A SONG FOR YOUR HEART: 2010

little girl blue

the model is my beautiful friend pritty and makeup is by a very talented friend, subechhya. garments from vintage basement. i edited these pictures over a period of two months so that should explain the inconsistency in the processing (and also maybe that i am really really lazy but thats a secret so shhh)

all because you want to be

roland johnson @ sapphires model management

wardrobe by vintage basement

someday my pain will mark you

listen to this song while you see the pictures, or dont see them at all.

shoot for your life

hey guys i've taken part in a photo competition SHOOT FOR YOUR LIFE and i would really really appreciate it if you could just spare 2 seconds to vote for me. you can view my entry by clicking on the picture above and to vote, you need to have either a facebook or a twitter account. if you are on facebook, please click on the 'like' buttonif you are on twitter, please click on the 'retweet' button (this is my first time taking part in any photo related competition so its all very exciting and i kinda feel weird, and almost like i'm cheating by asking people to vote especially because there are so many other amazing artists on there, some of whose work i've loved and followed and many that i personally think are more deserving, so please do take your time to go through the archives and vote for other pictures that you think are worthy too!)
thank you thank you thank you guys! i will post more pictures from this shoot when i can :)happy holidays :D

we are all filled with smoke

models: nawal gurung and nischal gurung

wardrobe: vintage basement!

makeup: subechhya gurung

i dont care if the font looks silly or the edit looks weird or different. i'm not entirely sure about it myself but i dont need to be. i'm never going to learn if i keep doing the same things over and over again. trying out new things and stuff. i want to do more dark themed shoots with a sombre mood.. maybe just how i feel at the moment. we have the college off for two weeks from tomorow and its going to be awesome! i'll be in a party each day of the next week which is something i'm looking forward to because i have just been doing college work and pictures for the last i dont know how many months and even though i do it for the love of it and well, i dont really have a choice with the homework but i'm just tired and well everyone needs a break right? i know i dont post as much these days but i've been taking more pictures than i used to and have basically been living in front of my computer screen. most of the stuff is other people's pictures, events i photographed, two weddings (i'm contemplating whether to post those online or not) and some personal projects i've done which i'm really pleased and excited to publish only when my website is completed. i hope it'll be done by new year! i'll update whats happening to it on my twitter because i am like a kid in a candy store everytime i think about having my own, YES I HAVE TO PINCH MYSELF! my own website!

now isnt that great for a christmas present? :P

happy days everyone :D

dust on the ground

model: kirstie foss first time i saw her at college and the first thing i thought was "i need to take her picture!" see more on my flickr oh and you know how i always have a storyline behind pictues (cheesy as always!). for this one, she is a fallen angel who's lost her wings, so she cant fly anymore to get back to her home (the sun). she's stuck on earth and feels like dust on the ground. she eventually finds a way to get in touch with her friends (the dreamcatcher duh :P) and so she makes a house for herself in the trees, constantly waiting, always dreaming for the day they come to take her back home where she can fly again. (i did warn its cheesy!)
ps: i upload my most recent pictures on flickr these days because i just dont get enough time to edit as many pictures as these to upload as a series on this blog. this was taken more than a month ago so that says it all. you may see some pictures there that i havent uploaded here yet, i will eventually get around to blogging those. it was snowing last week and i took some self portraits which was quite fun (but very very cold!) i like so many pictures so i'll put those up as soon as i can! i also have 3 more vintage basement posts (eeek!) oh and on sunday i had the most amazing shoot ever! i also took some pictures that are going to be published in a new magazine called RISE which will hopefully come out in january so i am quite excited about that. it was a studio shoot so i learned quite a lot as well which is always a bonus :) in other news, i've been the photographer for two weddings in the past two months and i love it! ofcourse there's the immense pressure to capture all those special moments (and there are so many!) and then the aching hands and having to run around trying to capture everything you can, but being around two people who love eachother so much declare and share it with their loved ones, makes it worth all the hardwork. oh and i have a client shoot this saturday (yay). please email me on gyangurungphotography@gmail.com if you want one as well ;) so thats what i've been up to during my absence (and also doing A LOT OF college work!) although i like to keep myself busy, i'm just waiting for xmas break to start already. a few nothing days won't do anyone harm. hope everyone's well and warm. gyan

living with HIV

i do apologise for the length of this, and i know i am not a poltician or someone of much importance, but i have a voice and i have something to say and i know that some people, if not many, do come on this blog to see my pictures, so i ask you to give me some of your time to read this. thank you

in support of the lives that have been taken by AIDS, but more importantly, for those who are still living with HIV.

we have been educated and made aware about these issues and lots more, but there are many who aren't as lucky. we do take things for granted, and i, myself, in the past, have felt that sex education and lessons on STI's were pointless and "i'm not stupid, duh" is something i am guilty of saying. i failed to comprehend that just because something isn't happening to me or around me, doesnt mean its not happening at all. almost 34 million people around the world are living with HIV and since 2007, 2 million have already died. these numbers are big enough that you never know who is going to be included in it.

it doesn't matter whether you are male or female, black or white, gay or straight, from a developed or a third world country, anyone can get HIV and there's a misconception that those who get it bring it upon themselves, which maybe true in some cases, but not on all ocassions. who are we to blame the 2 million children who were born with HIV? who are we to point fingers at the illiterate couple who didnt even know what a condom is or does, or even if they did, felt obliged to follow the man they believe as being closest to god?

there are many misconceptions about the condition/disease itself and also about those who live or/and die with it. no it doesnt spread by touching or hugging someone who has it. no, its not just gay men who get HIV. yes, you can still have a normal life expectancy if right treatment is provided, so no, you dont die soon even if it can't be cured. yes, it is a very serious issue not only in the UK, but everywhere in the world. yes, we can make a difference...

there are millions who have died and many who are fighting to live with this disease that has no cure. just because it cant be cured, it shouldnt stop us from taking initiatives to prevent it in the first place so that someone else doesn't have to go through the same things that they go through everyday.
it must take a lot of courage to go on each day knowing that your body is not strong enough to fight even a cold virus or flu. the prejudice from the society and negative attitudes towards them really don't help much either! the disease itself hasn't got a cure, but this disease of prejudice has, and discrimination against anyone should not exist in any form. just because someone has HIV doesnt make them any less of a human than someone who hasn't got it. there isn't a written rule or a book that tells you so, so why do we do it? because everyone else does it? or because you think its okay to make fun out of it? whatever the reason there is, or whatever reason there isn't, it needs to end and we can all do something to make it happen.

sometimes ignorance is bliss, but is it really? when lives are being lost, and when there's so much that can be done to save those lives, ignorance is not bliss. so find out more information by going on websites such as ( http://www.worldaidsday.org/ http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/HIV/Pages/Introduction.aspx ) please share what you know, talk to your friends, talk to your family, your siblings and relatives. knowledge is only worth anything if shared. tell them its okay to hug a person with HIV. tell them and yourself, that they are the same as you, or anyone of us. wear a red ribbon. the money collected from those go towards supporting the treatment and the research in the cure of HIV so anything you can give will matter, regardless of how much it is. if there's a programme or an event happening in your school/college/local community, go and participate. show your support. you may think it doesn't really make any concrete difference, but it does! if a person with HIV sees that they have so much support from other people, they may not feel like they have to hide the fact that they have HIV to avoid facing discrimination whether at work or from society in general. having them see so many people taking part in raising awareness, telling others what they didn't know before, or just reinforcing what they did know, doing something to help them, by donating money or just by being there... yes it does make a difference, not only to them, as victims, but also to those who might be one as well, but because you've done something about it, they would then be less likely to get it.

SO PLEASE DO SOMETHING! (click on the link for ways you can help!)

thank you for reading, i'm sorry i havent uploaded any pictures on this blog in a long time. i promise i havent stopped taking pictures. its just that other things have taken more priority and i am not able to spend as much time editing the pictures that i have taken in the past few weeks and even months! i'll try to not disappear for longer.

gyan

the winter sun (vintage basement 2 of 5)

the beautiful lace shirt from vintage basement is only £10

the beautiful model is tammy wooldridge

the beautiful hair+makeup artist is my dear friend subechhya gurung whose hands are magical and is the kindest and nicest person you'll meet :)

what part of forever? (vintage basement 1 of 5)

so i did a collaboration with vintage basement last month where i borrowed some clothes from the shop and used them in my pictures. the shop's owner thinley shakya was so kind and awesome for letting me do so, and i am ever so grateful for that. i would go on a rant about how amazing the shop is but i'll let the pictures do the talking.

you really ought to go there when you're in london!

LIKE VINTAGE BASEMENT'S FACEBOOK PAGE!

(here, the green wax coat is from the shop, everything else is mine :P) 4 more posts to follow on vintage basement (YES)