teaser : Coffee table book on Dharwad district

Finally the shoot for coffee table book on Dharwad is over . This is the third assignment I am doing in association with Tourism of Karnataka.  What an experience it was ! We saw everything right from 45 degrees of scorching heat, madness of Dharwad fairs , the weather god almighty showing his rain powers  but the fair side of the project turned out to be an amazing experience . I met many  kind hearted people , introduced to a many traditions and folk forms , witnessed many unique culture , got soaked in the musical and spiritual streams , explored some unique landscapes , tasted some heavenly food and on top of all , I was completely impressed by the little villages filled with nicest people through out the district. To the date this project will be my toughest of all!

Many asked in the beginning “ what is in Dharwad to shoot ? “ , when they learned I was shooting for Dharwad district , I could only smile during that moment. Believe  me , I was bit scared as well after first couple of visits seeing lack of information, difficulties in reaching the places and the melodramatic landscapes. But my job was simple. Introduce the beauty of  district , so it started right from exploring in a very detailed manner. I met many people, resource persons  who shed light on this. I studied many books and explored remotest corners on google map to check out the possibilities of visually vibrant hidden places. Then the beauty of the land started showing off layer by layer .

Anyways, those visuals  will be out in the book soon. Right now I am working  through the layout and texts for the sections of the book . We tried to cover as much as possible, giving importance to everything that deserve but in parallel we have many challenges such as making sure nothing is left and by the same time our layouts are still beautiful and interesting for tourists. I am also walking on a thin line where the book should not look like a guide book but it should be a coffee table book showing the beauty of the book.

Here are couple of images of the cover page designs that are not accepted 🙂  for various valid reasons. But I am sharing with all of you just in case if you assume Dinesh is lost somewhere and not shooting any good pictures these days.