as a sensible, Business Analyst in a leading web portal. So you see that purposeful communication, writing and designing for it has become second nature to me. My writing projects are:
- Camille - a deeper shade of blue.
- Azule- the blueprint in progress.
- Screenplays in English and Malayalam (Indian language)
I also imagine myself doing a lot more product and branding design, writing and producing short films, learning to do printmaking, composing background music for my films, teaching art to children. I keep redisigning my future house that can change itself into an art gallery, within minutes!