A Partial Portfolio
DEVELOPMENTAL/ HUMANITARIAN AGENCIES (Selected Work)
I really need to update this bit. There’s a decade of work to sort through, and I’ve been very slow. Clients include: UNICEF, Humanity & Inclusion, The Cathal Ryan Trust, The World Bank, Austrian-Swiss Red Cross, SOS Children’s Villages, etc. Below is a broad sample:
I owe a debt to some excellent photographers who tried their very best to teach me. Here are some who still have an influence on my work (and life): Dominic Sansoni, Sebastian Posingis, and Rukshan Jayewardene from the Threeblindmen collective; Luxshman Nadaraja of Wildlight, Devaka Seneviratne of Island Light, Beat Presser, Janet Delaney, and James Buck. There are many others — colleagues, guides, wanderers, recluses. One day, I will write about them all, but for now, SNAPS:
01.
FULBRIGHT VISITING SCHOLAR PROJECT
Human construction and use of built aquatic spaces
University of Berkeley, California (2009)
Supervising professor: Janet Delaney
TA (at the time): James Buck
UPDATE: I deleted the last version of this entry. It still didn’t feel right. I’ll try again soon — I’m still thinking about this project, and I’d like to explain it properly, one day. In the meantime, below are a few from the American pictures (while the first and last images on this page are from the Sri Lankan pictures).
01 is the Berkeley City Club. Designed by Julia Morgan in the late 1920s, this was originally a private club. By the time I visited in 2009 it was open to the public, and members of the swimming class for over-60s were delightful and kind each time I visited.
02 and 03 are also from California, and 04 is a composite image from NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Texas. What an astonishing place that is. Visible at the bottom of the pool is a scale model of modules of the International Space Station.
02.
03.
04.
KALPITIYA: THE LAGOON, THE ISLANDS AND THE SEA
These are pictures from a four-year documentary of a tiny slice of the west coast of Sri Lanka. The idea was that two photographers and one writer would work together to each preserve a memory of the area before the development boom began, c.2009. Then we would simply combine three disparate perspectives, and Bing! A Book. It’s 2023 (at the time of writing) and the book’s still in the offing (looking for a publisher).
Written by Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, and photographed by Devaka Seneviratne and I. When it’s done, I’ll show it to you but in the meantime, Sinharaja has a sample chapter available on JSTOR, and here are some of my pictures:
THE ‘ANTI-PORTRAIT’ PORTRAIT PROJECT
A series of portraits of family and friends made by finding ways to distort the portrait. Below: Harith, in a pool, at night (2008), Radhika in a scanner, at a party (2011), Nuzzy in a scanner at a different party in the same year (2011) Chitty and Khavan, through nylon, at rehearsal (2011), Tim, in a pool, at night (2008).
FIGHTS AND FALLINGS-DOWN
Below, L-R: ‘Rock Night’ at the CR&FC Sports Club, Colombo (2010); Thursday daytime drinks, The Bear’s Lair, UC Berkeley, (2009); Jeewantha Nisanala versus Chamalka, 'The King Cobra’ (in red), Mixed Martial Arts Competition in Colombo, Dehiwela YMCA, (2011); Weird September night, The Bear’s Lair, UC Berkeley, (2009).
PORTRAIT ACHCHARU
Below, L-R: Brandon Ingram (2012); Harshi Hewage (2012); Christo Raymond (2009); Soharni Tennekoon and her niece, Neha (2010).
***
