Saturday, October 22, 2005

Gurinder Osan, AP photographer, is a great artist

The photo that appeared on the front page of the New York Times yesterday is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Both Janet and I first mistook it for a painting. The caption is "A family in northern India had a makeshift tent yesterday, but with wintry weather near a crisis is at hand." The image is a classic composition of mother and child, surrounded by a white billowing tent and what looks like smoke or fog. Looking for it today, I did a Google image search for Gurinder Osan and was just amazed at what I saw: pictures of natural beauty, human beauty, political unrest, natural disaster and sports, every one of them striking in composition and beauty. I'm guessing that he works for AP, since they share most photo credits with him. I'd love to know more.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Steve
I am Gurinder Osan, the AP photographer you have so generously complimented!

I did graduate in fine arts, if you think that it has helped me.

Being a wire photographer, I have shot in all kinds of situations, not all of them equal or as photographically strong.

the archive site, www.aapimage.com, has a couple of my pix, not all of them as good.

3/1/06 09:10  
Blogger Steve said...

Thanks! I appreciate your remarks. Certainly, as a wire photographer you often have a job to do, and not all photos will be art, but making art out of wire photography is very impressive and laudable.

8/1/06 18:27  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very interesting...
I am cleaning up my room today (January 22) and found the NYT that I had saved -- the reason being because the photograph RESEMBLED A PAINTING.

So what do I do...

I google Gurinder Osan perhaps with the intention of writing him to say, "That picture you took is so beautiful."

And there is a blog by this guy Steve, commenting about the same picture, with the exact same impression, and the same reaction of wanting to SAY something to someone, if not Gurinder himself.

THAT is really funny.

OK, thought I should post something.

I am not kidding. I really did just cut out the picture to properly put it into a scrapbook of some sort. It's right here -- from October 21, 2005.

Only then did I decide to hit the computer to finally look up the photographer. And here was this posting by another fan!

When I first saw the picture in October, I must have looked at it for a good 10 minutes. I was in a newsroom at the time and showed the actual newspaper to colleagues.

I also emailed friends a link to the picture, which was on the NYT's home page at the time, and I said, "I want to bet some money. I want to bet anyone that this picture will get the Pulitzer Prize. Can somebody bet me otherwise? Please, somebody bet me!"

Reminded me of a picture I saw in the NYT of sunlight hitting a corpse inside a home in Bosnia. I recall a family kneeling over it. That got to me too, because the scene appeared eerily peaceful. There was great contrast of light and darkness. I vaguely recall that it won the Pulitzer.

Good to know Osan's picture hit the same chord with others!

22/1/06 15:55  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Steve
This past Dec 26,the Toronto Star published on the front page an article about an Indian couple that lost family in the tsunami.
They lost their three children and adopted 16 orphans they care for at Mambikkai(hands of hope); I was very touched by this story and i would like to organize a small fundraising in Toronto, among my friends and colleagues to help this beautiful family; in a world of so much violence, this story of pure love stands out; I would like to get in touch with the couple,Paramesvaran and his wife Choodamani,to consult them;would they accept a small contribution? If they agree , i will proceed with the plan.I will be attending the FIABCI World Congress in Bangkok, end of May ,and I was thinking that perhaps I could go over to visit them.
Gurinder Osan has written to you .He has taken photographs at the Nambikkai;could you put me in touch with Gurinder, in order to get the email address of Paramesvaran;
thanking you in advance;with kind regards carlos sousa
sousac@hotmail.com

12/2/06 15:55  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, I've just spent 1/2 an hour trying to find a way to purchase a high res photo of your (Mr. Osan's) incredibly moving portrait of a woman's strength in crisis - Delecroix is the first word to pop into my mind. In any case, that photo is one of the best.
See Front page NYT 10/2105.

john

19/11/07 13:18  
Blogger Unknown said...

i can't agree more

an amazing photograph
by an amazing photographer

good luck
and my the muze stay with you always

17/10/10 16:45  

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